December 26, 1979 Chris Daughtry is born in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina. He places fourth on the fifth season of American Idol but becomes one of the show's most successful alums after forming his band Daughtry.
December 21, 1979 At the San Diego Sports Arena, Linda Ronstadt holds a fundraising concert for her boyfriend, California governor Jerry Brown, who is running for president. Chicago and the Eagles also perform.
November 29, 1979 The original four members of Kiss play for the last time together before their first "breakup."
November 24, 1979 "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)" by Barbra Streisand and Donna Summer becomes the first duet between two women to hit #1 in America.
November 10, 1979 "Rapper's Delight" by The Sugarhill Gang becomes first rap song to hit the Billboard Hot 100, entering the chart at #84.More
October 3, 1979 Instrumentalist Nate Wood (of The Calling) is born.
September 23, 1979 The crowd chants, "Hell No, We Won't Glow" at a massive 5-hour anti-nuke rally in New York City's Battery Park, where Crosby, Stills & Nash, Jackson Browne and Bonnie Raitt are among the performers.More
September 19, 1979 James Taylor, Jackson Browne, The Doobie Brothers, Graham Nash and Bonnie Raitt perform at Madison Square Garden for the first of five "no nukes" concerts.More
August 20, 1979 Bob Dylan, a recent convert to Christianity, releases the faith-driven album Slow Train Coming. It includes "Gotta Serve Somebody," which peaks at #24, becoming Dylan's last single to crack the top 40 in the US.More
July 22, 1979 Little Richard, who has been preaching of his salvation throughout the United States, makes his famous statement, "If God can save an old homosexual like me, he can save anybody."More
July 12, 1979 It's "Disco Demolition Night" at Comiskey Park, where the White Sox and Tigers are playing a doubleheader. The plan is to blow up a bunch of disco albums between games, but it goes horribly wrong when fans become unruly and rush the field, forcing the White Sox to forfeit the second game.More
July 6, 1979 The B-52s release their self-titled debut album, featuring one of their signature songs in "Rock Lobster."
June 26, 1979 Nathan Followill (drummer for Kings of Leon) is born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, to a family that will later include younger brothers - and future bandmates - Caleb and Jared.
June 21, 1979 Angus MacLise (original drummer for The Velvet Underground) dies of hypoglycemia and tuberculosis at age 41.
June 15, 1979 Unknown Pleasures, the debut long-player from British post-punk band Joy Division, is released. Although it does not chart, it becomes hugely influential and is widely critically acclaimed as one of the defining albums of the post-punk era.More
May 23, 1979 Responding to a wave of lawsuits after refusing to transfer his contract to MCA Records, Tom Petty files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, a bold move that halts the legal proceedings and forces MCA to negotiate.More
May 19, 1979 Two months after they are married, Eric Clapton and Pattie Boyd finally get a wedding reception, as Clapton gets a break in touring. Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison are guests, and jam together for the first time in almost 10 years.
March 27, 1979 Eric Clapton marries George Harrison's ex-wife Pattie, the subject of the song "Layla." Harrison attends the wedding and remains friends with Clapton.More
March 17, 1979 Talking Heads make their first major TV appearance, performing "Take Me to the River" on American Bandstand. The lip-synced performance goes well, but the interview is a little awkward.More
March 10, 1979 Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive" hits #1 on the Hot 100. It becomes a female-empowerment anthem, but the song was written by two men.More
January 21, 1979 Lynyrd Skynyrd reunite at the Volunteer Jam in Nashville, Tennessee. This is the first time the band have played since the 1977 plane crash that killed three of their members. Lynyrd Skynyrd perform an instrumental version of "Free Bird" alongside The Charlie Daniels Band.
January 9, 1979 The Bee Gees perform "Too Much Heaven," the #1 song in America, at the Music For UNICEF Concert at the United Nations General Assembly in New York City, and also donate royalties from the song to the charity. Other performers include Donna Summer, Rod Stewart and John Denver. It airs on NBC the next night, and later, a soundtrack album is released.
December 31, 1978 The Runaways play their final show at Cow Palace, near San Francisco. The all-female hard-rock band have been through several line-up changes, but are finally torn apart through conflict between Joan Jett, who wants to take the band in a glam-rock direction, and Lita Ford who wishes to stay in the hard-rock genre. The band formally split the following April.
November 30, 1978 Clay Aiken is born Clayton Holmes Grissom in Raleigh, North Carolina. He goes on to place second behind Ruben Studdard on the second season of American Idol.
October 24, 1978 The movie version of The Wiz, which debuted as a Broadway stage production in 1975, hits theaters. The all-black cast includes Diana Ross as Dorothy and Michael Jackson as the Scarecrow. The film marks Jackson's acting debut.
October 7, 1978 Merle Haggard marries his third wife: Leona Williams, a bass player and singer with Loretta Lynn. The marriage lasts six years.
October 3, 1978 At an Aerosmith show in Fort Wayne, Indiana, cops arrest fans for smoking marijuana, prompting Steven Tyler to chastise them Jim Morrison-style from the stage. Tyler announces that the band will bail out anyone who is arrested that night, and the next day they do just that. Understandably, memories of the event are hazy, and the number arrested has been reported at anywhere from 28-58.
September 24, 1978 Ruth Etting, a popular singer and actress throughout the '20s and '30s, dies at age 80. Her life inspired the 1955 fictionalized biopic Love Me or Leave Me, starring Doris Day and James Cagney.
August 26, 1978 The Canada Jam festival goes down in the Great White North (Bowmanville, Ontario), with The Doobie Brothers, The Village People, Triumph, and Kansas on the bill.
August 12, 1978 After years on the road and substantial chart success, The Commodores finally get their first #1 hit with the Lionel Richie-penned ballad "Three Times a Lady," which is taken from their album Natural High. The single stays at #1 for two weeks.
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