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Music Events of
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Overview

This year saw the emergence of disco as a force to be reckoned with, a trend which would hold for the rest of the decade and peak in the last two years. This was also the year which truly established ABBA as the top selling act of the decade with them achieving their second, third and fourth number ones (as well as releasing the biggest-selling album of the year). The ABBA formula was also replicated in the biggest-selling song of the year - the Eurovision-winning "Save Your Kisses for Me" by Brotherhood of Man, who began a three-year run in the UK charts from 1976. Other acts to achieve notable firsts were Elton John, who scored his first UK number one single this year (albeit as a duet with Kiki Dee), Showaddywaddy had their first and only number one and long-standing hitmaker Johnny Mathis also scored his biggest hit this year. The album charts saw TV advertising become a major factor in changing the landscape of big sellers with non-regular singles artists achieving high sales with compilations. Among these were Slim Whitman, Bert Weedon, Glen Campbell and The Beach Boys, who remained at number one for ten consecutive weeks.

Also emerging this year was a new trend, which became known as punk-rock. This was little evident on the charts as yet, and was more a lifestyle choice, but would become much more significant the following year, as many new acts who typified the trend came onto the scene.

Overall, 1976 is not considered a vintage year by music critics, with its overwhelming dominance by pop and MOR acts. Certainly, many consider 1976 to be the nadir of British music and hold the year's charts up to be the very reason why Punk and New Wave music emerged with such force the following year.

Births

8 January: JENNY LEWIS = American singer-songwriter, musician, and actress. She was the lead singer and rhythm guitarist for the indie rock band Rilo Kiley
16 January: STUART FLETCHER = English bass player for The Seahorses
18 January: DAMIEN LEITH = Australian singer/songwriter
20 January: SID WILSON = American DJ, keyboardist and pianist, best known as the turntablist of the band Slipknot
21 January: EMMA BUNTON = British singer, member of The Spice Girls
28 January: TWEETY = American R&B singer with Next
4 February: CAM'RON = American rapper
13 February: LESLIE FEIST = Canadian indie pop singer-songwriter, performing both as a solo artist and as a member of the indie rock group Broken Social Scene
15 February:

BRANDON BOYD = American singer, songwriter, musician, author, and visual artist. He is best known as the lead vocalist of the American rock band Incubus
RONNIE VANNUCCI Jr. = American musician, drummer with The Killers

28 February: JA RULE = American rapper
8 March: GARETH COOMBES = British singer with Supergrass
16 March: BLU CANTRELL = American R&B and soul singer-songwriter
17 March: STEPHEN GATELY = Irish singer, member of Boyzone = [died: 2009]
20 March: CHESTER BENNINGTON = American musician, singer, songwriter and actor. He is best known as the lead vocalist of rock bands Linkin Park, Dead by Sunrise, and live rock cover band Bucket of Weenies
28 March: DAVE KEUNING = American guitarist with The Killers
2 April: LUCY DIAKOVSKA = German-Bulgarian pop singer
18 April: SEAN MAGUIRE = British actor and singer
26 April: JOSE PASILLAS = American drummer with Incubus
29 April: JAY ORPIN = Swedish composer and record producer
8 May:

MARTHA WAINWRIGHT = Canadian-American folk-rock singer-songwriter
IAN WATKINS = British singer, member of Steps

10 May: UDO MECHELS = Belgian singer
14 May: HUNTER BURGAN = American multi-instumentalist, member of AFI
17 May: KANDI BURRUSS = American singer-songwriter, television personality, actress, record producer and business woman. She is a former member of the group Xscape
22 May: DANIEL ERLANDSSON = Swedish drummer with Arch Enemy
29 May: DAVE BUCKNER = American drummer with Papa Roach
2 June:

TIM RICE-OXLEY = British musician, member of Keane
ADRIAN OLIVARES = Mexican musician, member of Menudo {1990-1993}

7 June: NECRO (RON BRAUNSTEIN) = American rapper and record producer
11 June: TAI ANDERSON = American rock bassist with Third Day
13 June: JASON 'J' BROWN = English rock musician, member of 5ive
15 June:

GARY LIGHTBODY = Northern Irish rock musician and songwriter, member of Snow Patrol
DRYDEN MITCHELL = American musician, member of Alien Ant Farm

21 June: MIKE EINZIGER = American musician, member of Incubus
22 June: GORDON MOAKES = English musician, best known as the bassist of rock band Young Legionnaire and former member of indie rock band Bloc Party
27 June: LEIGH NASH = American singer, member of Sixpence None the Richer
1 July:

