17 MAY
In Music History
1949 Pop singer Keith is born James Barry Keefer in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
1949 Bill Bruford (drummer for Yes, King Crimson) is born in Sevenoaks, Kent, England.
1949 Andrew Latimer (frontman for the prog rock band Camel) is born in Guildford, Surrey, England.
1944 Country musician and singer Jesse Winchester is born near Bossier City, Louisiana.
1942 Blues musician Taj Mahal is born Henry Saint Clair Fredericks in Harlem, New York.
1941 Malcolm Hale (lead guitarist for Spanky & Our Gang) is born in Butte, Montana.
1938 Pervis Jackson, bass vocalist of The Spinners, is born in New Orleans, Louisiana.
1933 Weak from fighting tuberculosis, Jimmie Rodgers arrives in New York and starts recording his last songs. He dies nine days later.
1925 Bluegrass musician Red Smiley (of Reno and Smiley) is born Arthur Lee Smiley in Asheville, North Carolina.
1921 Bob Merrill, a prolific songwriter whose hits include "(How Much Is) That Doggie In The Window?" and "Mambo Italiano," is born in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
1866 Composer and pianist Erik Satie is born in Honfleur, France.
Chris Cornell Dies At 52
2017After performing with Soundgarden in Detroit, Chris Cornell is found dead from an apparent suicide at the age of 52.
Read more17 MAY
Featured Events
2013 Eight years in the making, Daft Punk's fourth album, Random Access Memories, features guest appearances from a range of artists including Giorgio Moroder, Nile Rodgers and Pharrell Williams. It becomes their first US chart topper, propelled by the massive worldwide hit single (and Nile Rodgers collaboration) "Get Lucky."
2012 Donna Summer dies of lung cancer at her home in Naples, Florida, at age 73.
2008 A pregnant Ashlee Simpson marries Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy. The union lasts three years.
1987 Tom Petty's home in Encino, California, burns to the ground. Petty and his family escape unharmed, but are traumatized by the blaze, which is determined to be arson. The perpetrator is never caught.More
1966 Bob Dylan, who had recently "gone electric" and added rock and roll instruments to his folk music, appears at the Free Trade Hall in Manchester, England. Just before he begins a version of his latest hit, "Like A Rolling Stone," a member of the audience, a folk purist angry at the move to rock, shouts out, "Judas!" Dylan responds with, "I don't believe you," adding, "You're a liar!" He then proceeds to tell the band to play the song "f--king loud."
1965 The FBI ends its two-year investigation into the Kingsmen song "Louie Louie," determining that the largely indecipherable lyrics are not obscene.
1963 It's the very first Monterey Folk Festival, featuring Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger, Peter, Paul and Mary and Joan Baez.
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