1974 – Dolly Parton was at No.1 on the US country chart with ‘I Will Always Love You’. Elvis Presley indicated that he wanted to cover the song. Dolly was interested until Elvis’s manager, Colonel Tom Parker, told her that it was standard procedure for the songwriter to sign over half of the publishing rights to any song Elvis recorded. Dolly refused. ‘I Will Always Love You’ later became a worldwide No.1 hit for Whitney Houston in 1992 when featured in The Bodyguard.
1987 – Michael Jackson announced that he was breaking all ties with the Jehovah’s Witnesses. He had been raised as a Jehovah’s Witness and would don disguises and go door to door with the Watchtower message in cities where he was performing.
1988 – Nelson Mandella’s 70th birthday tribute took place at Wembley Stadium featuring Whitney Houston, Phil Collins, Dire Straits, Stevie Wonder, Tracy Chapman, George Michael, Eric Clapton, UB40, The Eurythmics and Simple Minds. The event was broadcast live on BBC 2 to 40 different countries with an estimated audience of 1 billion.
1989 – Jason Donovan was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with his version of the Brian Hyland 1962 hit ‘Sealed With A Kiss’. He became the first Australian act to enter the UK charts at No.1.
1990 – England New Order started a 2 week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘World In Motion’, England’s song for the World Cup in 1990.
2003 – Former Boyzone frontman Ronan Keating raised more than £100,000 for cancer charities during a 23 day walk from the Giant’s Causeway in County Antrim to Kinsale in County Cork. He visited 610 towns along the way, walking an average of 32km (20 miles) each day. His Mother Marie died of breast cancer in February 1998, aged just 51. Ronan founded the Marie Keating Foundation in her memory with his father Gerry and his siblings to raise awareness of cancer symptoms and provide support to patients and their loved ones.
2015 – Sir Elton John lost his cool during a performance at Gloucester’s Kingsholm Stadium after he likened a steward to Hitler as she tried to stop crowds from surging forward during a gig. In an expletive-laden rant, he went on to say it was “not China” and he picked out a female steward, telling her: “You put a uniform on and you think you’re Hitler – well you’re not.”
2016 – Rod Stewart was knighted in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list for services to music and charity. He said: “I’ve led a wonderful life and have had a tremendous career thanks to the generous support of the great British public. This monumental honour has topped it off and I couldn’t ask for anything more.”
2020 – Welsh singer Ricky Valance died at his home in Spain at the age of 84. He became the first Welshman to have a solo UK No.1 hit with the song ‘Tell Laura I Love Her’ in 1960. The song tells the tragic story of a boy called Tommy and his love for a girl called Laura. It was considered controversial at the time and was reportedly banned from airplay by the BBC.
