1997 in music

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Events

January

*January 9 - David Bowie performs his 50th Birthday Bash concert (the day after his birthday) at Madison Square Garden, New York City, USA with guests Frank Black, The Foo Fighters, Sonic Youth, Robert Smith of The Cure, Lou Reed, and Billy Corgan of The Smashing Pumpkins, with the opening act Placebo. Proceeds from the concert went to the Save the Children fund. [cite web|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D02E3D81738F932A25752C0A961958260|title=Once More the Outsider, David Bowie Turns 50|last=Pareles|first=John|date=11 January 1997|publisher=The New York Times|accessdate=2008-04-18]
*January 10 - James Brown receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Hollywood, USA. [cite web|url=http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/123006/spe_110576.shtml|title=The James Brown Review|last=unattributed|date=30 December 2006|publisher=The Augusta Chronicle|accessdate=2008-04-18]
*January 19 - Madonna wins Best Actress In A Motion Picture, Musical Or Comedy, for her part in "Evita", at the 54th annual Golden Globe Awards in the USA. [cite web|url=http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/Movies/03/18/madonna.movies/?iref=mpstoryview|title=Hey Madonna, don't give up the day job!|last=Busari|first=Stephanie|date=24 March 2008|publisher=Cable News Network|accessdate=2008-04-18]
*January 28 - The Virginia Senate votes to retire Carry Me Back to Old Virginny as the official state song, and begins looking for a replacement.

February

*February 2 - Rich Mullins' musical The Canticle of the Plains premieres in Wichita, Kansas.
*February 10 - 52 year old Brian Connolly of Sweet dies of kidney failure in England.
*February 12 - David Bowie receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Hollywood, USA.
*February 13 - Michael Jackson's first son is born.
*February 13 - The Spice Girls knock Toni Braxton's Unbreak My Heart off the top spot in the US singles chart. They are the first British group to have a US number one with their debut single.
*February 20 - Ben and Jerry's introduce Phish Food, a new flavor of ice cream named after the rock group Phish. The ingredients are chocolate ice cream, marshmallows, caramel and fish-shaped fudge. [cite web|url=http://www.benjerry.com/our_company/press_center/press/phish-pr.html|title=BEN & JERRY’S MASTERS MARSHMALLOW TO CREATE “PHISH FOOD TM”|last=Unattributed company press release|date=20 February 1997|publisher=Ben & Jerry’s|accessdate=2008-04-19]
*February 24 - The Spice Girls win Best Video for Say You'll Be There and Best Single for Wannabe at the BRIT Awards. Geri Halliwell's Union Jack dress from the girls' live performance hogs the headlines the next day.

March

*Pianist David Helfgott performs at the Boston Symphony Hall, in Boston, USA, during his world tour. The Boston Globe describes his performance as "without phrasing, form, harmonic understanding, differentiation of style and often basic accuracy; worst of all, it was without emotional content."
*March 1 - The rock band Phish records Slip Stitch and Pass live at Markthalle, Hamburg, Germany.
*March 3 - U2 release the opinion-dividing Pop album. Along with the Oasis album Be Here Now, it becomes a major release that fails to sell to industry expectations, particularly in the US, despite many strong initial reviews.
*March 9 - The Notorious B.I.G. is shot dead while sitting in the passenger seat of a car after a Soul Train Awards party in the USA.
*March 9 - The Spice Girls become the first act in the history of the UK Top 40 singles charts to have four consecutive number one hits with Mama/Who Do You Think You Are. Profits from the single go to Comic Relief and provide the biggest individual contribution of 1997.
*March 11 - Paul McCartney is knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.
*March 17 - Whirlwind Heat play their first show.
*March 19 - March 20 - The reunited Monkees perform two sold out concerts at Wembley Arena in London, UK.
*March 30 - The Spice Girls launch Britain's new Channel 5.

April

*April 2 - Joni Mitchell is reunited with her daughter, Kilauren Gibb, whom she gave up for adoption 32 years ago.
*April 25 – April 27 - The first Terrastock festival is held in Providence, Rhode Island, USA.

