Categories
Today in Music History

August, 13

  • 2000 As Andy Griggs waits to open a show for Reba McEntire at the Milwaukee State Fair, he gets quite a surprise. A local radio DJ asks the crowd to serenade Griggs in observance of his 27th birthday. The entire audience sings, Griggs gets cakes, balloons and gifts, and his band and crew bombard him with Silly String.
  • 1999 Scott Weiland, lead singer of the Stone Temple Pilots, is sent to jail for again violating his probation by continuing his illegal drug use. He had been receiving outpatient treatment for drug addiction but in July he is treated at the Daniel Freeman Hospital in Marina del Rey for an overdose on heroin.
  • 1996 The band 311 puts on a free “choose or loose” concert in California. The show is to heighten youth interest in the political world. The free show is held just outside the Republican National Convention in San Diego.
  • 1996 Composer David Tudor dies at the age of 70.
  • 1995 Four days after Jerry Garcia’s death, the largest of many memorials draws 20,000 fans to Golden Gate Park in San Francisco.
  • 1990 Rhythm and blues singer Curtis Mayfield is paralyzed from the waist down after being struck by a lighting rig before an outdoor concert in Brooklyn, N.Y.
  • 1982 Soul star Joe Tex (Joseph Arrington Jr.) dies of a heart attack at age 49. Three of his songs top Billboard’s R&B/soul singles chart.
  • 1979 No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit: “Good Times,” Chic. The song was written by band members Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards, who between them have write No. 1 songs for Sister Sledge, Diana Ross, David Bowie, Duran Duran and Madonna.
  • 1965 The Beatles arrive in New York to start their third U.S. tour.
  • 1965 Jefferson Airplane makes its performance debut at the Matrix Club in San Francisco.
  • 1960 No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit: “It’s Now or Never,” Elvis Presley. The song sells more than 20 million copes worldwide, making it Presley’s biggest-selling single.
  • 1951 Dan Fogelberg is born in Peoria, Ill. His biggest hit is “Longer,” a No. 2 song in 1980. His first eight albums are certified gold (500,000 copies sold) or platinum (1 million copies sold).