EVENTS THAT HAPPENED ON THIS DAY JANUARY 25 IN MUSIC HISTORY
On this day January 25 in 1957 – Frankie Vaughan started a four-week stint at No.1 on the UK Singles chart with his rendition of ‘The Garden of Eden’.
1969 – With their greatest hits compilation album ‘The Best of The Seekers’, folk pop group The Seekers went to number one in the UK.
1975 – American soul vocal group The Tymes topped the UK Singles chart with ‘Ms Grace’ on this day January 25 in music history.
1975 – With their version of The Marvelettes hit song ‘Please Mr. Postman’, The Carpenters topped the US Billboard Hot 100. Also a chart-topper in Australia, Canada, and South Africa, and a No.2 hit in the UK that year.
1976 – R&B singer and songwriter Christophe “Chris” Kenner died on this day January 25, aged 46 from a heart attack. Best remembered for hit singles such as ‘I Like It Like That’, and ‘Land of 1000 Dances’.
1980 – Nine days after being detained for marijuana possession upon entering Japan, Paul McCartney was released from the Tokyo jail and was immediately deported.
1986 – Norwegian new wave band A-ha scored their first and only number one single in the UK with ‘The Sun Always Shines on TV’ on this day January 25. The song also reached No.1 in Ireland and made the Top 5 in several other countries, while in the US it peaked at No.20.
1986 – With her twenty-fourth studio album ‘The Broadway Album’, Barbra Streisand started a three-week run at No.1 on the US Billboard 200 chart.
1991 – Paul McCartney recorded his ‘Unplugged (The Official Bootleg)’ live album at the MTV show Unplugged on this day January 25 in music history. He performed 17 songs in total, with six of them being Beatles hits.
1992 – Soft rock band Wet Wet Wet hit number one on the UK Singles chart with ‘Goodnight Girl’ for the first of for consecutive weeks.
1992 – With ‘All 4 Love’, R&B group Color Me Badd scored their second and final number one single in the US on this day January 25.
1997 – The number one single in the United Kingdom on this day was ‘Your Woman’ by the one-man band White Town (real name Jyoti Prakash Mishra).
2000 – Singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Michael Archer also known as D’Angelo released his second studio album ‘Voodoo’ on this day January 25. The album was a commercial success and it debuted at No.1 on the US Billboard 200 chart.
2003 – Scottish singer and songwriter David Sneeddon reached number one in the UK with his debut single ‘Stop Living the Lie’.
2003 – With her debut studio album ‘Come Away with Me’, Norah Jones hit number one on the US Billboard 200 for the first of three weeks. It was a big hit worldwide that year, reaching No.1 in fourteen other countries.
Norah Jones – Come Away With Me
2005 – American pop singer Ray Peterson died on this day January 25 in music history at the age of 69. Best remembered for hit songs such as ‘Tell Laura I Love Her’, ‘The Wonder of You’, and ‘Corrine, Corrina’.
2014 – Singer-songwriter and guitarist Bruce Springsteen scored his ninth number one album in the UK with ‘High Hopes’.
2015 – Singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and co-fonder of the progressive rock band Aphrodite’s Child, Artemios “Demis” Roussos died on this day January 25, aged 68.
2018 – American rapper Eminem featuring English singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran topped the UK Singles chart with ‘River’.
2020 – American singer Selena Gomez scored her third domestic chart-topping album with ‘Rare’ on this day January 25.
BORN ON THIS DAY JANUARY 25 IN MUSIC HISTORY
1915 – Folk music singer- songwriter and labour activist James Henry Miller also known professionally as Ewan MacColl was born in Broughton, England on this day January 25 in music history. Best known for songs such as ‘Dirty Old Town’ and ‘The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face’.
1925 – American jazz vocalist and pianist Barbara Carroll was born Barbara Carole Coppersmith in Worcester, Massachusetts.
1927 – Brazilian multi-instrumentalist Antonio Carlos “Tom” Jobim was born on this day January 25 in Rio de Janeiro. Best known for popularizing the bossa nova genre internationally.
1929 – American jazz tenor saxophonist, arranger, and composer Benny Golson was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
1931 – Swedish music manager, publisher and songwriter Stig Anderson also known as Stikkan Anderson was born on this day January 25 in Hova. Best known for managing the pop group ABBA.
1938 – American multi-genre singer Etta James was born Jamesetta Hawkins in Los Angeles, California. Best known for songs such as ‘At Last’, ‘Tell Mama’, ‘I’d Rather Go Blind’, and ‘The Wallflower’.
1949 – British performance poet John Cooper Clarke was born in Salford, England on this day January 25 in music history.
1953 – Drummer and founding member of the rock band Split Enz, Malcom Green was born on this day in the United Kingdom.
1956 – British musician Andrew “Andy” Cox was born on this day January 25 in Birmingham, England. Best known as a founding member and guitarist of the band The Beat.
1958 – British bassist and actor Gary Tibbs was born in Northwood, England. He rose to fame as a member of the rock band Adam and the Ants.
1967 – Canadian jazz pianist, keyboardist, and composer Robert Cleanth Kai-Nen “D.D’ Jackson was born on this day January 25 in Ottawa, Ontario.
1974 – American guitarist and songwriter Matthew “Matt” Odmar was born in New York City. Best known as a member of the Christian rock band Jars of Clay.
1977 – Norwegian singer and songwriter Christian Ingebrigtsen was born in Oslo on this day January 25 in music history. He came to prominence as a founding member of the boy band A1.
1981 – American singer-songwriter and pianist Alicia Cook also known professionally as Alicia Keys was born in New York City. She is one of the best-selling artists of all time with over 90 million records sold worldwide. Best known for hit singles such as ‘Fallin”, ‘Empire State of Mind’, ‘My Boo’, ‘No One”, etc.