The Biggest Music Headlines

2019
Britney Spears was granted a permanent restraining order against her former manager, Sam Lutfi who looked after her career from 2007 to 2008. A judge granted the five-year order forbidding Lutfi from contacting Spears and her relatives and from making disparaging comments about them online. The singers father Jamie Spears told the court how Lutfi had been a “predator” on his family for over 10 years and he was “worried” about his potential influence.

2017
The National Music Publishers Association gives Yoko Ono the Centennial Award for song of the century and adds her name to the credits of the award-winning song, “Imagine.” John Lennon took the sole credit, but later admitted he got the idea from Yoko’s book Grapefruit, where she wrote things like, “Imagine 1000 suns in the sky at the same time.”

2016
Irish rock guitarist, Henry McCullough died after never fully recovering from a severe heart attack he had suffered four years earlier. He recorded with Paul McCartney and Wings, featuring on the hit James Bond theme, ‘Live and Let Die’ and ‘My Love’, the solo which he made up on the spot in front of a live orchestra. He was also a member of Spooky Tooth and The Grease Band.

2012
Ringo Starr’s birthplace in Liverpool was saved from the threat of demolition. The house, a run-down three-bedroom Victorian terrace, was one of 400 buildings marked for demolition in the Dingle area of Liverpool, but Beatles fans and city residents had successfully lobbied to save the house, along with 15 others in the area. The Liverpool City Council has agreed to give locals the opportunity to fix up the properties.

2007
Bob Dylan won Spain’s Prince of Asturias Arts Award, one of the country’s most prestigious honours. Jury chairman Jose Llado called Dylan a ‘living legend of popular music and the guiding star of a generation that dreamed of changing the world’. Previous winners of the annual prize include US film-maker Woody Allen.

2003
“Bring Me To Life,” the debut single from Evanescence, hits #1 in the UK and stays for four weeks. The song peaks at #5 in America.

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2006
Rufus Wainwright, son of folk singer Loudon Wainwright III, recreates the whole of Judy Garland’s legendary 1961 Carnegie Hall concert at the famous institution in order to mark the show’s 35th anniversary.

2002
During an UK visit Michael Jackson made a tour of Parliament and was shown the monarch’s throne in the House of Lords. Whenever Jackson went outside he called for an umbrella to shield his face from the sun.

2002
Mick Jagger became a Sir when he was knighted in the Queen’s Birthday Honours. It was claimed that the Queen avoided personally giving Jagger his knighthood because she thought he was an inappropriate candidate for the honor.

2002
Cher starts her Living Proof: The Farewell Tour. Planned for 59 dates, it ends up at 325, bringing in 260 million dollars. It’s billed as her final tour, though she ends up returning to music years later.

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2001
Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson are inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame during a ceremony at the Sheraton New York Hotel, along with Eric Clapton, Diane Warren and Paul Williams

2000
American pianist and session musician Paul Griffin died aged 62. He recorded with hundreds of musicians from the 1950s to the 1990s. Griffin worked with Bob Dylan, Steely Dan, Don McLean, the Isley Brothers, Van Morrison, The Shirelles, and Dionne Warwick. He is best known for playing on the albums Bob Dylan albums Highway 61 Revisited, Blonde on Blonde, and Steely Dan’s Aja.

2000
Noel Gallagher from Oasis was voted into first place in Melody Maker’s annual ‘Un-coolest People in Rock’ survey. Marilyn Manson came second and Robbie Williams was voted third.

1997
Puff Daddy and Faith Evans started a 11 week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘I’ll Be Missing You’, a tribute to the late Notorious B.I.G. Also a No.1 in the UK.

1996
Beatles producer George Martin is knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.

1996
Mathew Fletcher, drummer for Heavenly, commits suicide at age 26 just before the release of the band’s fourth and final album, Operation Heavenly.

1995
Irish guitarist Rory Gallagher died after a chest infection set in following a liver transplant. Had been a member of Taste before going solo, sold over 30m albums worldwide. Voted Melody Maker’s Top Musician of the Year in 1972, auditioned for The Rolling Stones following the departure of Mick Taylor. Gallagher made his final performance on 10 January 1995 in the Netherlands.

1995
ABC’s Diane Sawyer interviewed Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley on ABC-TV’s Prime Time Live. It was the couple’s first interview since their surprise marriage a year earlier and was part of the publicity push for Jackson’s album ‘HIStory – Past, Present and Future: Book One’. Jackson and Presley declared they were a “normal married couple who hoped to have a baby”. When asked if they had sex, they replied “yes, yes, yes!” They also confirmed that a prenuptial agreement had been signed.

