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1987 in music

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This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1987.

Events[]

January–February[]

March–April[]

  • March 9
    • U2 releases The Joshua Tree, an album that launches them into superstar status in the music world. The album would sell over 14 million copies worldwide in 1987 alone and would win the Grammy for "Album of the Year" (at the 1988 ceremony). U2 have two #1 hit songs from this album on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 charts.
    • Carole King is inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in New York City.
    • The career that would end in an infamous appearance at The Brit awards and the burning of a million pounds began in Britain, as The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu release their debut single, "All You Need Is Love".
  • March 13
    • Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
    • In the US, Bryan Adams' "Heat of the Night" becomes the first single to be commercially released on cassette. Cassette singles become known as cassingles.
  • March 27 – Inspired by The Beatles' 1969 rooftop concert, U2 shoots a music video for the song "Where the Streets Have No Name" on a rooftop in Los Angeles.
  • April 23 – Carole King sues the owner of her record company, Lou Adler, claiming that she is owed more than $400,000 in royalties. King also asks for rights to her old recordings.

May–August[]

  • May 9 – Ireland's Johnny Logan wins the Eurovision Song Contest, held in Brussels, Belgium, with the song "Hold Me Now", making him the first artist to win the contest twice. The song tops the charts in Ireland, and peaks at No. 2 in the UK.
  • June 14 – Madonna starts her Who's That Girl Tour in Osaka, Japan.
  • June 27 – Whitney Houston's second album Whitney becomes the first album by a female artist to debut at #1 on the Billboard 200.
  • July 4
    • Kylie Minogue's recording career begins with the release of her cover version of the Little Eva hit The Loco-Motion; the single spends seven weeks at number one in her native Australia and leads to a contract with UK-based record producers Stock Aitken Waterman.
    • The first joint rock concert between the United States and the Soviet Union is held in Moscow to promote peace. The Doobie Brothers, James Taylor, Santana and Bonnie Raitt share the bill with Soviet rock group Autograph.
  • July 21 – American rock group Guns N' Roses release Appetite for Destruction which, after initial slow sales will become the best selling debut album of all time with more than 18 million copies sold in the US alone to date
  • August 1
  • August 3 – Def Leppard releases Hysteria, the longest rock album ever released as a single LP or cassette.
  • August 27 – The Jello Biafra criminal trial is dismissed after ending in a hung jury in Los Angeles court. Biafra and his manager had been charged with distributing harmful material to minors due to a poster included in the Dead Kennedys' Frankenchrist album of a painting depicting rows of sexual organs.
  • August 31 – Michael Jackson releases Bad, his first studio album since Thriller, the best-selling album of all time. The album would produce five number one singles in the USA, a record which has not been broken.

September–October[]

  • September 3 - Fugazi plays their first live show (as a three-piece; Guy Picciotto had not joined the band yet) at the Wilson Center in Washington DC.
  • September 6 – Madonna ends her Who's That Girl Tour in Florence, Italy.
  • September 7 - Pink Floyd release A Momentary Lapse of Reason, their first album after the departure of and legal battle with bassist, Roger Waters. The subsequent tour grossed around $135 million worldwide, a sum that was only equaled by the earnings of Michael Jackson and U2 combined.
  • September 11 – Reggae musician Peter Tosh is murdered during a robbery in his home.
  • September 12 – Michael Jackson starts the Bad World Tour, supporting his Bad album.
  • September 25 - CBS launches an American version of the long-running UK television show Top of the Pops. It lasts one year.
  • October 4 – Electronic data gathering completely replaces the old sales diary technique in compiling the UK singles and albums chart. The publication day of new charts is moved from Tuesday to Sunday.
  • October 8 – Chuck Berry receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
  • October 19 – Mötley Crüe release the song "You're All I Need" as a single. MTV refuse to play its video because of the level of violence.
  • October 30 – George Michael releases his first solo studio album, Faith, which would win the Grammy Award for album of the year and sell 11 million copies in the USA alone.
  • October 31 - The Zorros headline on Halloween for the last-ever show at the Crystal Ballroom, Melbourne's premier Punk/New Wave venue. The Crystal Ballroom has seen almost ten years of intense musical evolution. The venue has chandeliers, stained glass windows, paisley wallpaper and a tiled foyer.

