Pick a Day

6 JUNE

In Music History

1991 Jazz saxophonist Stan Getz dies of liver cancer at age 64. His ashes are poured from his saxophone case by his grandson off the coast of Marina del Rey, California.

1989 Metallica issue their second home video, 2 Of One, which is comprised of two versions of their first music video, "One."

1987 On the first night of the 3-day Concert For Berlin, David Bowie performs on a stage so close to the Berlin Wall that East Germans can hear it from the other side. He addresses them by saying in German, "We send our wishes to all our friends who are on the other side of the wall," before playing ""Heroes," a song he wrote a decade earlier while living in that very city. Two years later, the Berlin Wall falls.

1987 After being criticized by church members for his "worldliness," Michael Jackson cuts ties with the Jehovah's Witnesses.

1986 Dick Rowe, the Decca Records executive who rejected The Beatles but signed The Rolling Stones, dies of diabetes at age 64.

1980 Urban Cowboy, a Western romance film starring John Travolta and Debra Winger, opens in theaters. The mellow country soundtrack spawns hits from Kenny Rogers, Johnny Lee, and Anne Murray, and spurs a trend of pop-leaning fare in country music dubbed the "Urban Cowboy Movement."More

1979 A gig at a British club gets a good review and leads to a record deal for Def Leppard.

1977 Stevie Wonder appears, sponsored by Billboard, as a guest music lecturer at a UCLA symposium, talking about his early Motown days and illustrating his points with performances.

1974 Uncle Kracker is born Matthew Shafer in Mount Clemens, Michigan.

1973 The Elvis Presley concert documentary Elvis On Tour opens nationwide.

1973 Barry White's "I'm Gonna Love You Just A Little More Baby" is certified Gold.

1971 John Lennon makes his first stage appearance since 1969 when he and Yoko Ono jam with Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention at the Fillmore East in New York. The show is recorded and released as a bonus disc with the Lennon/Ono album Some Time In New York City.

1971 The Ed Sullivan Show airs its final show, going out with guests Jerry Vale and Gladys Knight & The Pips after 23 years on the air.

1970 Korn guitarist James "Munky" Shaffer is born in Bakersfield, California. He earns the nickname by being able to spread out his toes so they look like a monkey paw.

1969 Rod Stewart signs to the Mercury label.