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Today in Music History

December, 12

  • 2000 Tony Bennett is on hand at the Friar’s Club in New York to commemorate the birthday of his late friend and fellow entertainer Frank Sinatra by announcing the September 2001 opening of the Frank Sinatra School Of The Arts. The New York public high school will offer gifted artistic students an education in drama, instrument and vocal music, dance, fine arts, filmmaking, technical theater, and musical theater.
  • 1999 The late Notorious B.I.G.’s legacy lives on as the rapper’s second posthumous album, “Born Again,” sells more than 485,000 copies in its first week in stores to bump living superstar Celine Dion from the top spot at the nation’s retailers.
  • 1998 Chumbawamba spearheads a London benefit concert for jailed journalist/former Black Panther Mumia Abu-Jamal. The event, held at the Mean Fiddler, includes performances by the agit-pop act the Mekons, the Alabama Three (or A3, as they are called in the U.S.), the Mighty Wah!, and former Dodgy members Matthew and Andy, among others.
  • 1996 Country star Clint Black gets a star on the famous Hollywood Walk of Fame. He joins Garth Brooks, Gene Autry and his pal and debut partner Roy Rogers as the only country artists ever to receive stars in the venerable Tinsel Town thoroughfare.
  • 1985 Session piano player Ian Stewart dies of a heart attack at the age of 47.
  • 1959 Shiela E. (Sheila Escovedo) is born in San Francisco, the daughter of musician Pete Escovedo. She tours with Lionel Richie and records with Prince. Her biggest solo hit is “The Glamorous Life,” a top 10 single in 1984.
  • 1957 Marlon Jackson is born in Gary, Ind.
  • 1942 Keyboardist Mike Pinder of the Moody Blues is born in Birmingham, England.
  • 1940 Dionne Warwick is born in East Orange, N.J., the daughter of a Chess Records executive. Her biggest hit is “That’s What Friends Are For,” a collaboration with Elton John, Gladys Knight and Stevie Wonder. The song, which tops Billboard’s Hot 100 for four weeks, raises money for AIDS support causes.
  • 1938 Singer Connie Francis (Concetta Rosa Marie Franconero) is born in Newark, N.J. Her biggest hit is “My Heart Has a Mind of Its Own,” which tops Billboard’s Hot 100 for two weeks in 1960.
  • 1915 Frank Sinatra is born in Hoboken, N.J. His biggest pop hit in the modern era is “Somethin’ Stupid,” a duet with his daughter, Nancy, which tops Billboard’s Hot 100 for four weeks in 1967. He wins an Oscar in 1953 for his role in “From Here to Eternity.” He is awarded a Lifetime Achievement Grammy in 1965.
  • 1914 Drummer and singer Robert Covington is born.