Calendar Search Results: i was at
October 13, 1984 Stevie Wonder's "I Just Called To Say I Love You" tops the Hot 100, Adult Contemporary, R&B and UK Singles charts.More
September 20, 1984 Folk singer/songwriter Steve Goodman dies of leukemia in Seattle, Washington, at age 36.
September 1, 1984 Tina Turner completes her comeback as "What's Love Got To Do With It" hits #1 in America.More
August 10, 1984 Red Hot Chili Peppers release their self-titled debut album, an arduous collaboration with producer Andy Gill of the British rock band Gang of Four.More
July 23, 1984 An appeals court overturnes a ruling that the Bee Gees plagiarized a song called "Let It End" on their hit "How Deep Is Your Love." The judge agrees that there are "striking similarities" between the two songs, but believes the Bee Gees claim that they hadn't heard "Let It End," which was never released and only available as a demo sent to publishers. The case puts the onus on plaintiffs to prove that defendants had access to songs they are accused of copying.
July 13, 1984 Philippé Wynne, who was with The Spinners from 1972 to 1977, has a heart attack while performing at a nightclub in Oakland, California. Wynne, 43, dies the next day.
May 29, 1984 Tina Turner releases Private Dancer, her big comeback album.More
May 5, 1984 Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders marries Jim Kerr of Simple Minds.More
April 27, 1984 Blues singer Arziel "Z.Z." Hill, known for the 1982 Down Home album that was a fixture on the soul album chart for nearly two years, dies at age 48 when a blood clot caused by a car accident months before spurs a heart attack.
April 12, 1984 "Louie Louie Day" is held in Olympia, Washington, as an unsuccessful attempt is made to make it the official state song.
April 5, 1984 Marvin Gaye's funeral takes place in Los Angeles, with Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder, Quincy Jones and Berry Gordy attending. Gaye died 4 days earlier when he was shot by his father during an argument.
March 10, 1984 Ian Gillan leaves Black Sabbath after a year with the band. He later says, "I was the worst singer Black Sabbath ever had."
January 28, 1984 The legendary Nina Simone tells NME she was forced to record her 1978 album Baltimore under duress when she was kidnapped by five men and held in a basement for three days without food or water. She retracts the statement later.
January 27, 1984 At the peak of his popularity, Michael Jackson films an ad for Pepsi that goes horribly wrong when some stray pyro sets his hair on fire.More
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
August 19, 1983 Having been sporadic since it was originally shut down in 1968, "pirate radio" station Radio Caroline makes its comeback on board the ship Ross Revenge in the North Sea's international waters. Six years to the day later, it would be shut down again.
August 9, 1983 22-year-old Thomas Reilly is shot and killed by a British soldier in Belfast. He was a friend of the band Spandau Ballet, and sold merch on their True tour. His death would inspire the band's song "Through The Barricades" and the Bananarama song "King Of The Jungle."
July 25, 1983 Metallica release their debut album, Kill 'Em All, three months after parting ways with guitarist Dave Mustaine.More
June 2, 1983 The 12-inch remix of "The Safety Dance" by Men Without Hats goes to #1 on the Billboard Dance chart. MTV begins playing the huzzah-worthy video, and the song soon rises up the Hot 100.More
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
May 16, 1983 Michael Jackson does the Moonwalk for the first time on TV when he breaks out the move on the Motown 25th anniversary TV special.More
April 11, 1983 Dave Mustaine is kicked out of Metallica because of his drug and alcohol addictions. Soon after, he forms Megadeth, which becomes one of the most successful metal bands of the era.More
April 6, 1983 Ronald Reagan's secretary of the Interior, James Watt, cancels an appearance by The Beach Boys at Washington DC's Independence Day festivities, infamously stating that the band would attract "an undesirable element."
April 1, 1983 The second Men at Work album, Cargo, is released in America. The group's debut was released there less than a year earlier and is still getting airplay, leading to Men at Work saturation. Sudden success takes its toll on the group, which breaks up a few years later.
March 26, 1983 Thanks to heavy rotation on MTV, Duran Duran have their first American hit when "Hungry Like The Wolf" hits #3 on the Hot 100.More
January 28, 1983 English pop singer Billy Fury, known for hit singles like 1961's "Halfway to Paradise," dies of a heart attack at age 42. Fury's heart was damaged when contracted rheumatic fever as a child.
November 30, 1982 Michael Jackson releases Thriller, which becomes, by far, the best selling album worldwide.More
June 24, 1982 Jeffrey Daniel of Shalamar does the Moonwalk on the British TV show Top Of The Pops, getting the attention of Michael Jackson, who popularizes it in America a year later.More
April 13, 1982 David Crosby is busted for freebasing cocaine, leading to a downward spiral that winds through the Dallas County Jail.More
March 6, 1982 Beauty and the Beat hits #1 in America, making The Go-Go's the first all-girl band with a #1 album.More
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