4 MAY
Featured Events
2012 Adam Yauch (aka MCA of the Beastie Boys) dies of cancer at age 47 in New York City.
1999 Former In Living Color Fly Girl Jennifer Lopez issues her first single, "If You Had My Love." The song lands at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, making Lopez the first artist to top the chart with a debut single since Britney Spears did the same with "...Baby One More Time" four months earlier.More
1990 David Bowie's ex-wife Angela goes on The Joan Rivers Show and says that she once walked in on Bowie and Mick Jagger naked in bed. Angela signed a gag order when she divorced Bowie that kept her from talking for 10 years, and was taking advantage of the opportunity.
1982 Under the leadership of chairman Elton John, who has invested heavily in the team, the Watford Football Club is promoted to the First Division of English football with a win over Wrexham. The team was in the lowly Fourth Division when Elton took over as chairman in 1976.
1974 The Sting soundtrack, featuring Marvin Hamlisch's adaptations of Scott Joplin's ragtime piano tunes, hits #1 in America, where it stays for five weeks.
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1974 Grand Funk's cover of "The Loco-Motion" hits #1 in America. It's the second time the song has topped the chart: Little Eva's original went to #1 in 1962.
1970 Later memorialized in the Neil Young song "Ohio," the Ohio National Guard fires on protesters at Kent State University, killing four students, two of whom weren't even protesting. This shameful event in American history leads to the formation of Devo, as Mark Mothersbaugh and Jerry Casale are both on campus and horrified by the events.More
1959 The very first Grammy Awards are held in Los Angeles, with Record of the Year going to Domenico Modugno's "Nel Blu, Dipinto di Blu (Volare)" and Henry Mancini's The Music From Peter Gunn soundtrack winning Album of the Year. The Champs' "Tequila," for some reason, takes home Best Rhythm and Blues Performance.
1937 Surf rock guitarist Dick Dale is born Richard Anthony Monsour in Boston, Massachusetts.
4 MAY
In Music History
2024 A crowd estimated at 1.6 million watch Madonna cap off her Celebration Tour at a free concert in Rio. The concertgoers fill up a 2.4-mile stretch of Copacabana Beach equipped with giant sound towers with huge video screens, a $12 million production.
2024 After 10 weeks at the top of the Country chart, Beyoncé's "Texas Hold 'Em" gives way to "A Bar Song (Tipsy)" by Shaboozey, a singer who came to the fore when Beyoncé featured him on her Cowboy Carter album.
2024 The top 14 songs on the Hot 100 are all from Taylor Swift's The Tortured Poets Department, with "Fortnight" taking the top spot. All 31 songs from the album are on the chart in addition to an earlier song, "Cruel Summer."
2021 Nick Kamen, known for the 1986 hit "Each Time You Break My Heart," dies of bone marrow cancer at his London home. He was 59.
2020 Grimes has a baby boy she names X Æ A-12. The father is entrepreneur Elon Musk.
2019 A section of Staten Island is renamed "Wu-Tang Clan District" in honor of the group.More
2018 Soul singer Leon Bridges releases his sophomore album, Good Thing. Its single "Bet Ain't Worth The Hand" takes the Grammy Award for Best Traditional R&B Performance.
2017 Implying that they will soon be voted out of office, Democrats sing "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye" to taunt Republicans in the House of Representatives after a Republican-sponsored bill replacing the Affordable Care Act passes.
2013 James Righton of Klaxons marries the actress Keira Knightley. He proves useful when he gives ger guitar lessons for her role as a musician in the 2014 movie Begin Again.
2010 Olivia Newton-John gets "Physical" in a duet with Jane Lynch on the Glee episode "Bad Reputation."
2008 Martha Reeves' (of Martha & the Vandellas) home in Detroit is burglarized and one million dollars' worth of recording equipment is stolen. In just a few hours, the perpetrator is caught while attempting to hock the merchandise for $400.
2000 Letters to Cleo play their last concert in Boston; they disband the following month.
1993 PJ Harvey, fronted by British alt rocker Polly Jean Harvey, release their second and last album as a trio, Rid Of Me. The album is later hailed as one of the defining albums of the decade, but at the time, critics are split over Steve Albini's aggressive production.More
1992 Dudu Mntowaziwayo Ndlovu (percussionist for Johnny Clegg & Juluka) is killed in a hail of gunfire in South Africa at age 33.
Musicians Want Trump To Stop Playing Their Songs
2016After Donald Trump's campaign plays "Start Me Up" following his victory speech celebrating his path to the Republican nomination, The Rolling Stones ask him to stop, joining several other artists in decrying his use of their songs.
Trump had been using "Brown Sugar" and "You Can't Always Get What You Want" at events throughout his shockingly successful campaign. In a statement, the band says, "The Rolling Stones have never given permission to the Trump campaign to use their songs and have requested that they cease all use immediately." Trump ignores the request and plays "You Can't Always Get What You Want" at the climax of the Republican convention after delivering his speech on July 21, prompting a retort from the band on Twitter explaining once again that the song was used without permission. Candidates can use whatever songs they want at these events, but every now and then an artist speaks up to make it clear that they don't approve. The Trump campaign proves especially irksome and draws an unusual number of complaints. Among those issuing statements: Adele, objecting to "Rolling In The Deep." Neil Young over "Rockin' In The Free World." After Young complains, Trump calls him a "total hypocrite" on Twitter, saying that Young once invited him to a concert and asked him to finance a project. Elton John over "Rocket Man." R.E.M. for "It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)." Brian May of Queen over "We Are The Champions." Once again, this request is ignored and Trump uses it as his entrance music when he first appears at the convention.
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