1954, Johnny Ace shot himself dead backstage at the City Auditorium in Houston, Texas. The R&B singer was playing with a revolver during a break between sets, someone in the room said “Be careful with that thing’’ and he said ‘It’s OK the gun’s not loaded, see’’ and pointed it at himself with a smile on his face.
1954, Bing Crosby’s ‘White Christmas’ entered the Billboard Pop chart for the eleventh time. Bing’s rendition has sold over 100 million copies around the world, with at least 50 million sales as singles. It was the largest selling single in music history until it was surpassed by Elton John’s ‘Candle in the Wind 1997’.
1964, The Supremes, Marvin Gaye, The Temptations, The Miracles, Stevie Wonder and The Marvelettes all appeared at The Fox Theatre, Brooklyn, New York.
1964, The Beatles recorded six songs for the BBC radio program Saturday Club in London: ‘Rock and Roll Music’, ‘I’m a Loser’, ‘Everybody’s Trying to Be My Baby’, ‘I Feel Fine’, ‘Kansas City/Hey Hey Hey Hey’ and ‘She’s a Woman.’
1968, Led Zeppelin arrived in the United States for the very first time in preparation of their debut North American tour. The group were paid an average of $1,500 for each show.
1976, American MOR singer Johnny Mathis was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘When A Child Is Born’, the singers only UK No.1 and the Christmas hit of 1976.
1978, John Lydon’s new group Public Image Ltd played their first live gig at the Rainbow Theatre, London.
1981, Michael Jackson phoned Paul McCartney and suggested they write and record together, the first result being ‘The Girl Is Mine’. The song was a US No.2 & UK No.8 in 1982.
1982, David Bowie had a No.3 UK hit with a duet with Bing Crosby, ‘Peace On Earth – Little Drummer Boy.’ The single became one of Bowie’s best selling in his career, with total estimated sales over 400,000 in the UK alone. The Christmas song was written in 1941, while the ‘Peace on Earth’ tune and lyrics, written by Ian Fraser, Larry Grossman, and Alan Kohan, were added to the song specially for Bowie and Crosby’s recording.
1995, American singer, actor and TV host Dean Martin died. Had the 1956 UK & US No.1 single ‘Memories Are Made Of This’ plus over 15 other UK Top 40 singles including ‘That’s Amore’, ‘Everybody Loves Somebody’, ‘Mambo Italiano’. In 1965, Martin launched his weekly NBC comedy-variety series, The Dean Martin Show.
1998, Bryan MacLean, guitarist with Love, died of a heart attack aged 62 while having Christmas dinner with a young fan who was researching a book about the band. Love had the 1966 US No.33 single ‘7 And 7 Is’, and the 1968 album Forever Changes.
2003, Michael Jackson recorded his first interview since news of the allegations of sexual abuse with a 12-year old boy. He told the CBS TV network he would ‘slit his wrists’ before he would hurt a child. He also claimed he suffered a dislocated shoulder after police ‘manhandled’ him and treated him ‘very roughly’ during his arrest.
2006, James Brown the ‘Godfather of Soul’, died at the age of 73 after being diagnosed with severe pneumonia. Brown went to his dentist in Atlanta the previous day who told him something was wrong, and sent him to a doctor immediately. His hits included ‘Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag’, ‘I Got You (I Feel Good)’, and ‘Get Up (I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine, Pt. 1’. Brown was married four times, at the age of 16, was arrested for theft and served 3 years in prison. In 1988, Brown was arrested following a high-speed car chase along the Georgia-South Carolina state border.
2008, American actress, singer, and cabaret star Eartha Kitt died from colon cancer at her Weston, Connecticut home at the age of 81. Best known for her 1953 Christmas song ‘Santa Baby.’
2009, American singer-songwriter Vic Chesnutt died from an overdose of muscle relaxants that had left him in a coma in an Athens hospital. He released 17 albums during his career, including two produced by Michael Stipe.
2009, Tony Bellamy guitarist, pianist and vocalist for the Native American rock band Redbone died of liver failure. Redbone had the 1971 UK No.2 & US No.21 single ‘The Witch Queen Of New Orleans and the 1974 US No. 4 hit single, ‘Come and Get Your Love.’ Redbone are accredited in the NY Smithsonian as the first Native American rock/Cajun group to have a No.1 single in the United States and internationally. Bellamy had performed with Dobie Gray, and was a member of Peter and the Wolves (a band from San Francisco that evolved into the psychedelic band Moby Grape).
2014, Ed Sheeran was at No.1 on the UK album chart with x, (pronounced “multiply”). In 2015, x won the Brit Award for British Album of the Year, and at the 57th Grammy Awards it was nominated for Best Pop Vocal Album and Album of the Year. Spotify named x the most-streamed album in the world for 2014, racking up more than 430 million streams for the year.
2016, George Michael died at his home aged 53. Thames Valley Police said South Central Ambulance Service attended a property in Goring in Oxfordshire at 13:42 GMT. The singer who launched his career with Wham in the 1980s and later continued his success as a solo performer, was said to have “passed away peacefully at home”. Up to the time of his death, Michael sold more than 115 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time.
