September 2nd: The Biggest Music Headlines

Scroll down the page to see all the music headlines, stories and events for September 2 throughout music history

Photo by Armando Gallo / Getty Images

Bruce, Sting, And More Fight For Human Rights In A Five-Continent Tour

On September 2, 1988, The Human Rights Now! world tour kicked off at Wembley Stadium London with Sting, Bruce Springsteen, Peter Gabriel, Tracy Chapman, and Youssou N’Dour leading the bill. Spanning 20 shows across five continents, and benefitting Amnesty International, it was one of the most ambitious rock tours in history at that time. Taking place in some of the world’s biggest arenas, including Barcelona’s Camp Nou (90,000 capacity), Budapest’s Népstadion (80,000), Philadelphia’s JFK Stadium (78,000), Buenos Aires’ River Plate Stadium (75,000), and Harare, Zimbabwe’s National Sports Stadium (75,000), the shows also incorporated local guest stars, while human rights activists and former prisoners spoke at each event.

In 1965, The Doors recorded their first demos at World Pacific Jazz Studios in Los Angeles, where they cut six songs, including “Hello, I Love You” and “Summer’s Almost Gone.” The young band took its name from the title of Aldous Huxley’s book The Doors of Perception, itself derived from a line in William Blake’s The Marriage of Heaven and Hell.

In 2013, Sir Elton John won the first-ever Icon Award at the BRITs. Elton was presented with the prize by his friend, Rod Stewart, who jokingly described him as “the second-best rock singer ever.”

In 1964, The Rolling Stones recorded their version of the Willie Dixon song “Little Red Rooster” at Regent Sound Studios in London. It was in a similar style to their early live staples, in which they would perform Chicago blues standards, plus foundational R&B songs by the likes of Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley.

In 2005, Mariah Carey became the fifth artist ever to hold the top two positions in the US singles chart. The singer’s “We Belong Together” notched a 10th consecutive week at No.1 on the Billboard chart while “Shake It Off” jumped two places to second place. Both singles appeared on the artist’s tenth studio album, The Emancipation of Mimi.

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BORN ON SEPTEMBER 2:

1943 – Rosalind Ashford (The Vandellas)
1946 – Billy Preston
1951 – Mik Kaminski (Electric Light Orchestra)
1957 – Steve Porcaro (Toto)
1958 – Fritz McIntyre (Simply Red)

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Keep scrolling for all of our September 2 birthdays.

