This Day in Music
On this day in music, April 28, 2003, US technology company Apple Inc. broke new ground in the music industry by launching the iTunes Store, the first legally authorized download platform for buying music. The store was established after the company reached an agreement with all five major record companies to market their catalogs. By February 2010, the iTunes Store was the largest music vendor in the world.
In 2013, singer Emeli Sandé broke the UK chart record for a debut album when Our Version Of Events notched up its 63rd consecutive week in the Top 10. The record had previously been held by The Beatles with their 1963 debut, Please Please Me.
In 2020, R&B singer Bobby Lewis died at the age of 95. The Indianapolis-born artist scored one of the biggest hits of the 1960s with “Tossin’ and Turnin,’” which spent seven weeks atop Billboard’s Hot 100 in 1961.
In 2002, British female vocal trio Sugababes scored their first of six UK No.1 singles with “Freak Like Me.” The track was a remake of singer Adina Howard’s 1995 US hit but was distinguished by its repurposing of the synth hook from Gary Numan & Tubeway Army’s 1979 smash, “Are ‘Friends’ Electric?.”
In 1973, Pink Floyd’s eighth album, Dark Side Of The Moon, rose to the summit of the US albums chart six weeks after its release. The iconic LP only spent a week at the top – it was supplanted by Elvis Presley’s Aloha From Hawaii Via Satellite – but went on to notch up an unparalleled 741 weeks on the Billboard chart.
In 1969, Chicago Transit Authority released their self-titled platinum-selling debut album which earned them a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist. The seven-member ensemble shortened their name to Chicago for their next album, after they faced possible legal action by a same-named mass-transit operator in the Windy City.
BORN ON APRIL 28
1945: John Wolters (Dr. Hook)
1952: Chuck Leavell (The Allman Brothers Band)
1953: Kim Gordon (Sonic Youth)
1955: Eddie Jobson (Roxy Music)
1960: Phil King (Lush)
1968: Howard Donald (Take That)
1969: Mica Paris
1973: Bigg Gipp (Goodie Mob)
1993: Tom Ogden (Blossoms)
