2000 Tim McGraw is featured on the cover of TV Guide, due to his various nominations for the 34th Annual CMA Awards.
1998 The first ever Lilith Fair concert outside North America takes place at London’s Royal Albert Hall. Before the sold-out show, Lilith founder Sarah McLachlan tells a press conference that plans are underway to bring the Fair to Europe as a touring package the following year.
1998 Nearly 36 million viewers tune in for the 32nd Annual CMA Awards live on CBS television.
1997 Elton John’s record-setting Bernie Taupin-reworked single “Candle in the Wind” is released in America on Rocket Records/A&M. Profits from sale of the single go to the charity fund set up in the name of Diana, Princess of Wales who died earlier in the year.
1997 The Rolling Stones’ Bridges to Babylon Tour opens in Chicago. Opening acts for the North American tour, include Sheryl Crow, Dave Matthews Band, Smashing Pumpkins, Jamiroquai, Blues Traveler and Foo Fighters.
1997 Elektra Entertainment releases “The Next Voice You Hear: The Best of Jackson Browne,” the first-ever anthology of the singer/songwriter’s work.
1997 MCA Records reissues Average White Band’s label debut “Show Your Hand” as part of the band’s 25th anniversary.
1995 Lawrence “Booker T.” Laury dies in Memphis at age 81. The boogie woogie/barrelhouse blues pianist performed regularly from the ‘20s to the ‘50s. His only U.S. album, “Nothin’ But The Blues,” was released when he was 80.
1986 Freddie Jackson, James Brown and Melba Moore headline an anti-crack rally at New York’s Plaza Hotel.
1980 David Bowie opens in the title role of “The Elephant Man” on Broadway.
1974 Average White Band drummer Robbie McIntosh dies at a Los Angeles party of a heroin overdose.
1970 Alt-Punk folk-rocker and self-made success story, Ani DiFranco is born is born in Buffalo, New York.
1956 Mickey Dolenz of the Monkees begins his television career as a child actor with the premiere of NBC’s “Circus Boy” series.
1949 Bruce Springsteen is born in Freehold, N.J. His album “Born in the U.S.A.” tops Billboard’s Top Pop Albums chart for seven weeks. He records with his backup group, the E Street Band, from 1973-1989. Covers of three of his songs reach the top five: Manfred Mann’s Earth Band hits No. 1 with “Blinded by the Light” in 1977, the Pointer Sisters hit No. 2 with “Fire” in 1979, and Natalie Cole hits No. 5 with “Pink Cadillac” in 1988.
1947 Jazz musician, Don Grolnick is born.
1943 Julio Iglesias is born in Madrid, Spain. His biggest pop hit is “To All the Girls I’ve Loved Before,” a duet with country singer Willie Nelson that hits No. 5 in 1984.
1930 Ray Charles (Ray Charles Robinson) is born in Albany, Ga. He goes blind after suffering glaucoma at age 7. His biggest hit is “I Can’t Stop Loving You,” which hits No. 1 on The Billboard Hot 100 for five weeks in 1962. His 1954 song “I’ve Got a Woman” receives a Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 1990.
1926 Jazz saxophonist John Coltrane is born. The jazz legend is presented a posthumous Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1992 for being “probably the most persuasive spokesman for, and influential figure in, the jazz avant garde.”