Music History for
February 8




1741 - Composer Andre-Ernest-Modeste Gretry was born.

1956 - Buddy Holly signed a recording contract with Decca Records. He left the "e" out of his last name (Holley) and dropped it from his stage name as well.

1960 - The House of Representatives Special Subcommittee on Legislative Oversight opened hearings on disc jockey "payola."

1964 - The publisher of the song "Louie Louie" offered $1,000 to anyone would could find suggestive lyrics in the song.

1965 - The Supremes' "Stop in the Name Of Love" was released.

1967 - Peter & Gordon split up.

1969 - George Harrison's tonsils were removed at London's University College Hospital. The tonsils were destroyed so they could not be sold.

1969 - The announcement of the formation of the band "Blind Faith" was made.

1972 - The official Beatles Fan Club disbanded.

1975 - Queen's single "Killer Queen" was released. It was their first hit single.

1980 - In London, David Bowie and his wife Angie were divorced after nearly ten years of marriage. David gets custody of their nine-year old son, Zowie.

1982 - Cher opened on Broadway in "Come Back to the Five & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean."

1988 - The Who (without Keith Moon) reunited for their 25th anniversary at a London awards ceremony.

1990 - Del Shannon died of a self-inflicted gun shot wound.

1993 - Tom Jones guest starred on NBC-TV's "The Fresh Prince of Bel Air."

1999 - Universal Music, Warner Music, BMG, Sony Music and EMI officially unveiled Project Madison. The system was developed by International Business Machines Corp. to permit fast, secure distribution of full-length, CD-quality albums on the Internet.

2000 - It was announced that Stan "the Man" Lee would create a comic book of the Backstreet Boys.