29 MAY
Featured Events
1997 Jeff 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.More
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.
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.
Van Halen Gets Record Payout To Play US Festival
1983Van 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.
There is enough metal at this festival to frame a skyscraper: Mötley Crüe, Quiet Riot, Judas Priest, Ozzy Osbourne, Scorpions and Triumph are also on the bill. "Metal Day" has the most unruly crowds at the festival, and there are a number of arrests and one death among the crowd, estimated at 300,000 during its peak. Van Halen has been off the road since February, when their Hide Your Sheep tour came to an end. This means they need to reassemble with all their gear and rehearse for a single performance - not an easy task, especially when your frontman is somewhere in South America. When they hit the stage, it's classic Van Halen, complete with Eddie's masterful solos and David Lee Roth's chaps. When their album 1984 appears in January, they become the biggest band on the planet, thanks to their #1 hit "Jump" and constant exposure on MTV. The next day at the festival is "Rock Day," featuring David Bowie. He's the reason Van Halen got so much money to perform: it cost Wozniak $1.5 million to lure Bowie, and VH had a clause in their contract saying they had to be the highest-paid act.
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