This Day in Music
On this day in music, March 27, 1987, Irish rockers U2 shot the video for their single “Where The Streets Have No Name” on a liquor store roof in downtown Los Angeles. Mirroring The Beatles’ rooftop concert nearly 20 years earlier, the event attracted thousands of spectators to the corner of Seventh and Main Street and brought traffic to a standstill. Despite police interference (as documented in the visual), the shoot was allowed to continue. The video eventually earned the group a Grammy Award.
In 2008, X Factor winner Leona Lewis’ second single, “Bleeding Love,” reached the summit of the Billboard Hot 100, making her the first British woman to reach No.1 on the American charts since Kim Wilde in 1987. The song debuted at No.1 in the UK chart, staying there for seven weeks.
In 2020, the influential Jamaican reggae vocalist and songwriter Bob Andy died of cancer, aged 75. He is best remembered for his partnership with singer Marcia Griffiths – as Bob & Marcia – which resulted in a Top 10 UK reggae version of Nina Simone’s “Young, Gifted & Black” in 1970.
In 2012, David Bowie‘s landmark album The Rise Of Ziggy Stardust & The Spiders From Mars was celebrated with a blue plaque in central London. It was unveiled by Spandau Ballet’s Gary Kemp at Heddon Street, the location where the album’s iconic cover photo was taken.
In 2000, 57-year-old singer, songwriter, poet, and actor, Ian Dury, died. The British artist was best known as the leader of Ian Dury & The Blockheads, who topped the UK pop charts in 1978 with “Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick.”
In 1965, The Supremes topped the Billboard Hot 100 for the fourth time with “Stop! In The Name Of Love.” In 2004, the Holland-Dozier-Holland song was included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s “500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll” list.
BORN ON MARCH 27
1939: Bo Winberg (The Spotnicks)
1950: Tony Banks (Genesis)
1957: Billy MacKenzie (Associates)
1959: Andrew Farriss (INXS)
1965: Johnny April (Staind)
1970: Mariah Carey
1975: Fergie (Black Eyed Peas)
1988: Jessie J
1990: Kimbra
