Taylor Swift became the first artist to occupy the entire top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 in the same week with songs from her tenth studio album Midnights, with 'Anti-Hero' at No.1. 'Anti-Hero' and Midnights marked the fourth time Swift had a No.1 album and song simultaneously. She won Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards (2024), making her the first artist to win the former category four times
ABBA released their ninth and final studio album Voyage, their first album in 40 years. They decided to make it while preparing for their show Voyage, which features digital avatars ("Abba-tars") of the band members. The album went to No. 1 in most European countries and also Australia.
American singer Robert Knight died age 72. He is best known for the 1967 US Top 20 hit 'Everlasting Love'. In the UK the song was an even bigger hit the following year when a version by Love Affair reached No.1, preventing Knight's version from progressing further than No. 40.
The funeral for
Jack Bruce
was held in London, attended by
Eric Clapton,
Ginger Baker and noted musicians Phil Manzanera, Gary Brooker, Vernon Reid and Nitin Sawhney among others. Dozens assembled at the Golders Green Crematorium paying a last tribute singing "Morning Has Broken", "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Theme for an Imaginary Western". The Scottish-born bass player and singer had died last month as a result of liver disease.
SONG
Morning Has Broken
eLiTo mark the 60th anniversary of the UK singles chart the Official Charts Company published a chart which lists all the 123 songs that have sold more than a million copies since it began in 1952.
Elton John was at No.1 with Candle In The Wind, No.2 was Band Aid with
Do They Know It's Christmas? followed by
Queen’s
Bohemian Rhapsody on 2.36million copies.
SONG
Do They Know It’s Christmas?
Band AidSONG
Bohemian Rhapsody
QueenGuitarist Link Wray died aged 76. Wray was credited with inventing 'fuzz' guitar after punching a hole in a speaker giving him a distorted guitar sound. Famous for his 1958 US No.16 single 'Rumble' which was banned on several radio stations, on the grounds that it glorified juvenile delinquency. A rare feat for a song with no lyrics.
Bobby Hatfield of The
Righteous Brothers was found dead in a hotel room in Michigan 30 minutes before he was due on stage, aged 63. The autopsy report from the Kalamazoo County Medical Examiner gave the opinion that Hatfield suffered a sudden, unexpected death due to acute cocaine toxicity. The Righteous Brothers had the 1965 UK & US No.1 single 'You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin', and the 1990 UK No.1 single
Unchained Melody first released in 1965.
U2 went to No.1 on the UK album chart with 'All That You Can't Leave Behind', the Irish group's 8th UK No.1 album. Creed were at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'With Arms Wide Open'.
SONG
With Arms Wide Open
CreedALBUM
All That You Can’t Leave Behind
U2Sheryl Crow scored her first UK Top 10 single when 'All I Wanna Do' entered the charts at No.4. The US singer-songwriter went on to become the first US female to score six UK hits off her debut album Tuesday Night Music Club.
Former US Army Staff Sergeant Barry Sadler died at a Veterans Administration hospital in Nashville from complications brought on by an un-explained gun shot wound to the head, suffered 14 months earlier in Guatemala City. Sadler is best remembered for his hit 'The Ballad of the Green Berets', which stayed on top of the chart for five weeks in 1966. He was 49 years old at time of his death.
'The Locomotion', became the first song to reach the US Top 5 in three different versions, when
Kylie Minogue's reached No.3 on the US chart. Written by American songwriters Gerry Goffin and
Carole King, the song is notable for appearing in the American Top 5 three times – each time in a different decade: for Little Eva in 1962 and for Grand Funk Railroad in 1974.
The Beach Boys went to No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Kokomo', it peaked at No.25 in the UK. The track had been featured in the film Cocktail.
Bobby Nunn of The Coasters died of heart failure in Los Angeles. The Coasters scored the 1958 US No.1 single 'Yakety Yak', 1959 US No.2 and UK No.6 single 'Charlie Brown' as well as 'Young Blood' and 'Poison Ivy'.