May

*5ive's musical career begins after auditions are held in London, UK to find potential band members, with over 3,000 hopefuls showing up to audition.
* The Spice Girls attend the Cannes Film Festival to announce their plans to hit the big screen with . A photo call on top of the Hotel Martinez entrance brings the area to a standstill.
*May 11 - The Spice Girls perform their first British live gig for the Prince's Trust 21st anniversary concert at the Manchester Opera House They break royal protocol by kissing Prince Charles on the cheeks and even pinching his bottom.
*May 15 - The Spice Girls' album Spice reaches number one on the US charts, making them the first British act to top the charts with a debut album.

June

*June 16 - Radiohead release OK Computer to huge critical acclaim. Now recognized as a classic album.

August

*August 3 - The Black Crowes perform their last show with Johnny Colt and Marc Ford.
*August 4 - Nigerian afrobeat pioneer and dissident pop star Fela Anikulapo-Kuti dies in Lagos, Nigeria, of HIV-related illness.
*August 7 - Garth Brooks performs to an estimated 800,000 to one million people during a free concert given in Central Park, New York City.
*August 16 - August 17 - Phish perform at the two day music festival, The Great Went, at Loring Air Force Base in Limestone, Maine, USA. They play 500 minutes of music, six sets and two encores. There was an estimated attendance of between 65,000-70,000 and it was the top grossing concert of the season making over $4,000,000 in box office receipts.
*August 19 - The reunited Fleetwood Mac release The Dance and begin a concert tour in the United States.
*August 21 - Oasis' third album, Be Here Now, is released. It becomes the fastest selling music album of all time, moving 695,761 copies in the first week in the UK.
*August 25 - Radiohead's second single from OK Computer, Karma Police released, although does not get released in the US until June 1998.

eptember

*September 6 - Elton John performs Candle in the Wind at the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales; John Tavener's Song for Athene is performed at the same ceremony.
*September 17 - The KLF return for 23 minutes with their performance of Fuck the Millennium.
*September 19 - While on his way to a benefit concert in Kansas, USA, Rich Mullins loses control of his Jeep, flipping the automobile and throwing both Mullins and passenger Mitch McVicker out onto the road. A tractor-trailer approaching the scene swerves to miss McVicker, striking and killing Mullins instantly. McVicker survives, but suffered major injuries.
*September 23 - Bjork releases Homogenic, moving towards a darker sound and away from her 'pixie' image.
*September 29 - The Rolling Stones release Bridges to Babylon.

October

*October 13 - The Prince Igor single, jointly performed by The Rhapsody, Warren G and Sissel Kyrkjebø is released.

November

*November 3 - The Spice Girls release their second album Spiceworld. It is their second number one album, and makes the group the first British band since The Beatles to have two albums in the US chart at the same time. Spice and Spiceworld have amassed enough sales for one out of every two people in Britain to own a Spice Girls album.
*November 4 - Shania Twain releases her breakthrough album Come on Over which sells 39 million copies worldwide and was to become the biggest selling album in country music history and the biggest selling by a female music artist.
*November 6 - The Spice Girls make the decision to take over the running of the group and drop Simon Fuller as their manager.

December

*December 26 - The Spice Girls release their big screen debut starring Richard E. Grant, Roger Moore, Sir Elton John and Stephen Fry. The movie makes £6.8m in its first week of release.
*December 31 - The Home of Country Music, the Opryland USA theme park, in Nashville, Tennessee, USA closes and is subsequently demolished.

Undated

*Nigel Kennedy, now calling himself simply "Kennedy", returns to performing in public after a five year absence resulting from neck surgery.
*The companies Memorex, Maxell, and TDK introduce blank recordable CDs.
*Rob Gommerman leaves Finger Eleven due to extensive touring.
*Derrick Green replaces Max Cavalera in Sepultura.
*Glenn Ljungström & Johan Larsson leaves In Flames. Glenn wanted to Spend more Time with Family while no one knows why Johan did. That gave the Chance for Peter Iwers to Join.