JUSTIN LO = Hong Kong singer and actor
PLIES = American rapper
LINA RAFN = Danish singer

3 July: SHANE LYNCH = Irish singer with Boyzone
5 July:

BIZARRE = African-American rapper
MIKE DEWOLF = American rock musician, member of Taproot

10 July:

ELIJAH BLUE ALLMAN = American musician, son of Cher and Greg Allman
PHILIP HOWARD = British-born pianist and composer

16 July: CHIARA ZEFFIRELLI = French crossover soprano
20 July: ANDREW STOCKDALE = Australian rock singer/guitarist with Wolfmother
22 July: KOKIA = Japanese singer-songwriter
28 July: COBY DICK = American musician, singer-songwriter, sporadic actor and former television presenter. He is best known as being the founding member and the continuous lead singer of the California-based rock band Papa Roach since the band's formation in 1993
8 August:

JC CHASEZ = American singer, member of *NSYNC
DREW LACHEY = American singer, member of 98 Degrees

11 August:

BRENDAN BAYLISS = American rock guitarist and vocalist
BEN GIBBARD = American rock musician, member of Death Cab for Cutie and The Postal Service

12 August:

MIKKO LINDSTRÖM = Finnish rock guitarist
JOSEPH POOLE = American rock lead singer with Murderdolls and FDQ

13 August: RODDY WOOMBLE = Scottish musician
14 August: MAYA NASRI = Lebanese actress and singer
18 August:

ALEX KATUNICH = American rock bassist
DIRK 'ALEX' LANCE = American musician, former bassist of Incubus

12 September: BIZZY BONE = American rapper, member of Bone Thugs-n-Harmony
16 September:

TINA BARRETT = British singer, member of S Club 7
ELĪNA GARANCA = Latvian operatic soprano

6 October: BARBIE HSU = Taiwanese actress and singer
7 October: TAYLOR HICKS = American singer
19 October: OMAR GOODING = American actor, rapper, voice artist, and comedian
20 October: TOM WISNIEWSKI = American musician, member of MxPx
22 October: JON FOREMAN = American rock singer/guitarist, member of Switchfoot
6 November: MIKE HERRERA = American musician, member of MxPx
11 November:

JESSE F. KEELER = Canadian musician, bassist for Death from Above 1979
MIKE LEON GROSCH = German singer

12 November: TEVIN CAMPBELL = American singer, songwriter and actor
16 November: MARIO BARRAVECCHIA = Italian singer
18 November: SHAGRATH = Norwegian black metal musician, member of Dimmu Borgir
19 November: JUN SHIBATA = Japanese singer and songwriter
4 December: AMIE COMEAUX = American country music singer = [died: 1997]
12 December: DAN HAWKINS = British rock guitarist with The Darkness
25 December:

TUOMAS HOLOPAINEN = Finnish metal keyboardist, member of Nightwish
ARMIN VAN BUUREN = Dutch music producer and DJ

Date unknown:

JOHN COLLURA = American musician, member of The Ataris
MIKE DAVENPORT = American musician, member of The Ataris
PATRICK RILEY = American musician, member of The Ataris

