On This Day In Music 8th April

1929 Jacques Brel born in Schaarbeek, Belgium. Belgian singer, songwriter. Marc Almond, Alex Harvey, David Bowie, Dusty Springfield, Ray Charles, Frank Sinatra, Nina Simone, The Kingston Trio and Gavin Friday have all covered his songs. Brel has sold over 25 million records worldwide, including over 12 million albums and singles in France and Belgium. He died of cancer 9th October 1978. 
1942 Roger Chapman born in Leicester, England. Vocalist with Family, (1971 UK No.4 single ‘In My Own Time’, 1968 album Music in a Doll’s House), also a member of the Streetwalkers. Now solo. 
1947 Steve Howe born in Holloway, London, England. Guitarist with Yes he joined in 1970. He was also a member of Asia. 
1956 Justin Sullivan born in Jordans, Buckinghamshire..English singer and songwriter. He is also the frontman and lyricist of the British rock band New Model Army, which he formed in 1980 together with drummer Robert Heaton and bassist Stuart Morrow in their hometown of Bradford, Yorkshire. (1985 UK No.28 single ‘No Rest’). 
1956 During a tour of Colorado, Texas and New Mexico, Elvis Presley played two shows at Denver Coliseum in Colorado, (1 matinee and 1 evening). 
1962 Born on this day, Izzy Stradlin, guitar, Guns N’ Roses
1962 Adam Mole, Pop Will Eat Itself, (1991 UK No.15 single ‘X Y & Zee’). 
1962 Jerry Kelly, Lotus Eaters, (1983 UK No.15 single ‘First Picture Of You’). 
1963 Julian Lennon (John Charles Julian Lennon) is born in Liverpool, England, the son of John and Cynthia Lennon. He is the first child born to any of the Beatles. He starts his own music career in the mid-1980s
1963 Donita Sparks born in Chicago, Illinois. American vocalist, guitarist, songwriter, and creative director most notable for being the co-founder of the band L7. (1992 UK No. 21 single ‘Pretend We’re Dead’). 
1964 The Supremes record ‘Where Did Our Love Go’ at Motown Studios in Detroit. The song would become their first US No.1 single. Originally founded as the Primettes in Detroit, Michigan, in 1959, the Supremes were the most commercially successful of Motown’s acts and are, to date, America’s most successful vocal group with 12 No.1 singles on the Billboard Hot 100. 
1965 Unit Four Plus Two were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Concrete And Clay’, the English group’s only No.1 hit. 
1965 Sandie Shaw won the Eurovision Song Contest held in Vienna representing Britain with the song ‘Puppet On A String’. She became the first UK female artist to win the contest. 
1967 Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, Eddie Floyd, Arthur Conley and Booker T And The MG’s all appeared at London’s Hammersmith Odeon, England. 
1968 The Beatles went gold again, receiving a gold record for the single, “Lady Madonna”. 
1970 The UK premiere of the Woodstock movie took place in London. The film was a documentary of the festival that took place in August 1969 at Bethel in New York. 
1971 Darren Jessee born in Houston, Texas. Drummer, songwriter, singer and member of the rock bands Ben Folds Five and Hotel Lights.(1997 UK No.26 single ‘Battle Of Who Could Care Less’). 
1972 Written after the ‘Bloody Sunday Massacre’, in Northern Ireland Paul McCartney and Wings released ‘Give Ireland Back To The Irish.’ The song was banned by the BBC and the IBA. It peaked at No.16 in the UK and No.21 in the US. 
1973 Gilbert O’Sullivan was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Get Down’, (a song about his dog), the singers second UK No.1. 
1973 During his Ziggy Stardust world tour, David Bowie played the first of three sold out nights at Shinjuku Koseinenkin, Kaikan, Tokyo, Japan. 
1977 The Damned played at the home of the New York punk scene CBGBS, the first UK Punk group to play live dates in the USA. 
1978 Brian and Michael (Kevin Parrott and Michael Coleman), were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with a song inspired by painter LS Lowery ‘Matchstalk Men And Matchstalk Cats And Dogs.’ The backing vocals are by the St Winifred’s School Choir, who had a No.1 in 1980. 
1982 New Order’s bass player Peter Hook was knocked unconscious during a riot at a gig in Rotterdam. 
1984 Ezra Koenig, singer, guitarist, Vampire Weekend. 2010 US & UK No.1 album, ‘Contra’ and the 2013 US No.1 album ‘Modern Vampires of the City’. 
1985 US Songwriter J. Fred Coots died. He co-wrote ‘Santa claus Is Coming To Town’ and ‘the Pat Boone US No.1 hit ‘Love Letters In The Sand’. 
1985 American songwriter J Fred Coots died aged 87. Co-wrote, ‘Santa Claus Is Coming To Town’ and the Pat Boone US No.1 hit ‘Love Letters In The Sand.’ He wrote over 700 songs. 
1989 Matthew Healy, lead vocals, guitar and keyboards with English indie rock band The 1975. Their second album released in 2016, I Like It When You Sleep, for You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware of It, went to No.1 on both the UK and US album charts, (setting the record for longest title of a Billboard No.1 album with 71 characters).
