The database currently contains 4689 historical events.
No events found for this day.
Unable to load events from the database.
Events for this day
- Composer George Bohm was born.
- Composer Alphons Diepenbrock was born.
- Composer Laurindo Almeida was born.
- Folk and studio musician Alan Jardine was born.
- The operetta Rose Marie by Rudolf Friml premiered at the Imperial Theatre in New York.
- American bandleader and film music composer Hugo Montenegro was born. In 1968, he had a UK number-one and US number-two hit with a cover of Ennio Morricone’s main theme from the film The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. He also composed the music for the 1969 western Charro! starring Elvis Presley.
- English pop pianist and composer Russ Conway was born in Bristol as Trevor Hebert Stanford. He became best known for the singles “Side Saddle” and “Roulette”, which reached number one on the charts.
- Sophie Tucker recorded her song “Some of These Days”. This version was not released for approximately another 30 years; in the first part of the verse, Tucker tells and explains how the song described the story of her life.
- The radio program “15 Minutes with Bing Crosby” premiered on CBS.
- American singer Richard “Rick” Lewis of The Silhouettes was born. Their doo-wop and R&B single “Get A Job” reached number one on both the US R&B and pop charts in 1958.
- Russ Columbo died after an antique pistol belonging to his friend accidentally discharged and struck him in the eye. The 26-year-old singer died under circumstances that his friends and family concealed from his ill mother because they feared the news would shock her to death. Through a carefully devised system of fake letters and old recordings made to simulate live broadcasts, they created the impression that Columbo was still alive and merely busy. The deception continued until her death ten years later.
- American soul singer Sam Gooden of The Impressions was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee. In 1965, the group had the US hit “Lilies Of The Field” at number seven.
- George Gershwin completed the orchestral score for the opera Porgy and Bess.
- Teen idol Jimmy Clanton was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He became known for the swamp pop and R&B hits “Just a Dream” from 1958 and “Venus in Blue Jeans” from 1962.
- Bobby Purify, whose real name was Ben Moore, the singer of the American R&B duo James & Bobby Purify, was born. In 1976, the duo had the American hit “I'm Your Puppet” at number six and the British hit at number 12.
- One half of the R&B vocal duo James & Bobby Purify was born in Tallahassee, Florida.
- American songwriter, producer and musician Allen Toussaint was born.
- American soul and R&B singer Rosalind Ashford was born in Detroit, Michigan. She became known as a founding member of Martha and the Vandellas.
- Multi-instrumentalist, record producer and arranger Marty Grebb was born in Chicago, Illinois. He became known as a member of the pop group The Buckinghams.
- Billy Preston was born in Houston, Texas. He became known as a keyboardist, singer and session musician who worked with, among others, The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, as well as for his successful solo career.
- Radio announcer Marty Brennaman was born.
- English drummer and percussionist Richard Coughlan was born. In 1968, he was one of the founding members of Caravan and remained a member until his death.
- Christa Päffgen, the singer known as Nico and a collaborator with The Velvet Underground, was born.
- Guitarist Eric Bell, a founding member of Thin Lizzy, was born.
- Singer and frontwoman of The Pretenders Chrissie Hynde was born.
- English violinist and keyboardist Mik Kaminski was born in Harrogate. He became best known as a member of the rock band Electric Light Orchestra.
- American entertainer and occasional singer Jimmy Connors was born.
- American multi-instrumentalist, composer, arranger, producer and conductor John Zorn was born in New York.
- Elvis Presley worked at Crown Electric until the middle of October 1954.
- Elvis Presley performed at the Arkansas Municipal Auditorium in Texarkana, Arkansas, as part of The Big D Jamboree. The concert was scheduled to begin at 9:00 p.m., but Elvis arrived late because of a traffic accident. While overtaking a truck, Scotty Moore drove the Cadillac Fleetwood into an oncoming vehicle. The repair cost $1,000, and local high school student Carl Nelson entertained the audience until Elvis arrived.