Timeline of Musical Events

5 January: Former Beatles road manager MAL EVANS is shot dead by Los Angeles police after refusing to drop what police only later determine is an air rifle.
7 January: KENNETH MOSS, a former record company executive, is sentenced to 120 days in the Los Angeles County Jail and four years probation for involuntary manslaughter in the 1974 drug induced death of Average White Band drummer ROBBIE McINTOSH.
13 January: A trial begins for seven Brunswick Records and Dakar Records employees. The record company employees are charged with stealing more than $184,000 in royalties from artists.
19 January: Concert promoter Bill Sargent makes an offer of $30 million to the Beatles if they will reunite for a concert.
15 February: Bette Midler bails seven members of her entourage out of jail after they are arrested on charges of cocaine and marijuana possession.
19 February: Former Tower of Power lead singer Rick Stevens is arrested and charged with the drug-related murders of three men in San Jose, California.
20 February: Kiss have their footprints added to the sidewalk outside Hollywood's Grauman's Chinese Theater.
24 February: Having been released one week before, The Eagles' Their Greatest Hits (1971–1975) compilation becomes the first album in history to be certified platinum by the RIAA. The new platinum certification represents sales of at least 1 million copies for albums and 2 million copies for singles.
4 March: ABBA arrive at Sydney airport for a promotional tour in Australia.
6 March: EMI Records reissues all 22 previously released British Beatles singles, plus a new single of the classic "Yesterday". All 23 singles hit the UK charts at the same time.
7 March: A wax likeness of Elton John is put on display in London's Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum.
9 March: The Who's Keith Moon collapses onstage ten minutes into a performance at the Boston Garden.
15 March: Members of The Plastic People of the Universe are arrested in communist Czechoslovakia. They were sentenced from 8 to 18 months in jail.
20 March: Alice Cooper marries Sheryl Goddard in an Acapulco restaurant.
25 March: Jackson Browne's wife Phyllis commits suicide.
26 March: In Paris, France, Wings guitarist Jimmy McCulloch breaks one of his fingers when he slips in his hotel bathroom following the final performance on the band's European tour. The injury ended up delaying the band's United States tour by three weeks.
3 April: British pop group Brotherhood of Man win the 21st Eurovision Song Contest in The Hague, Netherlands, with the song "Save Your Kisses For Me". It goes on to be the biggest selling Eurovision winner ever.
14 April: Stevie Wonder announces that he has signed a "$13 million-plus" contract with Motown Records.
24 April: Saturday Night Live producer Lorne Michaels makes a semi-serious on-air offer to pay the Beatles $3000 to reunite live on the show. In a 1980 interview, John Lennon stated that he and Paul McCartney happened to be watching the show together at Lennon's apartment in New York and considered walking down to the SNL studio "for a gag" but were "too tired". On May 22, Michaels raises his offer from $3000 to $3,200.
28 April: The Rolling Stones open their European tour in Frankfurt, Germany.
29 April: When his tour stops in Memphis, Tennessee, Bruce Springsteen jumps the wall at Elvis Presley's mansion, "Graceland", in an attempt to see his idol. Security guards stop Springsteen and escort him off the grounds.
3 May:

Paul McCartney and Wings start their Wings over America Tour in Fort Worth, Texas. This is the first time McCartney has performed in the US since The Beatles' last concert in 1966 at Candlestick Park.
Paul Simon puts together a benefit show at Madison Square Garden to raise money for the New York Public Library. Phoebe Snow, Jimmy Cliff and the Brecker Brothers also perform. The concert brings in over $30,000 for the Library.

19 May:

Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards is involved in a car accident northwest of London. Cocaine is found in his wrecked car. Richards is given a court date of January 12, 1977.
Rumour spread by German press: ABBA members killed in plane crash, only Anni-Frid survived.

25 May: Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue tour ends.
June: Former Spring Canyon keyboardist Mark Cook joins Daniel Amos.
6 June: Keith Richards and Anita Pallenberg suffer tragedy when their 10-week old son Tara dies of respiratory failure.
10 June: Alice Cooper collapses and is rushed to UCLA Hospital in Los Angeles, three weeks before the Goes To Hell tour would begin. The tour is cancelled.
18 June: ABBA perform "Dancing Queen" for the first time on Swedish television in Stockholm on the eve of the wedding of King Carl XVI Gustaf to Silvia Sommerlath.
25 June: Uriah Heep performs its last show with David Byron as lead singer in Bilbao, Spain. Byron is sacked shortly afterward.
2 July: Brian Wilson performs on stage with The Beach Boys for the first time in three years at a Day on the Green concert in Oakland, California.
4 July: Many outdoor festivals and shows are held all over the United States as the country celebrates its bicentennial. Elton John performs for 62,000 at Shaffer Stadium in Foxboro, MA, while The Eagles and Fleetwood Mac play for 36,000 at Tampa Stadium, and Lynyrd Skynyrd and ZZ Top draw 35,000 at Memphis Memorial Stadium.
6 July: Deep Purple formally announces the band's break-up in a press release.
7 July: 50,000 fans brave the rain in New York to attend a free Jefferson Starship concert in Central Park.
27 July: Tina Turner files for divorce from husband Ike.
August: Cheap Trick receives a long-term recording contract with Epic Records.
5 August: Eric Clapton provokes an uproar over comments he makes on stage at a Birmingham concert, voicing his opposition to immigration using multiple racial slurs while exhorting the audience to support Enoch Powell and to "keep Britain white".
11 August: Keith Moon is rushed to hospital for the second time in five months, collapsing after trashing his Miami hotel room.
13 August: The official ABBA logo with the reversed 'B' is adopted.
16 August: Cliff Richard becomes one of the few Western artists to ever perform in the Soviet Union when he gives a concert in Leningrad.
21 August: An estimated 120,000 fans pack Knebworth House to see The Rolling Stones. Todd Rundgren, Lynyrd Skynyrd and 10cc also perform.
31 August: a U.S. district court decision rules that George Harrison had "subconsciously" copied The Chiffons' hit "He's So Fine" when he wrote the song "My Sweet Lord".
1 September: Ode Records president Lou Adler is kidnapped at his Malibu home and released eight hours later after a $25,000 ransom is paid. Two suspects are soon arrested.
3 September: Rory Gallagher joins the short list of Western popular musicians to perform behind the Iron Curtain with a show in Warsaw, Poland.
8 September: In a candid interview appearing in the October 7 edition of Rolling Stone published today, Elton John publicly discloses his bisexuality for the first time.
14 September: The one-hour Bob Dylan concert special Hard Rain airs on NBC, coinciding with the release of the live album of the same name.
18 September:

Queen performs a massive free concert at London's Hyde Park for over 150,000 people.
The second annual Rock Music Awards air on CBS. Peter Frampton wins Rock Personality of the Year, while Fleetwood Mac wins for Best Group and Best Album.

20 & 21 September: 100 Club Punk Festival, the first international punk festival is held in London. Siouxsie and the Banshees play their first concert.
25 September: Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen, Jr form a band called Feedback in Dublin. The band would later be renamed U2.
2 October: Joe Cocker performs a duet of "Feelin' Alright" with himself (as portrayed by John Belushi) on Saturday Night Live.
8 October: The Sex Pistols sign a contract with EMI Records.
10 October: ABBA performs in New York on The Midnight Special with 'Fernando', 'Dancing Queen', 'Mamma Mia' and 'S.O.S.' live.
11 October: Irish singer Joe Dolan is banned for life by Aer Lingus after an air rage incident en route to Corfu from Dublin.
20 October: The Led Zeppelin concert film The Song Remains the Same premieres at Cinema I in New York.
31 October: George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic begin "The P-Funk/Rubber Band Earth Tour" in Houston, a national live series highlighting one of the biggest and revolutionary stage shows in the history of the music industry (the rock group Kiss would be the other group to do a similar act), relying on elaborate costumes, special lighting and effects, and extremely large props including "the Mothership", which would arrive and land on stage, all of what this band is generally known for. This live set would vary in length (on average of 3 to 5 hours long) and at high volume.
18 November: Former Tower of Power lead singer Rich Stevens and another person are found guilty on two counts of murder.
23 November:

Thin Lizzy are forced to cancel their U.S. tour when guitarist Brian Robertson injures his hand in a bar fight.
Jerry Lee Lewis is arrested after showing up drunk outside Graceland at 3 a.m., waving a pistol and loudly demanding to see Elvis Presley. Presley denied his request.

24 November: The Band gives its last public performance; Martin Scorsese is on hand to film it.
1 December: In the UK, the Sex Pistols cause a national outcry after swearing on Thames Television's Today show.
2 December: The Bee Gees perform at Madison Square Garden and donate the proceeds to the Police Athletic League in New York. In January 1979, they will receive the Police Athletic League's "Superstars of the Year" award.
3 December:

A Pink Floyd album cover shoot in South London goes awry when a large inflatable pig balloon being used for the shoot breaks free of its moorings and drifts out of sight.
Bob Marley and several others are injured when gunmen burst into his home in Kingston, Jamaica and open fire.

8 December:

The Carpenters air their "Very First Television Special" on ABC.
The Eagles release Hotel California.

12 December: Ace Frehley is electrocuted on stage during a Kiss concert in Lakeland, Florida after touching an ungrounded metal railing. The incident inspires the song "Shock Me".
31 December: The fifth annual New Year's Rockin' Eve special airs on ABC, with performances by Donna Summer, Bachman-Turner Overdrive, The Four Seasons, and KC and the Sunshine Band.

Also in 1976

The First Edition, a country rock band Kenny Rogers co-founded with Terry Williams, Mike Settle, and Thelma Camacho disbands after eight and a half years in January.
Diamond Head, a leading band of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, is formed.
The Flowers of Romance, a band that included many seminal individuals within the punk movement, forms in the summer.
Tenor Franco Corelli retires from the stage at the age of 55.
War records Galaxy, which will be a blockbuster album in 1977.
Cheryl Byron performs rapso in calypso tents for the first time, beginning the popularization of rapso.
Peter Brown's solo career begins.
Peter Tosh's solo career begins.
Bunny Wailer's solo career begins.
Leif Garrett's solo career begins.
.38 Special's musical career begins.
Y&T (Yesterday & Today)'s musical career begins.
Steve Martin signs a contract with Warner Bros.
Eddie Money signs a contract with CBS.
"Ten Percent", by Double Exposure, becomes the first 12-inch single commercially available to the public (as opposed to DJ-only promotional copies).