Pick a Day

14 JUNE

In Music History

1995 Irish blues rocker Rory Gallagher dies of a staphylococcal infection following a liver transplant at age 47.

1994 Noted film composer Henry Mancini dies of pancreatic cancer at age 70.

1989 Pete de Freitas (drummer for Echo And The Bunnymen) dies in a motorcycle accident en-route to Liverpool from London at age 27.

1989 Carole King gets a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1986 Patti LaBelle lands her first solo #1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 with "On My Own," a duet with ex-Doobie Brother Michael McDonald. It holds the top spot for three weeks and also goes to #1 on the R&B chart.

1980 Billy Joel's Glass Houses is the #1 album in America for the first of six consecutive weeks.

1979 Little Feat announce their breakup; guitarist Lowell George dies of a heart attack just two weeks later.

1975 America's "Sister Golden Hair" hits #1 in the US. The song is produced by George Martin and contains a guitar riff borrowed from George Harrison's "My Sweet Lord."

1974 David Bowie's Diamond Dogs tour begins in Montreal. As part of the elaborate stage show, a giant diamond opens up to reveal Bowie.

1972 Actor Warren Beatty organizes his fifth benefit concert for doomed US Presidential candidate George McGovern at Madison Square Garden, featuring, among others, Simon & Garfunkel and Peter, Paul and Mary.

1971 Frank Sinatra announces his retirement from show business, only to return a year and a half later with the comeback album Ol' Blue Eyes Is Back.

1971 "Kiss the Rain" singer Billie Myers is born in Coventry, West Midlands, England.

1970 Eric Clapton's new band is introduced as "Derek and the Dominos" when they take the stage at the Lyceum in London. They tell the promoter they are "The Dynamics," but he convinces them to add the "Derek," which is a nickname for Clapton. His mangled name interpretation sticks.

1970 Blood, Sweat & Tears begins a tour of Romania, Poland, and Yugoslavia on behalf of the US State Department. Working as government ambassadors under the Nixon administration puts the band in bad standing with the protest movement they were part of when they played Woodstock.

1970 The Grateful Dead release their fourth album, Workingman's Dead. With more compact songs like "Uncle John's Band" and "Casey Jones," it reaches a wider audience than their previous albums.