MUSIC NEWS
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JANUARY
1980s icon Adam Ant is arrested
and faced with charges including
criminal damage and assault following
an incident in a London
pub during which the singer
reportedly brandished a fake gun
after being barred entry to a private
party. The former star is
placed into psychiatric care and
eventually sentenced to a year of
rehab. • Zac Foley, bassist of
British dance/rock combo EMF,
dies at the age of 31, after his
New Year’s celebrations get out
of hand. Traces of heroin,
cocaine, ecstasy, barbiturates and
alcohol are all found in Foley’s
body. • Legendary singer Peggy
Lee, known for such hits as
“Fever” and “Is That All There
Is?” dies at home in Los Angeles.
She was 81.
FEBRUARY
The Strokes cash in at British
music weekly NME’s Carling
Awards, taking home trophies
for “Band Of The Year,” “Best
New Act” and “Album Of The
Year” for Is This It. Other notable
winners include Basement Jaxx
(“Best Dance Act”),
Lostprophets (“Best Metal
Group”), Ian Brown (“Best Solo
Artist”) and U2 (“Best Live
Act”). • Folk singer Dave Van
Ronk passes away on Feb. 10
after a battle with colon cancer.
He was 65. An authority on Jazz
music, Ronk came to prominence
in the 1960s as an early
mentor to Bob Dylan. •
Country legend Waylon
Jennings passes away after a
lengthy struggle with diabetes.
MARCH
MTV premieres its new reality
TV show, The Osbournes, featuring
the daily lives of Ozzy
Osbourne and his family. The
program will go on to become
the biggest on-air success in the
network’s history, turning the
entire Osbourne clan into
celebrities. • Randy Castillo,
drummer for Ozzy and later,
Mötley Crüe, loses his battle
with cancer at the age of 51. •
Weezer sends out an eight-song
sampler of music from its
upcoming album, Maladroit,
much to the chagrin of the
band’s label. The album won’t
actually be released until May.
• Singer Chris Cornell walks
out on Civilian, the band that
will go on to become
Audioslave after re-forming
later in the year. • Unwound
calls it quits, citing difficulties
in securing tour dates for
extended periods of time as the
reason for the split.
APRIL
R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck is
cleared of all charges relating
to a bout of bizarre, aggressive
behavior aboard a British
Airways flight a year earlier. •
Alice In Chains singer Layne
Staley is found dead at his
home in Seattle. A toxicology
report reveals that he died
from a combination of heroin
and cocaine ingestion.
• TLC star Lisa Lopes is killed in
a fatal car accident in Honduras.
• Frank Tovey, a.k.a. Fad
Gadget, passes away from heart
failure in London. • Dave
Karcich, drummer of popular
ska band Spring Heeled Jack
and, more recently, Avoid One
Thing, dies three days after suffering
a brain aneurysm on April
2. • R. Kelly faces career disaster
along with a string of charges
related to a videotape that
allegedly features the singer having
sex with a 14-year-old girl.
MAY
Courtney Love and longtime
Hole bandmate Eric Erlandson
release a statement officially
announcing the end of their
band. Love partly blames the
breakup on the group’s longtime
label difficulties. • The Breeders,
release Title TK, the band’s first
album since 1993’s Last Splash. •
Dave Grohl hits the road as the
drummer for Queens Of The
Stone Age for a North American
tour. • After a career lasting
nearly four decades, pop diva
Cher announces a farewell tour,
kicking off in June. • Chris
Traynor, formerly of Helmet,
officially joins Bush, replacing
former guitarist Nigel Pulsford.
• Marilyn Manson announces
the departure of his band’s
bassist, Twiggy Ramirez. Tim
Skold replaces him. • Legendary
songwriter Otis Blackwell passes
away following a heart attack at
the age of 70.
JUNE
Dee Dee Ramone, bassist for
the Ramones, is pronounced
dead by paramedics at his
California home. Drug paraphernalia,
including a syringe, is
found at the scene. • John
Entwistle, bassist for The Who,
dies unexpectedly in his sleep in
Las Vegas, just one day before
the group is set to begin a
major U.S. tour. • Goodie Mob
member Khujo has part of his
leg amputated following a car
accident in Atlanta. • Belle And
Sebastian announces the departure
of founding member
Isobel Campbell from the band.
• Cursive vocalist Tim Kasher
undergoes major surgery,
involving partial removal of his
lung, after experiencing chest
pains on the way to a show. •
Todd Baechle, singer for The
Faint, is arrested by
Albuquerque police on charges
of public nudity after taking to
the stage naked during a set by
tourmate No Doubt.
JULY
Sharon Osbourne undergoes
surgery for colon cancer, and
then divulges that the disease
has spread to her lymph nodes,
leading her to begin
chemotherapy. • Travis drummer
Neil Primrose requires
surgery for multiple fractures
to his upper vertebrae following
a diving accident in France.
