More About Music History On This Day

23 Jul 1984
The Cars released 'Drive' from their Heartbeat City album as a single. Upon its release, 'Drive' became The Cars' highest charting single where it peaked at No.3 on the US chart. The song is associated with the 1985 Live Aid event, where it was performed by Benjamin Orr during the Philadelphia concert and previously, the song was used as the background music to a montage of clips depicting the contemporaneous Ethiopian famine during the London event, which was introduced by David Bowie .

23 Jul 1989
Ringo Starr kicked off his first tour since the break-up of the Beatles with a show in Dallas. His backup band included guitarist Joe Walsh, organist Billy Preston and Bruce Springsteen's sax man Clarence Clemons.

23 Jul 1994
The International Astronomical Union named an asteroid orbiting between Mars and Jupiter after Frank Zappa who had died the previous December.

23 Jul 1995
Two R.E.M. fans died at Dublin's Slane Castle gig, one drowned in the River Boyne and the other was allegedly pushed from a bridge.

23 Jul 1996
Rob Collins, keyboard player with The Charlatans died in a car crash, aged 29. Collins had been recording keyboard parts for the Charlatans 5th album ‘Tellin' Stories’ at a studio in Wales. An investigation into the accident showed that Collins had consumed a sizable amount of alcohol and was not wearing a seatbelt. He died from head injuries on the roadside shortly after the accident having been thrown through the windscreen.

23 Jul 2001
59-year-old Paul McCartney, who lost his first wife Linda to cancer three years ago, became engaged to 33-year-old Heather Mills, an activist for the disabled. It was the first marriage for the 33-year-old Mills, a former swimwear model whose left leg was amputated below the knee after she was run down by a police motorcyclist in 1993. The pair would split in 2006 and divorce in 2008 with a settlement that cost Macca millions.

23 Jul 2003
James Brown announced his separation from his fourth wife using an advertisement featuring the Disney character Goofy. The 70-year-old placed the notice in Variety magazine, it featured a picture of himself, his wife Tomi Rae and their two-year-old son, James Joseph Brown II, posing with Goofy at Walt Disney World.

23 Jul 2005
Queen's 1985 Live Aid performance was voted the best rock concert ever by over 7,000 UK Sony Ericsson music fans. Radiohead were voted the best festival act for their 1997 Glastonbury performance and Bob Dylan's 1966 Manchester Free Trade Hall gig won the best ever solo gig.

23 Jul 2006
George Michael was accused of engaging in anonymous public sex, after being photographed in London's Hampstead Heath with a 58-year-old unemployed van driver. Despite stating that he intended to sue both the News of the World tabloid who photographed the incident and van driver Norman Kirtland for slander, Michael stated that he openly cruised for anonymous sex and that this was not an issue in his relationship with partner Kenny Goss.

23 Jul 2008
Kid Rock was sentenced to a year on probation and fined $1,000 for his part in a fight in an Atlanta waffle restaurant in 2007. The 37-year-old also received 80 hours community service and six hours of anger management counselling. The rapper pleaded no contest to one count of battery. Four other assault charges were dropped. Kid Rock had been performing at a gig in Atlanta before stopping off in his tour bus in the early hours of the morning. The fight took place when an argument broke out with another customer at the restaurant.

23 Jul 2008
A waxwork model of Amy Winehouse was unveiled at Madame Tussauds. The singer's parents, Mitch and Janis, revealed the model, ‘complete with trademark beehive and sailor tattoos’, at the London attraction. Earlier in the week her husband, Blake Fielder-Civil, was jailed for 27 months for attacking a pub landlord and perverting the course of justice.

23 Jul 2009
On the afternoon of tonight's concert at First Energy Park, Lakewood, New Jersey, Bob Dylan was picked up by a young policewoman who had been alerted of a man who was 'acting suspiciously'. The police officer drove up to Dylan, who was wearing a blue jacket, and asked him his name, but she did not recognize him. When he was unable to produce any identification, Dylan was driven to his hotel where staff were able to vouch for him. The incident happened when Dylan decided to go for a walk in the afternoon while on tour with Willie Nelson who were due to perform at the local baseball stadium with John Mellencamp.

23 Jul 2010
Surgical instruments allegedly used to conduct Elvis Presley autopsy were removed from an upcoming auction amid doubts about their authenticity. Forceps, needle injectors, rubber gloves and a toe tag were among the items that were expected to fetch about $14,000 at Chicago, Illinois' Leslie Hindman Auctioneers. The so-called "memorabilia" was supposedly kept by a senior embalmer at the Memphis Funeral Home where the singer's body was stored prior to his funeral, but the claims were questioned after another employee revealed that the equipment was sterilized and used again in other autopsies.

23 Jul 2011
Amy Winehouse was found dead at her north London home, she was 27. A Metropolitan Police spokesman confirmed that a 27-year-old woman had died in Camden and that the cause of death was as yet unexplained. London Ambulance Service said it had been called to the flat at 1554 BST and sent two vehicles, but the woman died. The troubled singer had a long battle with drink and drugs which overshadowed her recent musical career.

23 Jul 2011
A yellow Ferrari previously owned by Eric Clapton sold for £66,500 at auction. The rare 2003 Ferrari 575 Maranello, which had only 10,000 miles on the clock, was snapped up by a private buyer at a sale at the Classic Car Sale at Silverstone, Northamptonshire, England. The yellow Maranello was bought new by Mr Clapton, who signed its service book, was later sold to BBC radio presenter Chris Evans.

23 Jul 2013
Beyonce soldiered through a concert in Montreal, Canada after her hair got tangled in the blades of a fan. The singer was performing 'Halo' from an audience pit when the incident happened. She continued to sing her encore while security guards tried to extract her from the fan, which was mounted on the edge of the stage.
23 Jul 2018

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) warned against the growing trend of people jumping out of moving cars and dancing to Drake's ‘In My Feelings’.

Date & Time

July 23, 2024

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