30 MARCH
In Music History
1989 To help promote Bon Jovi's album New Jersey, MTV gives away Jon Bon Jovi's childhood home (which they bought from his parents) to contest winners Jay and Judy Frappier. "This is the place where I learned about the finer things in life," Jon said in promos for the contest. "Like rock and roll and women."
1988 The movie Beetlejuice hits theaters, introducing a new generation to the 1956 Harry Belafonte Calypso favorite "The Banana Boat Song (Day-O)," which plays in a wild scene where dinner guests are possessed by Beetlejuice the ghost and made to perform a routine to the song.
1987 Prince releases his ninth album, Sign O' the Times. The title track is a sober look at problems like poverty and drug abuse, but it's balanced with "U Got the Look," a lusty duet with Sheena Easton.
1986 Fleet Foxes frontman Robin Pecknold is born in Seattle, Washington.
1985 Phil Collins scores his second #1 hit as a solo artist: "One More Night."
1979 Norah Jones is born Geetali Norah Shankar in New York City. Her father is the Indian sitar player Ravi Shankar, but Norah never lives with him. Raised by her mom, the concert promoter Sue Jones, she grows up in Texas before venturing back to New York to pursue music in 1999.
1974 John Denver's "Sunshine On My Shoulders" hits #1 in the US. The song first appeared on his 1971 album Poems, Prayers & Promises; it came to prominence after featuring in the made-for-TV movie Sunshine in 1973.
1967 The Beatles shoot the cover of their Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album at Chelsea Manor Studios in London.
1964 Tracy Chapman is born in Cleveland, Ohio.
1963 Lesley Gore records "It's My Party" at Bell Studios in New York. That night, her producer Quincy Jones finds out that Phil Spector has recorded the song with his group The Crystals, so Jones rush-releases it to get Gore's version to radio stations first.
1955 Singer/songwriter Randy VanWarmer ("Just When I Needed You Most") is born in Indian Hills, Colorado.
1948 Black Oak Arkansas lead singer Jim "Dandy" Mangrum is born in Michigan.
1944 Ronnie Rice of The New Colony Six is born in Illinois.
1943 Love bass player Ken Forssi is born in Cleveland.
1941 Graeme Edge of The Moody Blues is born in Staffordshire, England.
Ashanti (Ja) Rules The Chart
2002Ashanti dominates the American Top 10, with her Ja Rule collaboration "Always On Time" at #4, her Fat Joe duet "What's Luv?" at #5, and her solo track "Foolish" at #9. The #1 song, "Ain't It Funny" by Jennifer Lopez, contains some lyrics written by Ashanti.
Read more30 MARCH
Featured Events
2005 Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica ends its three-season run on MTV as its subjects, Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey, are on the brink of divorce. The marriage is officially over the following June.
2001 The Detroit Free Press breaks the news that Jack and Meg White of The White Stripes are not siblings as they claim, but former husband and wife. Court records show they were married in 1996 and divorced in 2000. Rolling Stone and the New York Times are among the publications previously reporting them as brother and sister, a believable claim because they look alike.
1995 Wu-Tang Clan rapper Ol' Dirty Bastard takes an MTV news crew along for a ride in a stretch limo, where he stops to pick up food stamps, proving that the ID card on the cover of his solo album is real.More
1968 Celine Dion is born in Charlemagne, Quebec, the youngest of 14. She releases music in her native French throughout the '80s, building a huge following in Canada and France. In 1990, she sets her sights on America with her first English album, Unison, and she quickly becomes a star there as well.
1962 MC Hammer is born in Oakland, California. His birth name is Stanley Burrell, but he is dubbed "Hammer" when he becomes a batboy for the Oakland A's, since he looks like hall-of-famer "Hammerin'" Hank Aaron.
1945 Eric Clapton is born in Ripley, England. He forms the bands Cream, Blind Faith and Derek & the Dominos. His birth name is often erroneously reported as "Eric Clapp," as Clapp is the surname of his grandparents who raised him.
©2026 Songfacts®, LLC