- Elvis Presley continued recording at Radio Recorders on Santa Monica Boulevard in Hollywood. The session ran from 1:00 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. and produced recordings of “Paralyzed”, “When My Blue Moon Turns To Gold Again”, “Long Tall Sally”, “Old Shep”, “Too Much” and “Anyplace Is Paradise”. RCA Victor released “Too Much” as a single on January 4, 1957, and Presley sang it two days later on The Ed Sullivan Show. The song reached number two on the Billboard Top 100, number one on the Cashbox Best Sellers chart and number three on the Billboard R&B chart.
- Elvis Presley performed at Multnomah Stadium in Portland, Oregon. Before the concert, he gave reporters an interview about love and marriage. The performance lasted approximately 40 minutes, but the crowd nearly rioted and police had to intervene.
- On September 2, 1957, Elvis Presley had several chart successes at the same time: the EP “Loving You Vol. II” reached number 18 on the US chart, the soundtrack EP “Love Me Tender” reached number 22, and the song “(Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear” reached number one on the R&B chart.
- Pete Seeger sang “We Shall Overcome” at the Highlander Folk School in Tennessee during celebrations of its 25th anniversary. Martin Luther King Jr. was also present and delivered the closing speech. The song later became closely associated with the civil rights movement, in which King and Seeger fought for equality.
- Keyboardist, songwriter and film music composer Steve Porcaro was born in Hartford, Connecticut. He became known as a founding member of the rock band Toto.
- Elvis Presley served in the military at Fort Hood, Texas, where he underwent advanced tank training as part of the 2nd Armored Division. He was stationed at the base for six months.
- Fritz McIntyre of Simply Red was born. In 1986, the group had the US number-one and UK number-two hit “Holding Back The Years” and achieved five number-one albums in the UK.
- American musician Jerry Augustyniak was born in Sloan, New York. He became best known as the longtime drummer of the rock band 10,000 Maniacs.
- Drummer of the American group The Mavericks Paul Deakin was born. The group had the 1998 UK hit “Dance The Night Away”, which reached number four, and won a Grammy Award for the song “Here Comes the Rain”.
- The Isley Brothers released the single “Shout”. It was not particularly successful at the time of release and reached only number 47, but became very popular in later years.
- Joe Dowell’s version of “Wooden Heart”, originally associated with Elvis Presley, entered the US chart.
- The film It Happened at the World's Fair starring Elvis Presley was released.
- The Beatles recorded their first proper recording session for EMI at Abbey Road Studios, where they recorded “Love Me Do” and “How Do You Do It”.
- The film Viva Las Vegas starring Elvis Presley was released.
- The single “Love Me Do” from The Beatles’ first recording session for EMI was released.
- The Beatles performed at Convention Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, during their US tour. The city had experienced race riots several days before the concert, and The Beatles, who supported the civil rights movement, were shocked that their 13,000-member audience was entirely white.
- The Rolling Stones began their first US tour with a concert in San Antonio, Texas.
- The Rolling Stones recorded a cover version of Willie Dixon’s “Little Red Rooster” at Regent Sound Studios in London. Brian Jones’s prominent slide guitar helped create the recording’s distinctive sound, which became the only purely blues song to reach number one on the UK singles chart.
- Steam Packet with Long John Baldry, Rod Stewart, Julie Driscoll and The Brian Auger Trinity performed at The Marquee club in London.
- The Beatles received a gold record for the song “Help!”. The Recording Industry Association of America certified it as a gold record for sales of one million copies.
- The Beatles released “Yesterday”, featuring only Paul McCartney. More than 2,500 cover versions have made it one of the most frequently recorded songs in history.
- The Byrds released the album “Turn! Turn! Turn!”.
- The Doors recorded their first demo recordings at World Pacific Jazz Studios in Los Angeles, California, where they recorded six songs by Jim Morrison.
