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Today in Music

April, 1

  • Rock ‘n’ roll pioneer and Rhythm & Blues Hall of Famer Jesse Stone dies in Altamonte Springs, Fla. He is 97. Stone, one of the founders of Atlantic Records, helped define the rock sound through his work as writer and arranger of such seminal hits as Big Joe Turner’s “Shake, Rattle & Roll.”
  • 1998 Capitol Records finds itself flooded with calls after an alleged fistfight breaks out on L.A. station KROQ-FM’s “Kevin & Bean” morning show. The “fight” between the hosts and Radiohead’s Thom Yorke follows jibes about Yorke’s lazy eye. In fact, Yorke is not even in the Los Angeles studio, and Kevin and Bean simply mixed in an old radio interview while making the taunts.
  • 1997 Jolie Gabor, mother of Eva and Zsa Zsa dies at the age of 97.
  • 1995 Marvin Gaye IV, grandson of singer Marvin Gaye, is born on the 11th anniversary of his grandfather’s death. Parents are Marvin Gaye III, a musician, and Jenny-Joi Fennimore.
  • 1992 Singer Jimmy Buffett and wife Jane Slagsvol have their second child, which they name Sarah Delaney, in Nashville, Tenn.
  • 1992 Billy Idol is fined $2,000 by a Beverly Hills, Calif., judge after pleading no contest to charges he hit a woman in the face as they left a restaurant together the previous October.
  • 1984 Marvin Gaye is shot to death by his father during an argument, one day before his 45th birthday.
  • 1974 No. 1 Billboard hit: “Hooked on a Feeling,” Blue Suede. The song is originally a hit in 1969 for B.J. Thomas, who hit No. 1 with “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head.”
  • 1969 The Beach Boys sue Capitol Records, claiming unpaid royalties and production fees.
  • 1956A Paramount Studios screen test by Elvis Presley leads to a three-film contract guaranteeing $450,000.
  • 1955 Stan Ridgeway is born. His group, Wall of Voodoo, hits Billboard’s Hot 100 in 1983 with the song “Mexican Radio.”
  • 1939 Rudolph Isley of the Isley Brothers is born in Cincinnati.
    1932 Singer/actress Debbie Reynolds is born in El Paso, Texas. Her biggest pop hit is “Tammy” in 1957. The song, which tops Billboard’s Hot 100 for five weeks, is from the film “Tammy and the Bachelor.”