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Today in Music

January, 29

  • 2000 Detroit radio legend Martha Jean “The Queen” Steinberg – known by her trademark phrase “I betcha” – dies at Detroit’s Harper Hospital. Steinberg was a local fixture in the Motor City for nearly 40 years.
  • 1998 Opening three weeks behind schedule, Paul Simon’s musical “The Capeman” premieres in New York to universally poor reviews. Critics claim that while Simon’s musical mixture of Latin and doo-wop was favorable, the story line was consistently faulted.
  • 1992 At the age 76, rhythm and blues trailblazer Willie Dixon dies in Burbank, Calif., of heart failure. The former boxer wrote more R&B and early rock classics than any other blues artist, including such songs as “Hoochie Coochie Man,” “Little Red Rooster” and “Back Door Man.”
  • 1988 No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit: “Need You Tonight,” INXS. The group is only the third from Australia – and the first in five years – to top the pop chart.
  • 1977 No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit: “Car Wash,” Rose Royce. The song is the theme to the 1976 comedy of the same name.
  • 1964 No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit: “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” The Beatles. This first American release by the Beatles is one of the biggest selling British singles of all time with worldwide sales of 15 million copies.
  • 1944 No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit: “My Heart Tells Me,” Glen Gray Orchestra.
  • 1889 Blues great Leadbelly (Huddie Ledbetter) is born.