What happened on January 29
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195967 yrs ago
Sweden holds its first Melodifestivalen
Eight songs competed at Cirkus in Stockholm to choose Sweden's Eurovision entry. The show became a national obsession, and ABBA's "Waterloo" was later voted the most popular song in its history.
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196462 yrs ago
The Beatles record in German in Paris
At EMI's Pathé Marconi studios, the band cut German-language versions of two hits, "Komm, gib mir deine Hand" and "Sie liebt dich." It was the only session the group ever recorded outside Britain.
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197749 yrs ago
Rose Royce's "Car Wash" tops the Hot 100
The title song from the movie Car Wash spent one week at No. 1, giving Rose Royce their first Hot 100 chart-topper before Mary MacGregor's "Torn Between Two Lovers" took over.
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199630 yrs ago
Venice's La Fenice opera house burns
An arson fire gutted the theater where Verdi's Rigoletto and La traviata had their premieres. Two electricians were later convicted, and the rebuilt house reopened in December 2003.
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200026 yrs ago
Savage Garden's "I Knew I Loved You" hits No. 1
The Australian duo's ballad took the top spot from Christina Aguilera's "What a Girl Wants" and went on to spend four weeks at No. 1 in all, with a return visit in late February.
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1862164 yrs ago
Frederick Delius is born in Bradford, England
Sent to run a citrus plantation in Florida, he heard African-American music there and began composing. He settled in France and wrote richly scored orchestral pieces such as On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring.
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193690 yrs ago
Motown bassist James Jamerson is born
Born on Edisto Island, South Carolina, the Funk Brothers mainstay played on 23 Hot 100 No. 1 hits, and his inventive Fender bass lines on records like "My Girl" changed how the instrument was played.
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194977 yrs ago
Ramones drummer Tommy Ramone is born in Budapest
Born Tamás Erdélyi, he kept the beat on the Ramones' first three albums and co-produced them, then later produced records for the Replacements.
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195373 yrs ago
Teresa Teng is born in Yunlin County, Taiwan
Recording well over a thousand songs in Mandarin, Japanese, Cantonese and more, she became the Far East's first pop superstar. "The Moon Represents My Heart" remains a Chinese standard.
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199234 yrs ago
Blues songwriter Willie Dixon dies at 76
The Chicago bassist and producer wrote songs that Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf and Bo Diddley made famous, and later rock acts like the Rolling Stones recorded them too.
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200917 yrs ago
Singer-guitarist John Martyn dies at 60
Mixing folk, jazz and blues, he ran his acoustic guitar through an Echoplex to create a floating sound. His album Solid Air includes a title song written for his friend Nick Drake.
Nothing matches these filters on January 29.