16 NOVEMBER
Featured Events
2010 For the first time, The Beatles' music is made available for digital download, as iTunes adds most of the group's catalog. Apple Computer spent decades battling the Beatles' Apple Corps record label over the rights to sell music using the Apple name, but a 2007 agreement allowed the companies to work together, setting the stage for the deal.
2008 MTV's Total Request Live ends after 10 seasons with a special three-hour finale. Guests include several of the countdown's mainstays, including Justin Timberlake, Beyonce, Taylor Swift, Eminem, and Britney Spears. Britney's "...Baby One More Time" takes the top spot on the final tally, which presents the Top 10 most iconic music videos.More
1996 The Beatles become the first act with three #1 albums the same year in America when their Anthology 3 compilation goes to the top.
1985 "We Built This City" by Starship hits #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. It is later named Worst Song of All Time by Blender magazine.More
1978 Replicating their infamous promo stunt for the single, Queen are joined onstage at Madison Square Garden by several dozen nude, rotund women during their performance of "Bicycle Race." (Rotund because the single mentions "Fat Bottomed Girls," the title of the other half of the A-side.)
1974 John Lennon's "Whatever Gets You Thru The Night" hits #1 in America. Elton John, who sang and played piano on the track, had bet Lennon that it would hit the top spot. As the bet's loser, Lennon has to join Elton on stage at a Madison Square Garden concert, which he does on November 28 to a manic ovation.
1963 Nino Tempo and April Stevens' "Deep Purple" hits #1 in the US. The famous band later name themselves after the song.
16 NOVEMBER
In Music History
2023 Daryl Hall files a lawsuit against John Oates, exposing a rift in the famously amiable duo. Hall's suit is an attempt to keep Oates from selling his shares of their publishing royalties, a move he calls "the ultimate partnership betrayal."
2019 After 1,730 performances, Donny and Marie Osmond play their last show at the Flamingo in Las Vegas, where they started their residency in 2008.
2018 Songwriter Scott English, whose compositions include "Bend Me, Shape Me" and "Mandy," dies at 81.
2015 Ween announce that they will come together to play two shows in early 2016. This is the first time the band will be together since their breakup in 2012.
2006 The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) sends 417 more letters to sixteen college administrators threatening mass lawsuits if file-sharing is found happening on university servers.
2006 Queen's Greatest Hits is declared the most popular album of all time in Britain, with more than 5.5 million units sold. The Beatles come in second with Sgt. Pepper.
2005 I Walk the Line: A Night for Johnny Cash airs on CBS, with U2, Kris Kristofferson, Jerry Lee Lewis and several others paying tribute to the singer.
2005 Pink Floyd, The Kinks and Eurythmics are among the honorees inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame. The second annual show, which takes place in a ceremony at London's Alexandra Palace, features some momentous reunions, including the gathering of the original Kinks and a performance by the classic line-up of Black Sabbath, featuring Ozzy Osbourne.
2002 Blues pianist and singer Mose Vinson, known for "Blues with a Feeling" and "Sweet Root Man," dies of diabetes at age 85.
2001 Havana's National Theatre debuts Se Seco el Arroyito (The Brooklet Dried Up), a musical written by Cuba's veteran "sonero," Compay Segundo.
2001 The city of Palm Springs, California, unveils a statue in its downtown area honoring the late Sonny Bono, half of Sonny and Cher and mayor of the city for a time in the '80s.
2000 English pianist Russ Conway, known for the 1959 UK #1 hits "Side Saddle" and "Roulette," dies of cancer at age 75.
2000 Jewel becomes one of the first artists to stream a concert online, doing so to benefit an organization working to bring clean water to those who need it.
2000 Joseph "Joe C." Calleja (Kid Rock's hype man), plagued by a host of medical issues, dies at age 26.
2000 29-year-old rapper DJ Screw (real name: Robert Earl Davis, Jr.) is found dead in a Houston recording studio. The coroner finds large amounts of codeine and other prescription drugs in his system.
Donny & Marie's Variety Show Debuts
1975The variety show Donny & Marie, starring Donny and Marie Osmond, debuts on ABC. Their theme song is "May Tomorrow Be A Perfect Day," but the show becomes synonymous with a different tune: "A Little Bit Country, A Little Bit Rock N' Roll."
The pilot episode introduces Donny & Marie's signature tune, "A Little Bit Country, A Little Bit Rock N' Roll," which has the brother and sister sparring over their musical tastes. It becomes a fixture of the program and introduces a weekly segment where country-leaning Marie sings a country cover while rock 'n rolling Donny takes on a rock song. The show also features comedy skits and mini adaptations of hit movies like Star Wars and The Wizard Of Oz, with comedians Paul Lynde and Ruth Buzzi regularly joining in. The singing siblings are members of the Osmond family, a large brood from Ogden, Utah, who found success as an R&B band in the early '70s with the hits "One Bad Apple" and "Crazy Horses." By the time their variety show debuts, Donny is a teen sensation with a handful of solo hits to his credit, including "Puppy Love" and "Go Away Little Girl." Marie, who rarely joins her brothers onstage, is also a star in the country realm with her #1 cover of "Paper Roses." In 1974, the brother and sister decided to collaborate on the duets album I'm Leaving It All Up To You and hit the talk show circuit to promote it. Their toothy-grinned good looks and lighthearted banter as guest co-hosts on The Mike Douglas Show caught the attention of Fred Silverman, president of ABC-TV, who thought the duo would be the perfect hosts for their own variety show. The program is a big hit and attracts several famous guest stars, including Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Merle Haggard, Tom Jones, Olivia Newton-John, John Travolta, Tina Turner, Billy Preston, Sonny & Cher, and - of course - The Osmonds, among many other luminaries from the entertainment world. The success warrants an album release in 1976: Featuring Songs From Their Television Show. It includes their popular takes on "Deep Purple," "It Takes Two," "A Little Bit Country, A Little Bit Rock N' Roll," and Donny's cover of the Four Seasons hit "C'mon Marianne." It earns a gold certification, selling more than 500,000 copies. But after its first two seasons, Donny & Marie's ratings take a big hit due to a few factors: Donny marries Debbie Glenn and dashes the hopes of lovesick fans everywhere; the show airs opposite CBS's new acquisition Wonder Woman; and variety shows overall start to lose their appeal with late '70s audiences. The show is officially cancelled in 1979.
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