Billy Joel was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Uptown Girl', which stayed at the top of the chars for five weeks. The song was initially written about his relationship with his then-girlfriend Elle Macpherson, but it ended up also becoming about his soon-to-be wife Christie Brinkley (both women being two of the most famous supermodels of the 1980s).
The manager of the Virgin record store in Nottingham, England was arrested for displaying a large poster advertising the new
Sex Pistols album, 'Never Mind The Bollock's, Here's The
Sex Pistols'. High street stores banned the album after police warned they could be fined under the 1898 indecent advertising act.
ALBUM
Never Mind the Bollocks Here’s the Sex Pistols
Sex Pistols The
Monkees were at the top of the Billboard singles chart with ‘Last Train To Clarksville’, the group’s first No. 1. Bobby Hart who co-wrote the song got the idea for the lyrics when he turned on the radio and heard the end of
The Beatles' '
Paperback Writer'. He thought
Paul McCartney was singing "Take the last train", and decided to use the line when he found out McCartney was actually singing '
Paperback Writer'.
Country & western singer Johnny Horton was killed in a car crash. He had the 1959 US No.1 & UK No.16 single 'The Battle Of New Orleans'.
New Zealander music producer Jawsh 685. He made his breakthrough with the 2020 single ‘Savage Love (Laxed – Siren Beat)’ in collaboration with American R&B singer Jason Derulo, which reached No.1 in 17 countries.
American singer and actor, Kevin Jonas, from American pop rock band Jonas Brothers who had the 2009 US No.1 album Lines, Vines and Trying Times. They gained popularity from their appearances on Disney Channel. They starred in the 2008 Disney Channel Original Movie Camp Rock and its 2010 sequel, Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam. They also starred in their own Disney Channel series Jonas.
Australian singer Kate DeAraugo, the winner of the third season of Australian Idol in 2005. Her debut single, 'Maybe Tonight', in November 2005 debuted at No 1 on the Australian Charts and was certified platinum. Her debut album, A Place I've Never Been, was released in December 2005.
English musician Jonny Greenwood, who is the lead guitarist and keyboardist of
Radiohead. Their 1993 debut single 'Creep' was initially unsuccessful, but it became a worldwide hit several months after the release of their debut album, Pablo Honey. Their 1997 album OK Computer appeared in many 1997 critics' lists and listener polls for best album of the year. Greenwood has composed for orchestras including the London Contemporary Orchestra and the BBC Concert Orchestra. He released his first solo work, the soundtrack for the film Bodysong, in 2003 and wrote the score for the 2017 film Phantom Thread, which earned Greenwood his sixth Ivor Novello award.
Mark Hunter, keyboards, from English rock band James who scored the 1991 UK No.2 single 'Sit Down' and the hits 'Laid' and 'Come Home'.
Paris Grey, from American electronic group Inner City, who had the 1989 UK No.4 single 'Good Life' and the hit 'Big Fun'.
Canadian guitarist, singer, songwriter, record producer, and photographer
Bryan Adams. He released his eponymous debut album age 20. Reckless, (1984) became the first album by a Canadian to be certified diamond in Canada and made Adams a global star; the album's six charting singles included 'Run to You' and 'Summer of '69'. His 1991 UK & US No.1 single '(Everything I Do)', I Do It For You', spent a record-breaking 16 weeks at No.1 in the UK, (and reached No. 1 in at least 19 countries), plus he has scored over 15 other UK Top 40 singles and 3 UK No.1 albums. Adams has garnered many awards and nominations, including 20 Juno Awards among 56 nominations, and 15 Grammy Award nominations.
Robert Fisher, from British pop duo Climie Fisher, who had the 1988 UK No.2 single 'Love Changes Everything', which won an Ivor Novello Award and the hit 'Rise to the Occasion'. Fisher died during surgery for bowel cancer on 25th August 1999.