- The Rolling Stones appeared on the British television program Ready Steady Go! Mick Jagger and Andrew Loog Oldham performed a parody of the Sonny & Cher song “I Got You Babe”.
- The roadies of The Who visited the London Battersea Dogs Home to obtain a guard dog to protect the band's equipment. While they were inside, thieves stole their unattended van and drove away with equipment worth £5,000. The empty van was later found.
- Elvis Presley completed his work on the soundtrack for Double Trouble.
- Actress Salma Hayek was born. She also worked in musical theatre.
- The Who performed at the Locarno Ballroom in Basildon, Essex, England.
- “ Ode To Billie Joe” by Bobbie Gentry remained at number one after five weeks. “All You Need Is Love” by The Beatles remained at number two, while The Supremes moved from number eight to number three with “Reflections”. “Light My Fire” by The Doors completed an exceptionally strong top four.
- Elvis Presley’s album Double Trouble reached number 34 on the UK album chart.
- Pink Floyd, The Move, Soft Machine, Fairport Convention, The Nack and Denny Laine performed at the UFO festival at the Roundhouse in London's Chalk Farm district.
- The Beatles’ album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band remained at number one on the US album chart for the tenth consecutive week.
- Guitarist Robert Buck of 10,000 Maniacs was born.
- The Doors were forced to perform as a trio at a concert in Amsterdam after lead singer Jim Morrison collapsed while dancing during Jefferson Airplane’s performance.
- The Jimi Hendrix Experience released a cover version of Bob Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower”, nine months after the original version was released. The song became Hendrix’s biggest US hit and reached the Top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100. It later also influenced Dylan’s live performances of the song.
- American singer and songwriter Cedric Renard Hailey, known as K-Ci, was born in Monroe, North Carolina. He became known as a member of Jodeci and K-Ci & JoJo.
- Elvis Presley performed at the International Hotel in Las Vegas in an evening Dinner Show and a Midnight Show. Both performances had an attendance of 2,200.
- Genesis published an advertisement in Melody Maker seeking a drummer and musicians “determined to break through stagnant musical forms”. Nineteen-year-old Phil Collins responded to the advertisement and eventually joined the group.
- Folk singer Kristie MacColl was born.
- The Rolling Stones performed at Olympic Stadium in Helsinki, Finland.
- Elvis Presley performed at the International Hotel in Las Vegas in a Dinner Show and a Midnight Show. Both performances had an attendance of 2,200.
- Grateful Dead released their second live album, simply titled Grateful Dead. Rolling Stone magazine reported that Jerry Garcia had originally wanted to call it “Starfuck”. The album became the group’s first to reach the Top 25.
- Former Grateful Dead manager Lenny Hart was arrested for embezzling $70,000 from the group’s funds.
- The Rolling Stones sued their former manager Andrew Loog Oldham over unpaid royalties.
- Elvis Presley performed at the Hilton Hotel in Las Vegas in a Dinner Show and a Midnight Show. Both performances had an attendance of 2,200.
- The Erie Canal Soda Pop Festival was held for three days on Bull Island near Griffin, Indiana. Organizers expected more than 50,000 fans, but more than 200,000 arrived. Many bands cancelled their performances as the festival gradually descended into chaos. Performers included Flash Cadillac & the Continental Kids, Black Oak Arkansas, Cheech and Chong, Foghat, Albert King, Brownsville Station, Canned Heat, Flash, Ravi Shankar, Rory Gallagher, Lee Michaels and Frosty, The Eagles, The Amboy Dukes and Gentle Giant. Three attendees drowned in the Wabash River, and at the end of the festival the crowd set fire to the remains of the stage.
- “Alone Again (Naturally)” returned to number one on the US Billboard Hot 100. In the same year, the song also reached number one in Canada and France and the Top 3 in the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand and Australia.
- Rod Stewart was at number one on the UK singles chart with “You Wear It Well”, his second UK single to reach the top. The song came from the album Never A Dull Moment.
