January 1968 in Music History

Events in Music

Music History

Jan 13 Johnny Cash performs for inmates at Folsom State Prison in Folsom, California; show is recorded for live album release

Jan 18 "Happy Time" opens at Broadway Theater NYC for 286 performances

Your Own Thing

Jan 18 Hal Hester and Danny Appolinar's rock musical "Your Own Thing", loosely based on Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night", premieres at the Orpheum Theater, NYC; runs for 933 performances

Lady Soul

Jan 22 "Lady Soul" 14th studio album by Aretha Franklin is released (Billboard Album of the Year, 1968)

Jan 27 "Darling of the Day" opens at George Abbott Theater NYC for 31 performances

Birthdays in Music

Jan 1 Miki Higashino, Japanese video game composer (Suikoden series), born in Japan
Jan 1 Rick J. Jordan [Hendrik Stedler], German keyboardist, composer, producer, and audio engineer (Scooter, 1993-2014 - "Jumping All Over the World"), born in Hanover, West Germany
Jan 5 Carrie Ann Inaba, American dancer and choreographer (In Living Color; Dancing With The Stars), born in Honolulu, Hawaii
Jan 5 DJ Bobo [Peter Baumann], Swiss pop-eurodance singer-songwriter, and producer ("Somebody Dance With Me";"Let The Dream Come True"), born in Kölliken, Switzerland
Jan 9 Al Schnier, American rock guitarist (moe.), born in Oneida County, New York
Jan 11 Tom Dumont, American musician
Jan 12 Junichi Masuda, Japanese composer, born in Yokohama, Japan
Jan 13 Chara [Miwa Watabiki], Japanese singer and actress (Swallowtail Butterfly), born in Kawaguchi, Saitama, Japan

LL Cool J (55 years old)

Jan 14 American rapper (Bigger and Deffer), born in Bay Shore, New York

Jan 19 Whitfield Crane [William Whitfield Crane IV], American rock musician (Ugly Kid Joe - "Mad Man"; "Too Bad"), born in Palo Alto, California
Jan 20 Fantastic Negrito [Xavier Dphrepaulezz], American blues singer-songwriter (The Last Days of Oakland; Please Don't Be Dead), born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts
Jan 22 Heath [Hiroshi Morie], Japanese musician, singer and songwriter (X Japan), born in Amagasaki, Hyogo, Japan
Jan 24 Michael Kiske, German heavy metal vocalist (Helloween, 1986-93 and 2016-present), born in Hamburg, West Germany
Jan 25 Heinrich "Haini" Wolfgramm, Polynesian-American actor & musician (The Jets), born in San Francisco, California
Jan 27 Éric Tanguy, French contemporary classical composer, born in Caen, France
Jan 27 Mike Patton, American rocker (Faith No More - "The Real Thing"), born in Eureka, California
Jan 27 Tracy Lawrence, American country singer (Sticks & Stones), born in Atlanta, Texas
Jan 27 Tricky, English rapper
Jan 28 DJ Muggs [Lawrence Muggerud], American DJ, and record producer (Cypress Hill), born in Queens, New York City
Jan 28 Rakim [William Michael Griffin, Jr.], American rapper, born in Wyandanch, Long Island, New York
Jan 28 Sarah McLachlan, Canadian Juno and Grammy Award-winning folk singer-songwriter (Fumbling Towards Ecstasy; "I Will Remember You"), born in Halifax, Nova Scotia
Jan 30 Trevor Dunn, American musician (Mr. Bungle; Fantômas; Secret Chiefs 3), born in Eureka, California