More About Music History On This Day

3 Mar 1966
Neil Young, Stephen Stills and Richie Furay formed Buffalo Springfield in Los Angeles. Among the first wave of American bands to become popular in the wake of the British invasion, the group combined rock, folk, and country music into a sound all its own. Its million-selling song 'For What It's Worth' became a political anthem for the turbulent late 1960s.

3 Mar 1969
Led Zeppelin recorded their first BBC Radio 1 'Top Gear' session during the afternoon at the Playhouse Theatre in London, England. Songs recorded were 'Dazed And Confused', 'Communication Breakdown', 'You Shook Me' and 'I Can't Quit You Baby'. Free, The Moody Blues and Deep Purple were also in session on the show.

3 Mar 1972
Elton John released 'Rocket Man' as a single, (officially titled 'Rocket Man (I Think It's Going to Be a Long, Long Time)'. The song was inspired by the short story "The Rocket Man" in The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury and echoes the theme of David Bowie's 1969 song 'Space Oddity'. Kate Bush released a cover of 'Rocket Man' in 1991 as part of the Elton John, Bernie Taupin tribute album Two Rooms.

3 Mar 1973
Slade's 'Com On Feel The Noize', entered the UK at No.1, making Slade the first act to achieve this since The Beatles.

3 Mar 1973
Winners at this year's Grammy Awards included Roberta Flack who won Song of the year and Record of the year with 'The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face' and Harry Nilsson won Best pop vocal performance for 'Without You.'

3 Mar 1977
The first night of an UK tour with Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers, Cherry Vanilla and The Police kicked off at the Roxy Club, London. John Otway and Wild Willie Barratt played at The Speakeasy, London and Iggy Pop supported by The Vibrators appeared at Huddersfield Poly.

3 Mar 1979
The Bee Gees scored their fourth UK No.1 single with 'Tragedy.' Also today The Bee Gees went to No.1 on the US album chat with 'Spirits Having Flown', the brother's second US No.1 album.

3 Mar 1984
Nena started a three-week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with '99 Red Balloons.' Originally sung in German, '99 Luftballons' was re-recorded in English as '99 Red Balloons'. The song was a No.2 hit in the US and the only UK hit for Nena making her a One Hit Wonder.

3 Mar 1990
During a world tour Paul McCartney played the first of 6 sold-out nights at the Tokyo Dome, Tokyo, Japan. The final night was broadcast live to venues in 10 other Japanese cities; Fukuoka, Hiroshima, Kumamoto, Matsuyama, Nagoya, Niigata, Osaka, Sapporp, Sendai and Takamatsu.

3 Mar 1990
Lindy Layton and Beats International were at No.1 in the UK with the single 'Dub Be Good To Me.' Formed by ex-Housemartins Norman Cook, the song was based on the SOS Band's 1984 hit 'Just Be Good To Me' and The Clash song 'Guns of Brixton'.

3 Mar 1994
The Smashing Pumpkins were banned from appearing on BBC TV's Top Of The Pops due to the content of the song's lyrics. The bands single 'Disarm' was this week's highest new entry.

3 Mar 1995
Foo Fighters made their live debut during a benefit show at The Satyricon in Portland, Oregon.

3 Mar 1999
Oasis agreed to pay their former drummer Tony McCarroll a one-off sum of $935,000 after he sued the Manchester band for millions in unpaid royalties. McCarroll had been sacked from the band in 1995.

3 Mar 2000
Former Bay City Roller, Derek Longmuir was released on bail on charges of downloading child pornographic images from the internet and keeping indecent videos in his home.

3 Mar 2000
Tom Jones won the Best male artist at this year's Brit Awards. Other winners included Travis for Best band and Best album 'The Man Who.' Best single went to Robbie Williams for 'She's The One', Five won Best pop act, TLC won Best International group, Beck won Best International Male, Macy Gray won Best newcomer and Outstanding Contribution went to The Spice Girls.

3 Mar 2001
Stereophonics were forced to change the title of their new album after car manufacturer Daimler Chrysler objected to their use of the copyrighted word 'Jeep'. The UK title became 'Just Enough Education To Perform.'

3 Mar 2002
TV show 'Pop Idol' winner Will Young scored his first UK No.1 single with 'Anything Is Possible / Evergreen.' Young set a new sales record for a debut artist with over 1 million in the first week. It became the biggest selling single of 2002.

3 Mar 2003
Ray Jackson who found fame with Lindisfarne took out legal action against Rod Stewart over his 1970s hit song ‘Maggie May.’ Jackson claimed he came up with the worldwide hit's classic mandolin melody and claimed he may have lost at least £1m because he was not credited for the track's distinctive "hook." Jackson was paid just £15 for the recording session by Stewart in 1971.

3 Mar 2004
Elton John announced he was planning to marry his long-term partner David Furnish if new UK laws allowed it. A Civil Partnership bill was being passed through Parliament which would give gay couple's greater rights.

3 Mar 2005
50 Cent released The Massacre, the follow-up to his 6x platinum debut 'Get Rich or Die Tryin'. The album sold over 1 million copies in its first week, going 4x platinum in two months. The success of the album gave 50 Cent five top-five singles in 2005.

3 Mar 2008
Beatles engineer Norman Smith died at the age of 85. Smith who worked on every studio recording the band made between 1962 and 1965 was nicknamed

3 Mar 2009
To celebrate the release of U2's twelfth studio album and their appearance every night for a week on The Late Show with David Letterman, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg temporarily renamed part of 53rd street in Midtown Manhattan U2 Way.

3 Mar 2010
A woman claiming to be the wife of Sean 'P Diddy' Combs was freed on $5,000 bail after being arrested near the rapper's home on Long Island, New York. Cemelia Green claimed to be married to the rapper and producer who was said to be worth around $350m. There was no official comment from Combs, who was unmarried.

3 Mar 2012
American rock guitarist Ronnie Montrose died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound aged 64. The guitarist who led the bands Montrose and Gamma had been ill suffering from prostate cancer. Montrose had also worked with Edgar Winter, Van Morrison, Dan Hartman, Sammy Hagar and many other artists.

3 Mar 2013
American musician and tenor singer Bobby Rogers died aged 73. He was a member of The Miracles who with Smokey Robinson had the 1970 UK & US No.1 single 'Tears of a Clown'. Rogers was a part-time Motown songwriter; his most notable composition with bandmate Smokey Robinson, was The Temptations' first hit single, 'The Way You Do the Things You Do. Rogers also co-wrote The Temptations 1965 hit 'My Baby.'

3 Mar 2015
Keith Richards objected to a planned £1.5million cafe being built on a beachfront near his country mansion. The guitarist lodged an objection against the new development which is near his Redlands estate where he was famously arrested with band mate Mick Jagger in 1967 in a drugs raid. Richards is opposed to the planned restaurant which was earmarked for West Wittering beach in West Sussex.

3 Mar 2017
American guitarist Jim Fuller from The Surfaris died aged 69. The Surfaris had the 1963 US No.2 & UK No.3 single 'Wipe Out' and Fuller was known as the "Godfather" of surf music, a Californian instrumental music. With his Fender guitar he contributed to the popularity of Leo Fender's instruments.

3 Mar 2017
American jazz ukulele musician Lyle Ritz died at the age of 87. As a session musician on the bass guitar, he joined the Wrecking Crew a popular group of studio musicians in the Los Angeles recording industry. Ritz compiled over 5,000 recording credits including such notable tracks as Herb Alpert's 'A Taste of Honey', The Righteous Brothers' 'You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'', and The Beach Boys 'Good Vibrations.'

Date & Time

March 3, 2025

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