American musician and producer Ken Coomer, best known for his drumming in Uncle Tupelo and later Wilco. As a member of Wilco, Coomer performed on A.M., Being There, Summerteeth, and Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.
ALBUM
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
WilcoEnglish singer, songwriter and musician Mike Score, who achieved fame as the founder, lead vocalist, and keyboardist of the new wave band A Flock Of Seagulls. They scored the 1982 UK No.10 single 'Wishing, If I Had A Photograph Of You'. The band won a Grammy Award in 1983 for their instrumental 'D.N.A.' (1982).
David Moyse, guitarist for the Australian soft rock band Air Supply who scored the 1980 UK No.11 single 'All Out Of Love' and the 1981 US No.1 single 'The One That You Love'.
British musician Helen O'Hara. She was a member and violinist of Dexys Midnight Runners from 1982 to 1987. They are best known in the UK for their songs 'Geno' and 'Come On Eileen', both of which reached No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart, and achieved six other top-20 singles. 'Come On Eileen' also topped the US Billboard Hot 100. After leaving Dexys, O'Hara worked with Graham Parker, Tanita Tikaram (with whom she recorded 'Good Tradition' and toured from 1988 to 1990) and Mary Coughlan.
Peter Noone, singer with English beat rock band, Herman's Hermits who scored the 1964 UK No.1 single 'I'm Into Something Good' (cover of Earl-Jean's) and the 1965 US No.1 single 'Mrs Brown You've Got A Lovely Daughter'.
American musician
Gram Parsons (Ingram Cecil Connor III). He was a member of The International Submarine Band, The Byrds and the Flying Burrito Brothers, popularising what he called "Cosmic American Music", a hybrid of country, rhythm and blues, soul, folk, and rock. Parsons accompanied the
Rolling Stones on their 1971 UK tour in the hope of being signed to the newly formed Rolling Stones Records. He lived at
Keith Richards' French villa Nellcôte during the recording of
Exile on Main St. His second and final solo studio album Grievous Angel was released four months after his death. Parsons died from a drug and alcohol overdose on 19 September 1973 aged 26.
American singer, Loleatta Holloway who is best known for disco songs such as 'Hit and Run' and 'Love Sensation', both of which have been sampled extensively. She died on 21 March 2011 aged 64 from heart failure.
Pablo Gomez, from Spanish beat group Los Bravos who had the 1966 UK No.2 & US No.4 single 'Black Is Black'. They were the first Spanish rock band to have a UK & US hit single.
American singer, actor and poet Art Garfunkel. Between 1956 and 1962, with Paul Simon, the two performed together as "Tom & Jerry". Later as Simon and Garfunkel, they scored the No.1 hits 'The Sound of Silence', 'Bridge over Troubled Water' and 'Mrs. Robinson' (written for the 1967 film The Graduate). Their 1970 album
Bridge Over Trouble Water spent 307 weeks on the UK chart and won five awards at the 13th Annual Grammy Awards in 1971, including Grammy Award for Record of the Year and Song of the Year. Garfunkel starred in two Mike Nichols films, Catch-22 (1970) and Carnal Knowledge (1971). He scored the solo, 1979 UK No.1 single 'Bright Eyes', which also appeared in the movie Watership Down.
American musician, bandleader, songwriter, record producer, and talent scout Ike Turner. Best known for his 1966 UK No.3 single with
Tina Turner, 'River Deep Mountain High' and the 1971 US No.4 single 'Proud Mary'. He was instrumental in the early careers of various blues musicians such as B.B. King, Howlin' Wolf, and Bobby "Blue" Bland. Turner was married fourteen times, often marrying another woman before divorcing his existing wife. Turner's cocaine addiction and legal troubles had an impact on his career. Addicted to cocaine for at least 15 years, Turner was convicted of drug offences and served 18 months in prison. Turner died on 12th Dec 2007 age 76.