- Elvis Presley performed at the Hilton Hotel in Las Vegas in a special concert at 3:00 a.m. for Labor Day, for which he received a fee of $27,000 in addition to his regular performances. On the same day, he also performed a Dinner Show at 8:15 p.m. and a Midnight Show at midnight; both regular performances had an attendance of 2,200.
- David Bowie played the first of seven sold-out concerts of his Diamond Dogs Tour at the Universal Amphitheater in Los Angeles, California.
- Elton John released the single “The Bitch Is Back”.
- Elvis Presley performed his final evening and midnight shows in Las Vegas as part of his engagement at the Hilton Hotel. During the final evening, he delivered a long and personal monologue in which he spoke, among other things, about his relationship with Priscilla, who was in the audience with Lisa Marie.
- American heavy metal singer Jill Janus was born in New York. She became best known as the frontwoman of Huntress, The Starbreakers and Chelsea Girls.
- Actor and singer Nate Richert was born.
- Singer Tony Thompson of Hi-Five was born in Waco, Texas. He grew up in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. In 1991, the group had the US number-one hit “I Like The Way, The Kissing Game”, which reached number 43 in the UK.
- Elvis Presley performed on tour at Curtis Hixon Hall in Tampa, Florida. The concert began at 8:30 p.m. and was attended by approximately 7,500 people.
- Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five became the first rap act to perform in a theater when they played their first major concert at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem. They presented various DJ techniques along with rap interplay and choreography.
- The first issue of Musician magazine was published.
- Lyricist and composer René Goscinny died at the age of 51.
- The Commodores remained at number one on the Adult Contemporary chart with “Three Times A Lady”.
- Thin Lizzy released the album “Bad Reputation”. The group appeared as a three-piece on the recording after guitarist Brian Robertson left during the recording sessions. The album included the songs “Dancing in the Moonlight”, “Dear Lord” and “Killer Without a Cause”.
- George Harrison, 35, married Olivia Trinidad Arias, 30, a secretary at his record company Dark Horse, in a private ceremony. Their son Dhani was born on August 1. The couple remained together until Harrison’s death in 2001.
- Teddy Pendergrass, former lead singer of Harold Melvin And The Blue Notes, promoted the album “Life Is A Song Worth Singing” with a concert exclusively for women. The concept was highly successful, and further similarly themed performances sold out.
- The Grateful Dead performed before an audience of 66,000 at Giants Stadium in New Jersey.
- The Grateful Dead performed at the Civic Center in Augusta, Maine.
- Prince released the single “Controversy”.
- Fleetwood Mac played the second concert of their 33-date Mirage Tour at the Omni Coliseum in Atlanta, Georgia. Men at Work were the opening act, and their debut album Business as Usual was rapidly climbing the US charts. Two weeks after the tour ended in October, Men At Work embarked on their own tour as the headlining act.
- The film Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence, starring David Bowie, was released in the United States.
- U2 played the second of two concerts at the Logan Campbell Centre in Auckland, New Zealand, during their Unforgettable Fire World Tour.
- Van Halen played their final concert with David Lee Roth before his return to the band in 2007. They performed at the Monsters of Rock festival in Nuremberg, Germany.
- Sixteen-year-old high school student Debbie Gibson from Long Island signed a contract with Atlantic Records, which was impressed by the number of songs she had written and recorded as demos in her home studio.
- Debbie Gibson began recording the album Out of the Blue. She was 16 years old and still attending school at the time.
- The Human Rights Now! world tour in support of Amnesty International began with a concert at Wembley Stadium in London. Sting, Bruce Springsteen, Peter Gabriel, Tracy Chapman and Youssou N'Dour performed. The tour took place on five continents.
- “Express Yourself” by N.W\.A. debuted at number 45 on the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart and became their second single to enter the chart.
- Ozzy Osbourne was charged with threatening to kill his wife Sharon after attempting to strangle her at their home in Buckinghamshire. He later said he had no memory of the attack. He was released on condition that he immediately enter detoxification, and the case was later dropped after the couple reconciled.