1989 Roxette went to No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘The Look’, the duo’s first US No.1, a No.7 hit in the UK. 
1989 “Stand” by R.E.M. peaked at #6 on the US singles chart; “Weird Al” parodied it into “Spam”.
1993 During the European leg of his current world tour, Bruce Springsteen played the second of two sold-out nights at the Hallen stadion in Zurich, Switzerland. 
1994 Electrician Gary Smith who was working at Kurt Cobain’s house in Seattle discovered Cobain’s body lying on the floor in the greenhouse. Local radio station KXRX broke the news at 9.40am that the Nirvana singer and guitarist was dead. A shotgun was found next to Cobain’s body. A suicide note was found that said, “I haven’t felt the excitement of listening to as well as creating music, along with really writing . . . for too many years now”. A high concentration of heroin and traces of Valium were also found in Cobain’s body. 
1994 The Recording Industry Association of America announced that Pink Floyd’s 1973 album Dark Side of the Moon had become the fourth biggest-selling album in US history and had passed the 13 million mark in sales. The album has sold more than 25 million copies worldwide. 
1995 Take That had their sixth UK No.1 single when the Gary Barlow penned ‘Back For Good’ went to the top of the UK charts. The song sold over 300,000 copies in its first week and was also a US Top 10 hit. The song won Best British Single at the 1996 Brit Awards. 
1997 American singer, songwriter Laura Nyro died from ovarian cancer. Suzanne Vega, Phoebe Snow, Roseane Cash, Frank Sinatra and Linda Ronstadt all covered her songs. She wrote ‘And When I Die’ a hit for Blood, Sweat & Tears and ‘Stoney End’ which was covered by Barbra Streisand. 
1998 Rolling Stones guitarist Ron Wood was rescued, along with 11 other passengers, in the nick of time, from a boat when an engine caught fire. The boat was exploring the islands near Angra Dos Reis, south of Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, when one of the boat’s engines caught fire. Passengers were rescued by nearby journalists, just before the boat exploded. 
2001 Former Spice Girl Emma Bunton scored her first UK No.1 single with ‘What Took You So Long.’ She became the fourth Spice Girl to have a solo No 1. Written by Richard Stannard who wrote six of the Spice Girls’ UK No.1 hits. 
2002 Marilyn Manson denied claims that he was responsible for the death of a woman after a party at his mansion in 2001. Jennifer Syme, a former girlfriend of actor Keanu Reeves, died when her Jeep Cherokee hit three parked cars. Her mother, Maria St John, was suing the singer for wrongful death, claiming Manson was negligent in “instructing the woman to operate a motor vehicle in her incapacitated condition”. 
2006 Following 2003’s false starts, the Rolling Stones finally performed for the first time in mainland China, at Shanghai’s Grand Stage Theatre. The Stones were banned from performing three songs (Brown Sugar, Honky Tonk Women, Rough Justice). Chinese rock star Cui Jian joined the band on stage for a duet with Mick Jagger on Wild Horses. 
2007 Kings Of Leon started a two week run at No.1 on the UK album chart with ‘Because Of The Times.’ 
2007 American country music singer Tim McGraw was at No.1 on the US album chart with ‘Let It Go’ his fourth No.1 album. The album produced seven Top 20 US country hits. 
2008 Babyshambles frontman Pete Doherty was jailed for 14 weeks for violating his probation and for using drugs. Doherty had been given a suspended jail sentence for possession of drugs and driving illegally in October 2007. The singer’s supervision order had required him to make regular visits to court for progress reports, as well as take part in a drug rehabilitation programme but he missed one appointment with his probation team and had been late for another. The sentence forced Doherty to cancel his biggest gig to date at the Royal Albert Hall scheduled for later this month. 
2008 Led Zeppelin topped the list of Classic Rock magazine’s Best Live Acts Of All Time. The Who were voted in at No.2 and AC/DC at No.3. 
2010 Malcolm McLaren former manager of the Sex Pistols, the New York Dolls and Bow Wow Wow died from cancer aged 64. As a solo artist he scored the 1983 UK No.3 single ‘Double Dutch’. He set up the fashion store Let It Rock in the late 60’s with Vivienne Westwood selling rubber and fetish gear. 
2012 It was reported that organizers for the 2012 ceremony had recently asked the manager of The Who if legendary drummer Keith Moon would be able to perform at the forthcoming London Olympics Games. Who manager Bill Curbishley, told The Times how he responded to the request. “I emailed back saying Keith now resides in Golders Green crematorium, having lived up to The Who’s anthemic line ‘I hope I die before I get old,'” he said. “If they have a round table, some glasses and candles, we might contact him.” 
2016 Alex Turner secured his seventh consecutive UK No.1 album with The Last Shadow Puppets’ Everything You’ve Come To Expect. It was the second time the band had debuted at the top of the album chart and Turner’s five albums with Arctic Monkeys also all debuted at No.1 in the UK. 
2017 The late rapper Tupac Shakur, singer, songwriter Joan Baez and Pearl Jam were all entered into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. They were inducted alongside the Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), Journey and Yes during a concert in New York City.