2015 President Barack Obama sings "Amazing Grace" at the funeral for Rev. Clementa Pinckney, who was killed along with eight others when a gunman opened fire during a Bible study at his church in Charleston, South Carolina.More
2005 Pink proposes to her boyfriend, motocross rider Carey Hart, by holding up a sign that says "Will You Marry Me?" while he is racing in Mammoth, California. On the next lap, she adds, "I'm Serious." He pulls out of the race to say yes; the couple get married the following year.
1999 Pearl Jam score their biggest Hot 100 hit when "Last Kiss," a cover of a song from the '60s, reaches #2, held off the top spot by Jennifer Lopez' first single, "If You Had My Love."More
1996 Van Halen announce that Sammy Hagar, their lead singer since 1985, is no longer with the group and they're "in the studio working with original lead singer David Lee Roth." Roth records two new songs with the band for their first greatest hits album but is jilted when they bring on Gary Cherone as their new frontman in October.
1993 Ariana Grande is born in Boca Raton, Florida. After starring on the Nickelodeon TV show Victorious, she becomes a popular singer with a huge social media presence.
1977 Elvis Presley's last concert takes place in Indianapolis, Indiana. He dies on August 16.
1965 The Byrds' "Mr. Tambourine Man" goes to #1 on the Hot 100. It's the only song written by Bob Dylan ever to top that chart.
1963 John Lennon and Paul McCartney compose "She Loves You" in a hotel room in Newcastle, England, while on tour there.
1943 Thanks to Dooley Wilson's rendition as piano-playing Sam in Casablanca, Rudy Vallee's 12-year-old version of "As Time Goes By" lands at #1 on the charts, where it stays for four weeks.
2021 Bruce Springsteen performs Springsteen On Broadway at the St. James Theater, becoming the first person to perform a full-length show on Broadway since the pandemic hit in 2020. The audience is required to show proof of vaccination.
2020 At 79, Bob Dylan becomes the oldest artist to top the UK albums chart with an album of original songs when Rough And Rowdy Ways hits the top spot.
2018 Barry Gibb of Bee Gees is knighted by Prince Charles at Buckingham Palace.
2015 Florence + the Machine become the first female-fronted band to headline the Glastonbury festival since Shakespear's Sister in 1992.
2010 Gary Clark, Jr., little known outside of Austin, Texas, performs at Eric Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festival. The performance earns raves and leads to a deal with Warner Bros. Records.
1990 Sonic Youth release Goo. With songs like "Kool Thing," the album is a seminal landmark in alternative rock.
1990 Nelson release their debut album After the Rain, which sells over 2 million copies thanks to the #1 single "(Can't Live Without Your) Love and Affection." Nelson is the duo of Gunnar and Matthew, the twin sons of Rick Nelson.More
1988 Despite missing 75 days of school her senior year so she could tour, Debbie Gibson graduates from Calhoun High School in Merrick, Long Island, with honors. The previous day, her song "Foolish Beat" went to #1 in America.
1979 The Village People become the first disco act to play Madison Square Garden.
1979 Two years after his son's death, Vernon Presley dies of heart failure at age 63.
1979 Nathan Followill (drummer for Kings of Leon) is born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, to a family that will later include younger brothers - and future bandmates - Caleb and Jared.
1976 Peter Frampton releases "Baby, I Love Your Way."
1976 With his breakout album Live Bullet climbing the charts, Bob Seger plays his first headlining stadium show, performing to 59,000 at the Pontiac Silverdome.
1975 Sonny & Cher's divorce becomes final.
Defying predictions of musical and personal implosion, Velvet Revolver, fronted by Scott Weiland and with three ex-Guns N' Roses members in the lineup, debuts at #1 in America with their first album, Contraband.
With their histories of substance abuse, the combination of Weiland, Slash, Matt Sorum and Duff McKagan (Dave Kushner rounds out the group), is combustible. Their former bands were riddled with discord, but they all seem unlikely to succeed without them: Weiland's efforts outside of Stone Temple Pilots have garnered little attention, as has Slash's Snakepit. When Velvet Revolver formed, it sounded like a formula for ruin, especially considering Weiland's tenuous grip on sobriety, but these road-tested rockers were used to working under addiction protocol. Weiland, an experienced heroin user, was confined to a lock-down rehab facility when they made the album - he was released to the studio for four hours a day under police escort, then drug tested on his return. A burst pancreas put McKagan's drinking days behind him, and Slash limited himself to alcohol in an effort to preserve his latest marriage and be a reliable father. Weiland may be a junkie, but he's a scintillating singer and an engaging, self-lacerating lyricist. Contraband's lead single, "Slither," is a frightening journey into his psyche: When you look you see right through me Cut the rope, fell to my knees Fallen, broken every single time With Stone Temple Pilots and Guns N' Roses in purgatory, rock radio has been forced into Hoobastank and Nickelback - dark days, indeed. The overall music scene is dominated by hip-hop, R&B and country. When Contraband takes the top spot, it displaces Confessions by Usher, which has spent nine weeks at #1. Velvet Revolver embark on a tour that takes them into 2006. Predictably, they fall back into familiar patterns of drug and alcohol abuse, but manage to make another album, Libertad, in 2007. When Weiland leaves in 2008, it effectively ends the band.
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