10 MARCH
Featured Events
2003 Dixie Chicks lead singer Natalie Maines sparks political controversy in the run-up to the US invasion of Iraq after telling a London audience: "Just so you know, we're on the good side with y'all. We do not want this war, this violence, and we're ashamed that the president of the United States is from Texas."
1988 Andy Gibb, whose three older brothers are the Bee Gees, dies of heart failure at age 30. Gibb had three #1 hits in the late '70s, including "I Just Want To Be Your Everything."
1984 Deep Purple reunite with the Mark II lineup of the band, which includes guitarist Ritchie Blackmore and lead singer Ian Gillan. The band has been dormant since 1976, and this lineup last played together in 1973. They take a break in 1989 and Blackmore leaves in 1993, but the core of the group stays intact into the 2020s.
1983 Carrie Underwood is born in Muskogee, Oklahoma. She begins her music career by winning Season 4 of American Idol, becoming the first country singer to do so. She becomes the best-selling Idol alum in any genre, with over 20 million albums sold in America.
1979 Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive" hits #1 on the Hot 100. It becomes a female-empowerment anthem, but the song was written by two men.More
1954 The Threepenny Opera opens at the Theater de Lys in New York's Greenwich Village. A revival of a German production from 1928, the standout scene is when the Street Singer does "Mack The Knife," a song about the murderous Macheath.More
10 MARCH
In Music History
2023 Miley Cyrus releases her eighth album, Endless Summer Vacation. Some of the songs, including the #1 hit "Flowers," seem to take aim at her ex-husband, the actor Liam Hemsworth.
2021 Mariah Carey files an application to trademark the phrase "Queen Of Christmas."
2014 TV show host Bill O'Reilly gets fired up over Beyoncé's "Partition" video, which contains graphic scenes implying sex in a limousine. O'Reilly engages his guest Russell Simmons on the topic, saying it "harms impressionable children."
2010 Micky Jones, guitarist for Man, dies of a brain tumor at age 63.
2009 Ryan Adams marries the singer/actress Mandy Moore at a quiet ceremony in Savannah, Georgia. They split six years later; in 2019, Moore joins several other women in accusing Adams of mistreating them.
2008 Dapperly dressed in a classic black tuxedo, Leonard Cohen appears on stage in New York for his induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame along with Madonna, John Mellencamp, The Dave Clark Five and The Ventures. In his acceptance speech, Cohen paraphrases a famous quote by record producer and current chairman of the Hall's nominating committee, Jon Landau: "I have seen the future of rock & roll, and it is not Leonard Cohen."
2006 Lordi releases The Arockalypse, featuring the hit single "Hard Rock Hallelujah."
2005 Michael Jackson, on trial for child molestation, shows up to court an hour late and in his pajamas. He appears sickly and frail during most of the ordeal.
2005 Danny Joe Brown (singer, songwriter of Molly Hatchet) dies of complications from diabetes at age 53.
2004 Dave Blood (bass guitarist for The Dead Milkmen) commits suicide via drug overdose at age 47.
2003 The Righteous Brothers, AC/DC, Elvis Costello and the Attractions, The Clash, The Police, and Floyd Cramer are inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in New York City.
2002 Jazz organist Shirley Scott dies of heart failure at age 67.
2000 Chrissie Hynde (of The Pretenders) leads an animal rights rally at a GAP store in Manhattan protesting the chain's sale of "illegally and cruelly" obtained leather products.
2000 Vince Gill and Amy Grant get married in Nashville in front of about 450 guests. Included in the wedding party are their children from previous marriages: Gill's daughter Jenny, 17, and Grant's children Matthew, 12, Millie, 10, and Sarah, 7.
1997 R&B singer LaVern Baker ("Tweedle Dee") dies of cardiovascular disease at age 67.
Marvin Gaye's Estate Wins "Blurred Lines" Case
2015A jury awards Marvin Gaye's estate (his children Marvin III, Frankie and Nona) $7.3 million, finding that the Robin Thicke song "Blurred Lines" is too similar to Gaye's 1977 hit "Got To Give It Up."
Thicke and his co-writer, Pharrell Williams, argued that while both songs rock a party vibe (with clinking bottles and ambient crowd), there is nothing all that similar about them. Anyone with ears knows this, but the case is based on the sheet music versions of the songs, not the actual recordings. After an army of experts testifies about their similarities in that regard, the jury finds for Gaye's estate and awards the staggering judgment. Songwriters are shocked and horrified by the verdict, knowing that just about any song will use musical elements that have already been explored. Stevie Wonder tells TMZ: "The groove is very similar but you have to remember he is a big fan of Marvin Gaye's so that's okay. But the song is not like Marvin Gaye's. It is not the same." Adding intrigue to the proceedings is Thicke's admission that he had little to do with writing the song, and that he was in a drug-and-alcohol-induced haze at the time. "The biggest hit of my career was written by somebody else, and I was jealous and wanted credit," he says in court.
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