Pick a Day

7 MARCH

In Music History

2016 Michael White, the British producer whose work includes the films Monty Python and the Holy Grail and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, dies of heart failure at age 80.

2015 Drake places an astounding 14 songs in the Hot 100, thanks to the release of his mixtape If You're Reading This It's Too Late. The Beatles are the only other act to accomplish this, with 14 songs on the tally for a week in April 1964. Drake goes on to place 27 songs on the chart dated July 14, 2018.

2013 Guitarist Peter Banks, a founding member of Yes, dies at age 65.

2009 Jimmy Boyd, known for introducing the 1953 Christmas tune "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus," dies of cancer at age 70.

2001 Ex-Trammps member Jerry Collins is convicted of attempted murder after being found guilty of bashing his wife's head into a sink and also pistol-whipping her. He is sentenced to a maximum of 35 years.

2001 Ed Townshend, singer/songwriter of the 1957 hit "For Your Love," sues the R&B group K-Ci and JoJo, claiming they used his song in their recent hit "Just For Your Love."

2000 Country singer Pee Wee King dies at age 86.

1999 Marv Ingram of The Four Preps dies at age 60.

1998 Archbishop Franc Rode organizes a special mass to forgive the blasphemers who wrote and recorded "Bitchcraft."

1987 The first four Beatles albums are released on compact disc: Please Please Me, With The Beatles, A Hard Day's Night, Beatles For Sale. This marks the first time the band's official UK albums have been available as standard Beatles albums in the US, many being presented for the first time in America in their original mono mixes.

1987 The Beastie Boys appear on Soul Train, where they perform "Brass Monkey." They win over host Don Cornelius, who tells them, "You're very chilling, very hip, and we like your music."

1983 The Songwriter's Hall of Fame inducts Neil Sedaka and Stevie Wonder into their ranks during their annual New York ceremony.

1983 New Order release "Blue Monday," which becomes the biggest-selling 12-inch single of all time. The track is reissued twice by the band: in 1988 and 1995. Despite massive success in Europe and on the specialist dance chart, only the 1988 Quincy Jones remix makes it to the mainstream Billboard Hot 100, peaking at #68.

1979 The Police get a badly needed break when they play the Armadillo World Headquarters in Austin, Texas, where the radio station KLBJ has been playing their single "Roxanne," the first station in America to do so. The song starts to catch on, and seven weeks later peaks at #32, giving the band their first hit.