16 NOVEMBER
In Music History
1999 Grady Owen (guitarist for Gene Vincent & His Blue Caps) dies.
1998 Gospel singer J.D. Sumner (of J.D. Sumner and the Stamps) dies of a heart attack at age 73.
1998 Having suffered a seizure while performing in Hollywood a few weeks earlier, Roland Alphonso of the Skatalites slips into a coma.
1998 Kmart gets into the online music game, launching a site called Music Favorites.
1996 Country singer Lorrie Morgan marries her fourth husband, songwriter Jon Randall ("Whiskey Lullaby"). They divorce in 1999.
1994 Chet Powers aka Dino Valenti (lead singer of Quicksilver Messenger Service), who underwent brain surgery years earlier, dies suddenly at age 51 during a period of ill health.
1988 Stan Love, brother and manager of Beach Boy Mike Love, is sentenced to five years' suspended sentence after being found guilty of embezzling over $300,000 from the group.
1987 Lenny Kravitz and actress Lisa Bonet, who plays Denise Huxtable on The Cosby Show, elope in Las Vegas. They divorce in 1993 but have a daughter together, Zoe Kravitz.
1980 '60s soul singer O.V. Wright ("That's How Strong My Love Is") dies of a heart attack at age 41 after consistent drug abuse weakens his health.
1979 Trevor Penick (of O-Town) is born in San Bernardino County, California.
1977 In a sign they are taking hold in America, Rush earn their first Gold albums with 2112, All The World's A Stage and A Farewell To Kings.
1976 Brian Wilson, resident genius of The Beach Boys, comes out of an eight-year seclusion to give an interview to BBC 2's music show Old Grey Whistle Test.
1973 David Bowie is the host of a special edition of the NBC show Midnight Special. His show is called 1980 Floor Show, and features Bowie doing a duet of "I Got You Babe" with Marianne Faithfull, who wears a nun's habit with an open back.
1970 Stephen Stills releases his first (self-titled) solo album, with the hit "Love The One You're With."
1969 Bryan Abrams (of Color Me Badd) is born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
"We Built This City" Rises To #1
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.
Read more16 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.
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.)
1975 The 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." More
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.
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