The Current

Great Music Lives Here ®
Listener-Supported Music
Donate Now

Today in Music History: Kate Bush becomes a Commander

British pop singer Kate Bush signing her album 'Never Forever' at London's Virgin Megastore.
British pop singer Kate Bush signing her album 'Never Forever' at London's Virgin Megastore.Chas Sime/Getty Images

April 10, 2017

Birthday Highlight:

Today in 2013, Kate Bush received her CBE — Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, an order of chivalry — for her services to music, presented by Queen Elizabeth II at an investiture ceremony at Windsor Castle. The singer-songwriter, who was catapulted to fame in 1978 when Wuthering Heights topped the charts, said she was "incredibly thrilled", and she dedicated the award to her family and joked that it would have pride of place at the top of her Christmas tree.

Also, Today In:

1956 - Nat King Cole was attacked on stage by a group of five racial segregationists during a show at the Municipal Hall in Birmingham, Ala.

1967 - Marvin Gaye recorded his version of "I Heard It Through The Grapevine". The song was first recorded by The Miracles and had also been a million-seller in 1967 for Gladys Knight and the Pips.

1970 - At a concert in Boston, Jim Morrison paused to ask the audience, "Does anyone want to see my genitals?" Apparently, he had some takers. Theater management quickly switched off the power, and Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek dragged Morrison off stage.

1970 - In a press release announcing his imminent debut solo album, Paul McCartney quit The Beatles. McCartney was released 10 days later.

1976 - Peter Frampton went to No. 1 on the U.S. album chart with Frampton Comes Alive. It was the best-selling album of 1976, selling more than 6 million copies in the U.S., and was voted Album of the Year in a 1976 Rolling Stone readers' poll. It stayed on the chart for 97 weeks.

1990 - A jury awarded Tom Waits $2.5 million in punitive damages following his suit against Doritos chips for unauthorized usage of a Waits sound-alike singer in a commercial.

1993 - Depeche Mode entered the U.S. album chart at No. 1 with Songs Of Faith And Devotion.

2001 - Bruce Springsteen won a court battle to keep the rights to his early songs.

2005 - The final episode of The Osbournes was aired on MTV in the U.K. The show reached a peak audience of eight million at its height during its three-year run. Ozzy Osbourne was at a loss to explain its popularity, saying, "I suppose Americans get a kick out of watching a crazy Brit family like us make complete fools of ourselves every week."

Birthdays:

Brian Setzer is 58.

Mark Oliver Everett, better known as E., the creative force behind the band Eels, is 54.

Andrew Dost of Fun. is 34.

Mandy Moore is 33.

Highlights for Today in Music History are gathered from This Day in Music, Paul Shaffer's Day in Rock, Song Facts and Wikipedia.