Calendar Search Results: country
February 26, 1986 Thanks to their hit "West End Girls," Pet Shop Boys land the cover of Smash Hits magazine, which their frontman, Neil Tennant, used to write for.More
January 20, 1986 After years of campaigning to make Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday a federal holiday, Stevie Wonder commemorates the occasion with a star-studded concert celebration in Washington, D.C.More
December 19, 1985 Johnny Paycheck is drinking at a bar in Hillsboro, Ohio, when two guys recognize him and sit near him. Things get tense, and Paycheck pulls out a .22 pistol and shoots one of them, grazing his head. That man, Larry Wise, claims that Paycheck got testy after they offered him a meal of deer meat and turtle soup. Wise says Paycheck yelled, "What do you think I am, a country hick?," and shot him. The country singer is convicted and serves 22 months in jail.
December 12, 1985 After missing a bond revocation hearing in November, David Crosby turns himself in to the FBI and begins serving time for drug and firearms possession. Crosby considered fleeing the country to avoid jail time, but decided to bite the bullet and serve his sentence.
May 20, 1985 Jon Pardi is born in Dixon, California. Part of a wave of artists that make good-time country songs with modern production (Sam Hunt and Florida Georgia Line are others), he breaks through in 2013 with "Up All Night," a song about a truck, a girl and a dirt road.
May 13, 1985 The Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) holds a meeting in a Washington church where they foment support for their agenda: a ratings system for albums and concerts like those used for movies, and also to keep offensive album covers out of view in record stores. Their efforts lead to warning stickers on albums with offensive lyrics.More
April 27, 1985 The Judds' "Girls' Night Out" goes to #1 Country, where it stays for one week. It's the second chart-topper from the duo's debut album, Why Not Me.
March 25, 1985 Stevie Wonder accepts the Oscar for Best Original Song "in the name of Nelson Mandela."More
March 21, 1985 In Vancouver, the Canadian wheelchair athlete Rick Hansen begins his "Man In Motion" tour to raise money for spinal cord research. Inspired by his quest, fellow Canadian David Foster works with John Parr to write a tribute song to Hansen for the film St. Elmo's Fire.More
February 26, 1985 The Judds win their first Grammy Award when "Mama He's Crazy" (their first #1 single) is named Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal.
January 20, 1985 Country singer Brantley Gilbert is born in Jefferson, Georgia. His 2009 debut album, Modern Day Prodigal Son, puts him on the map with the hit "Country Must Be Country Wide," and he quickly becomes one of the biggest names in country music, known for high-energy performances and blue-collar hits like "Bottoms Up" and "What Happens In A Small Town."
December 8, 1984 Country singer-songwriter Sam Hunt is born in Cedartown, Georgia. He has a huge hit in 2017 with "Body Like a Back Road," which sets a record with 34 weeks at #1 on the Country chart.
December 4, 1984 The singer Jelly Roll is born Jason DeFord in Antioch, Tennessee (his mom gives him his nickname because he's a chubby kid). He starts off as a rapper and ends up both selling and using drugs, leading to a series of arrests. He starts turning his life around after getting out of jail in 2008, and as a country singer makes his mark with songs about struggle and redemption based on his own story.
November 19, 1984 Country singer Cam is born Camaron Marvel Ochs in Huntington Beach, California. She's raised in the San Francisco area and earns a psychology degree from University of California, Davis, before moving to Nashville, where she has her biggest hit with her 2015 single "Burning House."
October 15, 1984 The Judds, a mother-daughter duo from Kentucky, upend the "Urban Cowboy Movement" with their throwback debut album, Why Not Me. It yields three #1 Country singles: "Girls' Night Out," "Love Is Alive," and "Why Not Me."More
August 7, 1984 R&B singer Esther Phillips dies of drug-induced liver and kidney failure at age 48 in Carson, California. Known for comeback country tune "Release Me."
June 22, 1984 The Dolly Parton movie Rhinestone is released, featuring Parton as a country singer trying to mentor a New York cabbie played by Sylvester Stallone.
May 5, 1984 Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders marries Jim Kerr of Simple Minds.More
March 24, 1984 Toby Keith marries Tricia Lucus. The country star first laid eyes on his future wife at an Oklahoma nightclub in 1981.
December 2, 1983 Jana Kramer is born in Michigan. She stars in the TV series One Tree Hill before launching a career as a country singer.
October 29, 1983 "Islands in the Stream," written by the Bee Gees and intended for Marvin Gaye, goes to #1 in the US as a duet by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton.More
July 29, 1983 Country singer Ashley McBryde is born in Waldron, Arkansas. She drops out of college and starts playing bars in 2002 but doesn't break through until 2017 when she lands a record deal and releases her first single, "A Little Dive Bar In Dahlonega."
May 28, 1983 Apple's Steve Wozniak hosts the second US Festival, intending it to be the "Super Bowl of rock." The lineup is even more impressive than that of its 1982 predecessor, and the attendance is substantially larger. Wozniak splurges on David Bowie with two million dollars of his own money, simply because he "really loves him."More
March 10, 1983 Carrie Underwood is born in Muskogee, Oklahoma. She begins her music career by winning Season 4 of American Idol, becoming the first country singer to do so. She becomes the best-selling Idol alum in any genre, with over 20 million albums sold in America.
February 23, 1983 Alabama wins a Grammy Award for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal for "Mountain Music."
December 8, 1982 Country singer Marty Robbins dies at age 57, six days after undergoing quadruple coronary bypass surgery.
October 16, 1982 Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You," a #1 Country hit in 1974, goes back to the top spot thanks to its use in the movie The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas. This makes it the first song to top that chart twice.
October 8, 1982 Culture Club release their debut album, Kissing To Be Clever, in their native UK. Issued in America a few months later, it kicks out three Top 10 hits in that country ("Do You Really Want To Hurt Me?," "I'll Tumble 4 Ya" and "Time (Clock of the Heart)"), leading a wave of MTV-friendly UK acts that includes Duran Duran and Eurythmics.
August 28, 1982 George Strait lands his first #1 Country hit with "Fool Hearted Memory," a song from his second album, Strait From The Heart, which also contains his famous cover of "Amarillo By Morning." Strait quickly becomes the biggest hitmaker in country music, with 17 #1 hits by the end of the decade.
August 28, 1982 Country singer LeAnn Rimes is born Margaret LeAnn Rimes in Jackson, Mississippi.
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