2005 – Badfinger drummer Michael Gibbins dies in his sleep at his home in Florida at the age of 56. The cause of death is not made public.
2003 – Irish singer-songwriter Damien Rice collects the third annual Shortlist Music Prize, climaxing a four-and-a-half hour concert featuring Rice and seven of the nine nominees at the Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles. Styled as a U.S. equivalent to Britain’s Mercury Prize, the Shortlist Prize honors cutting-edge performers whose latest albums have sold less than 500,000 copies at the time of their nomination.
2001 – After months of wrangling over child support, rapper Eminem’s divorce becomes official.
1998 – Without comment, the Supreme Court refuses to throw out a suit charging that composer Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber copied from another songwriter the “Phantom Song” from his “Phantom of the Opera.” The case stems from a 1990 suit filed by U.S. liturgical composer Ray Repp that claims Webber’s song copies Repp’s 1978 composition “Till You.”
1998 – HBO is the home of the world premiere of Janet Jackson’s new music video “Every Time.” The premiere takes place just before the 8 p.m. showing of “William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet” and serves as a prelude to HBO’s premiere of the live concert special from Madison Square Garden, “Janet: The Velvet Rope.”
1997 – Arthur Tracey, radio’s “Street Singer” who delighted millions of listeners in the 1930s with his sweet, flexible tenor, dies at the age of 98.
1997 – Garth Brooks fans snap up more than 139,000 tickets in less than four hours, selling out eight shows at Chicago’s Rosemont Horizon.
1996 – Joan Osborne, Soul Asylum, Jewel, Extra Fancy, the Presidents of the United States of America, and Dog’s Eye View among others perform at the first annual “Concert to Benefit The Pedro Zamora Foundation.” The show raises money for the PZF to use toward educating kids about AIDS.
1996 – Neal McCoy raises $150,000 for a charity he and wife Melinda established in 1995. Country singer Bryan White, Dallas Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman, Cowboys coach Joe Avezzano and radio host Bob Kingsley pitch in for a concert at the Longview High School Coliseum in Longview, Texas. The money goes to the East Texas Angel Network (ETAN) which provides financial assistance for medical treatments and related costs to families with children suffering from serious diseases.
1992 – Eddie Kendricks, lead singer of the R&B group the Temptations during the 1960s, dies of lung cancer. Kendricks left the group in 1971 after such hits as the No. 1 songs “My Girl” and “I Can’t Get Next to You.”
1991 – Two albums by the group Guns N’ Roses debut in the top positions on Billboard’s album chart. “Use Your Illusion II” debuts at No. 1, followed by “Use Your Illusion I.”
1988 – No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit: “Love Bites,” Def Leppard.
1974 – Randy Newman plays Atlanta Symphony Hall backed by an 87-piece orchestra conducted by his uncle Emil Newman.
1961 – No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit; “Hit the Road Jack,” Ray Charles. The song is Charles’ second No. 1 hit.
1954 – Bob Geldof is born in Dublin, Ireland. The singer/songwriter becomes a member of the Boomtown Rats. He is nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for organizing Band Aid, a British superstar benefit group that raised money for famine relief.
1943 – Steve Miller is born in Milwaukee. His biggest song is “Abracadabra,” which hits No. 1 for two weeks in 1982.
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