This Day In Music History
August 31st
1963 - The Ronettes enter the singles chart with 'Be My Baby' their only top 10 hit. Lead singer and original "bad girl" of rock n roll, Ronnie Spector, would eventually have to take ex-husband Phil Spector to court in the 90's for unpaid royalties. She also enjoyed a resurgence in pop culture when Eddie Money featured her in his hit 'Take Me Home Tonight'. Money introduces her in the song with "just like Ronnie said..."
1976 - George Harrison was found guilty of unknowingly plagiarizing the Ronnie Mack song 'He's So Fine' with 'My Sweet Lord'. Earnings from Harrison's song were eventually awarded to Mack's estate.
1987 - Michael Jackson breaks a record by having the largest pre-order of an album in the history of CBS Records. The record breaking 2.25 million copies of Michael Jackson's ‘Bad’ album were quickly shipped to record stores across the U.S. and awaited the day of release.
1990 - Jackson Browne, Stevie Wonder and Bonnie Raitt sang 'Amazing Grace' at a memorial service for guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan who had been killed in a helicopter crash 4 days earlier. According to a witness, there was reportedly haze and fog of varying intensity with patches of low clouds. Despite the conditions, the pilot was instructed to fly over a 1000-foot ski hill. Vaughan, along with three members of Eric Clapton's entourage, boarded the third of the four helicopters. At about 12:50 am the helicopter departed from an elevation of about 850 feet, veered to the left and crashed into the hill. All of the passengers, including the pilot, Jeff Brown, were killed instantly.
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