Events in Music
Event of Interest
1957 Buddy Holly & Crickets record "That'll Be the Day"
Buddy Holly
Music Single
1972 Paul McCartney releases "Give Ireland back to the Irish" single
Paul McCartney
- 1973 Steven Sondheim's musical "Little Night Music" premieres at Shubert Theatre in NYC (601 performances)
Grammy Awards
1981 23rd Grammy Awards: Sailing, Christopher Cross, Billy Joel wins
Billy Joel
- 1986 28th Grammy Awards: We Are the World, Sade, Phil Collins wins
Event of Interest
1988 Bruce Springsteen's "Tunnel of Love" Tour begins in Worcester, Massachusetts
Bruce Springsteen
Grammy Awards
1992 Muddy Waters wins Lifetime Achievement Award at the 34th Annual Grammy Awards
Muddy Waters
Music Awards
2015 BRIT Awards: Best Single "Uptown Funk", Best Album "X" by Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Birthdays in Music
- 1680 Philipp Hyacinth Lobkowitz, composer
- 1727 Armand-Louis Couperin, French composer and organist (Notre Dame)
- 1732 Robert Hudson, composer
- 1735 Ernst William Wolf, composer
- 1788 Mateo Ferrer, composer
- 1811 Carl Schuberth, composer
- 1840 Alexis Hollander, composer
- 1873 Enrico Caruso, Italian operatic tenor (Faust), born in Naples, Italy (d. 1921)
- 1877 Erich von Hornbostel, Austrian musicologist (d. 1935)
- 1879 Otakar Ostrcil, composer
- 1890 Myra Hess, concert pianist, born in London, England
- 1895 Henri Martelli, composer
- 1901 Federico Ghisi, composer
- 1906 Boris Papandopulo, Croatian composer, born in Bad Honnef, Germany (d. 1991)
- 1918 Rena Kyriakou, Greek pianist (d. 1994)
- 1922 Matti Rautio, composer
- 1927 Jacques Monod, composer
- 1927 Ralph Stanley, Amerian bluegrass musician, born in Dickenson County, Virginia (d. 2016)
- 1929 Tommy Newsom, American saxophonist and bandleader (Tonight Show), born in Portsmouth, Virginia (d. 2007)
- 1932 Faron Young, American country singer and actor (Hidden Guns, Daniel Boone), born in Shreveport, Louisiana (d. 1996)
- 1932 Martin William Karlins, composer
- 1936 Norman Orville Scribner, composer
- 1938 Ed Cobb, American musician, song-writer and producer (Tainted Love), (d. 1999)
- 1941 Ramon Pagayon Santos, composer
George Harrison
1943 George Harrison, English pop star and Beatle (Traveling Wilburys-My Sweet Lord), born in Liverpool, England (d. 2001)
George Harrison
- 1943 Maryann Amacher, composer
- 1945 Elkie Brooks, rocker (Pearl's a Singer), born in Manchester, England
- 1950 Emitt Rhodes, musician (Merry-go-Round)
- 1952 Jerry Chamberlain, American musician
- 1954 John Doe, American musician
- 1957 Stuart "Woody" Wood, Scot, guitarist (Bay City Rollers-Saturday Night)
- 1959 Mike Peters, rocker (Alarm-In the Summertime)
- 1962 Foster Emerson Sylvers, rocker
- 1965 Brian Baker, American guitarist
- 1968 Evridiki, Greek Cypriot singer
- 1973 Justin Jeffre, American singer (98 Degrees)
- 1973 Julio José Iglesias, Spanish singer
- 1976 Chris Pitman, rocker (Zaum, Tool)
- 1976 Rashida Jones, American actress (Parks and Recreation), writer, model, and musician, born in Los Angeles, California
- 1977 Sarah Jezebel Deva, English singer
- 1982 Bert McCracken, American singer (The Used)
- 1984 Lovefoxxx, Brazilian singer (CSS)
- 1986 Danny Saucedo, Swedish singer
- 1987 Eva Avila, Canadian singer
Deaths in Music
- 1643 Marco da Gagliano, Italian opera composer, dies at 60
- 1682 Alessandro Stradella, Italian violinist and composer, murdered at 38
- 1719 Giovanni Maria Casini, composer, dies at 66
- 1851 Ferdinand Simon Gassner, composer, dies at 53
- 1852 Thomas Moore, Irish poet and musician, dies at 72
- 1901 Jose Rogel, Spanish composer, dies at 71
- 1902 Carl Ignaz Franz Umlauf, Austrian composer, dies at 77
- 1906 Anton Arensky, Russian composer and conductor, dies of tuberculosis at 44
- 1925 Pedro Miguel Marques y Garcia, composer, dies at 81
- 1934 Daniel Protheroe, composer, dies at 67
- 1942 Leo Ascher, Austrian-born composer who moved to the US, dies at 61
- 1953 Jesus Garcia Leoz, composer, dies at 49
- 1955 Marij Kogoj, Slovenian composer, dies at 59
- 1957 Kurt von Wolfurt, German composer, dies at 76
- 1987 James Coco, American character actor and singer (Only When I Laugh, Man of La Mancha, Murder by Death), dies of a heart attack at 56
- 1993 Eddie Constantine, American singer and actor (Alphaville, License to Kill, Lucky Jo, It Lives Again), dies from a heart attack at 79
- 1993 Jan D Boeke, Dutch organist/conductor, dies
- 1993 Toy Caldwell, American Southern-rock musician (Marshall Tucker Band), dies of cocaine induced cardio-respiratory failure at 45
- 1995 Terence Weil, cellist/teacher, dies at 73
- 1998 Celestine Tate Harrington, a quadriplegic street musician and writer.
- 2007 Mark Spoelstra, American folk singer and songwriter, dies at 66
- 2008 Static Major, American singer (b. 1974)
- 2009 Ian Carr, Scottish jazz musician (Nucleus), dies after suffering Alzheimer's disease at 75
- 2011 Rick Coonce, American rock drummer (Grass Roots), dies at 64
- 2012 Louisiana Red, American blues musician, dies from stroke at 79
- 2012 Red Holloway [James], American jazz tenor saxophonist, dies from stroke and kidney failure at 84
- 2016 John Chilton, English jazz trumpeter (Feetwarmers), dies at 83
- 2019 Mark Hollis, British synth-pop musician (Talk Talk), dies at 64
February in History
Wonder of Woolworths Begins its Meteoric Rise
It was a simple idea: opening a store where nothing cost more than five cents. The idea caught on so quickly that Woolworth’s became a retail phenomenon.
February 22, 1878The Man Who Re-wrote 'Offensive' Shakespeare
Thomas Bowdler, the man who re-wrote Shakespeare to remove the "offensive" bits, died on this day and added a new word – bowdlerise – to the language.
February 24, 1825The 'Baronet' From Wagga Wagga
In the bizarre Tichborne case, a claim by a butcher from Wagga Wagga to be a missing baronet fell apart on this day after the longest trial in English history.
February 28, 1874Crafty Columbus Plays a Leap Year Trick
Many people born on February 29th curse their luck but it can also bring luck and benefits as explorer Christopher Columbus demonstrated over 400 years ago.
February 29, 1504
