16 MARCH
In Music History
1999 Stone Temple Pilots play in impromptu gig at the Viper Room in Los Angeles. It's the first time the band has performed in two years.
1996 For the 16th (and final) consecutive week, Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men's "One Sweet Day" is #1 in the US.
1993 Johnny Cymbal ("Mr. Bass Man") dies of a heart attack at age 48.
1985 "Nightshift" by The Commodores, a tribute to Jackie Wilson and Marvin Gaye, knocks Diana Ross' "Missing You," a tribute to Gaye written by ex-Commodore Lionel Richie, from the #1 spot on the R&B chart.
1979 CBS airs the Wings Over the World documentary, chronicling the adventures of Paul McCartney's band Wings on their 1975-1976 tour.
1975 T-Bone Walker, born Aaron Thibeaux Walker, dies of bronchial pneumonia after a series of strokes at age 64.
1970 Motown singer Tammi Terrell, known for a string of hit duets with Marvin Gaye, dies of a brain tumor at age 24.
1970 Mary Ann Ganser (of The Shangri-Las) dies of a barbiturates overdose at age 22.
1967 Tracy Bonham is born in Boston. After studying classical violin, she enters the world of pop music, using the instrument on her hit song "Mother Mother."
1965 "The Last Time" becomes The Rolling Stones' third #1 single in the UK.
1964 The Beatles set a US record when advance sales of the "Can't Buy Me Love" single top two million.
1959 Flavor Flav is born William Jonathan Drayton, Jr. He becomes a rapper with Public Enemy and also a reality TV star.
1954 Nancy Wilson of Heart is born in San Francisco, California, to a family that includes older sister (and future bandmate) Ann.
1948 Michael Bruce of the Alice Cooper band is born in Arizona.
1942 Country singer-songwriter Jerry Jeff Walker, who writes the oft-recorded "Mr. Bojangles" in 1968, is born Ronald Clyde Crosby in Oneonta, New York.
Otis Redding Becomes First Artist With Posthumous #1 Hit
1968Otis Redding's "(Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay" hits #1, becoming the first-ever posthumous #1 hit. Redding died in a plane crash on December 10, 1967.
Read more16 MARCH
Featured Events
2019 "Old Town Road" by the rapper Lil Nas X makes the Country chart, but is removed the following week when Billboard declares it ineligible for the tally. The attention leads to a remix with Billy Ray Cyrus that goes to #1 on the genre-agnostic Hot 100.More
1999 Pearl Jam's debut album Ten is certified Diamond for sales of over 10 million copies in America.
1995 Eazy-E releases a statement announcing that he has AIDS, and also that he has fathered seven children with six different women. He dies 10 days later.
1991 Eddie Van Halen and his wife Valerie Bertinelli welcome a son, Wolfgang Van Halen, who eventually becomes the bass player in Van Halen.
1972 The Dripping Springs Reunion festival kicks off in a field near Austin, Texas. Envisioned as the Woodstock of country music, the 3-day event features performances by Willie Nelson, Earl Scruggs, Bill Monroe, Kris Kristofferson, Loretta Lynn, Buck Owens and Dottie West. The festival is poorly promoted and a huge flop, with attendance estimated at about 20,000 (combined) when at least 180,000 were expected. Two years later, Willie Nelson uses the same site for the first of his Fourth of July Picnic concerts, which becomes a popular annual event and helps establish Austin as a music destination.
1945 The #1 song in America is "Rum and Coca-Cola" by The Andrews Sisters. It's a sanitized cover of a calypso song about American servicemen in Trinidad who get drunk and solicit prostitutes.
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