Bands formed

*The Appleseed Cast
*The Black Heart Procession
*The Blood Brothers
*C-Note
*Calla
*The Casket Lottery
*Coldplay
*Crazy Ken Band
*Daft Punk
*Death Cab for Cutie
*Demons & Wizards
*Dir en grey
*Dollshead
*Eisley
*Elvenking
*Finntroll
*Five
*Flogging Molly
*Gym Class Heroes
*Hanson
*Interpol
*Isis
*Liquid Tension Experiment
*Lostprophets
*m-flo
*Mates of State
*Morning Musume
*Muse
*New Found Glory
*Peter Pan Speedrock
*Pig Destroyer
*Plus-Tech Squeeze Box
*Pretty Ricky
*Queens of the Stone Age
*The Rocket Summer
*Rocket Transfer Warehouse
*The Shins
*Small Mercies
*Sorry About Dresden
*Steps
*Three Days Grace
*Twiztid
*Umphrey's Mcgee
*The White Stripes

Bands disbanded

*Acid Bath
*Atomic Swing
*Brainiac
*Christie Front Drive
*The Clouds
*Cocteau Twins
*Commander Venus
*Def FX
*Dinosaur Jr.
*Failure
*Gin Blossoms
*Glue Gun
*The Monkees
*Porno for Pyros
*The Sundays
*Pungent Stench
*Soundgarden
*Soul II Soul
*Swans
*Tad
*Throwing Muses
*Ugly Kid Joe
*White Zombie
*X Japan

Bands reformed

*Black Sabbath (hiatus in 1994)
*Depeche Mode (hiatus in 1995)
*Echo & the Bunnymen (hiatus in 1992)
*Sunny Day Real Estate (hiatus in 1995)

Albums released

January

April

July

October

Release Date Unknown

*"Distant Horizons" - Hawkwind
*"The Collection" - Spandau Ballet
*"If You Were There (The Best of Wham)" - Wham!

Biggest hit singles

The following songs achieved the highest positions in the charts of 1997. [cite web|url=http://tsort.info/music/yr1997.htm|title=Songs from the Year 1997|last=Hawtin|first=Steve|date=2007|publisher=Steve Hawtin/TsorT|accessdate=2008-04-12]

Top hits

*"2 Become 1" - Spice Girls
*"Abuse Me" - Silverchair
*"All By Myself" - Céline Dion
*"All I Want" - The Offspring
*"All Is Full Of Love" - Bjork
*"As Long As You Love Me" - Backstreet Boys
*"Bittersweet Symphony" - The Verve
*"Block Rockin' Beats" - The Chemical Brothers
*"Breathe" - The Prodigy
*"Dammit (Growing Up)" - Blink-182
*"Don't Speak" - No Doubt
*"D'You Know What I Mean" - Oasis
*"Everlong" - Foo Fighters
*"Eye" - The Smashing Pumpkins
*"Falling in Love (Is Hard on the Knees)" - Aerosmith
*"Firestarter" - The Prodigy
*"Foolish Games" - Jewel
*"Da Funk" - Daft Punk
*"Honey" - Mariah Carey
*" I do" - Lisa Loeb
*"If I Could Teach The World" - Bone Thugs-N-Harmony
*"I'll Be Missing You" - Puff Daddy feat. Faith Evans
*"The Impression That I Get" - The Mighty Mighty Bosstones
*"It's No Good" - Depeche Mode
*"Karma Police" - Radiohead
*"Lakini's Juice" - Live
*"Look Into My Eyes" - Bone Thugs-N-Harmony
*"Love Gets Me Every Time" - Shania Twain
*"MMMBop" - Hanson
*"Monkey Wrench" - Foo Fighters
*"My Heart Will Go On" - Celine Dion
*"Mo Money Mo Problems - The Notorious B.I.G
*"Nothing Lasts Forever" - Echo & the Bunnymen
*"Paranoid Android" - Radiohead
*"Pink" - Aerosmith
*"Push" - Matchbox Twenty
*"Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See" - Busta Rhymes
*"Quit Playing Games (With My Heart)" - Backstreet Boys
*"Say You'll Be There" - Spice Girls
*"Sell Out" - Reel Big Fish
*"Semi-Charmed Life" - Third Eye Blind
*"She's a Star" - James
*"Step by Step" - Whitney Houston
*"Truly Madly Deeply" - Savage Garden
*"6 Underground" - Sneaker Pimps
*"Smack My Bitch Up" - The Prodigy
*"3 A.M. " - Matchbox Twenty
*"Time to Say Goodbye" - Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman
*"Tubthumping" - Chumbawumba
*"Walkin' on the Sun" - Smash Mouth
*"Wannabe" - Spice Girls
*"You Were Meant for Me" - Jewel

"See also:" Hot 100 No. 1 Hits of 1997

Classical music

The following classical music compositions were completed in 1997.

