| 85 years ago (1938) | Singer/songwriter Hoyt Axton is born to his songwriting mother, Mae Boren Axton. She co-wrote Elvis Presley’s hit, Heartbreak Hotel. Hoyt grows up to write a slew of hits: Joy to the World (Three Dog Night) and Never Been to Spain (Three Dog Night, Elvis Presley); Greenback Dollar (Kingston Trio); The Pusher and Snowblind Friend (Steppenwolf); No No Song (Ringo Starr) and many others. |
| 81 years ago (1942) | Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin is born. |
| 76 years ago (1947) | Reginald Kenneth Dwight, a.k.a. Elton John, is born. |
| 67 years ago (1956) | At the conclusion of Alan Freed's 3-day Rock 'n' Roll Show at the Stage Theater in Hartford, Connecticut, police have arrested eleven teenagers and taken the theater's license to operate. This prompts Hartford Institute of Living psychiatrist Dr. Francis J. Braceland to testify at license hearings that rock & roll is “a communicable disease with music appealing to adolescent insecurity and driving teenagers to do outlandish things...It's cannibalistic and tribalistic.” |
| 62 years ago (1961) | Elvis Presley performs his last live show for eight years at Block Arena in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The show is a benefit and $62,000 is raised for the U.S.S. Arizona memorial fund. |
| 57 years ago (1966) | Guitarist and singer Jeff Healey is born. |
| 56 years ago (1967) | The Who makes its U.S. concert debut in New York as part of a rock & roll extravaganza promoted by legendary DJ Murray the K. |
| 53 years ago (1970) | Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young's first and only studio album, Deja Vu goes gold. The LP yielded hit singles in Woodstock and Teach Your Children. |
| 47 years ago (1976) | Jackson Browne's wife Phyllis commits suicide. |
| 46 years ago (1977) | After a decade of being the “Beautiful Loser,” Bob Seger gets his big break. His seventh album, Night Moves, goes platinum. The 33-year-old is aided by three Top Forty hits off the LP: Night Moves, Mainstreet and Rock & Roll Never Forgets. |
| 40 years ago (1983) | New Orleans' power rock trio Zebra releases its self-titled debut album on Atlantic Records. It becomes the fastest selling debut record in Atlantic Records history, selling an amazing 75,000 copies in the first week. The album stays on the Billboard charts for eight months, peaking at #29. |
| 38 years ago (1985) | At the Academy Awards, Prince wins an Oscar for Original Song Score for Purple Rain. |
| 33 years ago (1990) | Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee is arrested for allegedly exposing his buttocks during a concert in Augusta, Georgia. |
| 28 years ago (1995) | Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder is rescued after a riptide carries him 250 feet offshore in New Zealand. |
| 17 years ago (2006) | “I've never been this embarrased in my life. It’s the worst show I’ve ever done in my life,” says Patti Labelle to her audience at the Riviera Beach Jazz & Blues Festival in Riviera Beach, Florida. With diabetes and a heart murmur, the low fifties temperatures apparently cause Pattti some problems. She struggles through Lady Marmalade, On My Own, and a few gospel songs, then has to call it quits. |
| 16 years ago (2007) | Elton John celebrates his 60th birthday by performing at Madison Square Garden in New York City for the 60th time in his long musical career. The birthday bash is taped and then aired on April 5th during a two-hour special on MyNetworkTV - a mini-network on Fox. Since October 2001, John has held a record for the most performances at the legendary Garden. Rock icons the Grateful Dead held the previous record with 52 performances. |