More About Music History On This Day

10 Dec 1983
Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson started a six week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Say Say Say'. It was Jackson's 10th No.1 (solo & The Jackson's) and McCartney's 29th, (solo and The Beatles).

10 Dec 1983
American singer Gene Bricker died. He was a member of The Marcels who scored the 1961 US and UK No.1 with a doo-wop cover of the ballad 'Blue Moon' that began with the bass singer singing, "bomp-baba-bomp-ba-bomp-ba-bomp-bomp... vedanga-dang-dang-vadinga-dong-ding...". The record sold over one million copies and was awarded a gold disc.

10 Dec 1995
Hip hop artist Darren Robinson died age 28. He was also known as Buffy, The Human Beat Box, and DJ Doctor Nice and was a member of the 1980s hip hop group The Fat Boys. He, along with Doug E. Fresh and others, were pioneers of beatboxing, a form of vocal percussion used in many rap groups throughout the 1980s and 1990s.

10 Dec 1998
A recording of a 1963 Beatles concert was sold at auction at Christies in London for $41,500. The tape of The Beatles' 10-song concert was recorded by the chief technician at the Gaumont Theatre in Bournemouth during one of six consecutive nights which The Beatles had played. Also sold for $8,500, was a set of autographs of five Beatles, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Pete Best, and Stuart Sutcliffe. The autographs had been obtained by a fan in Liverpool in 1961.

10 Dec 1998
Bruce Springsteen won a 2 million court battle to ban an album of his early songs. The case revolved around a dispute over copyright ownership between Bruce and a former manager.

10 Dec 1999
Rick Danko died in his sleep at his home near Woodstock, New York. The Canadian guitarist and singer joined The Hawks in 1963 who went on to work as Bob Dylan's backing band, (with Robbie Robertson, Richard Manuel and Garth Hudson). Renamed The Band who released their 1968 debut Music from Big Pink (featuring the single ‘The Weight’). The Band released the 1978 concert film-documentary triple-LP soundtrack ‘The Last Waltz.’

10 Dec 1999
A war of words broke out between Cliff Richard and George Michael after George branded Cliff Richards hit 'Millennium Prayer' as 'vile'. Cliff hit back by saying that his single was a Christian celebration.

10 Dec 2000
Eminem went to No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Stan' featuring British singer Dido. 'Stan' was No.1 in eleven countries. Dido's lyrics are actually a sample of the opening lines from her song 'Thank You'.

10 Dec 2004
One of three RCA microphones used by radio station KWKH for the historic Elvis Presley appearance at the Louisiana Hayride was sold for $37,500. The microphone was one of three used during 50 performances by Elvis Presley when he performed for the radio show in Shreveport from 1954 to 1956.

10 Dec 2005
Queen overtook The Beatles to become the third most successful act of all time. Sales in 2005 showed that Queen had now overtaken The Beatles to make it into third place, spending 1,755 weeks on the British singles and album charts. The Beatles slipped to fourth place, with 1,749 weeks. Elvis had spent 2,574 weeks on the singles and album charts, making him number one in the Top 100 most successful acts of all time. Sir Cliff Richard remained in second place, clinching 1,982 weeks.

10 Dec 2007
Led Zeppelin played their first concert in 19 years, at London's 02 Arena as part of the Ahmet Ertegun Tribute Concert. Jimmy Page, Robert Plant and John Paul Jones were joined on stage by Jason Bonham, the son of their late drummer John Bonham. More than one million people had taken part in a ballot for the 20,000 tickets available for the show with all proceeds going to Ahmet's own charity. Zeppelin performed 16 songs including two encores. A number of celebrities attended the gig including Dave Grohl, Jeff Beck, Brian May, David Gilmour, The Edge, Peter Gabriel, Mick Jagger, Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell, Jerry Hall, Priscilla Presley and Paris Hilton.

10 Dec 2008
The Associated Press reported that the US military used loud music to "create fear, disorient and prolong capture shock" for prisoners at military detention centers at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Among the songs blasted 24 hours a day were 'Born In The USA' by Bruce Springsteen, 'Hell's Bells' by AC/DC, 'White America' by Eminem, 'The Theme From Sesame Street' and 'I Love You' from the Barney and Friends children's TV show.

10 Dec 2009
In an interview with Q magazine, Paul McCartney was asked if his marriage to Heather Mills the worst mistake of his life was. He replied "OK, yeah. I suppose that has to be the prime contender." The divorce settlement had cost McCartney $38.9m, plus annual payments for his daughter, Beatrice.

10 Dec 2010
The original hand-written lyrics to Bob Dylan's 'The Times They Are A-Changin' sold at a New York auction for $422,500. Adam Sender, a hedge fund manager and art collector, outbid five others, placing telephone bids. The song, one of Dylan's most politically charged, was the title track of his 1964 album.

10 Dec 2011
A copy of The Beatles 'Love Me Do' 1962 Demonstration Record sold for $17,339.31 during a 10-day eBay auction. According to the seller, this original demo was the ‘Holy Grail’ of Beatles items.

10 Dec 2015
Janis Joplin's psychedelic 1965 Porsche sold for $1.76 million at RM Sotheby's car auction in New York City. The car was originally expected to fetch between $400,000 and $600,000.

10 Dec 2019
Gershon Kingsley the German American composer and a pioneer of electronic music and the Moog synthesizer died age 97. His best-known composition, 'Popcorn' has been covered by Jean Michel Jarre, Aphex Twin, Herb Alpert, Muse, Crazy Frog and The Muppets.

10 Dec 2021
American musician, songwriter, actor, producer, Mike Nesmith died from heart failure at his home in Carmel Valley, California age 78. He was best known as a member of the pop rock band the Monkees and co-star of the TV series The Monkees (1966–1968). His song writing credits include ‘Different Drum’, which became a hit for Linda Ronstadt and the Stone Poneys. After the break-up of the Monkees, Nesmith continued his successful song writing and performing career, first with the seminal country rock group the First National Band, with whom he had a top-40 hit, ‘Joanne’.

Date & Time

December 10, 2024

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