This Day in Music History: David Bowie debuts on Broadway, Dire Straits disband

1961 – The Pendletones (later known as The Beach Boys) audition for the Stereo Masters publishing house, leading to the release of their first single, “Surfin’.”

1965 – Ford offers factory-installed 8-track tape players in its Mustang, Thunderbird and Lincoln models. Because this is the first time 8-track players are widely available (they don’t make it to homes for another year), the only places to purchase tapes are auto parts stores or Ford dealers.

1980 – David Bowie debuts on Broadway in The Elephant Man.

1988 – Dire Straits disbands.

1990 – Bruce Hornsby begins filling in on keyboard for The Grateful Dead following the death of Brent Mydland.

1997 – Elton John’s new version of “Candle In The Wind,” rewritten with lyrics paying tribute to the recently deceased Princess Diana, sells a record 600,000 copies in one day in Britain alone. It is still the biggest-selling single since UK and US singles charts began in the 1950s, having accumulated worldwide sales of 33 million copies.

2004 – Johnny Ramone dies of prostate cancer at his home in Los Angeles at age 55.

Information for this post was gathered from This Day in Music, The Music History Calendar, On This Day, and Wikipedia.