Today in Music History...February 15, 2017

Music History: February 15

 

2011 A stunned Laura Marling accepts the Brit Award for Best British Female at the O2 Arena in London. In an interview later that year Marling says she was "terrified" at the awards ceremony, clarifying that she's "been around people for whom [winning a Brit] has changed things and it is uncomfortable to watch. I'm not built for that."

2006 Anna Marly

2006 Kaiser Chiefs take home three trophies to dominate the BRIT Awards 2006, held at London's Earls Court.

2006 The gravesite of AC/DC singer Bon Scott in Fremantle Cemetery in Western Australia is classified with a heritage listing.

2005 Pierre Bachelet

2003 Local star Herbert Gronemeyer is the big winner at Germany's Echo Awards in Berlin. He wins for national rock/pop artist, and his hit "Mensch" lands the award for national rock/pop single.

2003 Good Charlotte's "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" peaks at #20 on the Billboard Hot 100.

2002 Country great Waylon Jennings is laid to rest following a private graveside service in the Phoenix suburb of Mesa, AZ.

2001 Beatles principal George Harrison participates in his first-ever online chats via Yahoo! Chat and MSN Live.

1999 Hip-hop act Petter and The Cardigans sweep the 1998 Swedish Grammis awards at the Kungliga Tennishallen in Stockholm.

1998 Backstreet Boys appear on the TV show Sabrina the Teenage Witch.

1998 Fans of Japanese rock act Glay cause the Tokyo area phone system to break down as they try to reserve tickets for an upcoming concert by the band. Chaos ensues at the Nagano Winter Olympics main pressroom as long distance lines go down during the ski-jumping event.

1995 Songwriter Diane Warren receives the Voice of Music Award, one of the American Society of Composers and Performers' highest honors.

1995 The Los Angeles, California heavy metal radio station KNAC goes off the air and is replaced by the Spanish radio station KBUE on the same channel - 105.5FM. The station signs off at approximately 1:59PM after playing Metallica's "Fade to Black". Three years, later KNAC goes back on the air, this time on the internet at KNAC.com.

1991 Rod Stewart's ex-girlfriend, supermodel Kelly Emberg, files a $25 million palimony suit against the singer in Los Angeles Superior Court.

1984 Ethel Merman

1981 Mike Bloomfield (The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, The Electric Flag)

1979 Donna Summer's Last Dance wins two Grammys: Best Female R&B Vocal and Best R&B Song.

1979 A&M ends its tenure as the US' largest indie record company as RCA records begins its new distributing deal with the label.

1977 Sid Vicious joins The Sex Pistols.

1977 The Best Of George Harrison is certified gold.

1976 Brandon Boyd (Incubus)

1976 Bette Midler bails out no less than seven members of her entourage from jail after their arrest on drug possession charges.

1975 Performing "People Gotta Move," Gino Vannelli becomes the first white artist to appear on Soul Train.

1975 After record executive Morris Levy releases an album called Roots - John Lennon Sings The Great Rock & Roll Hits without Lennon's permission, Capitol Records rush releases John Lennon's Rock and Roll album, which contains the completed versions of the songs. Lennon had given Levy some master tapes from the sessions as part of compensation for using a Chuck Berry lyric in "Come Together": "Here come old flat-top, he come groovin' up slowly."

1975 Linda Ronstadt's You're No Good hits #1

1975 Linda Ronstadt's album Heart Like a Wheel hits #1

1974 Tomi Petteri Putaansuu, lead vocalist of Lordi, is born.

1972 The US government's new anti-piracy laws are enacted, a response to widespread bootlegging of major artists.

1971 The Who debut a new rock opera called Lifehouse at the Young Vic Theatre in London. The project is shelved after a short run of shows, but some of the songs, including "Bab O' Riley," "Won't Get Fooled Again" and "Behind Blue Eyes, become Who standards after being included on the album Who's Next.

1970  After a Sly and the Family Stone concert runs hours late and causes over a thousand dollars in damages, the Daughters of the American Revolution impose a ban against any further rock concerts at the venue, Washington D.C.'s Constitution Hall.
1969 Florida hairstylist Vickie Jones is arrested for impersonating Aretha Franklin at a club in Fort Myers, FL. Incredibly, her performance is so believable that no patrons demand a refund.
1969 Sly and the Family Stone's Everyday People hits #1
1968 Little Walter
1968 John Lennon and George Harrison of The Beatles depart for India to study with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Later joined by Paul and Ringo, they write some songs for the White Album during the retreat.
1967 Music students at Chicago's DePaul University form a seven-piece rock ensemble called The Big Thing. Later, they would change their name to Chicago Transit Authority, and then, simply, Chicago.
1967 The first anti-bootlegging recording laws are enacted.
1965 Nat King Cole
1965 The Beatles, Eight Days A Week
1965 The Beatles: Ticket To Ride, Another Girl, I Need You
1964 Sam Cooke announces a major reduction in his touring schedule, made so that he can concentrate on the day-to-day activities of his two new record labels, Sar and Derby.
1961 Jackie Wilson is shot in Manhattan. The following issue of Melody Maker carries the front page headline Girl Fan Shoots Jackie Wilson, but controversy over the incident persists in spite of Wilson's claim that this is what really happened.
1961 The Marcels, Blue Moon
1960 Mikey Craig (Culture Club)
1959 Ali Campbell (UB40)

1958 ABC debuts a new show hosted by Dick Clark, hoping to duplicate the success of American Bandstand. The first guests on The Dick Clark Show include Connie Francis, Pat Boone and Jerry Lee Lewis.

1958 Elvis Presley's "Don't" hits #1

1954 Big Joe Turner, Shake, Rattke & Roll

1954 Big Joe Turner records one of the first Rock songs, "Shake, Rattle And Roll," at Atlantic Records studios in New York.

1951 Melissa Manchester

1947 David Brown (Santana)

1945 John Helliwell (Supertramp)

1944 Mick Avory (The Kinks)

1943 Denny Zager (Zager and Evans)

1941 Duke Ellington, "Take the A Train"

1941 Brian Holland

1939 Alvin Cash

1928 "Among My Souvenirs" is the top song in America according to Variety.

1918 Hank Locklin

1905 Harold Arlen

1888 Frederick Lawrence Wright, founder of Melody Maker, is born at 23 Upper Conduit Street, Leicester.