1994
Composer Henry Mancini died aged 70. Wrote the music to ‘Moon River, which was originally sung in the movie Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Audrey Hepburn, was also the theme song for the Andy Williams television show. Had the 1969 US No.1 single ‘Love Theme from Romeo And Juliet.’ Recorded over 90 albums, contributed music to over 100 movies, including ‘Theme From The Pink Panther.’

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1989
Pete De Freitas drummer with Echo And The Bunnymen was killed at the age of 27, when his motorbike collided with a car.

1987
Madonna played the first date on her Who’s That Girl World Tour at the Osaka Stadium, Osaka, Japan. The tour became the highest-grossing tour ever, grossing over $20 million.

1987
30 hired hands moved 800 rented NHS beds onto Saunton Sands in North Devon for Storm Thorgerson to shoot what would be the cover of the forthcoming Pink Floyd album ‘A Momentary Lapse Of Reason’. Rain interrupted the shoot and the team were forced to repeat the exercise two weeks later.

1986
Bob Geldof was named in HRH The Queen’s Birthday Honours List, receiving an honorary Knighthood in recognition of his humanitarian activities.

1986
Three fans died during an Ozzy Osbourne gig at Long Beach Arena, California after falling from a balcony.

1984
A model of Boy George from Culture Club was unveiled at Madame Tussaud’s Waxworks in London, England on his 23rd birthday.

1980
Billy Joel started a six-week run at No.1 on the US album chart with ‘Glass Houses’, his second US No.1 album. The album features Joel’s first song to peak at No.1 on Billboard’s Pop Singles chart, ‘It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me.’

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1977
Led Zeppelin played the last of six sold out nights at Madison Square Garden, in New York City during their 11th and final North American tour. The 3-hour set included: The Song Remains The Same, Since I’ve Been Loving You, No Quarter, Ten Years Gone, ‘Stairway To Heaven’, Whole Lotta Love, Rock And Roll and When the Levee Breaks.

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1975
America’s “Sister Golden Hair” hits #1 in the US. The song is produced by George Martin and contains a guitar riff borrowed from George Harrison’s “My Sweet Lord.”

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1974
Ray Stevens was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘The Streak’ a song about the latest British craze of streaking, (running naked in a public place).

1970
A billboard taking up an entire city block to promote Grand Funk Railroad goes up in New York City’s Times Square. It costs Capitol Records about $100,000 but pays off when their Closer To Home album sells over 2 million copies and they sell out Shea Stadium the next summer.

1970
Blood, Sweat & Tears begins a tour of Romania, Poland, and Yugoslavia on behalf of the US State Department. Working as government ambassadors under the Nixon administration puts the band in bad standing with the protest movement they were part of when they played Woodstock.

1970
Eric Clapton’s new band is introduced as “Derek and the Dominos” when they take the stage at the Lyceum in London. They tell the promoter they are “The Dynamics,” but he convinces them to add the “Derek,” which is a nickname for Clapton. His mangled name interpretation sticks.

1968
The Jeff Beck Group, with lead singer Rod Stewart, make their US concert debut, opening for the Grateful Dead at the Fillmore East in New York City. Stewart has stage fright, which is cured when he takes some swigs of rum from a bottle he shares with guitarist Ron Wood.

1967
The Doors appeared at Steve Paul’s Scene, New York City, Jimi Hendrix was in the audience to see the show.

1967
At Olympic Sound Studios in London, The Beatles start working on “All You Need Is Love,” written specifically for a global satellite broadcast. The simple, repetitive chorus makes it a great fit for the international audience.

1966
Workers at a London railway station notice a large package wiggling, so they open it to discover 12-year-old Carol Dryden, a Beatles fan trying to mail herself to the group.

1964
The Manish Boys, (featuring David Bowie) auditioned for the UK television talent show Opportunity Knocks.

1964
Touring Australia The Beatles arrived in Melbourne and were greeted at the airport by over 5,000 fans. Another 20,000 fans lined the route from the airport to the hotel, army and navy units were brought in to help control the crowds, cars were crushed, hundreds of girls fainted and over 50 people were admitted to hospital with broken bones.

1963
During a UK tour The Beatles played at New Brighton Tower in Wallasey supported by Gerry and the Pacemakers. Tickets cost 6 shillings in advance. Between 1961 -1963, The Beatles played at The Tower Ballroom on 27 occasions.

1961
Patsy Cline was seriously injured in a car accident. During her two month hospital stay, her song “I Fall to Pieces” gave the singer her first Country No.1 and also became a huge country-pop crossover hit.

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1953
Elvis Presley graduates from Humes High School in Memphis, Tennessee.

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