Category: Today in Music History

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Today in Music History

July, 11

  • 2002 R&B pioneer Rosco Gordon dies after suffering a hear attack at his Queens, N.Y. home. He is 68.
  • 2001 Herman Brood, one of Holland’s best-known rock personalities commits suicide. He is 54. The singer/pianist/painter jumps from the roof of the Amsterdam Hilton Hotel. On his body, police find a note saying people should make “a party out of it all.” The note goes on to say that Brood “didn’t feel like it anymore.”
  • 2000 James Hill, baritone singer of the Grammy-winning gospel vocal group the Fairfield Four, dies in Nashville of complications from diabetes. He is 83.
  • 1999 Helen Forrest, often called the best of the big band singers, dies of congestive heart failure at the Motion Picture Country Home and Hospital in Woodland Hills. She is 82.
  • 1998 MTV airs “Beastiography,” a special profiling the Beastie Boys.
  • 1998 Western harmony group Riders in the Sky use their Grand Ole Opry appearance to pay tribute to the late Roy Rogers. Ranger Doug, Woody Paul and Joey the Cowpolka King play softly in the background during a spoken tribute delivered by Too Slim. “Even the horse knew he was the King of the Cowboys. Long live the King,” Slim says.
  • 1996 While in St. Louis, Mo., folky hip-hopper Beck performs a surprise acoustic set on Lollapalooza ‘96’s second stage.
  • 1996 Musician Louis Gottlieb dies at the age of 73.
  • 1995 R.E.M. bassist Mike Mills undergoes abdominal surgery in Germany in thee midst of the band’s European tour.
  • 1993 Instrumentalist and bandleader Mario Bauza dies of cancer in New York at age 82. Bauza helped introduce Latin music to the United States and create the influential fusion of Afro-Cuban and jazz. He also helped launch the careers of Ella Fitzgerald and Dizzy Gillespie.
  • 1989 No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit: “If You Don’t Know Me by Now,” Simply Red.
  • 1979 No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit: “Bad Girls,” Donna Summer.
  • 1969 David Bowie’s “Space Odyssey” album is released.
  • 1969 No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit: “In the Year 2525 (Exordium & Terminus),” Zager & Evans. Evans wrote the song in the year 1964. It is their only song to make the Hot 100.
  • 1959 No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit: “Lonely Boy,” Paul Anka.
  • 1951 Bonnie Pointer of the Pointer Sisters is born in Detroit, the daughter of a minister. The group, which is formed in Oakland, Calif., by sisters Ruth, Anita, Bonnie and June Pointer, has two million-selling No. 2 songs: “Fire” and “Slow Hand.” “Fire” is written by Bruce Springsteen.