Today in Music History

Faces keyboardist Ian McLagan married his longtime girlfriend, former model Kim Kerrigan, who was the first wife of The Who drummer Keith Moon.

Belgian singer-songwriter and actor Jacques Brel died at the age of 49. His songs were recorded or performed in translation by artists including Ray Charles, Scott Walker, Alex Harvey, Frank Sinatra, Dusty Springfield, David Bowie, John Denver, Nina Simone and Terry Jacks.

Judas Priest released their fifth album, "Hell Bent for Leather" in the United States and "Killing Machine" in most other territories.

Irish singer and songwriter Nicholas "Nicky" Byrne was born in Dublin, Ireland. He is best known as a member of the boy band Westlife, who scored 14 UK No. 1 singles and sold over 50 million records worldwide.

The Rolling Stones released "Beast of Burden" in the US, where it reached No. 8. Rolling Stone later ranked it No. 435 on its list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

Black Sabbath played at the Mecca Arena in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Bruce Springsteen performed at Cobo Arena in Detroit, Michigan.

Despite a long run of hit records in the UK, Gary Glitter declared bankruptcy.

John Lennon released "Starting Over," his first single in five years. At the end of December it would top the Billboard Hot 100 for five weeks and the UK chart for one week.

The funeral for Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham took place at Rushock Parish Church in Worcestershire, England. Bonham had died at age 32 after asphyxiation following excessive vodka consumption. Among the 250 mourners were Paul McCartney, Phil Collins, Denny Laine, Carl Palmer, Jeff Lynne, Roy Wood and Bev Bevan.

Endless Love by Diana Ross and Lionel Richie remained at No. 1 for its ninth week, making it the 12th-longest-running No. 1 song of the Rock Era according to the source.

Christopher Cross held on to #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart with "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)."

The Rolling Stones moved to No. 7 on the US singles chart with "Start Me Up."

The Rolling Stones played the first of two nights at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum during their North American tour, with Prince as the support act. Prince, wearing his controversial bikini briefs and trench coat, left the stage after about 15 minutes when the crowd booed and threw beer cans at him.

Rush played at Mecca Arena in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Culture Club released the single "Church of the Poison Mind."

John Cougar Mellencamp released the single "Crumblin' Down", the first single to include his last name.

ZZ Top performed at The Summit in Houston, Texas.

The Grateful Dead performed at the Centrum Arena in Worcester, Massachusetts. The encore was "Revolution" in honor of John Lennon's birthday.

I Just Called To Say I Love You by Stevie Wonder was the No.1 Billboard Pop hit. The song came from the Gene Wilder film The Woman in Red and won an Academy Award.

The children's series "Thomas The Tank Engine And Friends" began its run on BBC television, with former Beatles drummer Ringo Starr as its original narrator.

With director Steve Barron, a-ha began filming the music video for "The Sun Always Shines on T.V." at Saint Alban the Martyr church and in the gardens of Udney Hall in England.

Yoko Ono formally dedicated the landscaped Strawberry Fields memorial in New York's Central Park on what would have been John Lennon's 45th birthday. The two-and-a-half-acre site, located directly across from the Dakota Apartments, was planted with trees, shrubs and flowers gathered from around the world and supported by a $1 million donation from Yoko Ono. Fans continue to gather at its West 72nd Street entrance to remember Lennon and sing his music.

Elton John, David Lee Roth and Cher appeared on the opening night of Joan Rivers's "The Late Show". Rivers joined Elton in singing "The Bitch Is Back". Her decision to launch the program without informing Johnny Carson, whom she regularly guest-hosted on "The Tonight Show", permanently ended their friendship.

Kenny G appeared on "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson", where instead of the agreed cover song he performed his own composition "Songbird". The performance helped lead to the song's release as a hit and contributed to the expansion of the smooth jazz genre.