*Leonardo Balada - "Concierto Magico" for guitar and orchestra
*Silvie Bodorova - "Terezin Ghetto Requiem"
*Peter Maxwell Davies - "Concerto for Piano and Orchestra"
*Andrew Glover- "The Fickle Virgin of Seventeen Summers: A Quartet for Strings"

Opera

The following operas were completed in 1997.

*Robert Ashley - "Balseros"
*Marc Blitzstein - "Regina"
*Antonio Braga - "San Domenico di Guzman"
*Michael Daugherty - "Jackie O"
*Daron Hagen - "Vera of Las Vegas"
*Peter Lieberson - "Ashoka's Dream"

Musical theater

The following musicals opened in 1997:

*"1776" – Broadway revival
*"Annie" – Broadway revival
*"Candide" (Leonard Bernstein) – Broadway revival
*"Dream" – Broadway production
*"Forever Tango" – Broadway production
*"Jekyll & Hyde" – Broadway production
*"Life" – Broadway production
*"The Lion King" – Broadway production
*"Scarlet Pimpernel" – Broadway production
*"Side Show" – Broadway production
*"Steel Pier" – Broadway production
*"Street Corner Symphony" – Broadway production
*"Titanic" – Broadway production
*"Triumph of Love" – Broadway production

Musical films

The following musical films were released in 1997:

*"Anastasia" (animated feature)
*"Cats Don't Dance" (animated feature)
*"Hercules" (animated feature)

Deaths

*January 5 - Burton Lane, composer and lyricist
*January 21 - Colonel Tom Parker, Elvis Presley's manager
*January 22 - Richard Berry, songwriter (notably wrote "Louie Louie")
*February 10 - Brian Connolly, Sweet
*March 9 - The Notorious B.I.G., rapper
*March 24 - Kenny Moore, keyboardist for Tina Turner, Aretha Franklin, Billy Preston and others
*April 4 - Gene Ames, Ames Brothers
*April 9 - Laura Nyro, songwriter
*May 29 - Jeff Buckley, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
*June 2 - Doc Cheatham, jazz trumpeter
*June 4 - Ronnie Lane, member of The Small Faces
*June 16 - John Christian Woltersr, Dr Hook
*June 24 - Prince Nico Mbarga, Nigerian highlife musician
*August 1 - Sviatoslav Richter, pianist
*August 2 - Fela Kuti, Nigerian musician and composer
*August 10 - Conlon Nancarrow, composer
*August 16 - Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, qawwali singer and world music ambassador
*September 8- Derek Taylor, press agent for The Beatles
*September 18 - Jimmy Witherspoon, blues singer
*September 19 - Rich Mullins, singer
*October 12 - John Denver, American folk singer-songwriter and folk rock musician
*October 19, Glen Buxton the guitarist for the original Alice Cooper Band, 49
*November 5 - Epic Soundtracks, English singer-songwriter, drummer of Swell Maps, Crime and the City Solution and These Immortal Souls
*November 22 - Michael Hutchence, singer of INXS
*December 28 - Henry Barraud, French composer
* Wanda Day , Drummer of 4 Non Blondes

Awards

*Eurovision Song Contest: Won by Katrina and the Waves (UK) with the song "Love Shine a Light". "Main article:" Eurovision Song Contest 1997
*Gospel Music Hall of Fame: Inductees include Gloria Gaither, and Billy Ray Hearn (founder of Myrrh Records).
*Grammy Awards "Main article:" Grammy Awards of 1997
*Mercury Music Prize: Awarded to Roni Size/Reprazent for the album "New Forms".
*MTV Video Music Awards "Main article:" 1997 MTV Video Music Awards
*Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: The following artists are inducted: The (Young) Rascals; The Bee Gees; Buffalo Springfield; Crosby, Stills and Nash; The Jackson Five; Joni Mitchell; and Parliament-Funkadelic.

Charts

*Triple J Hottest 100: "Main article:" Triple J Hottest 100, 1997

References

ee also

* 1997 in music (UK)
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