November–December[]

  • November 13 – Sonny and Cher reunite for a performance on Late Night with David Letterman.
  • November 18 – CBS Records is sold to the Sony Corporation in a deal worth about $2 billion; the company was renamed Sony Music Entertainment in 1991.
  • November 19 – Cher returns to the music after five years of absence -time that she took to dedicate herself to the filmmaking business- with the lead single of her second self-titled album (and eighteenth overall), I Found Someone, which peaked at number five in UK and number ten in US.
  • November 24 – ABC airs Rolling Stone Magazine's 20 Years of Rock 'n' Roll television special, chronicling the music and the people of the past twenty years to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Rolling Stone magazine. The special includes new interviews as well as vintage performance footage of many rock legends such as Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, The Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Sex Pistols, Bruce Springsteen and many more.
  • December 16 – John Mellencamp performs two free shows in the small town of Chillicothe, Ohio after one-fifth of the population signs a petition asking him to play.
  • December 23 – Nikki Sixx of the rock band Mötley Crüe suffers a heroin overdose, but is revived shortly thereafter.
  • December 31 – The sixteenth annual New Year's Rockin' Eve special airs on ABC, with appearances by Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam, Los Lobos, Barry Manilow, Restless Heart and The Temptations.

Also in 1987[]

  • Andreas Kisser replaces Jairo Guedes in Sepultura.
  • Prince cancels The Black Album just before its release. It became officially available in 1994.

Bands formed[]

Bands disbanded[]

Bands reformed[]

Albums released[]

  1. Sister Sonic Youth

Biggest hit singles[]

The following songs achieved the highest chart positions in the charts of 1987.

# Artist Title Year Country Chart Entries
1 Los Lobos La Bamba 1987 United States UK 1 – Jul 1987, US BB 1 – Jul 1987, Switzerland 1 – Aug 1987, Italy 1 of 1987, Éire 1 – Jul 1987, New Zealand 1 for 7 weeks Aug 1987, Australia 1 for 7 weeks Apr 1988, Netherlands 2 – Aug 1987, Australia 2 of 1987, Austria 4 – Oct 1987, Norway 4 – Aug 1987, US BB 8 of 1987, POP 8 of 1987, Germany 9 – Aug 1987, US CashBox 11 of 1987, Sweden 12 – Aug 1987, Poland 17 – Sep 1987, South Africa 17 of 1987, Scrobulate 75 of Latin, KROQ 81 of 1987, RYM 116 of 1987, Party 227 of 1999, Acclaimed 2050
2 Rick Astley Never Gonna Give You Up 1987 United Kingdom UK 1 – Aug 1987, US BB 1 – Jan 1988, Netherlands 1 – Sept 1987, France 1 – Aug 1987, Norway 1 – Oct 1987, Germany 1 – Sept 1987, New Zealand 1 for 1 weeks Feb 1988, Australia 1 for 7 weeks Jun 1988, South Africa 1 of 1988, US CashBox 2 of 1988, Switzerland 2 – Sept 1987, Sweden 3 – Sept 1987, Austria 4 – Nov 1987, Australia 5 of 1988, Italy 13 of 1987, US BB 34 of 1988, POP 61 of 1988, Germany 140 of the 1980s, OzNet 765
3 Whitney Houston I Wanna Dance with Somebody Who Loves Me 1987 United States UK 1 – May 1987, US BB 1 – May 1987, Netherlands 1 – May 1987, Switzerland 1 – May 1987, Norway 1 – May 1987, Germany 1 – May 1987, New Zealand 1 for 4 weeks Jun 1987, Australia 1 for 5 weeks Jan 1988, US CashBox 2 of 1987, Sweden 2 – May 1987, Austria 3 – Jun 1987, Poland 4 – Jun 1987, South Africa 4 of 1987, France 10 – Jun 1987, Italy 10 of 1987, Australia 11 of 1987, POP 22 of 1987, Germany 67 of the 1980s
4 Pet Shop Boys It's a Sin 1987 United Kingdom Sweden 1 – Oct 1987, Austria 1 – Oct 1987, Switzerland 1 – Nov 1987, Norway 1 – Nov 1987, Poland 1 – Nov 1987, Germany 1 – Dic 1987, Éire 1 – Dic 1987, Netherlands 3 – Dic 1987, France 5 – Jan 1988, US BB 9 – Jan 1988, South Africa 18 of 1987, Italy 21 of 1987, KROQ 27 of 1987, RYM 34 of 1987, Germany 94 of the 1980s, Acclaimed 1308
5 Madonna Who's That Girl 1987 United States US BB 1 – Apr 1987, Poland 1 – Mar 1987, Éire 1 – Apr 1987, Netherlands 2 – Mar 1987, UK 4 – Mar 1987, Sweden 5 – Apr 1987, Europe 5 of the 1980s, RYM 6 of 1987, Germany 7 – Apr 1987, KROQ 9 of 1987, Switzerland 10 – Apr 1987, POP 10 of 1987, US CashBox 12 of 1987, US BB 14 of 1987, Poland 14 of all time, Austria 15 – Jun 1987, Belgium 24 of all time, OzNet 44, TheQ 47, Scrobulate 93 of rock, WXPN 116, Rolling Stone 131, Party 168 of 2007, Acclaimed 309


