Categories
Today in Music

February, 23

  • 2000 A cover of the Led Zeppelin classic “What Is And What Should Never Be” by Jimmy Page and the Black Crowes becomes available for free download exclusively from e-tailer Musicmaker.com.
  • 2000 At the Staples Center in Los Angeles, Carlos Santana performs a record-tying sweep at the Grammy’s, winning eight of the ten awards for which he is nominated. Michael Jackson set the record back in 1984 when he won big for “Thriller.”
  • 2000 Israeli singer Ofra Haza dies in Tel Aviv. She is 41. Haza had been hospitalized and on a respirator for a week, apparently due to pneumonia.
  • 2000 Sean “Puffy” Combs is indicted on charges of bribing a witness. According to the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, Combs offered money and jewelry to his driver, asking him to claim ownership of a gun that police recovered from the rap mogul’s car following a Dec. 27,
  • 1999, shooting at a New York nightclub.
  • 1999 Garth Brooks attends spring training camp with baseball team the San Diego Padres as a non-roster player. In lieu of salary, the Padres Foundation agrees to contribute to the Touch ’Em All Foundation, a charity Brooks co-founded in collaboration with Major League Baseball players, entertainers, and corporate partners.
  • 1999 At the 1999 Orville H. Gibson Awards, held at the Hard Rock Cafe in Los Angeles, Courtney Love, lead singer of Hole, walks away with the best rock guitarist (female) honor, while bandmate Melissa auf der Maur picks up the plaudit for best bassist (female).
  • 1999 Stanley Dance, the Grammy-winning jazz critic and confidant to jazz greats Duke Ellington and Earl Hines, dies of pneumonia at a rehab center near San Diego. He is 88.
  • 1999 Legendary Czech band the Plastic People Of The Universe embark on their first North American tour at Boston’s Middle East.
  • 1998 Luciano Pavarotti is honored as the 1998 MusiCares Person of the Year at a special tribute dinner and concert held at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel’s Grand Ballroom in New York.
  • 1998 Nine music fans are killed and more than 40 injured when a truck on which leading Haitian band Ram is performing veers out of control during the annual carnival in Port-au-Prince. None of the band members are hurt. The driver flees the scene but is later arrested.
  • 1995 Melvin Franklin of the Temptations dies of heart failure in Los Angeles leaving Otis Williams the sole surviving member of the popular Motown group of five.
  • 1979 The first tour of the U.S. and Canada by Dire Straits opens at the Paradise Club in Boston. The group logs 51 sold-out shows in 38 days.
  • 1978 Kenny Rogers’ “Lucille” wins a Grammy for Best Male Country Vocal Performance.
  • 1978 The Eagles win Grammys for the “Hotel California” album and “New Kid in Town” single.
  • 1969 No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit: “Everyday People,” Sly & the Family Stone.
  • 1963 Keyboard player Robert Collins is born.
  • 1959 No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit: “Stagger Lee,” Lloyd Price. The song is based on an old folk song, “Stack-O-Lee,” about the tragic fate of two gamblers.