April 30th: The Biggest Music Headlines

2022
US country music star Naomi Judd died at the age of 76. The Kentucky-born singer was part of the Grammy award-winning duo The Judds, performing with her daughter Wynonna. The Judds released six studio albums during a career spanning three decades, winning them many prestigious accolades – including five Grammys and nine Country Music Association Awards.

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06:01

2020
On his 100th birthday, Captain Tom Moore lands the UK #1 hit with a new version of “You’ll Never Walk Alone.” Moore, a decorated veteran of World War II, raised money for coronavirus relief by walking in his garden. The song was assembled by Michael Ball using Moore’s vocals.

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07:20

2019
Dipak Rao, director of Deep Purple’s royalty management firms, is sentenced to six years in jail for stealing £2.2million from the group’s accounts, which he put toward money-losing schemes.

2019
English musician Boon Gould died age 64. He was one of the four founding members of Level 42 who scored the 1986 hit ‘Lessons in Love’, which reached No.3 on the UK Singles Chart, and No.12 on the US chart.

2019
American concert promoter and media personality Russ Gibb died. He was best known for his role in the “Paul McCartney is dead” phenomenon, a story he broke as a disc jockey on radio station WKNR-FM in Detroit. As a promotor around the Detroit music scene he was instrumental in giving the MC5, Ted Nugent and Iggy Pop their start.

2015
Ben E King, (Benjmin Earl Nelson), soul and R&B singer with The Drifters, died at the Hackensack University Medical Center at the age of 76. The Driffters had the 1960 US No.1 & UK No.2 single ‘Save The Last Dance For Me’, and King scored the the 1987 UK No.1 solo single ‘Stand By Me’, (first released in 1961).

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03:01

2014
Guitarist Wilko Johnson had a major operation in an attempt to treat his pancreatic cancer. Johnson was diagnosed at the end of 2012 and was given 10 months to live after rejecting chemotherapy. Johnson told Q magazine that a cancer doctor had become curious as to why he wasn’t dead. And why I wasn’t even sick which resulted in more tests.

2011
Mariah Carey and her husband Nick Cannon welcome twins: daughter Monroe and son Moroccan.

2008
Gail Renard, who was given the hand written lyrics to ‘Give Peace A Chance’ by John Lennon in 1969, announced plans to sell the lyric sheet at a Christie’s auction. At the time, Lennon told Renard to hang on to the piece of paper, saying “It will be worth something someday.” The piece of music history was expected to fetch around $400,000, but when it was actually sold in July of this year, it went for $790,000 (£400,000).

2008
Mariah Carey married actor Nick Cannon in the Bahamas following a whirlwind two-month romance. The pop diva met Cannon, 27, while shooting the music video for her single ‘Bye Bye.’ It was the second marriage for Carey, who married Columbia Records executive Tommy Mottola in 1993, which ended in 1998.

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04:31

2007
Zola Taylor (of The Platters) dies after suffering numerous strokes and contracting pneumonia at age 69 in Riverside, California.

2005
American guitarist Norma-Jean Wofford died. Known as ‘The Duchess’, she worked with Bo Diddley as a Bo-ette from 1962 to 1966. (Diddley was one of the first artists to have female musicians in his group).

2005
The Dave Matthews Band agreed to pay $200,000 (£105,000) after their tour bus dumped human waste on a boatload of tourists in Chicago in August 2004. Bus driver Stefan Wohl who was alone on board the bus at the time the sewage was dumped was fined $10,000 (£5,200), the band had already donated $100,000 (£54,252) to two group’s that protect the Chicago River and its surrounding area. The Dave Matthews Band offered their “deepest apologies” to more than 100 boat passengers who were on an architectural tour.

2004
New child abuse charges were made against Michael Jackson including a count of conspiracy, covering allegations of child abduction, extortion and false imprisonment. A new court date of May 28th 2004 was set.

2003
1960s soul icon Earl King is buried in his hometown of New Orleans with an authentic jazz funeral. Paul McCartney and Eric Clapton send their condolences.

2002
Roger Daltrey of The Who plays a music teacher on the “That ’70s Musical” episode of That ’70s Show.

1999
The three former members of Spandau Ballet lost a court case against band songwriter Gary Kemp. They had claimed they were owed £1 million in lost royalties. The Judge said he had become a fan of the bands during the case.

1999
Nazareth drummer Darrell Sweet died aged 52, after suffering a fatal heart attack before a show in New Albany, Indiana. Nazareth had the 1973 UK No.9 single ‘Broken Down Angel’ 1976 US No. 8 single ‘Love Hurts’.

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03:54

1994
Ireland wins the Eurovision Song Contest for the third time in a row. Paul Harrington and Charlie McGettigan’s performance of “Rock ‘N’ Roll Kids” at the Point Theatre in Dublin wows the international voting panels and gives the country a record sixth win. The show’s interval features the first ever performance of Michael Flatley’s Riverdance, which goes on to massive global success.