Columbia Records released Bruce Springsteen's eighth studio album, "Tunnel of Love". Although members of The E Street Band performed on some of the tracks, Springsteen recorded most of the parts himself, often using drum machines and synthesizers. The album topped the charts in both the US and UK and reached the Top Ten in fourteen other countries. It became one of Springsteen's major studio releases.

Michael Jackson's "Bad" remained at No. 1 on the US album chart for the third consecutive week.

Cliff Gallup, guitarist with Gene Vincent and His Blue Caps, died of a heart attack at the age of 58. He had played on Gene Vincent's 1956 hit "Be-Bop-A-Lula", which reached No. 7 in the US and No. 16 in the UK, but left the band later that year because he did not want to tour. At the time of his death he was director of maintenance and transportation for the Chesapeake, Virginia, city school system. At his family's request, local newspaper obituaries made no mention of his musical career.

U2 released the live album Rattle And Hum.

Composer of "West Side Story" Leonard Bernstein ended his conducting career at the age of 72 due to emphysema. He died five days later.

All four members of The Stone Roses were each fined £3,000 after being found guilty of criminal damage at their former record company's offices.

Apple Computer settled its name-and-logo dispute with The Beatles' Apple Corps for a reported $26.5 million. Apple Corps retained exclusive use of the Apple name and logo for creative works centered on music, while Apple Computer could use the branding for computers, software, data transmission and reproduction devices, provided it did not package or distribute physical music.

Nirvana reached No. 1 on the US Billboard 200 with "In Utero," their third and final studio album. Kurt Cobain had originally wanted to name the album "I Hate Myself and I Want to Die." The album also topped the charts in the UK, Australia and Sweden.

The Pet Shop Boys' album "Very" reached No. 1 on the UK Albums Chart. It featured the hit single "Go West" and also topped the charts in Finland, Germany, Sweden and Switzerland.

American country singer Scotty McCreery was born in Garner, North Carolina. He rose to fame after winning the tenth season of "American Idol" in May 2011, and his debut studio album "Clear as Day" peaked at No. 1 on the US chart.

Take That, featuring Scottish singer Lulu, topped the UK Singles Chart with their version of Dan Hartman's 1979 disco hit "Relight My Fire." It became Take That's second UK No. 1 single and gave Lulu another No. 1 nearly 30 years after her first hit.

Maxwell sold out a concert at the Roxy Theater, which had to be moved from the smaller Cotton Club because of overwhelming demand.

American singer-songwriter Megan Moroney was born. She scored a 2022 Country Top 10 hit with "Tennessee Orange", and her second album, "Am I Okay?", debuted at No. 9 on the Billboard chart in 2024.

An episode of Judge Judy aired in which Sex Pistols singer Johnny Rotten appeared as the defendant in a case involving drummer Robbie Williams, who claimed that the Sex Pistols owed him $7,000. Judge Judy ruled in Rotten's favor.

The estate of Elvis Presley donated items for a charity auction at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas. A cigar box sold for $25,000, a wristwatch for $25,000, an autographed baseball for $19,000 and Elvis's 1956 Lincoln Continental for $250,000.

Eurythmics, George Michael, David Bowie, Robbie Williams and Bono appeared at NetAid, a series of three benefit concerts held simultaneously in London, New Jersey and Geneva to raise money for global poverty. The concerts were broadcast live on the internet.

Mariah Carey and rapper Jay-Z started a two-week run at number one in the US with "Heartbreaker."

Nine Inch Nails scored their first No. 1 album in the US with their third studio album, "The Fragile," which also topped the charts in several other countries.

Tom Jones went to number one in the United Kingdom with his thirty-fourth studio album "Reload." The LP sold over 4 million copies worldwide and features the international hit "Sex Bomb."

Barry White gave a speech before the debating society at Oxford University.

On what would have been John Lennon's 60th birthday, the book "Lennon Remembers: The Complete Rolling Stone Interviews" was released, containing previously unpublished controversial interviews and material considered too controversial to publish years earlier.

The John Lennon Museum opened in Japan on what would have been his 60th birthday. It operated for exactly ten years under an agreement with Yoko Ono.