Singles released[]

  1. With or Without You U2
  2. Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes Paul Simon

Published popular music[]

Births[]

  • January 2 – Syesha Mercado, American singer and actress
  • January 12 – Sunday (Jin Bo-ra), Korean pop singer (TSZX The Grace)
  • January 22 – Angel Olsen, American folk and indie rock singer
  • January 27 – Katy Rose, American singer, songwriter, producer, musician and actress
  • January 29 – Ashley Perez Moza, Mexican singer-songwriter (Ha*Ash)
  • February 3 – Elvana Gjata, Albanian singer
  • February 7 – Kerli, Estonian singer and songwriter
  • February 10 – Choi Si Won, Korean actor and pop singer
  • February 12 – O'Ryan (Browner), American R&B singer
  • February 17 – Lee Bo-ram, K-pop singer (SeeYa)
  • February 24 – Kim Kyu-jong, Korean pop singer (SS501)
  • March 1 – Kesha, American pop singer
  • March 9 – Bow Wow, American Hip-Hop artist
  • March 20 – Jonas Rivanno, Indonesian actor, model and singer
  • March 26 – YUI, Japanese pop singer
  • April 3 – Park Jung-min, Korean pop singer (SS501)
  • April 9
    • Jesse McCartney, American singer and actor
    • Jazmine Sullivan, American singer
  • April 10 – Hayley Westenra, soprano singer
  • April 11 – Joss Stone, English soul singer-songwriter
  • April 17 – Jacqueline MacInnes Wood, American soap opera actress
  • April 30 – Nikki Webster, Australian pop singer
  • June 16 – Diana DeGarmo, American Idol contestant
  • June 17 – Kendrick Lamar, American rapper (Black Hippy)
  • June 19 – Miho Fukuhara, Japanese singer and actress (Sweetbox)
  • June 21 – Kim Ryeowook, Korean pop singer (Super Junior)
  • July 1 – Yoga Lin, Taiwanese pop singer, One Million Star, Season 1 winner
  • July 6 – Kate Nash, English pop singer
  • July 11 – Shigeaki Kato, Japanese singer and actor (NEWS and K.K.Kity)
  • July 14 – Dan Reynolds, American singer-songwriter (Imagine Dragons and Egyptian)
  • July 19 – Nicola Benedetti, Scottish violinist
  • July 23 – Felipe Dylon, Brazilian singer
  • August 21 – Kim Kibum, Korean actor and pop singer
  • September 26 – Rosie Munter, Swedish vocalist and dancer
  • September 28
    • Hilary Duff, American singer and actress
    • Chloë Hanslip, English violinist
  • October 17 – Stephanie (Kim Bo-kyung), American-born Korean pop singer (TSZX The Grace)
  • October 18 – Zac Efron, American actor
  • October 28 – Frank Ocean, American singer-songwriter
  • November 5 – Kevin Jonas, American pop rock musician (Jonas Brothers)
  • November 10 – Charles Hamilton, American rapper and producer
  • November 30 – Dougie Poynter, English bass guitarist (McFly)
  • December 2 – Teairra Mari, American R&B singer
  • December 7 – Aaron Carter, American pop singer
  • December 18 – Ayaka, Japanese pop singer
  • December 27 – Yui Okada, Japanese pop singer

Deaths[]