• Anti-Pop Consortium breaks
up, saying that its members
“have grown in different directions
musically and no longer
feel the collaboration is artistically
viable.” • The Strokes
back out of a series of dates
on tour with Weezer after
singer Julian Casablancas suffers
a serious knee injury. •
Jazz bassist Ray Brown, whose
career lasted more than 50
years, passes away in his sleep
in Indianapolis. • Alan
Lomax, the man who recorded
and documented the most significant
collection of indigenous
music from America to
Europe to the Caribbean, dies
at age 87.
AUGUST
Widespread Panic guitarist
Michael Houser passes away
from cancer at his home in
Athens, Georgia at the age of
40. • Drowning Pool singer
Dave Williams is discovered
dead on his band’s tour bus,
apparently of natural causes. •
Lionel Hampton, one of the
Jazz world’s most influential figures,
dies of heart failure at 94.
• Unwritten Law guitarist Steve
Morris is injured by a homemade
explosive device left outside
his home. • Oasis bandleader
Noel Gallagher and
bassist Andy Bell are hurt in a
head-on car accident in
Indianapolis. • Members of Ash
suffer injuries as a result of a
bus crash on the road with
Moby’s Area:2 tour. •
Spiritualized halts plans to
begin work on a new album,
after drummer Kevin Bales is
diagnosed with leukemia.
• Burning Airlines throws in
the towel. • 764-Hero also closes
the book on its career.
SEPTEMBER
Piebald drops off a series of dates
with Dashboard Confessional,
following the news that frontman
Travis Shettel needs throat
surgery. • Singer/songwriter
Warren Zevon reveals he has
been diagnosed with terminal
lung cancer. • Gyda Valtysdóttir,
a founding member of Icelandic
band Múm, amicably parts ways
with the group. • Robyn
Hitchcock and his band, the Soft
Boys, release Nextdoorland, the
first album from the band in
more than 20 years. • Ray
Manzarek and Robbie Krieger
recruit Cult singer Ian Astbury
and Police drummer Stewart
Copeland to revive the Doors. •
Rising R&B star Ms.Dynamite
takes home Britain’s Panasonic
Mercury Music Prize. • Soul
singer Barry White confirms that
he has been hit by kidney failure
and requires a transplant. •
James Marcel Stinson, of Detroit
techno duo Drexciya, dies as the
result of a heart complication.
OCTOBER
Run-DMC DJ Jam Master Jay is
fatally shot in a Queens, New
York recording studio. He was
37. • The Promise Ring
announces its decision to split
up to a concert crowd. • Murder
City Devils spin-off group Dead
Low Tide announces that its
short career is already over. •
Cee-Lo Green confirms that his
group, Goodie Mob, has also
broken up. • Glassjaw postpones
a European tour after
frontman Daryl Palumbo suffers
an attack from Crohn’s Disease,
a chronic stomach condition. •
Blur guitarist Graham Coxon
says that he hasn’t been involved
with the band for months, prior
to admitting his departure. •
Idlewild bassist Bob Fairfoull
quits during a European tour. •
N.E.R.D. wins the second annual
Shortlist Prize for its debut
album, In Search Of…. •
Nirvana’s greatest hits compilation
is released, including the
rare cut “You Know You’re
Right.” • Filter singer Richard
Patrick checks himself into a
rehabilitation clinic. • Jets To
Brazil nixes its entire U.S. tour,
citing an unspecified “sudden illness.”
NOVEMBER
The surviving members of Run-
DMC officially call an end to the
group. • The journals of Kurt
Cobain are released for public
consumption in replica form. •
Guns N’ Roses fails to perform
at the opening show of its long
awaited North American tour,
leading fans to riot. • Oasis
frontman Liam Gallagher is
involved in a brawl in Munich,
Germany that leaves him with
“sustained facial injuries, including
several broken teeth.” • Joni
Mitchell declares that her new
release, the double-disc
Travelogue, will be her last. •
Funk Brothers keyboardist
Johnny Griffith dies at the age of
66. • R&B superstar D’Angelo is
arrested at his home in Virginia
after a woman complained he
verbally abused and spat on her
at a gas station. • Michael
Jackson causes upset by dangling
his infant son over a hotel balcony
in Berlin.
DECEMBER
Stereolab member Mary
Hansen, who was with the group
since 1992, is killed in London
after being struck by a car while
riding her bicycle. She was 36. •
Australian act Midnight Oil calls
it a day after two-and-a-half
decades together, in response to
singer Peter Garrett announcing
his resignation from the group.
• Glassjaw frontman Daryl
Palumbo suffers yet again from
Crohn’s Disease, shortly after
getting off a plane in London,
where, ironically, the band had
arrived to begin a string of
rescheduled dates, initially postponed
after the singer faced the
same problem in October. •
Moby is attacked and beaten
outside a Boston venue by
unidentified assailants following
one of his performances. •
After failing to appear at a
Philadelphia performance,
Guns N’ Roses begins rapidly
dropping dates from its tour
schedule, ultimately canceling
all remaining shows without
explanation.
