Pick a Day

28 AUGUST

In Music History

1993 At a charity concert held at Fort Adams State Park in Newport, Rhode Island, Natalie Merchant plays her first gig after leaving 10,000 Maniacs.

1986 Florence Welch, who forms Florence + the Machine with keyboard player Isabella "Machine" Summers, is born in London. Their first album, Lungs, is released in 2009 and makes a big impact, going to #1 in the UK.

1986 The anti-corporate-pollution benefit concert Get Tough On Toxics is held in Long Beach, California, featuring members of Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, and Neil Young.

1984 The Egyptian poet Abdul Rahim Mansour dies.

1984 With over one million ticket sales in only two months, the Jacksons' reunion tour, entitled Victory, becomes the most successful concert tour of all time.

1982 George Strait lands his first #1 Country hit with "Fool Hearted Memory," a song from his second album, Strait From The Heart, which also contains his famous cover of "Amarillo By Morning." Strait quickly becomes the biggest hitmaker in country music, with 17 #1 hits by the end of the decade.

1982 Country singer LeAnn Rimes is born Margaret LeAnn Rimes in Jackson, Mississippi.

1981 Guy Stevens (music producer/manager) dies of a prescription drug overdose in South London, England, at age 38. He produced The Clash's third album, London Calling.

1981 Country singer Jake Owen is born Joshua Ryan Owen in Winter Haven, Florida. Arriving with him is fraternal twin brother, Jarrod.

1971 John Denver's first hit, "Take Me Home Country Roads," peaks at #2 on the Hot 100, held back by the Bee Gees' "How Can You Mend A Broken Heart?" Denver's song, which endures as a singalong favorite, is about West Virgina, but he had never been there - the lyric was inspired by postcards his co-writer Bill Danoff received from a friend who lived in that state.

1970 The third day of the Isle of Wight Festival includes performances from Procol Harum, Rory Gallagher's trio Taste and Chicago. Although appearing on the bill and in the programme, Mungo Jerry decide not to play when the show overruns to such an extent they would be playing in the early hours of the morning.

1969 Paul and Linda McCartney have their first child: a daughter named Mary, named after Paul's mother.

1967 In San Francisco, Grateful Dead, along with Janis Joplin's group Big Brother & the Holding Company, play the funeral of a Hell's Angel killed after being hit by a car.

1965 The Rolling Stones sign with Decca records and ink a management contract with Allen Klein.

1965 "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag" becomes James Brown's first song to cross over to the Top 10 of the Hot 100, where and lands at #10 (it peaks at #8 the following week). Brown's "new bag" is stressing the downbeat (the "one"), creating an unusual and very appealing rhythm.