  • January 6 – Jaidev, Bollywood composer, 67
  • January 10 – Marion Hutton, singer and actress, 67
  • January 15 – Ray Bolger, Wizard of Oz actor (cancer)
  • January 30 – Harold Loeffelmacher, musician and bandleader (Six Fat Dutchmen), 81
  • February 2
    • Spike Hughes, jazz musician, composer and journalist, 78
    • Alfred Lion, record executive and co-founder of Blue Note Records, 78
  • February 4 – Liberace, US pianist
  • February 8 – Tony Destra, drummer, 32 (car accident)
  • February 18 – Dmitri Kabalevsky, composer
  • February 23 – Zeca Afonso, folk musician
  • February 24 – Jim Connors, radio DJ, 46 (car crash)
  • March 3 – Danny Kaye, actor, singer, dancer and comedian
  • March 6 – Eddie Durham, jazz musician, 80
  • March 15 – Don Gant, singer/songwriter, record producer
  • March 18 – Elizabeth Poston, composer, 82
  • March 20 – Rita Streich, coloratura soprano, 66
  • March 21
    • Dean Paul Martin, singer and actor, 35 (plane crash)
    • Robert Preston, actor and singer, 68
  • March 28 – Maria von Trapp, subject of The Sound of Music, 82
  • March 29 – Felix Prohaska, conductor
  • April 2 – Buddy Rich, jazz drummer, 69 (brain tumor)
  • April 7 – Carlton Barrett, reggae drummer (The Wailers), 36 (murdered)
  • April 14 – Karl Höller, composer, 79
  • May 2 – Larry Clinton, US bandleader and songwriter, 75
  • May 3 – Dalida, singer, actress and Miss Egypt 1954, 54 (suicide)[1][2]
  • May 4 – Paul Butterfield, blues vocalist and harmonica player, 44 (drug overdose)
  • May 5 - Allen Jones, record producer (heart attack)[3]
  • May 13
    • Signe Amundsen, operatic soprano, 87
    • Ismael Rivera, salsa composer and singer, 55 (heart attack)
  • May 14 – Rita Hayworth, dancer and film star, 68
  • May 24 – Hermione Gingold, actress and singer
  • May 26 – Robert Wilkins, blues guitarist and singer, 91
  • May 29 – Phyllis Tate, avant-garde composer, 76
  • June 3 – Andrés Segovia, guitar virtuoso, 94
  • June 18 – Kid Thomas Valentine, jazz trumpeter & bandleader, 91
  • June 21 – Abram Chasins, pianist and composer, 84
  • June 22
    • Fred Astaire, dancer, actor and singer, 88
    • Frank Rehak, jazz trombonist
  • June 25 – Boudleaux Bryant, Hall of Fame songwriter, 67
  • June 26
    • Henk Badings, composer, 80
    • Gábor Rejtő, cellist, 70
  • July 1 – Snakefinger, guitarist, 38 (heart attack)
  • July 7
    • Tibor Frešo, composer, 69
    • Germaine Thyssens-Valentin, pianist, 85
  • July 10 – John Hammond, producer and musician, 76
  • July 15 – Pete King, drummer (After The Fire, BAP), 28 (testicular cancer)
  • July 25 – Alex Sadkin, saxopohonist and record producer, 37 or 38 (motor accident)
  • July 26 – Joe Liggins, R&B, jazz and blues pianist, 72
  • August 2 – David Martin, bassist (Sam the Sham), 50 (heart attack)
  • August 12 – Sally Long, former Ziegfeld Follies star, 85
  • August 14 – Vincent Persichetti, composer, 72
  • August 27
    • Bruce Holder, violinist, conductor and composer, 82
    • Scott La Rock, hip-hop DJ and producer, 25 (shot)
  • September 3 – Morton Feldman, composer, 51 (pancreatic cancer)
  • September 11 – Peter Tosh, reggae musician, 42 (shot and killed in a house invasion/robbery)
  • September 21 – Jaco Pastorius, jazz bassist, 35 (brain damage resulting from fight)
  • September 23 – Bob Fosse, dancer, choreographer and director of musicals, 60 (heart attack)
  • September 29 – Sebastian Peschko, pianist, 77
  • October 3 – Hans Gál, composer, 97
  • October 13 – Kishore Kumar, singer, actor, filmmaker, writer, musician and composer, 58
  • October 14 – Rodolfo Halffter, composer, 86
  • October 19 – Jacqueline du Pré, English cellist, 42 (multiple sclerosis)
  • October 28 – Woody Herman, US bandleader
  • November 12 – Cornelis Vreeswijk, Swedish singer-songwriter, 50 (liver cancer)
  • November 16 – Zubir Said, composer, 80
  • November 22 – Verna Arvey, librettist and pianist
  • November 23 – Joseph Beer, composer, 79
  • December 5 – Pappy Daily, country music entrepreneur and record producer, 85
  • December 8 – Annelies Kupper, operatic soprano, 81
  • December 10 – Jascha Heifetz, violinist
  • December 12 – Clifton Chenier, zydeco singer and accordionist, 62
  • December 18 – Conny Plank, record producer, 47
  • December 21 – John Spence, ska musician, 18 (suicide)
  • December 22 – Luca Prodan, rock musician, 34 (cirrhosis of the liver)
  • Unknown - Emani Sankara Sastry, Veena player and composer

Awards[]

Grammy Awards[]

  • Grammy Awards of 1987

Country Music Association Awards[]

Gary P. Blueyes Walker – CMA Air Personality of the Year / KYKX

Eurovision Song Contest[]

Glenn Gould Prize[]

  • R. Murray Schafer (laureate)

Charts[]

  • List of Hot 100 number-one singles of 1987 (U.S.)

US Top 40 Hits[]

  • Billboard Top 40 of 1987

See also[]

  • Record labels established in 1987

References[]

  1. ↑ Dalida's Official Website, Biography Archived July 19, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, retrieved December 29, 2009
  2. ↑ "Dalida". New York Times. May 5, 1987. Retrieved December 29, 2009.
  3. ↑ Bar-Kays: Bio. Accessed 22 July 2014
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