This Day in Music
On this day in music, April 8, 1994, Kurt Cobain’s body was discovered by an electrician at his Seattle home, several days after the Nirvana frontman took his own life. News broke at 9:40 AM on radio station KXRX and soon spread across the world, while local fans held vigil at the scene. Just one month earlier, the 27-year-old grunge icon had suffered a drug overdose while on tour in support of the band’s third album In Utero. The band cut the European run short, in hopes that Cobain would seek treatment.
In 1977, The Clash released their self-titled debut in the UK, which peaked at No.12 on the chart. Interestingly, the punk band’s label, CBS, initially refused to release the album in the US, deeming it “unfriendly” for radio play. The Clash quickly became one of America’s biggest-selling import records of all time, however, with 100,000 copies brought into the country. It eventually got an official US release in 1979, but with a different track listing.
In 1997, the pioneering American singer-songwriter Laura Nyro succumbed to ovarian cancer at the age of 49. Born in the Bronx, she signed her first record deal as a teenager and forged a unique style that fused soul, gospel, jazz, and Brill Building pop. The first of her nine studio first albums was 1967’s More Than A New Discovery, which contained two of her most famous songs, “Stoney End” (later recorded by Barbra Streisand) and “Wedding Bell Blues” (a No.1 US hit for The 5th Dimension). Among the many artists who covered her songs were Suzanne Vega, Roseanne Cash, and Frank Sinatra.
In 2001, ex-Spice Girl Emma Bunton’s debut single “What Took You So Long” became her first and only solo No.1. The singer, dubbed “Baby Spice,” was the fourth member of the group to score a solo chart-topper.
In 2010, 64-year-old Malcolm McLaren, who rose to fame as the Sex Pistols’ manager, lost his battle with cancer. A former art school student, he opened a clothing store called Let It Rock in the early 70s with fashion designer Vivienne Westwood and played a key role in the birth of punk rock. He also established himself as a recording artist, releasing seven albums between 1983 and 2005 and scoring ten UK hit singles, including 1983’s “Double Dutch.”
In 1991, the influential UK trip-hop collective Massive Attack released their groundbreaking debut, Blue Lines, which included the UK hit single “Unfinished Sympathy.” The album was featured in the 2005 book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
In 1967, Sandie Shaw became the first British female artist to win the Eurovision Song Contest with “Puppet On A String.” It was also the singer’s third and final UK No.1.
BORN ON APRIL 8
1929: Jacques Brel
1942: Leon Huff (Producer, co-founder of Philadelphia International Records)
1947: Steve Howe (Yes)
1951: Mel Schacher (Grand Funk Railroad)
1962: Izzy Stradlin (Guns N’ Roses)
1963: Julian Lennon
1971: Darren Jessee (Ben Folds Five)
1984: Ezra Koenig (Vampire Weekend)
1989: Matthew Healy (The 1975)
