2014 At the St. Louis club Blueberry Hill, Chuck Berry performs for the last time. The rocker, who dies in 2017, played monthly gigs at the venue starting in 1996.
2003 The Louis Armstrong House Museum opens its doors to the public. Located in the Corona neighborhood of Queens, New York, the home was the longtime residence of the late singer. He and wife Lucille Wilson moved in as newlyweds in 1943 and stayed until Armstrong's death in 1971.
1995 Paul McCartney and his wife Linda appear on an episode of The Simpsons where they help Lisa become a vegetarian. Paul explains that if you play "Maybe I'm Amazed" backwards, you'll hear a recipe for lentil soup.
1977 Debby Boone's "You Light Up My Life" hits #1 for the first of 10 weeks, the longest consecutive chart run in the history of the Hot 100 at the time.
1964 Cole Porter dies of kidney failure at age 73. He had suffered with chronic pain since the late-'30s when he was severely injured in a horseback-riding accident, leading to years of operations and an eventual amputation of his right leg.
1960 The famous lineup of The Beatles records together for the first time when Ringo Starr replaces an ailing Pete Best as the group backs up Rory Storm and the Hurricanes guitarist Wally Eymond on a recording of George Gershwin's "Summertime."
2019 Chambers Brothers vocalist and bassist George "Pops" Chambers passes away at 88 years old.
2011 Lady Gaga, Stevie Wonder and Usher all perform at Bill Clinton's 65th birthday celebration at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. Gaga turns her hit song into "Bill Romance" for her performance.
2011 Seal, along with Hilary Swank and Jean-Claude Van Damme, attends the 35th birthday party of Chechen president and human-rights abuser Ramzan Kadyrov. The celebrities take a lot of heat for pimping themselves out to this unsavory ruler.
2006 Patti Smith closes down the celebrated Manhattan music club CBGB, playing the last show at the venue. The club closes after an extended dispute between club owner Hilly Kristal and the Bowery Residents Committee. Rock fans try to preserve the building as a historical landmark, but those efforts fail and a men's clothing store moves in.
2003 The members of veteran independent rock act Dub Narcotic Sound System are involved in a car accident, forcing the hospitalization of frontman Calvin Johnson and bassist Chris Sutton.
2000 Dave Edmunds undergoes a triple-bypass heart operation at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles.
2000 U2 notch their fourth UK #1 hit when "Beautiful Day" beats out Robbie Williams and Kylie Minogue's "Kids" for the top spot.
1999 Folk singer/songwriter Terry Gilkyson (of The Easy Riders) dies from complications of an aneurysm in Austin, Texas, at age 83. Known for the 1957 hit "Marianne."
1998 Puff Daddy plays his first-ever UK show at the official opening of the new London venue Sound Republic in Leicester Square. The invitation-only event is broadcast live by MTV UK.
1998 MCA Records Inc. files a breach-of-contract lawsuit against New Edition members Ralph Tresvant, Johnny Gill, Ricardo Bell, Michael Bivins, and Ronald DeVoe for alleged failure to deliver albums.
1997 Virginia concert promoter Patricia Ann Richardson files suit against Snoop Doggy Dogg, his former manager Sharitha Knight, and Death Row Records for allegedly tricking her into transporting packages containing seven pounds of marijuana to a venue where Snoop Doggy Dogg was performing. Richardson claims she was stopped, searched and arrested by local, state and federal law enforcement officers at the entrance to the club.
1992 Madonna holds a "Sex" party at Industria Superstudio in Manhattan to promote her upcoming book Sex. She shows up dressed like Little Bo Peep, carrying a stuffed lamb.
1991 The first day of the Guitar Legends festival is held at Seville, Spain. The 5-day festival features performances by Roger Waters, Joe Satriani and B.B. King.
1988 UB40's cover of Neil Diamond's "Red Red Wine" finally hits #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 over four years after its initial release. Lead singer Ali Campbell says that they always knew it as a reggae song and had no idea Diamond wrote it.
1988 The Amnesty International - Human Rights Now! tour ends with a show in Buenos Aires. Along with Sting, Peter Gabriel and Tracy Chapman, Bruce Springsteen performs with the E Street Band, closing out his last tour with the group until 1999, when they re-form.
Rick Nelson (formerly Ricky) plays the "Rock & Roll Spectacular" concert at Madison Square Garden. When he plays some newer songs, the hit-hungry audience boos. Nelson writes the song "Garden Party" about the experience, and it becomes a hit, reviving his career.
Oldies shows didn't exist until 1969 when the promotor Richard Nader held the first Rock & Roll Revival concert at Madison Square Garden. It was wildly successful, and over the next few years similar concerts take place at the venue with a wide array of performers who were big in the '50s. Ricky Nelson wants nothing to do with these shows, but relents when Nader agrees to change the name to "Rock & Roll Spectacular" so it won't seem so musty. Nelson is listed as a "special guest star" on the bill, which also includes Chuck Berry, Bobby Rydell, The Shirelles, The Coasters, Gary U.S. Bonds and Bo Diddley. Nelson is one of the biggest hitmakers of the '50s, but he's also still active writing and recording new material, mostly in the country-rock vein. The concept of a nostalgia show is alien to him, so he figures he can play some hits and then sneak in some new material. He starts out playing some of his chestnuts, including "Be-Bop Baby" and "Hello Mary Lou," delighting the crowd. He plays "She Belongs to Me," a minor hit from just two years earlier, and then sits down at a piano and goes into his cover of "Honky Tonk Women" from his upcoming album. When he completes the song and walks back to his guitar, some in the audience boo him, which catches him off guard - he had been playing new material at college shows for a while without a problem, and is surprised by the hostile reaction. He plays one more song and then leaves the building, making him a no-show for the finale. Early in his career, Nelson didn't write his own songs, which was standard practice. In the '70s, he became a songwriter, composing tunes he recorded with his backing group, the Stone Canyon Band. After getting booed at the Garden, he comes up with a new song, "Garden Party," where he sings: It's all right now I learned my lesson well You see, you can't please everyone So you gotta please yourself It becomes the title track to his 1972 album and is released as a single, reaching #6 on the Hot 100, Nelson's first Top 10 hit since 1964. He cites the song as his greatest musical achievement. "It renewed my opinion of myself and what I should be doing," he says. "You can't take something wrong and make it right."
©2024 Songfacts®, LLC
Comments: 2
send your comment