2004 – Blues singer Arnold “Gatemouth” Moore dies in Yazoo City, Miss., after a long illness. He is 90. Born in Topeka, Kan., Moore grew up in Memphis. He worked with various Kansas City jazz bands, and fronted Bennie Moten’s legendary group.
2004 – Mercury artist Terri Clark is invited to become a member of the Grand Ole Opry during her appearance at the venerable Nashville institution. She is to be the first Canadian woman to become an Opry member at her formal induction, set for June 12, 2004.
2004 – Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder plays a surprise five-song solo set at Seattle’s Showbox club, as part of a benefit concert that raised approximately $16,000 for the local chapter of the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America.
2003 – June Carter Cash dies at Nashville’s Baptist Hospital of complications following heart surgery she underwent the previous week. She is 73.
2002 – Nellie Shabalala, wife of Ladysmith Black Mambazo leader Joseph, is shot to death in the township of Claremont, near Durban, South Africa. She is 49. Her husband is shot in the arm in the same incident.
2002 – New Jersey-based act Seven & the Sun appear on the NBC daytime drama “Passions” to debut its single, “Walk With Me.”
2001 – U.K. singer/songwriter Badly Drawn Boy (Damon Gough) storms off stage at the Showbox club in Seattle after engaging in an argument with concert attendees who are talking during his performance. Gough returns five minutes later to exchange expletives with the hecklers and finish out the show. He plays for a total of three hours.
2000 – Free, one of the U.K.’s best-respected rock bands, is celebrated with the U.K. release of a five-CD box set. “Songs Of Yesterday” is an 80-track compilation of the legacy of the powerhouse rock/R&B act _ both on its own recordings and with other artists.
2000 – Sweden’s King Carl XVI presents Isaac Stern and Bob Dylan each with the Polar Music Prize at Stockholm’s Berwaldhallen venue. The prize consists of Skr 1 million ($110,968).
1999 – Rob Gretton, manager of Joy Division and New Order, dies of a heart attack. Gretton, 45, was key in developing the ’80s Manchester scene.
1999 – Ernst Mosch, Germany’s “king of folk music,” collapses and dies at his home in Germaringen. He is 73. Mosch founded an orchestra in 1955 that popularized the typical sound of Bohemian brass-band music and subsequently sold more than 40 million records on Teldec and Koch.
1998 – Pioneering music-industry attorney Harold Orenstein dies in New York. He is 85. Active until his death, Orenstein focused on the songwriter/music publisher phase of the business. He also represented composer Philip Glass and the late Frank Loesser.
1994 – Singers Sting and Nancy Wilson receive honorary doctorates from the Berklee College of Music in Boston. The former lead singer of the Police called music a priceless gift and told graduates it has the power to heal souls. His diploma was inscribed with his real name: Gordon Sumner.
1982 – No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit: “Ebony and Ivory,” Paul McCartney with Stevie Wonder.
1977 – No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit: “Sir Duke,” Stevie Wonder. The song is a tribute to jazz genius Duke Ellington.
1968 – No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit: “Tighten Up,” Archie Bell & the Drells. Archie Bell was hospitalized from wounds suffered in Vietnam when the song hit the top.
1963 – Tony Bennett’s “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” wins a Grammy for Record of the Year, Vaughn Meader’s “The First Family” wins a Grammy for Album of the Year.
1953 – Mike Oldfield is born in Reading, England. The classical rock multi-instrumentalist-composer’s only entry in the Hot 100 is “Tubular Bells,” the theme from “The Exorcist.” The song reaches No. 7 in 1974.
1948 – Brian Eno (Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno) is born in Suffolk, England. He is a founding member of the group Roxy Music.
1918 – Country music singer Eddy Arnold (Richard Edward Arnold) is born near Henderson, Tenn. He becomes a popular singer on Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry as Pee Wee King and goes on to be one of country’s most prolific recording artists, spending 145 weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s country singles chart, more than any other performer.
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