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September 2nd

On this day in music

2 Sep 2018 Australian rock musician Conway Savage, from Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds died, aged 58. Savage underwent medical treatment for a brain tumour in 2017. From 1993, he had a solo career and released three albums.
2 Sep 2016 The Eagles Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975 returned to the US album chart thanks to a 99-cent sale price in the Google Play store. The album, released in 1976, was already the largest selling compilation album in history with worldwide sales of over 42 million copies.
2 Sep 2013 Sir Elton John won the first ever Brits Icon award, in a gala concert which marked his stage return after surgery for appendicitis.Elton was presented with the prize by his friend, singer Rod Stewart, who described him as "the second-best rock singer ever". The Icon prize had been created by the BPI, the music industry's trade body, which also runs the Brit Awards.
2 Sep 2012 Mark Abrahamian, the lead guitarist with Starship died of a heart attack aged 46. He collapsed following a concert in the US state of Nebraska where Starship had opened for fellow bands Survivor and Boston.
2 Sep 2009 Guy Babylon, keyboard player with the Elton John Band died of a heart attack while swimming in his pool at his home in Los Angeles, California.
2 Sep 2007 17 year-old Jamaican-American singer Sean Kingston went to No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Beautiful Girls', also a US No.1. The song samples the bassline from Ben E. King's classic 'Stand by Me'.
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2 Sep 2006 Lead singer of the Isley Brothers, Ronald Isley was sentenced to three years in a US prison for multiple counts of tax fraud. The 64-year-old, was also ordered to pay more than $3.1m (£1.62m) to the US tax service for "pathological" evasion. The court heard he cashed royalty cheques belonging to his brother O'Kelly, who died in 1996 and also spent millions of dollars made from undeclared performances, a yacht and two homes.
2 Sep 2005 Mariah Carey became only the fifth act ever to hold the top two positions in the US singles chart. The singer's ‘We Belong Together’ notched a 10th consecutive week at No.1 on the Billboard chart while ‘Shake It Off’ jumped two places to second place. The feat put Carey in a select group of acts to hold the top two with Nelly, OutKast, The Bee Gees and The Beatles. ‘We Belong Together’ was Carey's 16th number one, giving her the third highest number of chart-toppers in the US behind the Beatles and Elvis Presley.
2 Sep 2002 Thieves broke into the London home of Icelandic singer Bjork and stole valuable recording equipment. The 36-year-old singer was asleep in the flat at the time of the incident.
2 Sep 2001 American saxophonist Jay Migliori died of cancer aged 70. As a session musician he recorded with The Beach Boys, Frank Sinatra and Frank Zappa and was the founding member of Supersax, a tribute band to Charlie Parker.
2 Sep 2000 Madonna was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Music', her 10th UK No.1 single, from her album of the same title. The video stars Madonna as well as comedian Sacha Baron Cohen as his famous character Ali G.
2 Sep 1995 Michael Jackson went to No.1 on the US singles chart with a song written by R. Kelly 'You Are Not Alone'. It holds a Guinness World Record as the first song in the 37 year history of the Billboard Hot 100 to debut at No.1.
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2 Sep 1989 Ozzy Osbourne was charged with threatening to kill his wife Sharon. Ozzy was released on the condition that he immediately went into detox, the case was later dropped when the couple decide to reconcile.
2 Sep 1988 The Human Rights Now! world tour kicked off at Wembley Stadium London with Sting, Bruce Springsteen, Peter Gabriel, Tracy Chapman and Youssu n'Dour. Taking in five continents and claiming to be the most ambitious rock tour in history.
2 Sep 1972 The Erie Canal Soda Pop Festival was held over three days on Bull Island, near Griffin, Indiana. The Promoters expected over 50,000 music fans, and over 200,000 attended the festival. Many bands pulled out as the festival drifted steadily into anarchy. Bands that did appear included Flash Cadillac & the Continental Kids, Black Oak Arkansas, Cheech and Chong, Foghat, Albert King, Brownsville Station, Canned heat, Flash, Ravi Shankar, Rory Gallagher, Lee Michaels and Frosty, the Eagles, The Amboy Dukes, and Gentle Giant. Three concert goers drowned in the Wabash River and as the festival ended, the remnants of the crowd burned down the music stand.
2 Sep 1972 Rod Stewart was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'You Wear It Well', the singers second UK No.1 was taken from his album Never A Dull Moment.
2 Sep 1971 Grateful Dead's former manager was arrested after disappearing with over $70,000 of the bands money.
2 Sep 1968 Jimi Hendrix Experience released a cover of the Bob Dylan song 'All Along the Watchtower', nine months after the original version hit the airwaves. The song became Hendrix’s biggest hit in the US, landing in the Billboard Hot 100’s Top 20, and, later, would influence Dylan’s live renditions of the song. In a 1995 interview with South Florida’s Sun Sentinel, Dylan described hearing Hendrix’s version: "It overwhelmed me, really. He had such talent, he could find things inside a song and vigorously develop them. He found things that other people wouldn't think of finding in there."
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2 Sep 1965 The Doors recorded their first demos at World Pacific Jazz Studios in Los Angeles, California, where they cut six Jim Morrison songs.
2 Sep 1965 Steam Packet with Long John Baldry, Rod Stewart, Julie Discoll and The Brian Auger Trinity appeared at The Marquee Club London.
2 Sep 1964 On tour in the USA The Beatles appeared at The Convention Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Days before the concert, Philadelphia had experienced race-riots, The Beatles, who were Civil Rights supporters, were shocked to see that their audience of 13,000 was completely white.
2 Sep 1964 The Rolling Stones recorded their version of the Willie Dixon song 'Little Red Rooster' at Regent Sound Studios in London, England.

