January 19, 2009 The blind guitarist Jeff Healey wins Entertainer Of The Year at the Maple Blues Awards in Toronto thanks to his debut album, See The Light, which includes the hit "Angel Eyes."
January 18, 2009 A wide range of top musicians including Mary J. Blige, U2, Beyoncé, Bruce Springsteen, Garth Brooks, Sheryl Crow, will.i.am, James Taylor, John Legend, John Mellencamp, Pete Seeger, Shakira, Usher and Stevie Wonder, perform at a concert in Washington, DC, to celebrate the upcoming inauguration of Barack Obama as President of the United States of America.More
January 7, 2009 At the People's Choice Awards, Carrie Underwood is the night's big winner, taking home the Favorite Female Singer, Country Song ("Last Name") and Favorite Star Under 35 Awards. Rascal Flatts takes the award for Favorite Group.
December 5, 2008 The musical biopic Cadillac Records premieres in US theaters, with Beyoncé in a starring role as soul legend Etta James.More
November 26, 2008 Guns N' Roses' Chinese Democracy album fails to achieve massive first-week sales numbers, and Axl Rose points the finger at Dr. Pepper for not having honored its promise made back in March 2008, when the soda company had offered everybody in the US a free can of soda if Guns N' Roses released in 2008 the album which had been announced by Axl Rose for many years.
November 25, 2008 A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All!, the soundtrack to the Christmas comedy special of the same name starring Stephen Colbert, is released on iTunes. Most of the songs featured on the album were written by comedy writer David Javerbaum and Adam Schlesinger, who is the bass player for Fountains of Wayne. The album will go on to win the Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album.
November 23, 2008 Fourteen years after Axl Rose started working on it, the Guns N' Roses album Chinese Democracy is released.More
November 20, 2008 Newly married Ashlee Simpson and Pete Wentz (of Fall Out Boy) welcome a baby boy: Bronx Mowgli Wentz.
November 16, 2008 MTV's Total Request Live ends after 10 seasons with a special three-hour finale. Guests include several of the countdown's mainstays, including Justin Timberlake, Beyonce, Taylor Swift, Eminem, and Britney Spears. Britney's "...Baby One More Time" takes the top spot on the final tally, which presents the Top 10 most iconic music videos.More
November 11, 2008 Eighteen-year-old Taylor Swift releases her second album, Fearless, which goes on to sell over 10 million copies in America. Standout tracks include "Love Story" and "You Belong With Me."
November 4, 2008 A car accident in Santa Clara, California, puts Deftones bassist Chi Cheng into a coma. The tragedy permanently halts the band's recording of Eros, their would-be sixth studio album that never sees the light of day. Ongoing medical problems lead to Cheng's death five years later.
October 25, 2008 Britney Spears returns to the top of the Hot 100 with "Womanizer," her first #1 on that chart since her debut single, "...Baby One More Time," in 1999.More
October 24, 2008 Pianist/keyboardist Merl Saunders dies of infections caused by a stroke in San Francisco, California, at age 74.
October 18, 2008 T.I. claims the top two spots on the Hot 100 with "Live Your Life" (featuring Rihanna) at #1, trailed by "Whatever You Like."
October 18, 2008 Adele is the musical guest on Saturday Night Live, performing "Cold Shoulder" and "Chasing Pavements." Sarah Palin is on the show, which leads to a huge audience and lots of exposure for Adele, giving her a big boost in America.
October 7, 2008 Spotify launches. The most-streamed song for October is "Viva La Vida" by Coldplay; for all of 2008 it's "Human" by The Killers. Ten years later, the company boasts 180 million active users and over 40 million songs.
October 5, 2008 After 17 years living as a couple, Ritchie Blackmore and Candice Night finally tie the knot. Blackmore is formerly of the bands Deep Purple and Rainbow. Night and Blackmore were brought together through a shared love of Renaissance music and together form the band Blackmore's Night, which enjoys nominal success as a British traditional folk / Renaissance music project.
October 4, 2008 Darius Rucker, known as the frontman for the '90s pop band Hootie & the Blowfish, hits #1 on the Country chart with his first country single, "Don't Think I Don't Think About It," making him the first African American singer to top that tally since 1985, when Ray Charles hit the top with "Seven Spanish Angels," a duet with Willie Nelson.
September 30, 2008 Disney releases Nightmare Revisited, a cover album of songs from The Nightmare Before Christmas. The new album commemorates the fifteenth anniversary of the film's original 1993 release and features new arrangements by KoRn, Amy Lee of Evanescence, and Marilyn Manson.
September 29, 2008 T.I. releases the album Paper Trail, made mostly under house arrest while awaiting trial on gun charges. It includes collaborations with Justin Timberlake ("Dead And Gone") and Rihanna ("Live Your Life"), and the hit "Whatever You Like."
September 25, 2008 MySpace Music launches, allowing artists to upload songs to their profiles for fans to stream for free. With 5 million artist pages, MySpace is hoping to compete with iTunes, but it's hemorrhaging users to Facebook and never makes much impact as a streaming service.
September 23, 2008 Guns N' Roses' Appetite For Destruction is certified for sales of 18 million by the RIAA, overtaking Boston's self-titled album (at 17 million) to become the all-time best-selling debut album in America. Ten years later, Hootie & the Blowfish earn the title when their album Cracked Rear View is certified at 21 million.
September 19, 2008 Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker and DJ AM are seriously injured when the plane they are riding in hurtles off the end of a runway in South Carolina and hits a highway embankment.More
September 19, 2008 Ten years after getting arrested for lewd behavior in a Los Angeles public bathroom, George Michael is arrested on drug charges in a restroom north of London. "I want to apologize to my fans for screwing up again, and to promise them I'll sort myself out," the singer says. "And to say sorry to everybody else, just for boring them."
September 7, 2008 While performing the song "Morning Glory" at the V Festival in Toronto, Noel Gallagher of Oasis is attacked by a concert-goer who rushes the stage and pushes him into his monitor. The band continues the show, but Gallagher is taken to a hospital that night to treat injuries to his ribs. He suffers a fractured rib and ligament damage, which forces the cancellation of several Oasis concerts.
September 5, 2008 The first Fender Stratocaster set alight on stage by Jimi Hendrix is auctioned. The guitar sells for $575,000 to collector Daniel Boucher - less than the $1 million predicted. It is one of only two guitars definitively burned by Hendrix - the other was at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967.
August 24, 2008 Barenaked Ladies frontman Ed Robertson emerges unscathed after he crashes his Cessna 206 float-plane near Bancroft, Ontario. Three other passengers, including wife Natalie, are also miraculously uninjured. The Transportation Safety Board is unable to determine the cause of the crash, but clears Robertson of any wrongdoing.
August 24, 2008 Leona Lewis and Jimmy Page perform during the closing ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games at the National Stadium (also known as the Bird's Nest). The duo perform the Led Zeppelin classic "Whole Lotta Love."More
August 23, 2008 Madonna starts her Sticky & Sweet Tour (supporting her album Hard Candy) with a show in Cardiff, Wales. Her first excursion under her Live Nation contract, it breaks the record she set on her 2006 Confessions Tour for biggest-selling tour by a solo artist: the 85 dates earn about $408 million, second only to The Rolling Stones' A Bigger Bang Tour at $558 million.
August 19, 2008 After two years performing in the New York City club scene, 22-year-old Lady Gaga releases her debut album, The Fame, a look at how fame is all about attitude. Thanks to the hits "Just Dance" and "Poker Face," it makes her famous worldwide, not just in her mind.More
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