Category: Today in Music

Categories
Today in Music

April, 8

  • 2000 Rage Against The Machine earns fives honors at the 23rd California Music Awards, held at the Bill Graham Auditorium in San Francisco.
  • 2000 Sean “Puffy” Combs cancels a sold-out appearance at London’s Wembley stadium. The show is the planned finale of the rapper’s European tour. Fans are not offered an explanation for the cancellation, according to the BBC, and are told only that refunds would be available at the point of purchase.
  • 1998 It is reported that a boat carrying Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood burst into flames just days before the Brazilian leg of the band’s Bridges to Babylon tour. Wood is aboard a small pleasure craft exploring islands south of Rio de Janeiro when one of the boat’s engines catches fire. Nearby journalists rescue the 11 passengers.
  • 1997 Feminist and super influential artist Laura Nyro dies from ovarian cancer at the age of 49.
  • 1994 Kurt Cobain of the band Nirvana dies in Seattle of an apparently self-inflicted shotgun wound. He was 27. Cobain had nearly died from an overdose of painkillers and champagne in early March while Nirvana was touring Europe. Cobain is survived by his wife Courtney Love of the band Hole and their two-year-old daughter Frances Bean.
  • 1985 No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit: “We Are the World,” USA for Africa. Harry Belafonte helped organize the recording of this benefit record after the success of Band Aid, a British effort to raise money for famine relief. The song is written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie.
  • 1965 No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit: “I’m Telling You Now,” Freddie & the Dreamers.
  • 1963 Julian Lennon (John Charles Julian Lennon) is born in Liverpool, England, the son of John and Cynthia Lennon. He is the first child born to any of the Beatles. He starts his own music career in the mid-1980s and two of his songs, “Valotte” and “Too Late for Goodbyes,” reach the top five on Billboard’s singles chart.
  • 1944 No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit: “Besame Mucho,” Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra.
  • 1942 No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit: “Moonlight Cocktail,” Glenn Miller Orchestra.
  • 1922 Jazz singer and pianist Carmen McRae is born in New York City.