The Current

Great Music Lives Here ®
Listener-Supported Music
Donate Now
Today In Music History

June 28 in Music History: David Bowie's 'Fame' was released

David Bowie
David BowieCourtesy of the artist

June 27, 2023

History Highlight:

Today in 1975, David Bowie's "Fame" was released. John Lennon had been in on the recording session, lending guitar and vocals, and Bowie felt Lennon's contributions during the recording was significant enough that he gave him co-songwriting credit. The main riff of the song was based on an improv devised by Bowie's guitarist Carlos Alomar. "Fame" became Bowie's biggest hit to that point in the U.S. It was his first number one hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. 

Also, Today In: 

1959 - Bobby Darin was at No. 1 on the U.K. singles chart with "Dream Lover". It was the American singer's first No. 1 and the song featured Neil Sedaka on piano. 

1966 - The Small Faces appeared live at The Marquee Club in Wardour Street, London. 

1968 - The Beatles recorded "Good Night" at Abbey Road studios. John Lennon wrote this song as a lullaby for his 5-year-old son Julian with Ringo singing the lead vocals.  

1969 - Fleetwood Mac, Led Zeppelin, The Nice, Ten Years After, Taste, and several others appeared at The Bath Festival of Blues in England, hosted by DJ John Peel. 

1969 - Henry Mancini started a two week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "Love Theme from Romeo And Juliet".  

1975 - Wings went to No. 1 on the U.K. chart with their fourth album Venus And Mars. The follow up to Band On The Run featured the U.S. No. 1 single "Listen What The Man Said". 

1975 - The Eagles started a five-week run at No.1 on the US album chart with their fourth studio album 'One Of These Nights'. The album which became their breakthrough album released three US Top 10 singles, 'Lyin' Eyes', (which won a Grammy), 'Take It To The Limit' and the title track. 

1975 - American singer songwriter Tim Buckley completed the last show of a tour in Dallas, Texas, playing to a sold-out crowd of 1,800 people. This was Buckley's last ever show, he died the following day of a heroin and morphine overdose aged 28. 

1980 - Paul McCartney's Coming Up became one of the few "live" recordings to reach the top of Billboard's Hot 100. American disc jockeys preferred it to the studio version on the flip side of the record. 

1985 - Sister Sledge were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Frankie', the sisters only UK No.1. Nile Rodgers from Chic produced the hit for the soul trio from Philadelphia. 

1986 - Wham! play their farewell concert at Wembley Stadium in London. Both members - George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley - are just 23. For their last song, "I'm Your Man," they're joined on stage by Simon Le Bon of Duran Duran. 

1993 - Notorious transgressive rock singer GG Allin died of a heroin overdose. 

1997 - Radiohead went to No. 1 on the U.K. album chart with their third album OK Computer. The British group's first self-produced album later appeared in many critics' lists and listener polls for best album of the year and also won a Grammy for Best Alternative Music Performance. 

1997 - Puff Daddy and Faith Evans started a three-week run at No. 1 on the U.K. singles chart with "I'll Be Missing You". The song was released in memory of fellow Bad Boy Records artist Notorious B.I.G. who was murdered on March 9, 1997. The song sampled the melody of The Police hit "Every Breath You Take". 

1997 - The classic Pink Floyd album Dark Side of the Moon spent its 1056th week on US album charts. 

2007 - Rod Stewart received ten stitches in his leg after slipping on stage in Manchester, England. 

2008 - During her performance at Glastonbury Festival, Amy Winehouse punches a fan she mistakenly believes had thrown a hat at her beehive. 

2011 - Bluegrass duo Gillian Welch and David Rawlings release The Harrow & The Harvest, their first album in eight years. 

2012 - The Flaming Lips break the Guinness World Record for the most live shows performed in multiple cities within 24 hours. The feat is part of MTV's O Music Awards which honors achievements in the digital music realm.  

2015 - At the BET Awards, Puff Daddy reunites his Bad Boy crew - including Faith Evans, Lil' Kim, French Montana and Ma$e - for a 10-song medley of their hits. This leads to the Bad Boy Family Reunion Tour the following year. 

2016 - Scotty Moore, Elvis Presley's longtime guitarist, died at his home in Nashville at the age of 84. 

2017 - Gary DeCarlo, singer of the 1969 hit "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye," died of cancer at age 75. 

Birthdays: 

Richard Rodgers, a prolific composer known for his partnership with lyricists Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein II, is born in 1902. 

Charlie Clouser, keyboards, drums, engineer, and once a member of Nine Inch Nails (1994-2000) is 60. 

Mark Stoermer, bassist for The Killers, is 46. 

Alan Pasqua, founding member of Giant and session musician who worked with Bob Dylan, Cher and others, is 71. 

Lucy Rose, English singer-songwriter is 34. 

Pop singer Cathy Carr was born in 1936.  

Highlights for Today in Music History are gathered from This Day in Music, Song Facts and Wikipedia.