What Happened On June 15th In Music History

2022 – John Peel
Rare items from the late veteran BBC DJ John Peel’s home collection sold for a total of £465,784 at an auction held by Bonhams in Knightsbridge, London, UK. A signed Lennon/Ono album went for £15,300, while the highest bid was for a Sex Pistols test pressings single ‘Anarchy In The UK/I Wanna Be Me’ from 1976 that went for £20,400.

2016 – Brian May
Brian May of Queen posted a note on his website objecting to Donald Trump’s use of ‘We Are The Champions’ at campaign events. “Regardless of our views on Mr. Trump’s platform, it has always been against our policy to allow Queen music to be used as a political campaigning tool,” May wrote. The following month, Trump used the song as his entrance music when he made his first appearance at the Republican convention.

2016 – Jimmy Page
Led Zeppelin’s guitarist Jimmy Page denied stealing the riff to ‘Stairway To Heaven’ when he took the stand at a copyright trial in the US. The band were accused of lifting the opening guitar line from ‘Taurus’, a 1968 track by the band Spirit. Page testified that he had never heard the song until people started posting comparisons online a few years ago. Page admitted to owning several Spirit albums, but only remembered buying two of them, neither of which contained Taurus. Under questioning, he conceded that he did own a copy of the band’s self-titled debut, on which the track appears, but could not recall how it came to be part of his collection.

2013 – Stone Roses
A 24-year-old woman died in hospital after falling at the Stone Roses concert in Glasgow. The woman was among 50,000 fans who attended a gig at Glasgow Green to hear the Manchester indie band. Police also Police made a total of 24 arrests during and after the concert for anti-social and drugs offences.

2011 – Joss Stone
Two men from Manchester were held on suspicion of conspiracy to rob and murder after being arrested close to the Devon home of the singer Joss Stone. The men, aged 33 and 30, were arrested after residents reported a suspicious looking vehicle in the Cullompton area. A UK police source said they were found with swords, and a body bag, as well as detailed maps and aerial photos of Stone’s property.

2010 – Elton John
A case against a man accused of threatening Elton John’s life was withdrawn just hours before his trial was due to begin. Neal Horsley had responded to Elton’s suggestion that Jesus Christ was gay in a Parade magazine interview by writing an angry online response entitled “Why Elton John Must Die”. After being held in an Atlanta, Georgia jail since last March, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Kimberly Esmond Adams dismissed the case against Horsley because his actions did not warrant criminal charges.

2008 – Liverpool
Liverpool was voted England’s most musical city in a national campaign set up by the Arts Council. The home of The Beatles Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark and The Zutons took 49% of the vote in an online poll set up by the funding body. Sheffield – which brought the world the Arctic Monkeys and Pulp – came second, while Manchester with Oasis, Stone Roses and The Smiths came third.

2005 – Coldplay
Coldplay went straight to No.1 on US album chart with their third album ‘X&Y’, having already entered at number one in the UK. The last time a British artist had a simultaneous US and UK number one was in November 2000 with ‘1’, a compilation of hits by The Beatles. The last studio album to reach number one on both sides of the Atlantic was Radiohead’s ‘Kid A’ in October 2000. ‘X&Y’ went on to top over 30 global charts.

2003 – Radiohead
Radiohead scored their fourth UK No.1 with their sixth studio album ‘Hail To The Thief’. The title Hail to the Thief – a phrase used by anti-George W. Bush activists during the controversy surrounding the 2000 US presidential election was a play on ‘Hail to the Chief’, a march played to announce the arrival of the President of the United States.

1999 – Santana
After a seven-year recording hiatus, Santana release the album Supernatural, which goes to #1 thanks to hit singles like “Smooth,” “Maria Maria,” and “Put Your Lights On.” It’s their first chart-topping album in 28 years.

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1996 – Ella Fitzgerald
US jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald died in Beverly Hills, California, aged 79. Already blinded by the effects of diabetes, Fitzgerald had both her legs amputated in 1993. Winner of 13 Grammy Awards, the 1956 ‘Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Cole Porter Songbook’ was the first of eight “Songbook” sets. Appeared in the TV commercial for Memorex, where she sang a note that shattered a glass while being recorded on a Memorex cassette tape. The tape was played back and the recording also broke the glass, asking “Is it live, or is it Memorex”.

1991 – Paula Abdul
Paula Abdul hits #1 in America with the ballad “Rush, Rush,” her fifth chart-topper. A young Keanu Reeves is in the video.

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1989 – Nirvana
Nirvana’s debut album Bleach was released in the US. The title for the album came from a poster ‘Bleach Your Works’ urging drug users to bleach their needles. Kurt Cobain claimed that most of the lyrics on the album were written the night before recording while he was feeling “pissed off”, and that he did not regard them highly.

1988 – Bruce Springsteen
During Bruce Springsteen’s stay in Rome during a world tour a photographer took a shot of Bruce in his underpants sharing an intimate moment with his backing singer Patti Scialfa. The picture confirmed the rumours that Bruce and Patti were having an affair.

1985 – Dire Straits
Dire Straits started a nine-week run at No.1 on the US album chart with, Brothers In Arms. The album is the seventh best-selling album in UK chart history and won two Grammy Awards at the 28th Grammy Awards, and also won Best British Album at the 1987 Brit Awards.

1981 – Duran Duran
Duran Duran released their debut studio album which reached No.3 on the UK Albums Chart and remained in the UK top 100 for 118 weeks. In the US the album reached No.10 on the Billboard 200, and spent 87 weeks on that chart. Singles from the album included the UK top 10 hits ‘Planet Earth’ and ‘Girls on Film’.

1974 – Abba
ABBA’s second album (but first UK release), ‘Waterloo‘ entered the UK chart for the first time peaking at No.28. The album’s title track won ABBA the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest.

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1973 – Marvin Gaye
Motown Records released ‘Let’s Get It On’ by Marvin Gaye. The track became Gaye’s most successful single for Motown and one of his most well-known songs, with the help of the song’s sexually explicit content.

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1969 – Led Zeppelin
During a short 5 date UK tour Led Zeppelin appeared at The Free Trade Hall, Manchester, England supported by Blodwyn Pig and The Liverpool Scene. The flyer for the tour stated: ‘Come & take off, levitate with the Led Zeppelin album’.

1967 – Peter Green
Peter Green leaves John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers to form Fleetwood Mac. He hires Mick Fleetwood, but it takes John McVie four months to leave The Bluesbreakers and join the band named after him.

1963 – Kyu Sakamoto
Kyu Sakamoto started a three week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Sukiyaki’, the first-ever Japanese song to do so. It made No.6 on the UK chart in 1963 and was also a No.10 UK single for Kenny Ball in the same year.

1958 – Oh Boy!
The first teenage all-music TV show Oh Boy!, was broadcast for the first time in the UK. Each week Oh Boy! featured resident artists plus a selection of special guests. The residents included Cuddly Dudley, who sang on 21 shows, Cliff Richard (20 shows), The Drifters (Later to become The Shadows) (17 shows) and Marty Wilde (17 shows). Guests included Billy Fury, Tony Sheridan, Shirley Bassey and Lonnie Donegan; with occasional US stars, such as The Inkspots, Conway Twitty and Brenda Lee.

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