More About Music History On This Day
21 Apr 1982
Clash frontman Joe Strummer disappeared for three weeks, which resulted in the group cancelling a tour. The singer was found living rough in Paris, France.
21 Apr 1984
Phil Collins started a three-week run at No.1 in the US singles chart with the theme from 'Against All Odds'. It was Phil's first US No.1, a No. 2 in the UK.
21 Apr 1990
Paul McCartney played in front of 184,000 fans at the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Jnaeiro, creating a new world record for the largest crowd attending a rock concert.
21 Apr 1990
Sinead O’Connor started a four-week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with her version of the Princes' song 'Nothing Compares To You'. The track was also a No.1 hit in 18 other countries. The video was shot in Paris, nd consists almost solely of a close-up on O'Connor's face as she sings the lyrics. Towards the end of the video, two tears roll down her face. The clip won Best Video at the 1990 MTV Video Music Awards - the first video by a female artist to win in this category.
21 Apr 2000
Neal Matthews of The Jordanaires died of a heart attack. Sang on Presley's 'Don't Be Cruel' and 'Hound Dog.' Also worked with Ricky Nelson, Patsy Cline, Red Foley, Johnny Horton, Jim Reeves, George Jones, Marie Osmond, Tom Jones and Merle Haggard.
21 Apr 2001
R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck was charged by police at Heathrow airport with being drunk on an aircraft and assaulting British Airways crew. Buck was taken into custody after landing on a flight from Seattle and questioned by police for 12 hours.
21 Apr 2002
Oasis went to No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Hindu Times', the bands sixth UK No.1 and the first single to be released from their fifth album Heathen Chemistry.
21 Apr 2004
Former Pogues front man Shane MacGowan was attacked in a London pub. The singer was assaulted at the Joiner's Arms pub in central London and suffered a fractured cheekbone after being kicked, punched and hit with a metal bar. Two men, aged 20 and 21, were arrested and later released on bail.
21 Apr 2007
Doris Richards died of cancer. The 91-year-old mother of Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards bought her son his first guitar for his 15th birthday. He learned some chords from her father, Gus Dupree, a musician who instilled him with an early passion for music.
21 Apr 2008
American soul singer and songwriter Al Wilson died of kidney failure at the age of 68. Wilson had a number of US hits, including The 'Snake' in 1968 and 'Show and Tell' in 1974.
21 Apr 2013
Calvin Harris made chart history by becoming the first artist to have eight top 10 hits from one studio album. His track 'I Need Your Love', featuring singer Ellie Goulding, climbed to No.7 on the Official UK Chart. The DJ and producer from Dumfries, Scotland had overtaken Michael Jackson, who previously held the record with seven top 10 hits from both his 1987 album Bad and his 1991 record Dangerous.
21 Apr 2014
Robin Thicke's controversial hit single 'Blurred Lines' was named the UK's most-downloaded song of all time. The song had sold 1.54 million copies since it was released in May 2013, despite criticisms of its explicit lyrics. About 20 university student unions banned the track, saying it promoted "date rape culture", an accusation Thicke consistently denied.
21 Apr 2015
Phil Rudd, drummer of AC/DC, changed his plea to guilty on a charge of a threat to kill, in a court in Tauranga, New Zealand. The court heard Rudd was unhappy about his album's launch party and asked for a former employee to be "taken out". He had previously denied the charge. He also pleaded guilty to cannabis and methamphetamine possession. The court heard that he had fired a number of employees last August after the launch of his solo album, Head Job.
21 Apr 2016
Prince was found dead at his home in Minnesota at the age of 57, after Police were summoned to his Paisley Park estate and found his body in a lift. The acclaimed and influential musician became a global superstar in the 1980s, with albums such as 1999, Purple Rain and Sign O' the Times and recorded more than 30 albums.
21 Apr 2016
Adele was named as Britain's richest ever female musician, in the latest Sunday Times Rich List. A list of the top 50 music millionaires in the UK and Ireland placed the singer's £85m fortune in 30th place - an increase of £35m compared to last year.
21 Apr 2016
American rock, blues and country singer-guitarist Lonnie Mack died of natural causes in hospital near his log-cabin home, seventy miles east of Nashville, Tennessee. In the early 1960s, he was a "pioneer" in virtuoso rock guitar soloing whose recordings were pivotal to the emergence of the electric guitar as a lead voice in rock music. For this, it has been said that he launched the era of "modern rock guitar". He scored the hit single instrumentals, 'Memphis' and 'Wham!'
21 Apr 2021
American musician Joe Long died from complications of COVID-19 age 88. He is best known as the bass guitarist for the Four Seasons that became internationally successful in the 1960s and 1970s. They are one of the best-selling musical groups of all time, having sold an estimated 100 million records worldwide.