- Paula Abdul reached her third US number-one single of the year with “Cold Hearted”. She had previously reached the top with “Straight Up” and “Forever Your Girl”. The song also reached number one in the US and peaked at number 46 in the UK.
- Ric Ocasek of The Cars and Paulina Porizkova were married.
- With the album “Repeat Offender”, Richard Marx achieved his first and only number-one album on the US Billboard 200.
- Richard Marx spent his fifth week at number one on the Adult Contemporary chart with “Right Here Waiting”.
- Garth Brooks released the album Ropin' the Wind.
- They won the MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist for the video “Plush”.
- Legendary session keyboardist Nicky Hopkins died at the age of 50.
- English dancer, singer, television presenter and musician Roy Castle died of lung cancer two days after his 62nd birthday.
- The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame building opened in Cleveland, Ohio. Bob Dylan, Chuck Berry, Aretha Franklin, Al Green, Booker T. & the M.G.'s, Little Richard, The Allman Brothers, Boz Scaggs, James Brown and Martha Reeves were among those who performed at the opening ceremony.
- Jazz saxophonist Stan Getz died at the age of 68.
- WAR released the album Coleccion Latina, their twentieth recording.
- Sandra Denton, known as Pepa of Salt-N-Pepa, gave birth to a daughter named Egypt. Her father is rapper Treach of Naughty by Nature.
- Madonna was at number one on the UK singles chart with “Music”, her tenth UK single to reach the top. The song came from the album of the same name, and the video also featured comedian Sacha Baron Cohen as his character Ali G. It also made her the first woman to have ten number-one albums on the UK album chart.
- Toni Braxton received the Aretha Franklin Award for Entertainer of the Year at the Soul Train Lady of Soul Awards in Santa Monica, California. Destiny’s Child, Angie Stone and Mary J. Blige each received two awards.
- American saxophonist Jay Migliori died of cancer at the age of 70. As a session musician, he recorded with The Beach Boys, Frank Sinatra and Frank Zappa and was a founding member of Supersax, a tribute group dedicated to Charlie Parker.
- With the album “Iowa”, Slipknot reached number one on the UK album chart.
- Thieves broke into Icelandic singer Björk’s London apartment and stole valuable recording equipment. The 36-year-old singer was sleeping in the apartment at the time of the incident.
- The Clash received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the GQ Men of the Year Awards in London.
- He suffered a severe stroke after a performance during Labor Day weekend, after which he fell into a coma from which he never recovered. He died on February 9, 2005.
- Barry Cowsill of The Cowsills died around September 2, 2005, in New Orleans in connection with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. His body was not found until December 28, 2005, and was definitively identified using dental records.
- Kanye West criticized President George W. Bush’s response to Hurricane Katrina during a televised benefit concert in New York. The concert was raising funds to help victims of the disaster, and West made a controversial statement during the live broadcast about the president and his relationship with the Black community. The statement was broadcast live on the US East Coast, but was removed from the edited version for the West Coast.
- Mariah Carey became only the fifth artist or group in history to simultaneously occupy the top two positions on the US singles chart. “We Belong Together” had been at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for ten consecutive weeks, while “Shake It Off” moved to number two.
- Ronald Isley, lead singer of The Isley Brothers, was sentenced to three years in prison in the US for several counts of tax fraud. The 64-year-old singer was also ordered to pay the Internal Revenue Service more than $3.1 million. The court said he had collected royalties belonging to his brother O'Kelly, who died in 1996, and had also spent millions of dollars in undeclared performance income on a yacht and two houses.
- With their fourth studio album “Eyes Open”, Snow Patrol reached number one on the UK album chart. With more than 1.5 million copies sold, it was, according to the source, the best-selling album of the year in the United Kingdom.
