See also:
Events
- January - following an investigation by
The
International Federation of the Phonographic Industry and
London detectives, police raids in England
and the
Netherlands
recover nearly 500 original Beatles studio tapes, recorded during the
Let It Be
sessions. Five people are arrested. The tapes have been used
for bootleg releases for years.
- January 13 - The
Who guitarist, Pete Townshend, is
arrested by Scotland Yard on suspicion of possessing and making
indecent images of children and of incitement to distribute such
images, after pornographic images are
found on his home computer. [Inaccurate, needs going through by
someone familiar with case]
- January 15 - 2003 CDNOW Readers' Poll for all
albums and new talent of 2002.
- February 3 -
Legendary record producer Phil Spector is arrested for investigation of
homicide after the body of actress Lana
Clarkson is found at his home in Alhambra,
California
. Police responded to the 911 phone call from
one of Spector's neighbors and discovered Clarkson's body who was
suffering from a gun shot wound. Clarkson pronounced dead at the
scene.
- February 8 - Avril Lavigne scores her third #1 single
"I'm With You", and make her the second
artist in history of having three consecutive #1 songs of a debut
album at the Billboard Mainstream Top
40.
- February 20 -
The Station
nightclub fire
: Fire engulfs a Rhode Island
nightclub during a fireworks display which was part
of the performance by rock band Great
White. The fire quickly spreads across the ceiling,
filling the building with thick, black smoke, killing 100 people
and injuring 160 others as audience members rush for the exits.
Many people were missing for some time, including Great White
guitarist Ty Longley, who was later
confirmed to be dead.
- February 23 -
New York
City
is the site of The
45th Annual Grammy Awards, featuring Nickelback, No Doubt,
Foo Fighters, Beyonce, and other performers.
- February 27 -
Othar Turner, one of the last remaining
and most well-known African-American fife-and-drum musicians, dies at
the age of 93 in Gravel Springs, Mississippi
. Fife-and-drum bands were a significant
influence of early blues.
- March 3 - Avril
Lavigne kick off her first headlining tour the "Try To Shut Me Up
Tour".
- March 10 - Johnny Cash is admitted to Baptist Hospital in
Nashville,
Tennessee
to undergo treatment for pneumonia.
- March 24
- April 1 - Dozens of fans walk out during
a Pearl Jam concert when lead singer
Eddie Vedder made anti-war comments and
insulting remarks about U.S. President George W. Bush.
Other audience members booed and shouted at Vedder telling him to
"shut up." Vedder attempted to calm the crowd by adding "just to
clarify... we support the troops."
- April 8 - Godsmack releases their third studio album
Faceless.
- April 21 - S Club announce live on stage at London
's Docklands Arena
that they've decided to split up after five years
together. Their final single, "Say Goodbye", enters the
chart at #2 a month after the announcement. Rachel Stevens from the group launched her
successful solo career shortly afterwards with the song Sweet Dreams My LA Ex.
- May 12 - Keane releases their third single, Everybody's Changing by the label
Fierce Panda
- May 24
- June - Alexander Kuoppala
quit Children of Bodom.
- June 4 - Justin Timberlake and Christina Aguilera kicked off their
summer Justified & Stripped tour.
- June 14 - The
Los Angeles,
California
radio station KROQ airs the
11th Annual of the Weenie Roast
show with AFI, The
Ataris, Blur, Chevelle, Deftones,
Finch, Foo
Fighters, Godsmack, Good Charlotte, Hot
Hot Heat, Interpol, Jane's Addiction, Less Than Jake, Liam Lynch, Staind, Sum 41, Thrice, The
Transplants, The Used, The White Stripes, and Pete Yorn.
- Alice Cooper begins production of
his 26th album. It is a departure from the heavy metal sound of previous albums and
is more influenced by his albums of the '70s.
- June 22nd - Nick Oshiro replaces Ken
Jay after 30 Auditions in Static-X.
- June 27 - June 29 - Glastonbury Festival
, U.K.
, headline
acts included David Gray,
R.E.M., Primal
Scream, Morcheeba, The Flaming Lips, Radiohead, Super
Furry Animals, Lamb, Macy Gray, Feeder,
Manic Street Preachers,
Moby, and Doves. The weather is mostly dry and the
festival deemed a success from both a security and entertainment
viewpoint by Michael Eavis.
- July - A-Teens and many others perform
at the Stockholm Pride
- July 2 - Delta
Goodrem is diagnosed with Hodgkin's Disease.
