September 9, 1970 Rapper Dray (of Das EFX) is born Andre Weston in Teaneck, New Jersey. Featured on Ice Cube's 1993 hit, "Check Yo Self."
August 31, 1970 Debbie Gibson is born in Brooklyn, New York. A music prodigy, she has two #1 hits while still in her teens: "Foolish Beat" in 1988 and "Lost In Your Eyes" a year later.
August 30, 1970 Jimi Hendrix rocks the Isle of Wight Festival in his last British concert appearance. The show is plagued by technical problems, with the guitarist's amplifier picking up signals from the security radios. Other artists appearing onstage include Free, Joan Baez and The Moody Blues. The festival closes with a dawn performance by Richie Havens, who also opened at Woodstock.
August 29, 1970 The Isle of Wight Festival hits its stride on Day 4 (of 5), with performances by Miles Davis, The Doors, The Who and Joni Mitchell. Mitchell's set is interrupted by a hippie named Yogi Joe who has to be removed by security. It also features Emerson, Lake And Palmer in only their second live performance.More
August 28, 1970 The third day of the Isle of Wight Festival includes performances from Procol Harum, Rory Gallagher's trio Taste and Chicago. Although appearing on the bill and in the programme, Mungo Jerry decide not to play when the show overruns to such an extent they would be playing in the early hours of the morning.
August 27, 1970 The second day of the Isle of Wight Festival is notable primarily for its lack of big names. It does see an early appearance from Supertramp, whose debut album was released just four weeks earlier.
August 27, 1970 No Doubt bass player Tony Kanal is born in London to Indian parents. He and frontwoman Gwen Stefani date for about seven years, triggering the song "Don't Speak," but they manage to remain friends and bandmates after their split.
August 26, 1970 The five-day Isle of Wight festival kicks off in England, boasting a very impressive lineup, including Joan Baez, Joni Mitchell, Donovan, Jethro Tull, Miles Davis, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, The Doors, The Who, The Moody Blues, Chicago, Procol Harum, Sly and the Family Stone, Free and, in his last concert appearance in England, Jimi Hendrix.More
August 25, 1970 At Plymouth Guildhall in England, Emerson, Lake & Palmer perform for the first time. They play to a far larger audience four days later at the the Isle Of Wight Festival.
August 25, 1970 The little-known 23-year-old singer Elton John plays his first live show in the United States, co-headlining with the singer/songwriter David Ackles at The Troubadour in West Hollywood. The show gets rave reviews, giving him a huge career boost in America.More
August 23, 1970 Lou Reed plays his last gig with The Velvet Underground at the club Max's Kansas City in New York. His father brings him home to Long Island and puts him to work in his accounting firm, where he stays for two years before signing a solo deal.
August 11, 1970 Jimmy Buffett releases his debut album, Down To Earth, a folk-rock collection that includes "The Captain and the Kid" - a song written in honor of his late grandfather. The album sells just 374 copies.
August 6, 1970 On the 25th anniversary of the Hiroshima atomic bomb, a Concert For Peace at Shea Stadium in New York features Janis Joplin, Paul Simon, Steppenwolf and Johnny Winter.
August 1, 1970 After two years of sitting on the shelf (namely due to shocking sex and violence scenes), the gangster movie Performance premieres in London. It features what would have been the acting debut of the Rolling Stones' Mick Jagger (Ned Kelly was released first).
August 1, 1970 Music video director Harold "Hype" Williams is born in Queens, New York. He breaks into directing rap videos in the early '90s with clips from Puff Daddy, The Notorious B.I.G., and Nas before adding work with Kanye West and Jay-Z to his resume in the ensuing decades.More
July 29, 1970 The Rolling Stones' contract with Decca expires, and the group takes the opportunity to split with notorious manager Allen Klein. Delivering one more song to the label to fulfill its obligation, the famously unreleasable "C--ksucer Blues" (aka Schoolboy Blues), they also begin the process of forming their own label, Rolling Stones Records (which features their new "tongue and lips" logo).
July 28, 1970 The Rolling Stones' Mick Jagger makes his acting debut in Ned Kelly, a film about the legendary Australian outlaw, which makes his debut in Kelly's own hometown of Glenrowan.
July 27, 1970 A free concert in Chicago becomes a riot when fans pelt the stage with rocks and bottles before Sly & the Family Stone can go on. The band titles their next album There's a Riot Goin' On.More
July 23, 1970 Sam Watters (of Color Me Badd) is born in Camp Springs, Maryland. He follows up his Color Me Badd tenure as a hit songwriter for Kelly Clarkson ("All I Ever Wanted") and Fantasia ("When I See You"), among others.
July 9, 1970 In Bloomington, Indiana, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young wrap up their tour. The group members drift apart and don't hit the road again until 1974.
June 27, 1970 The group Smile change their name to Queen and perform for the first time under that moniker.More
June 22, 1970 The Who show in Atlanta is delayed after Pete Townshend, frustrated waiting to take off in Memphis, jokes about planting a bomb on the airplane, resulting in a search of the aircraft and a few hours of questioning.
June 14, 1970 Blood, Sweat & Tears begins a tour of Romania, Poland, and Yugoslavia on behalf of the US State Department. Working as government ambassadors under the Nixon administration puts the band in bad standing with the protest movement they were part of when they played Woodstock.
June 14, 1970 A billboard taking up an entire city block to promote Grand Funk Railroad goes up in New York City's Times Square. It costs Capitol Records about $100,000 but pays off when their Closer To Home album sells over 2 million copies and they sell out Shea Stadium the next summer.
June 13, 1970 Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo is born in New York City. He is raised on an ashram (spiritual hermitage) in Pomfret, Connecticut before moving to Los Angeles and forming the band in 1992. Weezer quickly gain a local following and earn a record deal just a year later.
June 13, 1970 Uriah Heep release their debut album, ...Very 'Eavy ...Very 'Umble, in the UK. Critic Melissa Mills of Rolling Stone says she'll commit suicide if the group "makes it," but the negative critical reaction doesn't stop Heep from appealing to fans and moving on to have a long, successful career as a trailblazing heavy metal band.
June 9, 1970 Bob Dylan receives an honorary Doctorate of Music from Princeton University. Dylan attends the ceremony on a hot day, during which the noise made by 17-year cicadas apparently drowns out his introduction. The experience inspires his 1970 song "Day Of The Locusts."
June 7, 1970 Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young play the Fillmore East in New York City, where Graham Nash debuts his song "Simple Man," written about his breakup with Joni Mitchell the day before. The show is broadcast live on WNEW-FM and later released as the album Fillmore East 1970.
June 4, 1970 Just one month after the Kent State Shootings, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young release "Ohio," a song about the tragedy.
June 3, 1970 With the BBC refusing to air The Kinks' new single "Lola" because of its reference to "Coca-Cola" (brand names being a no-no for the corporation), lead singer Ray Davies flies all the way from London to New York to re-record the line as "Where you drink champagne and it tastes just like cherry-cola."More
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