2 SEPTEMBER
Featured Events
1995 The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame opens in Cleveland, with opening ceremony performances by Bob Dylan, Chuck Berry, James Brown, Aretha Franklin, Little Richard, Al Green, The Allman Brothers Band, Booker T. & the MG's, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, The Pretenders, John Fogerty, Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, George Clinton, The Kinks, John Mellencamp, Bruce Springsteen, The Animals' Eric Burdon, and Boz Scaggs.
1995 Michael Jackson's "You Are Not Alone" becomes the first song to debut at #1 on the Hot 100. In the video, Jackson and his wife, Lisa Marie Presley, appear topless.More
1993 Pearl Jam's "Jeremy" video wins four awards, including Video of the Year, at the MTV Video Music Awards. Pearl Jam responds by not making any more videos until 1998.More
1988 The Human Rights Now! tour to benefit Amnesty International kicks off with a show at Wembley Stadium in London. Performers on the 20-date trek are Youssou N'Dour, Peter Gabriel, Bruce Springsteen, Tracy Chapman and Sting. It is Springsteen's last tour with the E Street band until 1999.
1987 Sonny Bono announces his run for mayor of Palm Springs, California, after running into zoning problems with his restaurant there. He wins and later becomes a congressman.
1982 Fleetwood Mac kick off their Mirage tour in Atlanta. Their opening act is Men at Work, whose debut album Business as Usual is racing up the charts in America. Two weeks after the tour ends in October, Men At Work get their own tour as headliners.
1978 Teddy Pendergrass plays a midnight "For Women Only" concert at Avery Fisher Hall in New York to promote his album Life Is A Song Worth Singing. It's ladies only in the crowd, and they are treated to white chocolate and lollipops. It proves very popular and more women-only shows are held to capitalize on Pendergrass' appeal to the opposite sex.
1976 Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five become the first rap act to play a theater when they do their first major gig, performing at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem. They introduce various DJ techniques along with rap interplay and choreography.
1957 Pete Seeger plays "We Shall Overcome" at the Highlander Folk School in Tennessee as part of its 25th anniversary celebration. On hand is Martin Luther King, Jr., who gives the closing speech at the celebration. The song becomes ingrained with the civil rights movement as King and Seeger fight for equality.
2 SEPTEMBER
In Music History
2011 T.I. is arrested just days after serving an 11-month sentence at the US Penitentiary in Arkansas. Under his probation agreement, the rapper was allowed to provide his own transportation from Arkansas to a halfway house in Atlanta. However, prison officials objected to his vehicle of choice - a luxury SUV motor coach - and took him back into custody for violating his parole.
2008 At the GQ "Men of the Year" Awards, Lily Allen manages to drink herself into oblivion, insults her co-host Sir Elton John and ends the night by leaking news of her brother's recent engagement in London.
2008 Rage Against The Machine, in Minneapolis to protest the Republican National Convention, are blocked by police, who refuse to let them perform. Rage goes into the crowd and does two songs using a megaphone; riots ensue.
1998 Sandra Denton (aka Pepa of Salt-N-Pepa) gives birth to a daughter named Egypt. The father is Naughty by Nature rapper Treach.
1994 Hootie & the Blowfish make their first of several appearances on The Late Show with David Letterman. They are still well under the radar at this point, but take off a few months later.
1993 Stone Temple Pilots win Best New Artist at the MTV Video Music Awards for "Plush." Also at the ceremony, Snoop Doggy Dogg is arrested for his role in a shooting a week earlier. He posts bail and is found innocent in 1996.
1989 Thanks to a saucy Flashdance-inspired video directed by David Fincher, Paula Abdul's "Cold Hearted" goes to #1 in America.More
1989 N.W.A.'s "Express Yourself" debuts at #45 on the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, becoming their second single to reach that chart.
1986 Debbie Gibson, a 16-year-old high school student from Long Island, signs to Atlantic Records, which is impressed by the many songs she has written and demoed in her home studio.
1978 George Harrison marries Olivia Arias.
1975 Soul/R&B singer Tony Thompson (lead singer for Hi-Five) is born Waco, Texas. He would be raised in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
1971 Grateful Dead have their former manager, Lenny Hart, arrested for embezzling $70,000 from the group's coffers.
1969 R&B singer K-Ci Hailey (of Jodeci) is born in Monroe, North Carolina.
1966 Fear Factory guitarist and co-founder Dino Cazares is born in El Centro, California.
1958 Jerry Augustyniak (drummer for 10,000 Maniacs) is born in Sloan, New York.
Prolific Keyboardist Billy Preston Is Born
1946Billy Preston is born in Houston, Texas. He is raised in Los Angeles, California. Aside from being a sought-after session musician for acts like The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, the affable performer with the gap-toothed grin becomes a star in his own right with a number of funky hits throughout the '70s.
A child prodigy, the self-taught keyboardist hones his talents in church, where he backs some of the biggest names in gospel like Mahalia Jackson and James Cleveland at just 10 years old. By the time he's 16, he releases his debut album, 16 Yr. Old Soul, through Sam Cooke's SAR label, tours with Little Richard, and meets the Beatles. In the meantime, he joins Ray Charles' band and becomes a sought-after session musician. In 1969, George Harrison invites him to sit in on the "Get Back" sessions, which become the Let It Be album, and Preston mans the keys during their historic rooftop concert. The hit single "Get Back" is released with credit to "The Beatles with Billy Preston," making Preston the only artist to share credit on a Beatles record. Shortly after, he signs to the group's Apple Records, but finds greater success at the LA-based A&M label, where he notches several solo hits throughout the '70s, including the funky instrumentals "Outa-Space" and "Space Race," along with "Will It Go Round In Circles" and "Nothing From Nothing." At the same time, he develops a fruitful collaboration with the Rolling Stones, playing on nearly all of their albums from the decade, starting with Sticky Fingers. Despite ups-and-downs with drug addiction and legal woes, Preston continues performing up until his death related to kidney disease in 2006, working with Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Eric Clapton, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. At his memorial service, Joe Cocker sings "You Are So Beautiful," the 1975 hit ballad penned by Preston.
Categories
©2024 Songfacts®, LLC
Comments
send your comment