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Singer and radio and television personality, Frank Parker, dies aged 95 in Titusville, Florida, USA.He was a regular on radio and television in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s with personalities including Jack Benny, George Burns and Arthur Godfrey. From 1935, Parker fronted his own program, That Atlantic Family on Tour with Frank Parker, which was heard on 36 CBS stations. Parker was also the host of the 1950s TV show Bride and Groom, and earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6821 Hollywood Boulevard.Left-wing anarchist folk-oriented singer-songwriter Fabrizio De Andre dies of lung cancer, aged 58, in Milan, Italy, Europe.
Charles Brown dies of heart failure in his sleep at Summit Medical Center, Oakland, California. In a long career, he found fame as an R'n'B star from the 40s through to the 60s, first with Johnny Moore's Three Blazers, then as a solo artist.
Singer and songwriter David McComb, formerly of The Triffids, dies of heroin abuse in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, Oceania. 
Steel Pulse record the final two tracks for their 1999 live album, Living Legend, at the Anfiteatro Luis Munoz Marin, San Juan, Puerto Rico, Caribbean.Chicago-based guitarist Jimmie Lee Robinson spends the second of two days recording his album All My Life at Blue Heaven Studios, Salina, Kansas, USA.
Marti Pellow of Wet Wet Wet is rushed to hospital after collapsing on the floor of his room at The Conrad Hotel, London, England, UK, Europe. He had gone on a booze bender after an argument with his fiancee, model Eileen Catterson.
Singer-songwriter David Ackles dies of lung cancer, aged 62, in Tujunga, California, USA. Although he never achieved more than critical acclaim, Elvis Costello, Elton John and Phil Collins all declared themselves to be fans.
Lillian
McMurray, founder of influential early blues label Trumpet Records, dies in Jackson, Mississippi. Her label was
first to record both Elmore
James and Sonny Boy
Williamson II.
The stage musical Mamma Mia!, based on the music of Abba, opens at the Prince Edward Theatre in the West End, London, UK.
Red Norvo, a pioneer of mallet instruments and an early major figure of jazz, dies of natural causes, in Santa Monica, California, USA, aged 91.
Shania Twain's album Come On Over is recognized for having achieved shipments of 10m copies, making her the first country female to have two albums reach that mark.A Concert For Linda, in memory of Paul McCartney's wife, Linda McCartney, takes place at The Royal Albert Hall, London, UK. Performers include George Michael, Tom Jones, Elvis Costello, Sinead O'Connor, Des'Ree, Heather Small, Johnny Marr, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Neil Finn, The Pretenders, The Duke String Quartet and Eddie Izzard.
Catatonia release their third album, Equally Cursed And Blessed, on Blanco Y Negro in the UK.
On their Psycho Circus tour, Kiss play at The Autódromo de Interlagos, São Paulo, Brazil, South America.Two senior students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, embark on a random killing spree, shooting dead twelve students and one teacher at Columbine High School, Columbine, Colorado, USA. The pair then commit suicide. The incident will become known as The Columbine High School Massacre. The 2005 song Cassie by Flyleaf is a response to the Columbine tragedy. Cassie Bernall was a student at Columbine High School who died in the massacre. Youth Of A Nation by P.O.D. is also a response to Columbine and a list of contemporary cultural references to Columbine can be found by clicking here.
The Pretenders release their seventh album Viva El Amor, on Warner Bros in the UK.
Travis release their second album, The Man Who by Travis enters the UK pop albums chart. It will peak at No1 and remain on the chart for 102 weeks.
Jazz crooner Mel Torme, known as the Velvet Fog, dies of a stroke in Los Angeles, California, USA, aged 73.
The four-day long Larmer Tree Festival near Salisbury begins. Acts appearing over the weekend include Jools Holland, Black Umfolosi, Lunasa, Jackie Leven, Martyn Bennett and Pronghorn.
On the last day of the T In The Park festival in Scotland three festival goers are attacked in a campsite by an axe-wielding man.
Kevin Wilkinson, an acclaimed drummer who had worked with The Waterboys, China Crisis, Squeeze and many others, commits suicide by hanging himself at his home in Baydon, near Swindon, Wiltshire, UK.
Rapper Ol' Dirty Bastard of The Wu Tang Clan is stopped by police in Queens, New York, USA, for driving through a red light. A search of his vehicle reveals twenty envelopes containing over 500 milligrams of cocaine, and a bag of marijuana. Bastard is arrested on several charges, including possession of a narcotic with intent to sell.
The Vault ... Old Friends 4 Sale, Prince's final album due under his Warner Bros. contract, makes No47 in the UK in its week of entry.Mark Williams, founder and editor of the short-lived weekly music paper New Music News, is jailed for three years at Southwark Crown Court, London, England, UK, Europe, for his part in laundering more than £2m of drug money from cocaine deals.
Sheryl Crow plays a concert in Central Park, New York City, USA, with live guests including Rolling Stones' guitarist Keith Richards, Stevie Nicks of Fleetwood Mac, Eric Clapton and Chrissie Hynde. The show is recorded and released as an album, Sheryl Crow and Friends Live From Central Park. On the same day, the guitar that John Lennon of The Beatles was playing on the day he met Paul McCartney in a church hall in Liverpool, UK, is sold at auction in London for £140,000.
Ed Cobb dies in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA. He had been a member of The Four Preps before going on to a successful career as a record producer and songwriter, working with The Strandells, Gloria Jones, Brenda Holloway and others. In his lengthy career Cobb earned thirty-two gold and platinum records, plus three Grammy Award nominations.
Jazz pianist 
Bono of U2 has an audience with Pope John Paul II in his summer house near Rome, Italy, Europe.Vibraphonist Milt Jackson, whose instantly recognizable style and improvisational ability made him a major jazz artist, dies of liver cancer, aged 76, in Manmhattan, new York City, USA.
Singer, songwriter and actor Hoyt Axton dies aged 61, at his ranch in Victor, Montana, USA. Having never completely recovered from a stroke in 1996, he suffered a heart attack two weeks before his death, and another while undergoing subsequent heart surgery.
When Beth Orton plays at The University of East Anglia, Norwich, England, UK, she is supported by Liverpool band Shack.When Beth Orton plays the second of two nights at Shepherd's Bush Empire, London, UK, she is supported by Liverpudlian band Shack.
Anthony Jones, the bassist for Humble Pie when they reformed in 1980, dies as a result of having contracted Meningitis while giving a Chinese tourist CPR in Santa Monica, California, USA, for 10-15 minutes until an ambulance arrived.
The 
The 
The Greatest Romance Ever Sold by Prince makes peaks at No63 in the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart in the USA.
Soul vocalist and recording artist Bobby Marchan dies aged 69 from liver cancer in Gretna, Louisiana, USA.Former New York Dolls' frontman David Johansen participates in a version of Handel's Messiah at The Bottom Line, New York City, USA.
A poll among readers of UK Guitar magazine finds Noel Gallagher of Oasis to be the most overrated guitarist of the millennium.Jan |