May 2008 in Music History

Events in Music

Album Release

May 5 American/Columbia Records releases "Home Before Dark", the twenty-seventh studio album by Neil Diamond; tops charts in US, UK and NZ

Music Concert

May 8 Rock for the Rainforest benefit concert held at Carnegie Hall, NYC; performers include: Sting, James Taylor, Billy Joel, Brian Wilson, Chris Botti, Feist, Roberto Alagna, and Natalie Clein

Singer-Songwriter and Guitarist James Taylor

Academy of Country Music Awards

May 18 43rd Academy of Country Music Awards: Kenny Chesney, Brad Paisley, and Carrie Underwood win

May 24 53rd Eurovision Song Contest: Dima Bilan for Russia wins singing "Believe" in Belgrade

Weddings in Music

May 17 Singer-songwriter and actress Ashlee Simpson (23) weds rock band Fall Out Boy bassist Pete Wentz (28) in Encino, California

Deaths in Music

May 3 Uroš Krek, Slovenian composer, dies at 85
May 5 Jerry Wallace, American country and pop singer ("Primrose Lane"; "If You Leave Me Tonight I'll Cry"), dies of heart failure at 79
May 5 Thomas Boggs, American rock drummer (Box Tops), dies at 63
May 8 Eddy Arnold, American country music singer ("Make The World Go Away"; "Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye"), dies at 89
May 8 Larry Levine, American sound engineer (Phil Spector's wall of sound; Herb Alpert; Beach Boys), dies of emphysema on his 80th birthday
May 10 Leyla Gencer, Turkish soprano (b. 1928)
May 11 Dottie Rambo, American gospel singer, dies when her tour bus crashes at 74
May 11 John Rutsey, Canadian drummer (Rush, 1968-1974), dies from a heart attack at 55
May 15 Alexander Courage, American composer of original Star Trek theme, dies at 88
May 15 Walt Dickerson, American jazz vibraphone player, and composer ("To My Queen"), dies of cardiac arrest at 80
May 16 Wilfrid Howard Mellers, English musicologist and composer (François Couperin and the French Classical Tradition), dies at 94

May 23 (Bruce) "Utah" Phillips, American folk singer-songwriter ("Green Rolling Hills"; "The Goodnight-Loving Trail") storyteller, poet, and labor organizer, dies of heart disease at 73
May 25 David Gahr, American photographer noted for his work with folk, jazz and rock musicians (Time Magazine; Folkways albums), dies at 85 [1]
May 26 Earle Hagen, American big band trombonist (Isham Jones; Tommy Dorsey; Benny Goodman), and Emmy Award-winning television composer (The Dick Van Dyke Show; The Andy Griffith Show; I Spy; The Mod Squad; "Harlem Nocturne"), dies at 88
May 28 Dennis Moss, British jazz tenor saxophonist, dies at 80