2005 – Prolific singer/songwriter/guitarist Lalo Guerrero, known as the “Father of Chicano Music,” dies in Palm Springs, Calif. He is 88. One of the legendary forces in Chicano music, Guerrero first gained recognition with the song “Cancion Mexicana,” which he wrote when he was in his teens.
2005 – Former Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant is presented with his lifetime achievement Grammy award at the South By Southwest (SXSW) music festival and conference in Austin, Texas. Plant, who was unable to attend February’s Grammy ceremonies in Los Angeles, receives the trophy from Recording Academy president Neil Portnow, who is on hand to surprise the singer prior to a keynote interview.
2003 – Bill Carlisle, a Grand Ole Opry cast member who was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame the previous year, dies at his Nashville home of complications from a stroke. He is 94.
2002 – More than a quarter-century after its release as a double album of amplified noise and feedback, former Velvet Underground leader Lou Reed’s “Metal Machine Music” gets its first live performance from Berlin avant-garde classical ensemble Zeitkratzer.
2000 – Shania Twain’s “Come On Over” is certified for sales of 17 million in the U.S., making it the best-selling solo album by a female artist, according to the RIAA.
1999 – Japanese television stations interrupt programming to report on the murder of the mother of the country’s most famous pop idol, Namie Amuro.
1999 – Lillian McMurry, co-founder and owner of Trumpet Records dies of a heart attack in Jackson, Miss. She is 78. Her label was the first to record slide guitarist Elmore James and harmonica ace Sonny Boy Williamson; Big Joe Williams, Little Milton, and B.B. King also appeared on the label.
1995 – Neo-folksinger Suzanne Vega marries producer and keyboardist Mitchell Froom in New York. Froom produced Vega’s 1992 album “99.9 Degrees F.”
1990 – Whitney Houston headlines an AIDS benefit concert at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. The concert, dubbed “That’s What Friends Are For,” also celebrates the 15th anniversary of Arista Records.
1982 – Samuel George Jr. of the Capitols dies after being stabbed. Age 38.
1976 – The Bob Dylan song “Hurricane” prompts boxer Rubin “Hurricane”‘ Carter’s retrial.
1956 – Carl Perkins appears on “Ozark Jubilee.” It is his first television appearance.
1944 – John Sebastian is born in New York. He forms the Lovin’ Spoonful in 1965 and has a No. 1 hit in 1976 with “Welcome Back,” the theme for the ABC-TV series “Welcome Back Kotter.”
This Day in Music
2002 - More than a quarter-century after its release as a double album of amplified noise and feedback, former Velvet Underground leader Lou Reed's "Metal Machine Music" gets its first live…