The Biggest Music Headlines From June 29th

2022
US singer R. Kelly was sentenced to 30 years in prison for using his celebrity status to sexually abuse children and women. The 55 year old R&B artist was convicted last September in New York of racketeering and sex trafficking crimes. He had faced years of allegations and the judge said he had an “indifference to human suffering”. Lawyers for the singer, said he would appeal. Ahead of his sentencing, a handful of women took the stand to confront Kelly.

2021
British rock and blues vocalist John Lawton died unexpectedly age 74. He was best known for his work with Lucifer’s Friend, Uriah Heep and the Les Humphries Singers.

2020
American singer and songwriter Benny Mardones died age 73. He scored the hit single ‘Into the Night,’ which hit the top 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart twice, in 1980 and again in 1989.

2019
Former Guns N’ Roses drummer Steven Adler was taken to hospital after stabbing himself. The musician, who was sacked from the rock group in 1990 over drink and drug issues, was taken to a Los Angeles hospital after paramedics were called to his home for what was reported to be a self-inflicted injury.

2016
Elvis Presley’s daughter Lisa Marie filed for divorce from her fourth husband, Michael Lockwood, just months after the couple celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary last January. Lisa Marie had previously been wed to Danny Keough from 1988 until 1994, Michael Jackson from 1994 to 1999 and to actor Nicolas Cage from 2002 to 2004.

2012
Photographers were planning to boycott the forthcoming Stone Roses reunion concerts in Manchester in a dispute over the use of their images. They claimed a contract issued by the band was unfair as it expected them to surrender all rights to their pictures. The National Union of Journalists was also supporting the boycott.

2007
Lily Allen was questioned by police over an alleged assault on a photographer outside a nightclub in London. She was freed on police bail after she was quizzed about an alleged assault on a male photographer in his 40s near the Wardour club in London’s Soho in March.

2004
Courtney Love was reprimanded by Los Angeles Judge Melissa Jackson for turning up five hours late to a hearing. Love pleaded guilty to a single charge of disorderly conduct and was given a discharge, on condition she paid the victim’s medical bills, joins a drug programme and stayed out of trouble.

2003
Destiny’s Child singer Beyonce started a five week run at No.1 on the UK album chart with ‘Dangerously In Love’, also a US No.1.

2002
American singer and actress Rosemary Clooney died of lung cancer. Had the 1954 UK No.1 single ‘This Ole House’ appeared in the 1954 movie White Christmas with Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye. Her nephew, George Clooney was a pallbearer at her funeral.

2000
Eminem’s mother went to court claiming defamation of character in a $10 million (£5.8 million) civil suit, after taking exception to the line “My mother smokes more dope than I do” from her son’s single ‘My Name Is’.

2000
The casket holding Lynyrd Skynyrd lead singer Ronnie Van Zandt is stolen from its mausoleum in Jacksonville, Florida, but left after vandals are unable to open it. The ashes of Steve Gaines, the band’s guitarist who died in the same plane crash that killed Van Zandt, are spilled from his urn, which is also stolen.

1999
Michael Jackson suffered severe bruising after falling over 50 feet when a bridge collapsed during a concert at Munich’s Olympic stadium. Jacko was singing ‘Earth Song’ at the time of the accident.

1998
George Harrison announces that he is undergoing chemotherapy for throat cancer, with assurances that, “I’m not going to die on you folks just yet.” He succumbs to the disease three years later.

1995
Ringo Starr’s first-ever TV commercial, for Pizza Hut, debuts in the US, as does a similar spot by the newly re-formed Monkees.

1994
Barbra Streisand sets a new record after grossing $16 million for a series of Madison Square Garden comeback shows.

1994
Oasis made their debut on BBC TV’s Top Of The Pops performing their new single ‘Shakermaker’.

1991
Jason Donovan had his third UK No.1 single with ‘Any Dream Will Do’ a song written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice for the 1968 musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Donovan was playing the lead role in a new London production of the musical.

1988
Lionel Richie’s wife Brenda is arrested for assaulting her husband after finding him at the apartment of another woman, Diane Alexander. The couple divorce in 1993, and in 1995, Richie marries Alexander.

1987
The Living Daylights, the first James Bond film to star Timothy Dalton as 007, premieres in London. The theme song was written and performed by a-ha, who are unable to attend. The film’s composer, John Barry, is asked about the Norwegian band and calls them “Hitler Youth.”

