29 MAY
Featured Events
1996 This item appears in The Guardian: Newly widowed Stella Serth has been convicted of a public order offence in Tasmania. Mrs. Serth has been fined £200 for dancing on her husband's grave and singing "Who's Sorry Now?"
1992 Concerned that students are identifying with Freddie Mercury, who has recently died of AIDS, the principal at Sacred Heart School in Clifton, New Jersey, doesn't allow 8th graders to perform the Queen song "We Are The Champions" at their graduation ceremony. When students flood the radio station Z100 with requests for the song, it is re-released as a single.More
1984 Tina Turner releases Private Dancer, her big comeback album.More
1976 Diana Ross' "Love Hangover" hits #1 in America. It's the first disco hit for Motown Records, which is slow to embrace the sound.
1971 The Rolling Stones' "Brown Sugar" hits the top of the Hot 100 for the first of two weeks.
1969 Crosby, Stills & Nash release their self-titled debut album, lighting a path for '70s bands like America and the Eagles with rich harmonies and mysterious lyrics.More
1961 Melissa Etheridge is born in Leavenworth, Kansas.
29 MAY
In Music History
2021 B.J. Thomas dies of lung cancer at 78. His most popular song is "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head," a #1 US hit in 1970 used in the movie Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid.
2013 Marvin Junior (lead baritone of The Dells) dies from complications of kidney failure at age 77.
2012 Aaron Freeman tells Rolling Stone that he is retiring Gene Ween, the stage name under which he has performed with Ween for nearly two decades. This appears to be the end of Ween, and the members of the now-defunct band begin pursuing other projects.
2010 Justin Bieber, 16, hits #1 with his debut album, My World 2.0, making him the youngest male solo artist to top the chart since 13-year-old Stevie Wonder did it in 1963.
2005 Jazz singer-songwriter Oscar Brown Jr., writer of the popular jazz song "Afro Blue," dies from complications of osteomyelitis at age 78.
1999 Photographers taking shots of old cars wrecked at the bottom of Malibu's Decker Canyon discover the body of Iron Butterfly bassist Philip Kramer, who had gone missing on February 12, 1995. His death is ruled a suicide.
1989 John Cipollina (lead guitarist of Quicksilver Messenger Service) dies at age 45 from Alpha 1-antitrypsin deficiency, a genetic disorder that can lead to several diseases including emphysema, liver disease, lung cancer and COPD.
1989 Elvis Presley's first grandchild, Danielle Riley Keough, is born to Lisa Marie Presley.
1988 Bob Dylan duets with Band drummer Levon Helm on the group's "The Weight" at a Helm show in New York. The duo also perform Chuck Berry's "Nadine."
1984 Comic rap group the Fat Boys release their self-titled debut album. By the end of the '80s, they have four Gold albums (including their debut) and star in the movie Disorderlies.
1983 Kiss play their last concert in their famous makeup; at least until 1996 when they re-form with all original members and painted faces once again.
1983 Van Halen get a record $1.5 million to play Day 2 ("Heavy Metal Day") of Apple founder Steve Wozniak's US Festival, the second and final year of the event. It's the most any act has ever been paid for a single performance.More
1982 "House Of Fun" by Madness hits #1 in the UK. It's the only #1 hit of their career, but they place 17 songs in the Top 10 and 31 in the Top 40.
1977 Goddard Lieberson, who served as president for both Columbia Records (1956-1971; 1973-1975) and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), dies of cancer at age 66.
1976 Dave Buckner (original drummer for Papa Roach) is born in Los Angeles, California.
Jeff Buckley Dies At Age 30
1997Jeff Buckley drowns while swimming in Wolf River in Tennessee. The singer/songwriter/guitarist known for his version of "Hallelujah" is 30 years old at the time of his death.
Buckley wades into a slack water channel of Wolf River, still wearing his engineer boots and clothes, singing along to the chorus of Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love" playing from a waterside boom box. He waves off the warnings of roadie Keith Foti about the frothing muddy water and the passing boats. Buckley is in Memphis recording newly written songs at Easely Studios. Despite his fear of the sophomore album slump, he feels good about his voice and he's in high spirits. His bandmates are on a flight to Memphis to join him. Foti looks up from his spot on the shore after a tugboat passes. Buckley is gone. After ten minutes of increasingly frantic calling, Foti calls 911. Memphis police rake the river and its banks on foot, by air, and by boat under powerful emergency lights that illuminate the entire area. Rescue efforts by friends and local authorities continue through the night, hobbled by bad weather. Buckley isn't seen again until June 4, when a passenger spots his body floating near a cruise boat. Jeff is recognized by his purple navel ring and by the green nail polish on three toenails. Buckley's father, Tim Buckley, died of an overdose at age 28. Jeff was in a good state of mind, and had no drugs in his system at the time of his drowning. He'd had a drink, but not enough to be legally intoxicated. Memphis Police presume that the wake of the tugboat sucked Buckley under the surface and away from the shore, where his heavy boots could have filled with water and made swimming difficult. Buckley is memorialized by PJ Harvey in her song "Memphis," Aimee Mann in "Just Like Anyone," and Chris Cornell in "Wave Goodbye." Buckley's first and final album, Grace, soon shows up on lists of the best all-time albums and is regarded by many as a modern classic.
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