Events in Music
Contract of Interest
1955 RCA Records make its best investment paying $35,000 to Sun Records for Elvis Presley's contract
Elvis Presley
Music Concert
1957 Miles Davis Quintet debuts a jazz concert at Carnegie Hall in NY
Miles Davis
- 1963 The Beatles release their second album "With the Beatles" in UK
- 1965 "Man of La Mancha" opens at ANTA Wash Sq Theater NYC for 2329 performances
- 1967 BBC unofficially bans "I Am the Walrus" by Beatles
- 1968 Beatles release "Beatles" (White Album), their only double album
- 1971 "Only Fools Are Sad" opens at Edison Theater NYC for 144 performances
- 1981 "Marlowe" closes at Rialto Theater NYC after 48 performances
- 1993 "Laughter on the 23rd Floor" opens at Richard Rodgers NYC for 320 performances
- 1999 "How Do You Like Me Now?!" single released by Toby Keith (Billboard Song of the Year 2000)
Music Awards
2005 32nd American Music Awards: Gwen Stefani, Will Smith and Kelly Clarkson win
Music Awards
2009 36th American Music Awards: Taylor Swift & Michael Jackson win
Michael Jackson
Taylor Swift
Birthdays in Music
- 1458 Jacob Obrecht, Dutch composer (d. 1505)
- 1579 Jan Baptist Stalpart van der Wiele, Dutch lawyer/pastor/lyricist
- 1690 Francois Collin de Blamont, composer
- 1709 Frantisek Benda, composer
- 1710 Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, composer, son of J.S. Bach (Sinfonias 64)
- 1780 Conradin Kreutzer, composer
- 1838 Jose Augusto da Ferreira Veiga, Viscount d' Arneiro, composer
- 1859 Cecil Sharp, British collector of English folk music and dance, born in London, England (d. 1924)
- 1870 Howard Brockway, composer
- 1891 Bengt Axel von Torne, composer
- 1896 Mario La Broca, composer
- 1899 Hoagland "Hoagy" Carmichael, American composer, singer and actor (In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening), born in Bloomington, Indiana (d. 1981)
- 1900 Hugo Godron, Dutch composer, born in Amsterdam (d. 1971)
- 1901 Joaquin Rodrigo, Sagunto Spain, composer
- 1902 Emanuel Feuermann, Kolomea Galicia, cellist (Chicago Symph Orchestra)
- 1907 Bernard Naylor, English Canadian composer, born in Cambridge, England (d. 1986)
- 1913 Benjamin Britten, Lowestoft Suffolk England, composer (Beggar's Opera)
- 1917 Jean-Etienne Marie, composer
- 1922 Fikret Amirov, Azerbaijani-Soviet composer (Azerbaijan Capriccio, Shur), born in Ganja, Azerbaijan (d. 1984)
- 1923 Dika Newlin, American composer, Schoenberg expert and punk rocker, born in Portland, Oregan (d. 2006)
- 1924 Axel Borup-Jorgensen, composer
- 1925 Gunther Schuller, hornist/ jazz composer (Visitation), born in NYC, New York (d. 2015)
- 1927 Grady "Fats" Jackson, tenor sax player
- 1930 Peter Hall, English stage, film and opera director (Royal Shakespeare Company, National Theatre director), born in Bury St Edmunds, England (d. 2017)
- 1936 Hans Zender, German composer and conductor, born in Wiesbaden
- 1941 Ron McClure, rocker (Blood, Sweat & Tears)
- 1941 Jesse Colin Young, American musician
- 1942 Steve Caldwell, rocker (Orleans)
- 1943 Floyd Sneed, rock drummer (Three Dog Night-Joy to the World), born in Calgary, Alberta
- 1946 Aston Barrett, Jamaican reggae bassist (I Shot the Sheriff)
- 1950 Little Steven, [Van Zandt], Asbury Park NJ, rocker (Born to Run)
- 1950 [Ma]Tina Weymouth, rock bassist (Talking Heads-& She Was), born in Coronado, California
- 1950 Art Sullivan, Belgian singer
- 1951 Kent Nagano, American conductor and opera administrator, born in Berkeley, California
- 1953 Urmas Alender, Estonian singer (d. 1994)
- 1956 Lawrence Gowan, Canadian singer (Styx)
- 1957 Sharon Bailey, rocker (Amazulu-Excitable)
- 1960 Eg White, rocker (Brother Beyond-Can You Keep a Secret)
