April 4 in Music History: Jerry Garcia’s ashes are scattered, The Rolling Stones release Shine a Light

1939 – Glenn Miller records his theme song, “Moonlight Serenade.”

1960 – Elvis Presley records “Are You Lonesome Tonight,” along with a slew of other songs.

1961 – Teen idol Fabian graduates from Philadelphia’s South Side High.

1964 – The Beatles make music history by holding the top five places on the US singles chart: #5 “Please Please Me,” #4 “I Want To Hold Your Hand,” #3 “Roll Over Beethoven,” #2 “Love Me Do,” and #1 “Can’t Buy Me Love.” They also have another nine singles on the chart, bringing their total to fourteen on the Hot 100.

1968 – Jimi Hendrix, B.B. King, Buddy Guy, Joni Mitchell, Al Kooper, and Ted Nugent meet up for an all night blues, folk, and rock session at The New Generation Club in New York after hearing the news of Martin Luther King’s assassination. In Boston, where James Brown is scheduled to perform the next night, mayor Kevin White asks the singer to call for calm on national television and urge people not to riot.

1970 – Janis Joplin reunites with Big Brother & the Holding Company in San Francisco for a one-off reunion concert.

1992 – Beastie Boys make their first concert appearance playing instruments at a show at The Palladium in Los Angeles.

1996 – Grateful Dead leader Jerry Garcia’s ashes are scattered in the Ganges river in India by Dead guitarist Bob Weir and Garcia’s widow, Deborah.

1997 – INXS release Elegantly Wasted, their final album with lead singer Michael Hutchence, who is found dead in a Sydney hotel room seven months later.

1999 – The Corrs album Talk On Corners goes to #1 on the UK album chart for the 10th time. They also have the #2 position with Forgiven, Not Forgotten. Both albums had spent over a year on the chart.

2000 – Diana Ross announces that she will reunite with the Supremes. (The two members of the Supremes at the time had joined after Ross had left the trio.)

2008 – The Rolling Stones release their Martin Scorsese-directed concert documentary, Shine A Light.

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