Calendar Search Results: u i a song
June 12, 1981 John Gourley is born in Willow, Alaska. He's raised in nearby Wasilla, where he forms Portugal. The Man, who have a hit in 2017 with "Feel It Still." He honors his Alaskan heritage throughout his career - the band's 2025 album Shish is a reference to the Alaskan village of Shishmaref.
June 5, 1981 Sebastien Lefebvre (rhythm guitarist for Simple Plan) is born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
June 1, 1981 The first issue of the heavy metal magazine Kerrang is published as a special pull-out by UK weekly music paper Sounds, with AC/DC on the front cover.
May 28, 1981 Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five are the opening act for The Clash, who play the first of eight shows at Bond's in Times Square, New York (future home of Tower Records). The rappers are booed and assaulted with various projectiles as the crowd does not appreciate their act.
May 16, 1981 Ernie Freeman, a pianist known for R&B and pop arrangements from the '50s through the '70s, dies at a heart attack at age 58. Won Grammy awards for his arrangements of Frank Sinatra's "Strangers in the Night" and Simon & Garfunkel's "Bridge Over Troubled Water."
May 10, 1981 Kraftwerk release their eighth studio album, Computer World, featuring prescient songs about the influence of computers on society.More
May 8, 1981 Lionel Richie and Diana Ross meet at a Reno, Nevada recording studio at 3:30 a.m., where they record vocals for "Endless Love," needed quickly so it can be inserted into the film of the same name. Richie flew in from Los Angeles; Ross drove up after her concert in Lake Tahoe. The song becomes one of the biggest hits of the decade.
May 3, 1981 Josh Tillman is born in Rockville, Maryland. He is the drummer for Fleet Foxes before going solo as Father John Misty.
April 30, 1981 Justin Vernon of Bon Iver is born in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. His minimalist, emotionally fraught debut album, For Emma, Forever Ago, earns him a record deal in 2007, and his self-titled 2011 follow-up leads to a Grammy win for Best New Artist.
April 21, 1981 Weird Al Yankovic (along with his drummer, Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz) makes his TV debut, playing the Queen parody "Another One Rides The Bus" on Tom Snyder's The Tomorrow Show.
April 18, 1981 Chris Squire and Alan White of Yes begin rehearsals with Jimmy Page and Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin. It doesn't lead anywhere, and Yes gets back together to release their 1983 album 90125.
April 12, 1981 Rush are guests at Kennedy Space Center to witness the first space shuttle launch, which inspires their song "Countdown."
April 7, 1981 Rick James releases his most successful album, Street Songs, with "Fire And Desire" and "Super Freak."
April 5, 1981 Blues-rock musician Bob "The Bear" Hite (lead singer of Canned Heat) dies at age 38 after snorting a vial of heroin - thinking it was cocaine - given to him by a fan.
April 4, 1981 Styx hit #1 in the US with Paradise Theatre, a concept album based on the rise and fall of a theatre in Chicago.More
March 28, 1981 Blondie's "Rapture" hits #1 on the Hot 100, becoming the first chart-topper with a rap.More
March 14, 1981 After toughing out a concert in Madison, Wisconsin, in severe pain, Eric Clapton is flown to St. Paul, Minnesota, where he's treated for severe ulcers that nearly kill him. The rest of the tour is cancelled, and Clapton spends almost six weeks in the hospital recovering. In January 1982, he returns to Minnesota and enters rehab to treat the alcohol addition that caused his ulcers.
March 14, 1981 The California punk rockers Black Flag play the Peppermint Lounge in New York City. In the audience are all three future members of Beastie Boys and Thurston Moore, who goes on to form Sonic Youth. Also in the crowd: Henry Rollins, who takes over as Black Flag lead singer later that year.
March 11, 1981 LeToya Luckett, one of the four original members of Destiny's Child, is born in Houston, Texas.
March 11, 1981 Russell Lissack of Bloc Party is born in Chingford.
March 10, 1981 Jimmy Page takes the stage for the first time since the breakup of Led Zeppelin when he joins Jeff Beck for some encores at a London show.
March 1, 1981 NBC airs Elvis And The Beauty Queen, starring Don Johnson as Elvis Presley. The TV special tells the story of his last years and his affair with Linda Thompson.
February 24, 1981 Rick Springfield releases his breakthrough album Working Class Dog, with the #1 hit "Jessie's Girl." The pooch on the cover is his bull terrier Ronnie.
February 21, 1981 REO Speedwagon's ninth album, Hi Infidelity, goes to #1 in America, displacing John Lennon's Double Fantasy.More
February 21, 1981 The Australian composer Ron Grainer, best known for writing the "Doctor Who Theme," dies at age 58.
February 19, 1981 ABKCO Music, owner of the publishing rights to the Chiffons hit "He's So Fine," is awarded $587,000 from George Harrison, who was found guilty of subconsciously plagiarizing the song in his composition "My Sweet Lord."
February 17, 1981 Eric Clapton releases his seventh solo album, Another Ticket. The first version was rejected by his record company so Clapton started over with a new producer (Tom Dowd) and wrote new songs, including the hit single "I Can't Stand It."
February 17, 1981 Paris Hilton is born in New York City. An heir to the Hilton Hotels empire, she becomes famous as a socialite and reality TV star, then moves into music with the 2006 single "Stars Are Blind," which charts worldwide.
February 15, 1981 Mike Bloomfield, a renowned guitarist with The Paul Butterfield Blues Band and The Electric Flag, is found dead in his car under mysterious circumstances. Al Kooper, who played with him on many Bob Dylan sessions, surmises that Bloomfield overdosed and his drug dealer drove him to a secluded spot to be found later.
February 12, 1981 Riding the (permanent) wave of their previous album, Rush release Moving Pictures. Featuring "Tom Sawyer," "Limelight" and "YYZ," it becomes the best-selling album in the Rush discography. "The Camera Eye" is the last 10-minute-long song Rush ever record in the studio.
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