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Today in Music

March, 26

  • 2000 Phil Collins takes home the Oscar for best original song at the Academy Awards in Los Angeles, earning his first golden statue for “You’ll Be In My Heart,” from the soundtrack to the Disney animated feature “Tarzan.” Collins beats out fellow nominees Aimee Mann (“Save Me,” from “Magnolia”), Trey Parker and Marc Shaiman (“Blame Canada,” from “South Park: Bigger, Longer, Uncut”), Diane Warren (“Music Of My Heart,” from “Music Of The Heart”), and Randy Newman (“When She Loved Me,” from “Toy Story 2”).
  • 1999 Indian classical musician and composer Ananda Shankar dies in Calcutta of cardiac arrest. Shankar, 50, was a pioneer of fusion music combining traditional Indian and Western instrumentation and styles. Jimi Hendrix was among those he influenced.
  • 1999 Lauryn Hill tops the 13th annual Soul Train Music Awards, held at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. She receives awards for best R&B/soul or rap music video (“Doo Wop [That Thing]”) and R&B/soul or rap album of the year and best R&B/soul album female (“The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill”).
  • 1999 It is announced that rap mogul Master P recently donated $500,000 to keep his old grammar school from closing. The Archdiocese of New Orleans planned to shut down St. Monica Elementary, the school he attended from first to eighth grades, and merge its 125 students into Our Lady of Lourdes. When Master P hears of this, the rapper contributes $250,000 to fund St. Monica and $150,000 for Lourdes. He also sends $100,000 to St. Matthias, the church his family attends.
  • 1998 Chuck Negron files suit against his former Three Dog Night band mates, alleging that they breached a 1990 settlement agreement and interfered with his career.
  • 1995 Rapper Eazy-E dies in Los Angeles of AIDS. He is 31. Eazy-E was one of the founders of the pioneering rap group N.W.A. with Ice Cube and Dr. Dre.
  • 1995 An opera based on the life of tennis ace Martina Navratilova premieres at New York’s Carnegie Hall.
  • 1980 Jon Paulus of the Buckinghams dies of a drug overdose. Age 32.
  • 1979 No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit: “Tragedy,” Bee Gees. The song is the fifth No. 1 single in a row for the Bee Gees.
  • 1969 John Lennon and Yoko Ono begin their “Bed-in” at the Amsterdam Hilton.
  • 1964 Barbra Streisand opens on Broadway in “Funny Girl.” She wins a Best Actress Oscar for her role in the film version. (She ties for the award with Katherine Hepburn)
  • 1960 Gabriele “Nena” Kerner is born in Hagen, Germany. She sang the nuclear protest song “99 Luftballons” in both English and German versions in 1983. It reaches No. 2 the next year, but is her only song to reach the Hot 100.
  • 1950 Singer Teddy Pendergrass is born in Philadelphia. An auto accident in 1982 leaves him partially paralyzed. He tops the R&B chart with the songs “Joy” and “Close the Door.”
  • 1948 Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler (Steven Tallarico) is born in New York City.
  • 1944 Diana Ross (Diane Earle) is born in Detroit. She is the lead singer of the Supremes from 1961-69. Her solo No. 1 singles include “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” and “Upside Down.”
  • 1886 Performer Al Jolson is born Asa Yoelson in St. Petersburg, Russia. The popular entertainer ushers in the era of sound movies in 1927 with “The Jazz Singer.” He is the subject of the 1947 movie “The Jolson Story.”