The Biggest Headlines In Music For June 23rd

2021
British engineer and composer Peter Zinovieff died age 88. In the late 1960s, his company, Electronic Music Studios (EMS), made the VCS3, a synthesizer used by many early progressive rock bands such as Pink Floyd and Krautrock groups as well as more pop-orientated artists, including Todd Rundgren and David Bowie.

2021
Britney Spears asks a court to end her conservatorship, which is controlled by her father. “This conservatorship is doing me way more harm than good,” she says. “I deserve to have a life.” Despite her passionate plea, her request is denied, but she gets her wish five months later when her conservatorship is terminated.

2019
American musician Dave Bartholomew died of heart failure age 100. Many musicians recorded Bartholomew’s songs, but his partnership with Fats Domino produced some of his greatest successes. In the mid-1950s they wrote more than forty hits for Imperial Records, including the Billboard No.1 pop chart hit “Ain’t That a Shame”. Bartholomew’s other hit songs as a composer include ‘I Hear You Knocking’, ‘Blue Monday’, ‘I’m Walkin”, ‘My Ding-A-Ling’, and ‘One Night.’

2016
American bluegrass artist Ralph Stanley who was known for his distinctive singing and banjo playing, died aged 89. With his brother Carter, he helped popularise the bluegrass genre. Stanley won new fans when his work featured in the Coen brothers film O Brother, Where Art Thou?

2016
After a trial in which the three living members of Led Zeppelin testified, a jury rules that they are not guilty of plagiarizing the intro of “Stairway To Heaven” from the 1968 song “Taurus” by the band Spirit. In 2018, the case is sent back to trial on a technicality, but is upheld in a 2020 ruling.

2010
62-year-old Gregg Allman underwent a successful liver transplant operation at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida. Allman had begun a series of treatments for Hepatitis C, but chronic damage of his liver led doctors to recommend a transplant. In a statement to the press, Allman said “I changed my ways years ago, but we can’t turn back time. Every day is a gift.”

2009
Chris Brown pleaded guilty to one count of assault on his former girlfriend, Rihanna. The 19 year-old R&B singer was sentenced to five years probation and ordered to do six months community service. Brown had faced charges of assaulting Rihanna, 21, during a row in February. The last-minute plea deal came before a hearing at a Los Angeles court at which Rihanna was due to give evidence. The Los Angeles County Superior Court judge also ordered Brown and Rihanna to stay at least 50 yards from each other, except at entertainment industry events when the distance is reduced to 10 yards.

2004
Bob Dylan was awarded an honorary degree by the University of St. Andrews Scotland’s oldest University and made a “Doctor of Music.”

2003
Diana Ross appeared in court and testified that she was coerced and felt intimidated into taking a breath test that showed her blood alcohol level was 0.2 (well over the 0.08 limit). The singer said, “If I didn’t take the breath tests, I was either going to go to the hospital or to jail”. After the hearing, Ross asked the judge if it would be possible to have court paperwork processed using her married name of Diana Naess. The City Magistrate said he thought it was “a little late” for that now.

1996
Bryan Adams went to No.1 on the UK album chart with ’18-Till I Die’. Metallica went to No.1 on the US album chart with their sixth studio album ‘Load’. The album has now sold over five million copies in America alone.

1995
Drummer Alan White made his live debut with Oasis at Glastonbury Festival. Also former Take That member Robbie Williams appeared on stage with the band during the show.

1990
13-year-old Keith Sorrentino filed a $500,000 (£294,118) lawsuit against Madonna, claiming he suffered nightmares and bed-wetting problems after an incident outside Madonna’s home when she allegedly flung him to the ground.

1990
Elton John had his first UK solo No.1 single with ‘Sacrifice / Healing Hands’ after achieving over 50 previous UK hits and 6 chart toppers in the US.

1990
Buddy Holly’s Gibson acoustic guitar sold for £139,658 ($237,419) in a Sotheby’s auction. The guitar was in a tooled leather case made by Holly himself.

1989
George Michael received the Silver Clef Award for outstanding achievements to British Music.

1984
Duran Duran started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘The Reflex’, the group’s first US No.1, was taken from their third album, Seven and the Ragged Tiger.

1979
The Charlie Daniels Band release “The Devil Went Down To Georgia.” Daniels plays the fiddle parts for both Johnny and the Devil; he says the Devil part is “just a bunch of noise.”

Embed

Copy and paste this HTML code into your webpage to embed.

05:02

1976
Paul McCartney wraps up the Wings Over America tour at the Forum in Los Angeles, marking the last time the ex-Beatle tours until 1989.

1976
“Midnight Rider” songwriter Gregg Allman testifies in Macon, Georgia, that he had a cocaine habit from 1973-1975 and accuses a road manager of procuring it for him. Outraged that he sold out a crew member, The Allman Brothers Band breaks up

1975
During his ‘Welcome To My Nightmare’ tour in Vancouver, Canada, Alice Cooper fell from the stage and broke six ribs.

1973
10cc were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Rubber Bullets’, the first of three UK No.1’s for the band, (who also had a No.1 as Hotlegs).

1973
George Harrison started a five-week run at No.1 on the US album chart with ‘Living In The Material World’, his second US No.1. His third studio solo album was the follow-up to 1970s acclaimed All Things Must Pass and his massive charity project, The Concert For Bangladesh.

1966
The Beatles had their tenth consecutive UK No.1 single with ‘Paperback Writer’ / ‘Rain.’ The track is marked by the boosted bass guitar sound throughout, partly in response to John Lennon demanding to know why the bass on a certain Wilson Pickett record far exceeded the bass on any Beatles records. It was also cut louder than any other Beatles record, due to a new piece of equipment used in the mastering process.

Embed

Copy and paste this HTML code into your webpage to embed.

02:30

1965
The Miracles released ‘The Tracks of My Tears’ on Motown’s Tamla label. Written by Smokey Robinson, Pete Moore, and Marv Tarplin, the song became a US Top 20 hit and peaked at No.2 on Billboard’s R&B chart. The broadly acclaimed song was reissued in the UK in 1969, where became a Top Ten hit.

1962
The film soundtrack to ‘West Side Story’ went to No.1 on the UK charts for the first time. It spent a total of 13 weeks at No.1 on seven different occasions.

1960
Eddie Cochran was at No.1 in the UK with the single ‘Three Steps To Heaven’. The American singer had been killed three months earlier in a car crash while touring the UK.

1960
Dean Martin and Judy Holliday sing “Just In Time” in the romantic comedy Bells Are Ringing, an adaptation of the hit Broadway musical.

Embed

Copy and paste this HTML code into your webpage to embed.

03:02

1957
Lonnie Donegan was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Gamblin’ Man / Putting On The Style’, the singers second UK No.1. It was the last UK No.1 to be released as a 78rpm as well as a 7′ vinyl record.

Visits: 4