Clash frontman Joe Strummer disappeared for three weeks, which resulted in the group cancelling a tour. The singer was found living rough in Paris, France.
21 Apr 1984
Phil Collins started a three-week run at No.1 in the US singles chart with the theme from 'Against All Odds'. It was Phil's first US No.1, a No. 2 in the UK.
21 Apr 1990
Paul McCartney played in front of 184,000 fans at the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Jnaeiro, creating a new world record for the largest crowd attending a rock concert.
21 Apr 1990
Sinead O’Connor started a four-week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with her version of the Princes' song 'Nothing Compares To You'. The track was also a No.1 hit in 18 other countries. The video was shot in Paris, nd consists almost solely of a close-up on O'Connor's face as she sings the lyrics. Towards the end of the video, two tears roll down her face. The clip won Best Video at the 1990 MTV Video Music Awards - the first video by a female artist to win in this category.
21 Apr 2000
Neal Matthews of The Jordanaires died of a heart attack. Sang on Presley's 'Don't Be Cruel' and 'Hound Dog.' Also worked with Ricky Nelson, Patsy Cline, Red Foley, Johnny Horton, Jim Reeves, George Jones, Marie Osmond, Tom Jones and Merle Haggard.
21 Apr 2001
R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck was charged by police at Heathrow airport with being drunk on an aircraft and assaulting British Airways crew. Buck was taken into custody after landing on a flight from Seattle and questioned by police for 12 hours.
21 Apr 2002
Oasis went to No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Hindu Times', the bands sixth UK No.1 and the first single to be released from their fifth album Heathen Chemistry.
21 Apr 2004
Former Pogues front man Shane MacGowan was attacked in a London pub. The singer was assaulted at the Joiner's Arms pub in central London and suffered a fractured cheekbone after being kicked, punched and hit with a metal bar. Two men, aged 20 and 21, were arrested and later released on bail.
21 Apr 2007
Doris Richards died of cancer. The 91-year-old mother of Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards bought her son his first guitar for his 15th birthday. He learned some chords from her father, Gus Dupree, a musician who instilled him with an early passion for music.
21 Apr 2008
American soul singer and songwriter Al Wilson died of kidney failure at the age of 68. Wilson had a number of US hits, including The 'Snake' in 1968 and 'Show and Tell' in 1974.
21 Apr 2013
Calvin Harris made chart history by becoming the first artist to have eight top 10 hits from one studio album. His track 'I Need Your Love', featuring singer Ellie Goulding, climbed to No.7 on the Official UK Chart. The DJ and producer from Dumfries, Scotland had overtaken Michael Jackson, who previously held the record with seven top 10 hits from both his 1987 album Bad and his 1991 record Dangerous.
21 Apr 2014
Robin Thicke's controversial hit single 'Blurred Lines' was named the UK's most-downloaded song of all time. The song had sold 1.54 million copies since it was released in May 2013, despite criticisms of its explicit lyrics. About 20 university student unions banned the track, saying it promoted "date rape culture", an accusation Thicke consistently denied.
21 Apr 2015
Phil Rudd, drummer of AC/DC, changed his plea to guilty on a charge of a threat to kill, in a court in Tauranga, New Zealand. The court heard Rudd was unhappy about his album's launch party and asked for a former employee to be "taken out". He had previously denied the charge. He also pleaded guilty to cannabis and methamphetamine possession. The court heard that he had fired a number of employees last August after the launch of his solo album, Head Job.
21 Apr 2016
Prince was found dead at his home in Minnesota at the age of 57, after Police were summoned to his Paisley Park estate and found his body in a lift. The acclaimed and influential musician became a global superstar in the 1980s, with albums such as 1999, Purple Rain and Sign O' the Times and recorded more than 30 albums.
21 Apr 2016
Adele was named as Britain's richest ever female musician, in the latest Sunday Times Rich List. A list of the top 50 music millionaires in the UK and Ireland placed the singer's £85m fortune in 30th place - an increase of £35m compared to last year.
21 Apr 2016
American rock, blues and country singer-guitarist Lonnie Mack died of natural causes in hospital near his log-cabin home, seventy miles east of Nashville, Tennessee. In the early 1960s, he was a "pioneer" in virtuoso rock guitar soloing whose recordings were pivotal to the emergence of the electric guitar as a lead voice in rock music. For this, it has been said that he launched the era of "modern rock guitar". He scored the hit single instrumentals, 'Memphis' and 'Wham!'
21 Apr 2021
American musician Joe Long died from complications of COVID-19 age 88. He is best known as the bass guitarist for the Four Seasons that became internationally successful in the 1960s and 1970s. They are one of the best-selling musical groups of all time, having sold an estimated 100 million records worldwide.
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