10 JANUARY
Featured Events
2016 Justin Bieber claims the top three spots on the UK singles chart, making him the first artist to do so. The songs: #1: "Love Yourself" #2: "Sorry" #3: "What Do You Mean?"
2006 The High School Musical soundtrack is released. It sells 6000 copies its first week, but after the movie airs on January 20, it does a lot better, eventually selling over 4 million, making it the #1 album of 2006.
1976 C.W. McCall's "Convoy" hits #1 in the US amid fascination with trucker culture and CB radios.
1969 Frustrated by a film crew recording the Let It Be sessions and plans his bandmates are making for a concert he wants no part of, George Harrison quits The Beatles, writing in his diary: "Got up. Went to Twickenham. Rehearsed until lunchtime. Left The Beatles. Went home." He is lured back a few days later with assurances that the concert would be cancelled and his wishes respected.
1953 Pat Benatar is born Patricia Andrzejewski in Lindenhurst, Long Island, New York. Classically trained as a vocalist, she uses her exceptional range to soar into the choruses of hits like "Love Is A Battlefield" and "Hit Me With Your Best Shot." A fixture on MTV, she becomes one of the biggest stars of the '80s.
1949 The vinyl record format war heats up as RCA introduces the 45-RPM, 7-inch record. It eventually replaces the 78-RPM record for "singles" - one song on each side. The format takes off in the early years of the rock era.
1945 Rod Stewart is born in London, England. He joins the Jeff Beck Group from 1967-69 and Faces from 1969-75, but makes his biggest impact as a solo artist.
1943 Jim Croce is born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His song "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown" hits #1 in July 1973, but Croce is killed in a plane crash just two months later. In the wake of his death, his song "Time In A Bottle" goes to #1.
10 JANUARY
In Music History
2026 Grateful Dead guitarist and founding member Bob Weir's long strange trip comes to an end as he dies following a battle with cancer. He sang lead on "Truckin'" and co-wrote many Dead classics, including "Sugar Magnolia" and "Born Cross-Eyed."
2025 Sam Moore, one of the soul men in the duo Sam & Dave, dies at 89.
2023 Jeff Beck dies at 78 after coming down with bacterial meningitis.
2019 In light of the Surviving R. Kelly miniseries, Lady Gaga pulls her 2013 R. Kelly collaboration, "Do What U Want," from streaming services and issues a statement supporting his accusers.
2018 Motörhead guitarist "Fast" Eddie Clark dies of complications from pneumonia at age 67.
2017 Buddy Greco dies in Las Vegas, Nevada, at age 90. Greco was a jazz singer who recorded several hit songs across all genres, his most popular being a cover of "The Lady is a Tramp." He also palled around with Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin, and was considered one of the Rat Pack's "mascots."
2011 Margaret Whiting, a popular singer who duetted with Johnny Mercer on the seasonal favorite "Baby It's Cold Outside," dies at age 86.
2009 Fergie marries actor Josh Duhamel in Malibu, California. They split up eight years later.
2008 Panic! At The Disco announce they will be dropping their "!" with the release of their next album, Pretty. Odd.
2003 British and Dutch police recover 500 Beatles master tapes missing since they were stolen from Abbey Road studios about 30 years earlier.
1999 The Sopranos debuts on HBO. Bruce Springsteen's guitarist, Steven Van Zandt, plays Silvio Dante, a character he modeled on his relationship with Bruce: Unlike most of Tony Soprano's inner circle, Silvio doesn't want to be the boss.
1997 James Brown gets a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
1995 Rory Gallagher plays his last concert, in the Netherlands. Five months later he dies of complications from a liver transplant.
1993 Rauw Alejandro is born Raúl Alejandro Ocasio Ruiz in San Juan, Puerto Rico. After his plans to become a famous soccer player fall through, he settles for international stardom as a Latin R&B/reggaeton singer-songwriter. His first Top 10 hit on the Billboard Latin Songs chart is "Tattoo" from his 2020 debut album, Afrodisiaco. His ensuing releases find the artist constantly reinventing his sound, with forays into dancehall, salsa, Latin trap, electric, and pop music.
1985 Chris Isaak releases his debut album, Silvertone. The LP is named after his three-piece backup band.
David Bowie Dies
2016David Bowie dies at age 69 after an 18-month battle with liver cancer.
A statement posted online explains that Bowie – who'd kept his condition a closely guarded secret from the public – "died peacefully surrounded by his family." The performer, who was living in New York City at the time of his death, released the album Blackstar only two days prior – his 69th birthday. Bowie continued to record music and tour up until 2004, when he suffered a heart attack backstage at the Hurricane Festival in Germany. The health scare prompted the then 57-year-old to gradually withdraw from the public eye, with him performing for the final time alongside Alicia Keys during a fundraising event at Hammerstein Ballroom in 2006. On January 8, 2013 – his 66th birthday – Bowie surprised his fans when, after almost a decade-long hiatus, he announced the release of his 24th album The Next Day. Recorded in secret over a 2-year period in New York City, the album heard the songwriter revisit a rock-orientated sound – a move that received acclaim from music critics. Three years later, Bowie returned once more with the jazz-streaked Blackstar. Music videos for the singles "Blackstar" and "Lazarus" were also unveiled – with the latter featuring the artist writhing in a hospital bed. The significance of these aesthetic allusions to death, together with Blackstar's lyrical ruminations on morality is revealed two days after the album was released, when news of Bowie's demise is made public. Among those paying tribute to Bowie are Paul McCartney, Iggy Pop, Madonna, Bruce Springsteen, Annie Lennox, Elton John, Brian May and Mick Jagger, who'd duetted with him on a cover of "Dancing in the Street" in 1985. "David was always an inspiration to me and a true original" wrote Jagger on Twitter. "He was my friend, I will never forget him." Perhaps the most touching eulogy of all comes from producer Tony Visconti, who'd worked with Bowie since the days of Space Oddity. "He was an extraordinary man, full of love and life," writes Visconti. "He will always be with us. For now, it is appropriate to cry."
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