This Day in Music

Billboard Staff
Updated ·2 min read

2002 – The Rolling Stones arrive by blimp at New York’s Van Cortland Park to announce their 2002/2003 world tour.

2000 – A small but enthusiastic audience turns out to see vocalist Patti Page in a special concert at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium. Celebrating the release of a new album, “Brand New Tennessee Waltz,” the 72-year-old singer entertains a crowd that includes EmmyLou Harris, Duane Allen of the Oak Ridge Boys & Radney Foster.

1999 – Soul chanteuse Lisa Stansfield makes her film debut in the U.K. in the comedy “Swing.” The movie, directed by Nick Mead, also stars Hugo Speer of “The Full Monty” fame and features such familiar stars to British audiences as Tom Bell, Rita Tushingham, and comedian Alexei Sayle, plus a role for E Street Band member Clarence Clemons.

1999 – Latin music sensation Ricky Martin is named international breakthrough artist of the year at the inaugural MTV-CCTV Music Honors, an awards show that pays tribute to international artists who have made significant contributions to China’s music industry.

1998 – Country singer Eddie Rabbitt, diagnosed with lung cancer the previous year, dies. He is 56. His last album is “Beatin’ The Odds.” Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., and raised in East Orange, N.J., Rabbitt took a bus to Nashville in 1968 and came to prominence two years later when Elvis Presley recorded his “Kentucky Rain.”

1998 – Tens of thousands of young fans shut down central Tokyo to traffic in an outpouring of grief for X-Japan guitarist Hideto “Hide” Matsumoto, who hanged himself five days earlier. One fan follows him in suicide, and two others make an attempt.

1998 – Beck blurs yet more artistic lines with a performance art piece and multimedia presentation of work made by himself and his late grandfather, the Fluxus artist Al Hansen. Beck performs “New Age Evisceration 1” as part of a gala celebrating the re-opening of the Santa Monica Museum of Art.

1990 – No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit: “Nothing Compares 2 U,” Sinead O’Connor. The million-selling single is the Irish rocker’s only top 40 hit. It is written by Prince.

1985 – No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit: “Crazy for You,” Madonna.

1978 – No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit: “If I Can’t Have You,” Yvonne Elliman.

1967 – No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit: “The Happening,” The Supremes. The song is the group’s last single.

1959 – No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit: “The Happy Organ,” Dave Cortez.

1946 – Bill Danoff of the Starland Vocal Band is born in Springfield, Mass. The group’s biggest hit is “Afternoon Delight,” a million-selling No. 1 song in 1976.

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