Remember Radio
Today in Music History…May 18
Friday, May 18, 2018
2014 Italian-American singer Jerry Vale dies at home in Palm Desert, California, at age 83.
2010 Exodus release their ninth studio album, Exhibit B: The Human Condition.
2006 Andy Capps (drummer for Built To Spill) is found dead at age 37 in his Idaho home. No cause of death is given.
2004 Lenny Kravitz releases his seventh album, Baptism.
2004 Clint Warwick (original bassist for The Moody Blues) dies at age 63 of liver disease.
2004 Jazz drummer Elvin Jones (of The John Coltrane Quartet) dies of heart failure at age 76.
2002 The Barry Manilow Ultimate Manilow special airs on CBS.
1999 Jamaican record producer Augustus Pablo, known for his influential 1976 album King Tubbys Meets Rockers Uptown, dies at age 44 of a collapsed lung.
1999 The Backstreet Boys release their second album, Millennium.
1996 Brad Nowell of Sublime marries Troy Dendekker, the mother of his son, Jakob. He dies of a drug overdose a week later.
1995 Bette Midler stars in the Seinfeld episode “The Understudy.”
1991 Bananarama release Pop Life, their first album without bandmate Siobhan Fahey, who left the group in 1988 amid tensions over their pop-oriented image. It’s also their last release as a trio. Jacquie O’Sullivan replaces Fahey on the album, but leaves later that year due to the press constantly comparing her with the former ‘Nana.
1991 #1 Billboard Album: R.E.M.’s Out of Time
1982 Actor/singer Eric West is born Eric Rosa in New York City. Records the single “Can You Help Me?” in 2002, which becomes a huge hit in Latin America.
1980 Drummer Peter Criss leaves Kiss. He is replaced by Eric Carr, but returns to the band (along with Ace Frehley) in 1996.
1975 The Bay City Rollers appear at BBC Radio “Fun Day” at the Mallory Park racetrack in Leicestershire, England, where they are set to perform on an island in the middle of a lake. When throngs of fans try to swim to the Rollers, mayhem ensues and they never get to perform.
1975 Folk rocker Jack Johnson is born on the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii.
1974 Ray Stevens hits #1 in America with “The Streak,” his novelty song about a streaker (streaking is a big craze).
1970 Mark Richardson (drummer for Skunk Anansie) is born in Leeds, England.
1969 Pop singer-songwriter Martika is born Marta Marrero to Cuban parents in Whittier, California.
1968 Archie Bell & the Drells hit #1 in America with the funk-tacular “Tighten Up.”
1966 The Hollies record “Bus Stop.”
1964 The Animals record “House Of The Rising Sun.”
1963 #1 Billboard Pop Hit: Jimmy Soul’s “If You Wanna Be Happy”
1963 The Beatles begin their first tour as the featured act.
1959 #1 Billboard Pop Hit: Wilbert Harrison’s “Kansas City”
1957 Electronic musician Michael Cretu (of Enigma) is born in Bucharest, Romania.
1952 Country singer George Strait is born in Poteet, Texas.
1950 Mark Mothersbaugh (keyboardist for Devo) is born in Akron, Ohio.
1949 Rick Wakeman (keyboardist for Yes) is born in Perivale, London, England.
1949 Bill Wallace (bassist for The Guess Who) is born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
1944 ’70s soft rocker Albert Hammond is born in London, England, after his family evacuates from Gibraltar during World War II.
1922 Kai Winding, jazz composer and trombonist, is born in Aarhus, Denmark.
1912 Perry Como is born Pierino Ronald Como in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania.
1911 Bluesman Big Joe Turner is born Joseph Vernon Turner Jr in Kansas City, Missouri.
1909 Spanish pianist and composer Isaac Albéniz dies at age 48 of kidney disease.
1980 – Battling epilepsy and depression, Joy Division lead singer Ian Curtis hangs himself at his home in England.
Featured Events
1992 Sister Souljah, a rapper associated with the group Public Enemy, is quoted in The Washington Post saying, “If black people kill black people every day, why not have a week and kill white people?” It becomes a big moment in American politics when Bill Clinton denounces the comment, risking support from black voters. Clinton goes on to win the presidential election.
1985 After repeated attempts to break through in America, Simple Minds go to #1 with “Don’t You (Forget About Me),” which is used in the movie The Breakfast Club.
1981 After nearly 20 years with Motown Records, Diana Ross leaves the label and signs a record $20 million contract with RCA. Her hit duet “Endless Love” is released on Motown in August even though she has left the label.
1978 The Buddy Holly Story, starring Gary Busey as Holly, is released in the US.