- The mayor of St. Louis refused to declare the day “Ike Turner Day”. Turner was performing at the Big Muddy Blues Festival in the city at the time.
- Seventeen-year-old Jamaican-American singer Sean Kingston reached number one on the UK singles chart with “Beautiful Girls”, which was also a US number-one hit. The song uses the bassline from Ben E. King’s classic hit “Stand by Me”.
- At the GQ Men of the Year Awards, she became so drunk that she insulted her co-host Elton John and, at the end of the evening, revealed news of her brother’s recent engagement in London.
- Rage Against The Machine took part in protests against the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis, but police prevented them from performing. The band went into the crowd and played two songs through a megaphone, after which riots broke out.
- Shinedown singer Brent Smith became the target of a remark about his weight by Today host Kathy Lee Gifford, who said she thought he was Meat Loaf. Smith finished the performance with the song “Second Chance”, but the comment affected him. Several years later, he used it as motivation to quit drinking alcohol and begin an intensive fitness regimen.
- Guy Babylon, Elton John’s keyboardist, died of a heart attack while swimming in the pool at his home in Los Angeles. He had been an important member of John’s touring and recording band for more than 21 years.
- Brooks & Dunn played their final joint concert at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville as part of a benefit event for the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.
- Starship lead guitarist Mark Abrahamian, 46, suffered a fatal heart attack in Norfolk, Nebraska, shortly after a concert with Boston and Survivor. He collapsed in the dressing-room area shortly after the performance while talking on the phone with his fiancée.
- Elton John received the first-ever Brits Icon award during a special concert that marked his return to the stage following appendix surgery. The award was presented to him by Rod Stewart, who jokingly called him the second-best rock singer of all time.
- The album Step Back was released less than two months after Johnny Winter’s death at the age of 70. The project features a number of guest musicians, including Eric Clapton, Joe Perry of Aerosmith and Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top. Winter received his only Grammy Award for the album, winning in the Best Blues Album category.
- The compilation album “Their Greatest Hits 1971–1975” returned to the Billboard 200 after a promotional sale in the Google Play store for 99 cents. The album, released in 1976, was already the best-selling compilation record in history at the time, with worldwide sales of more than 42 million copies.
- With the song “Closer” featuring Halsey, The Chainsmokers reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100.
- Sixty-six-year-old Dave Hlubek, lead guitarist, principal songwriter and founding member of Southern rock band Molly Hatchet, died of a heart attack. He left a musical legacy that included seven gold and platinum albums and several million recordings sold worldwide.
- With her third studio album “Rainbow”, she reached number one on the US Billboard 200.
- Walter Becker, co-founder of Steely Dan, died at the age of 67.
- Australian rock musician Conway Savage of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds died at the age of 58. In 2017, he underwent treatment for a brain tumor. He also had a solo career from 1993 and released three albums.
- The Killers were at number one on the UK album chart with their sixth studio album Imploding the Mirage, which at the time was the third-fastest-selling album of the year. It was also their sixth consecutive album to reach the top in the United Kingdom.
- James Darren died at the age of 88. In the first half of the 1960s, he had six songs in the US Top 40, two of which reached the Top 10. He also worked as an actor in film and television, including the films The Guns of Navarone, The Gene Krupa Story, All the Young Men and Because They're Young and the television series The Time Tunnel.
- Sting was sued by his former The Police bandmates Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland over alleged unpaid shares of royalties from songs recorded by the group between 1977 and 1984. In the civil case at the High Court, they claimed they had an oral agreement to share the income, which was later formalized in written contracts. Sting, who wrote The Police's biggest hits, denied the allegations, and his lawyers described the claims as unjustified.
- Gary Glitter, 82, pleaded not guilty at a British court to eight counts of sexual abuse of a girl aged between 8 and 11. The alleged offenses were said to have taken place between 1978 and 1981 under his legal name, Paul Gadd. Judge Tony Baumgartner adjourned the case for a three-week trial scheduled to begin on November 22, 2027.