Today in Music History...March 18, 2017 (Now with links)

Music History: March 18

 

2016 Gwen Stefani, recently split from Gavin Rossdale and dating Blake Shelton, releases This Is What the Truth Feels Like, her first solo album since 2006. The album deals with her divorce and subsequent renaissance - or you could say, "Gwenaissance."

2014 Joe Lala (The Blues Image)

2011 Jet Harris (The Shadows)

2009 Eddie Bo

2008 Among other artists, Lou Reed, Damien Rice, and Moby take part in the Speak Up! concert (which benefits Iraq war veterans) held at St. Ann's Warehouse in Brooklyn, New York.

2002 The Doobie Brothers, Dionne Warwick and Petula Clark are among the entertainers at Liza Minnelli's wedding reception.

2002 Brenda Lee, Gene Pitney, Isaac Hayes, The Ramones, Talking Heads and Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers are inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

2001 John Phillips (The Mamas And The Papas)

2001 Four teenage girls are crushed to death in a shopping mall in Indonesia, when hundreds of fans panic while trying to catch a glimpse of British boy band a1. The four band members cancel the rest of their tour in Asia.

1997 The second full-length album from Ben Folds Five is released, Whatever and Ever Amen. The album obtains platinum certification in the US, and spawns the group's biggest hit tune, "Brick."

1996 The Sex Pistols announce that they are reuniting for a 20th anniversary tour, which they call the Filthy Lucre Tour. Lead singer Johnny Rotten, who once vowed never to reunite the group, says, "We have found a common cause to bring us back together again, and it's your money."

The Sex Pistols tour again in 2002 and 2007.

1994 Kenner, Louisiana names a street "Lloyd Price Avenue" in honor of their native son.

1994 Bassist Darryl Jones replaces Bill Wyman in The Rolling Stones.

1994 Courntey Love calls the police fearing that her husband, Kurt Cobain, is suicidal. Police confiscate four guns and 25 boxes of ammo from his home.

1992 Donna Summer gets a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1982 Soul singer Teddy Pendergrass of Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes is partially paralyzed following a car accident in Philadelphia, where his Rolls Royce skids off a road and crashes.

1979 Maroon 5 singer Adam Levine is born in Los Angeles.

1978 The Bee Gees' "Night Fever" hits #1 on the Hot 100 and stays there for eight weeks, becoming the longest-running chart-topper of 1978.

1978 Cal Jam II takes place at Ontario Motor Speedway outside of Los Angeles. The largest festival of the late '70s, performers include Aerosmith, Ted Nugent, Foreigner, Santana and Heart. An estimated 350,000 fans attend; the Los Angeles Times reports that 700 of them were treated for overdoses of Angel Dust.

1977 Devin Lima (LFO)

1976 The Man Who Fell To Earth, starring David Bowie, premieres in London. The film is based on Walter Tevis' novel of the same name, about an alien who visits Earth in search of water for his planet, which is suffering from a drought.

1974 Stuart Zender (Jamiroquai)

1970 Queen Latifah

1967 Steve Winwood announces plans to form Traffic.

1967 The Beatles "Penny Lane" reaches #1 on the US Hot 100. There is a real Penny Lane in Liverpool, but the song is written about the bus station.

1967 Pink Floyd sign their first recording contract, with EMI.

1966 Alice In Chains guitarist Jerry Cantrell is born in Tacoma, Washington.

1965 The Standells appear on an episode of The Munsters.

1963 Singer, actress and, briefly, Miss America, Vanessa Williams is born in Tarrytown, New York.


1963 Jeff LeBar (Cinderella)

1960 The film Rio Bravo, starring Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson, Walter Brennan and John Wayne, opens in theaters.

1960 The Everly Brothers record "Cathy's Clown."

1959 Irene Cara

1958 Jerry Lee Lewis becomes the first artist to sing three songs on an episode of American Bandstand (and he sings, not lip-synchs them).

1950 John Hartman (The Doobie Brothers)

1943 Dennis Linde

1941 Wilson Pickett is born in Prattville, Alabama.

1938 Charley Pride

1934 Charlie Pride is born on a cotton farm in the tiny town of Sledge, Mississippi. After his baseball career stalls, he becomes a country music star, and one of the first African Americans to break through in the format.

1911 "Alexander's Ragtime Band" is published by Ted Snyder of New York; it becomes a massive hit.

1844 Composer Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov is born in Russia.

 

Neil Young Goes To #1 With "Heart Of Gold"

1972Neil Young's "Heart Of Gold," with backing vocals by James Taylor and Linda Ronstadt, goes to #1 in the US.

Featured Events

2001 Thanks to airplay on British radio, Eva Cassidy's album Songbird goes to #1 in the UK, five years after the singer's death.

1965 On Moosic Street in Scranton, Pennsylvania, a tractor-trailer carrying 15 tons of bananas loses control and crashes into cars, telephone poles, and houses on its way down the hill, injuring many people and killing the driver. Singer-songwriter Harry Chapin tells the story of the tragic event in his song "30,000 Pounds Of Bananas."