Today in Music History for Dec. 5:
In 1791, composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died at age 35. He was buried in an unmarked grave in Vienna’s St. Marx Cemetery. Mozart’s final resting place has remained undiscovered to this day. At the time of his death, Mozart was working on a requiem mass commissioned by a wealthy nobleman. The work was completed by Mozart’s pupil, Franz Sussmayer. Mozart was a child prodigy, and began composing before he was five years old. He wrote compositions in almost every conceivable form -- operas, sonatas, concertos and symphonies. His works combined beauty of sound with technical perfection. Among the best known of Mozart’s operas are "The Marriage of Figaro" and "Don Giovanni." His last three symphonies -- Number 39 in E Flat, Number 40 in G Minor and Number 41 in C, known as the Jupiter Symphony -- display a complete mastery of the classic symphonic form established by Haydn.
In 1828, a Harmonic Society was formed in Lunenburg, N.S., by 24 men who met every week to sing church music. The society was one of the earliest musical organizations in Canada.
In 1848, Joseph Mohr, author of the enduring Christmas hymn "Stille Nacht" (Silent Night), died. He was a Roman Catholic vicar in Austria.
In 1892, Tchaikovsky’s ballet, "The Nutcracker," premiered in St. Petersburg, Russia. It has since become a favourite Christmas ballet all around the world.
In 1968, "The Rolling Stones'" LP "Beggar’s Banquet" was released in a plain white jacket. They held a launch party in London, during which custard pies were thrown at the guests.
In 1968, Graham Nash quit "The Hollies" because he disagreed with the group’s plans to record an album of Bob Dylan songs. Nash also was reported to be upset that "The Hollies" refused to record several of his own songs, including "Marrakesh Express." The tune would become the first hit for Nash’s next group -- "Crosby, Stills and Nash." Nash’s replacement with "The Hollies" was Terry Sylvester.
In 1975, the self-titled "Fleetwood Mac" LP was certified gold -- selling 500,000 copies in the U.S. It was the first album with new group members Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham.
In 1977, jazzman Rahsaan Roland Kirk died of a stroke at the age of 41. A multi-instrumentalist, he was noted for playing as many as three horns at once, and was not above using such devices as police whistles and sirens.
In 1984, Canadian singer Bryan Adams won four Juno Awards for Best Male Vocalist, Best Producer, Best Composer, and Best Album.
In 1987, Molly O’Day, the woman some consider to have been the greatest female country singer ever, died of cancer in Huntington, W. Va., at the age of 64. O’Day recorded only 36 songs for Columbia between 1946-51, but among them was the classic "Tramp in the Street."
In 1991, "The Beach Boys" founder Brian Wilson agreed to stay away from his longtime psychologist, Eugene Landy, and submit his finances to a conservator. The agreement settled a lawsuit filed by Wilson’s brother, Carl, and their cousins, Mike and Stan Love. They portrayed Landy, Wilson’s live-in psychologist and business partner, as an opportunist who brainwashed Wilson and used him as a cash cow. Wilson’s drug abuse and a nervous breakdown brought the two together in 1976.
In 1992, Ice Cube’s "The Predator" became the first rap album to enter the Billboard 200 albums chart at No. 1.
In 1993, Douglas Hopkins, who had been fired as lead guitarist for "The Gin Blossoms," shot and killed himself at his home in Tempe, Ariz. It was his second suicide attempt in two weeks. Hopkins played on the band’s album "New Miserable Experience," and wrote two of the most popular songs on it, "Hey Jealousy" and "Found Out About You." He was fired from group in April 1992 because fellow band members said he had a drinking problem.
In 1994, dance band arranger and singer Art Hallman, best known for his 13 years with "Mart Kenney and his Western Gentlemen" in the 1930s and ’40s, died in Richmond Hill, Ont., at age 84. Hallman later formed his own band in Toronto. It was featured for many years on CBC Radio.
In 1996, Wilf Carter, acknowledged as the father of country music in Canada, died at his home in Scottsdale, Ariz. He was two weeks shy of his 92nd birthday. Carter, who had a parallel career in the U.S. under the name Montana Slim, performed for more than six decades and was still on the road well into his 80s. Carter made his first recordings for RCA Victor in 1932 -- "Swiss Moonlight Lullaby," which showcased his yodelling, and "The Capture of Albert Johnson." The 78 was the first hit record by a Canadian country performer. Carter was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1985, acknowledging his status as the nation’s first country star and his influence on -- and assistance to -- other performers.
In 1998, the Billboard Hot 100 chart began including album cuts alongside commercially released singles. Billboard had previously insisted that a song had to be released as a retail single before it could be included on the chart, compiled from a combination of sales and radio play. But record companies had become increasingly reluctant to release singles for fear they would take away from sales of albums.