Born on this day in music

2 Sep 1987 Spencer James Smith, drummer, with American rock band Panic! at the Disco who scored the 2008 Australian No.1 and US & UK No.2 album Pretty.Odd.
2 Sep 1975 Jill Janus the lead singer of American heavy metal bands Huntress, The Starbreakers and Chelsea Girls. Janus died by suicide on 14 August 2018 age 42.
2 Sep 1975 Tony Thompson singer with Hi-Five, who had the 1991 US No.1 & UK No.43 single, 'I Like The Way, The Kissing Game'.
2 Sep 1959 Paul Deakin, drummer from the American band The Mavericks who had the 1998 UK No.4 single 'Dance The Night Away'. The Mavericks won a Grammy Award for the song 'Here Comes the Rain'.
2 Sep 1958 Fritz McIntyre, from Simply Red, who had the 1986 US No.1 & UK No.2 single 'Holding Back The Years'. They have had five No.1 albums in the UK, their 1991 album, Stars, is one of the best-selling albums in UK chart history. He died on 24 August 2021 age 62.
2 Sep 1958 Jerry Augustyniak, from American alternative rock band 10,000 Maniacs that was founded in 1981. They achieved their greatest success between 1987 and 1993, when they released four albums that charted in the top 50 in the US.
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2 Sep 1957 Steve Porcaro, American keyboardist, composer and original member of the rock band Toto who had the 1983 US No.1 & UK No.3 single 'Africa'. Porcaro composed the music for the song 'Human Nature' and produced the synthesizer for 'The Girl Is Mine' from Michael Jackson's album Thriller.
2 Sep 1951 Mik Kaminski, violin, with Electric Light Orchestra, who had the 1979 UK No.3 & US No.4 single 'Don't Bring Me Down' plus 26 other Top 40 hits. ELO have sold over 50 million records worldwide.
2 Sep 1947 English drummer and percussionist Richard Coughlan. He was one of the founding members of Caravan in 1968 and remained with the band until his death. Caravan who were signed to Decca Records, blended psychedelic rock, jazz and classical influences to create a distinctive progressive rock sound. Coughlan died on 1 December 2013 age 66.
2 Sep 1946 Billy Preston, US singer, keyboard player. (1973 US No.1 single 'Will It Go Round In Circles', 1978 UK No.2 single with Syreeta 'With You I'm Born Again', and 1969 single 'Get Back' with The Beatles). During the 1960s, he backed artists such as Little Richard, Sam Cooke and Ray Charles. Preston died on June 6, 2006.
2 Sep 1945 American keyboardist, guitarist, and saxophonist Marty Grebb. He was a member of The Buckinghams in the late 1960s, who scored the 1967 US number one hit 'Kind of a Drag'. Grebb later worked as a record producer and an arranger, who worked with musicians including Peter Cetera, Bill Payne, Bonnie Raitt, Eric Clapton, Etta James, and Leon Russell. He died on 1 January 2020 age 74.
2 Sep 1943 Rosalind Ashford, The Vandellas, (1962 US No.2 & 1969 UK No.4 single with The Vandellas, 'Dancing In The Street').
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2 Sep 1940 Jimmy Clanton, US singer who had the 1962 US No.2 single 'A Part Of Me'.
2 Sep 1939 Bobby Purify, (Ben Moore) singer from American R&B duo James & Bobby Purify who had the 1976 US No.6 & UK No.12 single 'I'm Your Puppet'. Moore died on 12 May 2022, at the age of 80.
2 Sep 1939 American singer Sam Gooden from The Impressions, who had the 1965 US No.7 single 'Lilies Of The Field'. He died from a heart attack on 4 August 4 at the age of 87.
2 Sep 1933 American singer Richard "Rick" Lewis from The Silhouettes. The doo wop/R&B groups single 'Get A Job' was a No.1 hit on the Billboard R&B singles chart and pop singles chart in 1958. The doo-wop revival group Sha Na Na derived their name from the song's lyrics. 'Get A Job' is included in the soundtracks of the film American Graffiti, Trading Places and Stand By Me. Lewis died on 19 April 2005.
2 Sep 1925 American orchestra leader and composer of film soundtracks Hugo Montenegro known for his 1968 UK No.1 & US No.2 single cover version of Ennio Morricone's main theme from the 1966 film The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. He composed the musical score for the 1969 Western Charro! which starred Elvis Presley. He died 6 Feb 1981.
2 Sep 1925 English pianist and composer Russ Conway, who had the 1959 UK No.1 single 'Side Saddle'. Conway had 20 piano instrumentals in the UK Singles Chart between 1957 and 1963, including two No.1 hits. Conway died on 16th November 2000 age 75.
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