1985
David Bowie and Mick Jagger recorded a version of the Martha Reeves and the Vandellas 1964 hit ‘Dancing In The Street’ for the forthcoming Live Aid fundraising event. The single went on to become a No.1 UK hit. The original plan was to perform a track together live, with Bowie performing at Wembley Stadium and Jagger at John F. Kennedy Stadium, until it was realised that the satellite link-up would cause a half-second delay that would make this impossible unless either Bowie or Jagger mimed their contribution, something neither artist was willing to do.

1985
John Lennon’s 1965 Rolls-Royce Phantom V limousine, with psychedelic paintwork, sold for a record sum of $3,006,385, (£1,768,462) at a Sotheby’s auction in New York.

1984
Bruce Springsteen kicked off the first leg of his Born in the USA Tour with a three night run at the Civic Center in St. Paul, Minnesota. Springsteen would play a total of 156 shows ending on October 2, 1985 in Los Angeles.

1979
American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer, Lowell George died of a heart attack. The Little Feat front man was found dead at the Key Bridge Marriott Hotel in Arlington, Virginia. George joined Zappa’s Mothers of Invention as rhythm guitarist in 1968, played guitar on John Cale’s 1973 album Paris 1919, Harry Nilsson’s Son of Schmilsson album and Jackson Browne’s The Pretender.

1978
Peter Frampton gets in a bad car accident in the Bahamas, breaking his arm and suffering internal injuries. On the bright side, he gets to miss the premiere of the film he starred in, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, which is derided by critics and anyone unfortunate enough to see it.

1975
American singer songwriter Tim Buckley died of an overdose of heroin and morphine aged 28. Released nine albums including the 1972 release ‘Greetings from L.A.’ Buckley is the father of singer songwriter Jeff Buckley.

1974
Charles Aznavour was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘She’, the French singers only UK No.1. At the time it made Aznavour the oldest living male chart-topper in the UK charts (at fifty years old).

1973
Deep Purple “Mark II,” the most famous incarnation of the band, comes to an end after a show in Osaka, Japan, with lead singer Ian Gillan abruptly quitting the group. Bassist Roger Glover leaves soon after; for “Mark III,” they’re replaced by David Coverdale and Glenn Hughes.

1969
American soul singer Shorty Long drowned aged 29 after his boat capsized on the Detroit River in Michigan. Had the 1968 US No.8 single ‘Here Comes The Judge.’ He acted as an MC for many of the Motown Revue shows and tours.

1969
At the Denver Pop Festival, the Jimi Hendrix Experience play their last gig with their original lineup, as bass player Noel Redding leaves the band after the show over disagreements with Hendrix.

1968
A free concert was held in London’s Hyde Park with Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull, Tyrannosaurus Rex and Roy Harper. This afternoon concert was the first free festival to be held in Hyde Park. The concert was held to coincide with the release of Pink Floyd’s second album, A Saucerful of Secrets.

1968
The Small Faces started a six week run at No.1 on the UK album chart with Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake. A concept album with a round cover designed to look like a tobacco tin. The album featured the hit ‘Lazy Sunday.’

1967
Rolling Stone Keith Richards was found guilty of allowing his house to be used for the illegal smoking of cannabis. He was sentenced to one year in jail and a £500 ($850) fine, (prison number 5855). Mick Jagger was also fined £100 ($170) and given three months in jail on drug charges. Jagger and Richards were both released and granted bail of £7,000 the following day.

1964
Touring Australia The Beatles played two shows at the Festival Hall, Brisbane. Over 8,000 fans had waited until after midnight to greet the group as they landed at Brisbane Airport.

1963
A Bob Dylan song charts for the first time when Peter, Paul and Mary’s cover of “Blowin’ In The Wind” enters the Hot 100 at #86. In August, it climbs to #2, introducing many listeners to Dylan’s music.

1963
Del Shannon’s cover of The Beatles’ “From Me to You” enters the Hot 100 at #96, becoming the first Lennon-McCartney composition to chart in America. Shannon’s version peaks at #77; in the UK the Beatles original hits #1 in May.

1957
The government of Iran officially bans rock and roll after declaring rock dancing “harmful to health.” The ban would stay in place until the 1990s.

1928
The Winterland Ballroom opens in San Francisco, California. It’s an ice-skating rink that can be converted into a general entertainment venue for opera, boxing, and other events, costing a whopping (for 1928) $1 million to build. It will go on to become a concert location for many famous acts, including The Sex Pistols, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Peter Frampton, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Jethro Tull, and Pink Floyd.

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