In 2001, Chilean pianist Oscar Gacitua killed himself by hurling himself under a subway train in Santiago. Gacitua, who was 76, was considered among his country’s greatest pianists and an expert in interpreting Chopin.
In 2003, actress Gwyneth Paltrow married "Coldplay" singer Chris Martin in Santa Barbara County, Calif. In March 2014, Paltrow announced their separation on her blog in a post titled Conscious Uncoupling. (She officially filed for divorce in April 2015 and it was finalized in July 2016).
In 2004, "Band Aid 20’s" remake of "Do They Know It’s Christmas" debuted at No. 1 on the U.K. singles chart with 292,000 copies sold, but it was nowhere near as successful as the 1984 original.
In 2005, actress Valerie Bertinelli filed for divorce from "Van Halen" guitarist Eddie Van Halen. (It was finalized in December 2007.)
In 2008, a $1-million U.S. classical music prize was established to commemorate the late Swedish soprano Birgit Nilsson. The prize is the largest to be awarded in the history of classical music and is to celebrate outstanding achievements in the international field of opera and concert. Nilsson, acclaimed as the greatest Wagnerian soprano of the post-Second World War generation, died Dec. 25, 2005, having retired from a career of almost 40 years on the world's opera stages from New York's Metropolitan Opera to La Scala in Milan.
In 2010, a lone glove worn by Michael Jackson during the "Bad" tour in the late 1980s sold at auction for US$330,000. A military-style jacket worn by John Lennon for a 1966 "Life" magazine photo shoot sold for $240,000. Over 600 Johnny Cash items fetched $700,000, including $50,000 for the jumpsuit he wore during a 1969 rehearsal at San Quentin state prison.
In 2010, country music legend Merle Haggard, former "Beatle" Paul McCartney, Broadway composer Jerry Herman (who wrote "Hello, Dolly!"), Oprah Winfrey and choreographer Bill T. Jones received Kennedy Center honours.
In 2011, Jason Aldean won six Fender Stratocaster guitar-shaped awards at the American Country Awards in Las Vegas, including the night's top honours - Artist of the Year and Record of the Year for "My Kinda Party." Carrie Underwood, picked up three, including Female Artist of the Year and Female Single of the Year for "Mama's Song."
In 2012, jazz composer and pianist Dave Brubeck, whose pioneering style in pieces such as "Take Five" caught listeners' ears with exotic, challenging rhythms, died of heart failure on his way to a cardiology appointment in Hartford, Conn., one day short of his 92nd birthday.
In 2012, "fun." became the first rock band to score Grammy nominations in the top four categories: Best New Artist, Song and Record of the Year for "We Are Young" and Album of the Year for "Some Nights." (They won for New Artist and Song of the Year.)
In 2013, former "American Idol" champion and award-winning country star Carrie Underwood played Maria von Trapp in an NBC live performance based on the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical "The Sound of Music." It was the first full-scale musical staged live for television in more than a half-century.
In 2013, the handwritten working manuscript to Bruce Springsteen's 1975 rock anthem "Born to Run" sold for US$197,000 at a New York City auction. Most of the lines in this 1974 version are apparently unpublished and unrecorded. However, it does include "a nearly perfected chorus." It had been in the collection of Springsteen's former manager, Mike Appel.
In 2015, Ringo Starr's copy of The Beatles' "White Album," bearing serial number 1, was sold at auction to an anonymous buyer for US$790,000. It beat the record for the highest price for a vinyl album, set earlier in the year when rocker Jack White bought Elvis Presley's first acetate recording ("My Happiness") for $300,000.
In 2015, reality star Kim Kardashian and rap legend-husband Kanye West welcomed a second child, a boy, they named Saint.
In 2017, streaming service Spotify announced that Ed Sheeran was its most-streamed artist of 2017 with 6.3 billion streams. Sheeran's "Divide" album was the most-streamed, with 3.1 billion, and his "Shape of You" was the top song, with 1.4 billion streams.
In 2017, Grammy-winning singer-songwriter John Mayer underwent an emergency appendectomy, subsequently postponing several upcoming concert dates with Dead & Company — made up of former Grateful Dead members Bob Weir, Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann.
In 2022, Aaron Carter, the singer-rapper who began performing as a child and had hit albums starting in his teen years, was found dead at his home in Southern California. He was 34. Carter, the younger brother of Nick Carter of the Backstreet Boys, performed as an opening act for Britney Spears as well as his brother's boy band, and appeared on the family's reality series "House of Carters.''
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The Canadian Press