2 MAY
In Music History
1988 Living Colour's debut album, Vivid, is released. It takes almost a year to catch on, as the band slowly builds a following through tours, radio play and MTV.
1988 Melissa Etheridge releases her self-titled debut album, adding a much-welcome new female voice to rock radio with the singles "Bring Me Some Water" and "Like the Way I Do."
1987 Cutting Crew's "(I Just) Died in Your Arms" hits #1 on the Hot 100.
1986 Country singer-songwriter Rose Falcon is born in New York.
1986 Judas Priest kick off their Fuel For Life tour with a show in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It's the first time lead singer Rob Halford, who went to rehab in January, has ever performed sober with the band.
1985 Singer-songwriter Lily Allen is born in London. After a rambunctious childhood that gets her kicked out of a number of schools, she finds a following on MySpace and releases her first single, "Smile," in 2006. It goes to #1 in the UK, followed two years later by another chart-topper, "The Fear."
1977 Eric Clapton records "Wonderful Tonight."
1973 Actress and jazz vocalist June Hutton (of The Stardusters) dies in Encino, Los Angeles, California, at age 52.
1972 Bruce Springsteen auditions for Columbia Records' John Hammond, who is the guy that signed Bob Dylan. The planned 15-minute session runs 2 hours, and the next day, Bruce records a 14-song demo. He signs with the label five weeks later.
1965 The Rolling Stones make their second appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show, performing four songs, including "The Last Time" and "Little Red Rooster."
1964 The Beatles Second Album, a collection of B-sides and sundry tracks yet to find a home in the States, goes to #1 in America, replacing their first album, Meet the Beatles!More
1960 Ray Peterson records "Tell Laura I Love Her."
1960 Production begins on Elvis Presley's first post-Army movie, G.I. Blues.
1960 Dick Clark testifies before Congress on the matter of payola.More
1960 Ben E. King leaves The Drifters and signs a solo contract with Atco Records.
Austin Powers Emerges With Quincy Jones Theme Song
1997The James Bond spoof Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery hits theaters. The theme is "Soul Bossa Nova," a song by Quincy Jones from 1962 - the same year the first Bond movie appeared. Yeah baby!
Read more2 MAY
Featured Events
2005 Cream reunite for the first of four shows in London's Royal Albert Hall, the site of their farewell concert 36 years earlier. The band hasn't played together since their 1993 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction.
2003 Dixie Chicks appear naked on the front cover of Entertainment Weekly, with slogans such "Traitors," "Hero," "Boycott," "Saddam's Angels" and "Proud Americans" printed across their bodies. The slogans represent the mixed reaction Dixie Chicks received following singer Natalie Maines' anti-George W. Bush comments.More
1989 Michael Jackson, wearing a wig and fake moustache, enteres a Zales jewelry store in Simi Valley, California. Security finds him suspicious and calls the police, who show up to explain that you shouldn't wear a disguise to a jewelry store.
1980 At the University of Birmingham, England, Joy Division play what transpires to be their final show, two weeks before singer Ian Curtis commits suicide at the age of 23. The show features the band's only live performance of the song "Ceremony," which is later released as the debut single by New Order - a new act formed from the surviving members.
1979 At the Rainbow Theatre in London, The Who play their first concert following the death of drummer Keith Moon. Their new stickman is Kenney Jones, formerly of Faces.
1971 It's day two of the Mayday protests, as demonstrators fed up with the war in Vietnam try to shut down the US government by blocking off streets and bridges in Washington, DC. Thousands of arrests are made, many to bystanders who have nothing to do with the protest. At the foot of the Washington Monument, where much of the action is taking place, Jonathan Edwards performs his new song, "Sunshine." As the arrests continue, he plays the song over and over, "because there's no better song for the soundtrack of that movie."
1950 Foreigner lead singer Lou Gramm is born Louis Andrew Grammatico in Rochester, New York. He and guitarist Mick Jones, the main songwriters in the group, are inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2013.
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