2000 Veteran singer/songwriter Joaquin Sabina sweeps the annual Premios de la Musica awards ceremony, held at Madrid’s refurbished Vista Alegre bullring. Sabina wins four awards, for best pop author, pop artist, song, and album (“19 Dias y 500 Noches”).
1999 Returning to the stage for the first time since his recent bout with pneumonia, Johnny Cash electrifies an audience in New York with a surprise appearance at an all-star concert in his honor.
1999 Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus, the bearded half of ABBA, take to the stage in London, 25 years after the band’s debut at the Eurovision Song Contest for the opening of “Mamma Mia!” the comedy/romance musical set to ABBA’s greatest hits. At the Prince Edward Theatre in London, the duo receives a standing ovation after the musical.
1999 Red Norvo, who performed with such greats as Charles Mingus and Frank Sinatra and is credited with introducing the xylophone to jazz, dies at the age of 91.
1999 Sony Corp. announces plans to begin selling Super Audio CD players and related products in Japan. Sony’s first SACD products are targeted mainly at the high end of the audio market. The SCD-1 SACD player has a suggested retail price of 500,000 Yen ($4,200).
1999 Marcel Avram, the 61-year-old German concert promoter jailed for three and a half years in December 1997 after being convicted on charges of tax evasion, is unexpectedly freed. He had been in poor health since being incarcerated.
1999 Microsoft’s digital download technology, MS Audio 4.0, is unveiled.
1998 Tammy Wynette, whose hit “Stand By Your Man” stands among the classic recordings of all time, dies in her sleep at her Nashville home. She is 55. Known as “The First Lady of Country Music,” Wynette had 18 No. 1 hits on the Billboard country singles chart beginning in 1968 with “Take Me To Your World.”
1998 A group of 27 country artists led by Tim McGraw and including Trisha Yearwood, Faith Hill, Vince Gill, Alan Jackson, Reba McEntire, Martina McBride, Randy Travis, Pam Tillis, Deana Carter, and Mindy McCready files suit against Los Angeles resident Jim Salmon who registered the names of the plaintiffs as Website domain names.
1977 No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit: “Dancing Queen,” Abba. This is the only No. 1 song by the international phenomenon.
1975 No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit: “Philadelphia Freedom,” Elton John.
1974 California Jam music festival attracts 200,000.
1960 The Everly Brothers open their first British tour in London.
1945 Bob Marley is born Robert Nesta Marley in Rhoden Hall, Saint Ann Parish, Jamaica.