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Today in Music History

August, 9

  • 1999 Bob Herbert, who formed the Spice Girls and teen group Five, dies in a car accident in London. He is 57.
  • 1995 Grateful Dead singer/guitarist Jerry Garcia dies of a heart attack at a drug treatment center in San Francisco. He was 53. The Grateful Dead came out of the 1960s San Francisco counterculture scene. The band is best known for its devoted “Dead Head” fans and the Woodstock-style atmosphere of its sold-out concerts.
  • 1987 No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit: “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For,” U2. The album “The Joshua Tree” is U2’s first top 10 album in the U.S.
  • 1978 No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit: “Three Times a Lady,” Commodores. Band member Lionel Richie was inspired to write the song at a 37th anniversary party for his parents.
  • 1965 No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit: “I Got You Babe,” Sonny & Cher. The song, which sells more than 1 million copies, is the duo’s only No. 1 hit. A remake of the song by UB40 with Chrissie Hynde hits No. 28 in September 1985.
  • 1963 Singer Whitney Houston is born in New Jersey, the daughter of singer Cissy Houston and cousin of Dionne Warwick. Her first seven solo singles go top five on Billboard’s Hot 100. (She was featured earlier on a Teddy Pendergrass single that failed to reach the top 40.)
  • 1959 Pioneer of the rap genre, Kurtis Blow, is born Curtis Walker in New York.