1991
Nirvana signed a recording contract with Geffen’s DGC label for $290,000.

1990
Prince played a concert at Rupert’s Night-club, Minneapolis. The $100 a head ticket proceeds all went to the family of his former bodyguard Charles ‘Big Chick’ Huntsberry, who had died from a heart attack.

1988
S’Express were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Theme From S’Express’. One of the landmarks of early acid house and late 1980s sampling culture, the British track sampled Rose Royce, TZ’s ‘I Got the Hots for You’ and the count-in ‘Uno, dos, uno, dos, tres, quatro’ is from Debbie Harry’s 1985 single ‘Feel the Spin.

1988
An unknown Canadian singer named Celine Dion wins the Eurovision Song Contest for Switzerland. Her song “Ne partez pas sans moi” beats the United Kingdom’s entry by a single point. The success encourages her to learn English, and two years later her fifteenth studio album, Unison (1990), reaches #4 in the US chart. She goes on to become one of the most successful singers in the world – her biggest hit, 1997’s “My Heart Will Go On”, selling over 15 million copies.

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03:05

1988
After a two-year hiatus, Little River Band reunite, kicking off a tour with a show at the World Expo in Brisbane, Australia. Glenn Frey is their support act for the tour.

1983
Michael Jackson started a three week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Beat It’, his fifth solo US No.1. The third single from the singer’s Thriller album featured Eddie Van Halen on the song’s distinctive overdriven guitar solo, but Halen was prevented by his record label from appearing in the music video.

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04:59

1983
Spandau Ballet’s “True” began a four-week run at the top of the UK singles chart with “True,” the group’s only No.1. Parts of the track, which was a hit in 20 other countries, would later be sampled and used in a number of songs – most notably PM Dawn’s 1991 US No.1 hit ‘Set Adrift on Memory Bliss’, which contains a sample of the song’s famous guitar hook.

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05:18

1983
American Blues legend Muddy Waters (McKinley Morganfield) died in his sleep at his home in Westmont, Illinois, aged 68. Major influence of many acts, Cream, Eric Clapton, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones named themselves after Waters’ 1950 song ‘Rollin’ Stone.’ Best known songs include ‘I Just Want To Make Love To You’, ‘I’m Your Hoochie Coochie Man’, ‘Got My Mojo Working.’

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03:46

1980
The film ‘McVicar’ with Roger Daltrey from The Who in the title role premiered in London, England. John McVicar was a 1960s armed robber turned writer who Scotland Yard publicly announced to be Public Enemy Number One and “wanted dead or alive”.

1977
Led Zeppelin broke a new world attendance record at a concert when they played to 76,229 people at a gig at the Pontiac Silverdome, Pontiac, Michigan. The Who held the previous record at the same venue with 75,962 people.

1977
Glen Campbell went to No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Southern Nights’, his second US No.1.

1976
Human rock stereotype Keith Moon of The Who adds to his legend when he pays nine New York City cab drivers $100 each to block both ends of a street so he can throw furniture out of his room at the Hotel Navarro. Details of this story may have been exaggerated or embellished, but it is consistent with his behavior.

1970
Twiggs Lyndon, the road manager for The Allman Brothers Band was arrested for murder after he stabbed a club manager during an argument over a contract. At the ensuing trial, Lyndon’s lawyers argued that he had been temporarily insane at the time of the incident and that touring with the Allman Brothers would drive anyone insane. Lyndon was acquitted.

1968
BBC TV launched The Cilla Black Show making Cilla the first British female performer to have her own TV show. The theme song, ‘Step Inside Love’, was written by Paul McCartney.

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02:20

1966
The Rolling Stones fourth album ‘Aftermath’ went to No.1 on the UK chart, the group’s third UK No.1 album. The album is considered an artistic breakthrough for the band and is the first to consist entirely of Jagger–Richards compositions, while Brian Jones played a variety of instruments not usually associated with their music, including sitar, Appalachian dulcimer, marimbas and Japanese koto.

1964
During a UK tour The Beatles played two shows at The Odeon Cinema in Glasgow. They were also interviewed by BBC Scotland and STV for the evening news programs.

1960
The Everly Brothers started a seven weeks run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Cathy’s Clown’, giving Warner Bros a No.1 with their first release.

1959
Buddy Holly’s “It Doesn’t Matter Anymore” (written by Paul Anka) goes to #1 in the UK nearly three months after his death. It’s his only UK #1.

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02:03

1957
Elvis Presley recorded the Leiber and Stoller song ‘Jailhouse Rock’ as featured in his third motion picture of the same name. In the movie, Mike Stoller had a small role as a piano player. ‘Jailhouse Rock’ later became the first song to debut at No.1 in Great Britain.

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03:29

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