- 1961 Stephen Hough, British concert pianist
- 1975 Aiko [Yanai], Japanese singer, born in Osaka
- 1976 Ville Valo, Finnish singer (HIM)
- 1978 Karen O [Orzolek], American singer (Yeah Yeah Yeahs), born in Busan, South Korea
- 1979 Chris Doran, Irish singer
- 1981 Ben Adams, English singer
- 1982 Charlene Choi Cheuk Yin, Hong Kong singer (Twins)
- 1983 Corey Beaulieu, American guitarist (Trivium)
- 1983 Tyler Hilton, American singer and actor
Weddings in Music
Wedding of Interest
2003 Actress Carmen Electra (31) weds rocker Dave Navarro (36) at the St. Regis Hotel in Los Angeles, California
Carmen Electra
- 2003 Singer Wynonna Judd (39) weds D. R. Roach (39) in Leiper's Fork, Tennessee
Divorces in Music
- 2011 Singer-songwriter and actress Ashlee Simpson (27) divorces rock band Fall Out Boy bassist Pete Wentz (32) due to irreconcilable differences after two and a half year of marriage
Deaths in Music
- 1751 Anton Englert, German composer and organist, dies at 77
- 1776 Johann Caspar Simon, composer, dies at 75
- 1813 Johann Gottfried Vierling, composer, dies at 63
- 1826 Pavel Lambert Mašek, Czech composer, dies at 65
- 1852 August Alexander Klengel, German pianist and composer, dies at 69
- 1859 Ludwig "Louis" Spohr, German violinist/composer (Faust), dies at 75
- 1896 Leon Leopold Lewandoski, Polish composer, dies at 65
- 1900 Arthur Sullivan, English operatic composer (Mikado, Pirates of Penzance), dies at 58
- 1902 Septimus Winner, composer, dies at 75
- 1926 Darvish Khan, Iranian musician (b. 1872)
- 1943 Lorenz Hart, American lyricist, dies at 48
- 1943 Pietro Alessandro Yon, composer, dies at 57
- 1955 Guy Ropartz [Joseph Guy Marie Ropartz], French composer, dies at 91 (b. 1864)
- 1956 Theodore Kosloff, Russian-born actor, ballet dancer and choreographer, dies at 74
- 1967 Edvin Kallstenius, Swedish composer and librarian, dies at 86
- 1969 Acario Cotapos, composer, dies at 80
- 1975 François de Roubaix, French film score composer, dies in diving accident at 36
- 1982 Max Deutsch, Austrian-French composer, dies at 90
- 1986 Robert Sutton Whitney, composer, dies at 82
- 1987 Ted Taylor, rock vocalist, dies
- 1994 L V Johnson Singer, dies
- 1994 Norma Donaldson, American singer and actress (Poetic Justice, 5 Heartbeats), dies at 68
- 1995 Edna Deane, dancer, choreographer and drama teacher, dies at 90
Michael Hutchence
1997 Michael Hutchence, Australiann rocker (INXS) and actor, commits suicide at 37
Michael Hutchence
- 2001 Norman Granz, American jazz impresario and producer (b. 1918)
- 2002 Arne Mellnäs, Swedish composer, dies at 69
- 2011 Paul Motian, American jazz drummer, percussionist and composer, dies at 80
- 2014 Alvin Brehm, American musician and composer, dies at 89
- 2016 Florence Henderson, American actress and singer (Carol in The Brady Bunch), dies at 82
November in History
Nuremberg War Trials Bring Nazis to Justice
The Trial of Major War Criminals began on this day, the first of a five-year series of hearings at Nuremberg where WW2 Nazis were held to account.
November 20, 1945
Bare Bones of the Great Ape-Man Hoax
On this day the Piltdown Man skull, which had been hailed as the missing link proving an evolutionary relationship between man and apes, was revealed as a hoax.
November 21, 1953
Grace Darling, the Lighthouse Heroine
Raging seas were no deterrent when lighthouse-keeper’s daughter Grace Darling determinedly set out in a rowing boat to rescue survivors of a shipwreck.
November 24, 1815
Theatregoers Still Caught in The Mousetrap
It began in 1952 with a fresh-faced young actor called Richard Attenborough in the lead role. Since then, The Mousetrap has smashed all theatrical records.
November 25, 1952