1973 – ABBA released ‘Ring Ring’ the title track of their debut album. It gave the group their first appearance on the UK singles chart where it peaked at No.32 and became their first Swedish No.1 and first Australian top 10 hit.
1982 – Metallica made their live debut when they appeared at Radio City in Anaheim, California. Metallica formed in Los Angeles, California, in late 1981 when Danish-born drummer Lars Ulrich placed an advertisement in a Los Angeles newspaper, The Recycler, which read, “Drummer looking for other metal musicians to jam with Tygers of Pan Tang, Diamond Head and Iron Maiden.” Guitarists James Hetfield and Hugh Tanner of Leather Charm answered the advertisement.
1983 – Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora and Alec John Such formed Bon Jovi. Their fourth album, New Jersey, released in 1988, is notable for producing five Billboard Hot 100 Top 10 singles, the most top ten hits to date from a hard rock album.
1995 – With the release of ‘Me Against the World’ Tupac Shakur became the first male solo artist to have a No.1 album on the Billboard chart while in prison. During the early 90’s, Shakur had a series of incidents and charges of breaking the law. In 1993 he was charged with shooting two off-duty police officers in Atlanta, (though the charges were later dropped), he was charged for assaulting director Allen Hughes while filming Menace II Society and was sentenced to 1.5 to 4.5 years jail when found guilty of sexual assault.
2001 – Peter Blake
Peter Blake, who designed The Beatles classic Sgt. Pepper album cover sued the group’s record company for more money. Blake was paid £200 ($340) for the famous figures in 1967, but was now ‘cheesed off’ that EMI had never offered to pay more money. Blake also made sleeves for the Band Aid single, ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’ (1984), Paul Weller’s Stanley Road (1995) and the Ian Dury tribute album Brand New Boots and Panties (2001).
2016 – Michael Jackson
Sony ATV Music Publishing announced that it would buy out Michael Jackson‘s share of a joint music publishing venture for $750m. The purchase gave Sony the rights to about three million songs, including works by The Beatles, Bob Dylan and Taylor Swift, but did not include Jackson’s master recordings.