- July 30 - The Rolling Stones, AC/DC, The Guess Who, and
others headline a benefit concert in
Toronto,
Ontario
, Canada
, to prove
that the city is safe from SARS. With 450 000
spectators, it is the largest concert in Canadian history.
- June 25 - Beyoncé releases her No.1
debut solo album "Dangerously In
Love", which earned her 5 grammys in a single night. It also
spawned two No.1 singles in the US and has sold 11 million copies
to date.
- August 19 - Jessica Simpson releases her third studio
album In This Skin.
The album
would later go triple platinum in the U.S.
and would
produce the hit single "With You".
- August 28 - Madonna sparks media controversy by
kissing popstars Britney Spears and
Christina Aguilera at the
2003 MTV Video Music
Awards. The situation even ignited a quick war of words between
Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera over the kiss.
- September - Cryptopsy, Fires Martin
Lacroix.
- September 22 - Max Cavalera & Gloria Cavalera fire
Marcello D. Rapp causing Roy Mayorga
& Mike Doling to protest against
this and leave the band Soulfly. This causes
a whole new Lineup Change.
- September 23 - Limp Bizkit release Results May Vary their first album in
3 years and their 4th album overall.
- October 4 - Bruce Springsteen and
the E Street Band's The Rising
Tour concludes after 120 shows over 14 months, with
record-setting sales in U.S. stadiums during the summer and early
autumn.
- 5 October - Marco Aro, Quits, The
Haunted
- October 16 - Simon & Garfunkel begin their "Old
Friends" U.S. reunion tour, twenty years after their 1983 world
tour.
- October 20 - Britney Spears releases the first single, Me
against the Music Ft. Madonna, off the upcoming album In the Zone, marketed as a comeback single in
the US which went on to be an international success reaching top
three in several countries.
- October 21 - Delta Goodrem wins 7 ARIA Awards and defeats
Amiel's "Lovesong" for and a Gold ARIA for
Single of the Year, Born to Try.
ARIAs host Rove McManus
announced that John Farnham will raise
the very loud speakers to 1985/1986's "You're the Voice" after being inducted into
the ARIA Hall of Fame.
- October 30 - Steve O'Rourke, the manager for Pink Floyd passes away from a Stroke at age 63.
In tribute, the legal incarnation of the band reunited to perform
at his funeral.
- November - Cryptopsy, Rehires Lord
Worm.
- November 3 - Avril Lavigne lauch her first DVD My World .
- November 5 - Evanescence lead guitarist and founding member
Ben Moody leaves the band on their first
world tour.
- November 7 - Steve Kmak aka "Fuzz" is fired from Disturbed because Disturbed wasn't totally
clicking — personally or musically with him as well as his reported
Dave's bad personality, wanting Steve out causing fricition.
- November 11 - Dream Theater releases their seventh studio
album titled Train of
Thought, widely regarded as their heaviest album to
date.
- November 14 - Although Byron Stroud had been with Fear Factory for a month before hand, it wasn't
until this date that he became an official member.
- November 18 - Britney Spears releases In the Zone, she breaks her own record from
being the first female artist to have 3 albums in #1 to being the
first female artist to have 4 albums in #1 consecutively.
- November 18 - Blink-182 releases 7th, and final self-titled
album
- November 18 - Michael Jackson released the album Number
ones, which included Jackson singles that reached #1 in charts
around the world.
- November 19 - On Australian Idol, hosts Andrew G and James
Mathison announced the winner and went to Guy Sebastian. He won the prize to BMG Australia and won a studio album, Just As I Am. Sebastian
is beaten by Shannon Noll to make it
the Monster Winner. He also won the prize single
titled Angels Brought Me
Here released in December 2003 as an end of decade
Christmas present.
- November 22 - The
band, Five Iron Frenzy, plays its
last show at the Fillmore Auditorium
in Denver
.
- November 30 - Michael Jackson is arrested on charges of
child molestation
- December 6 -
P-Funk founder George Clinton is arrested and
charged with drug possession in Tallahassee, Florida
.
- December
13/14 - The Los Angeles
, California
radio station KROQ airs the
14th Annual of the Acoustic
Christmas show with AFI, Blink-182, Brand New,
Chevelle, The
Distillers, Jane's Addiction,
Jet, KoЯn,
Linkin Park, The Offspring, P.O.D.,
Pennywise, Puddle of Mudd, Rancid, Staind, 311, Thrice and Trapt.
- December
30/31 - The New Year's Eve Falls Festival in Australia, traditionally held in Lorne,
Victoria
, holds
events in both Lorne and Marion
Bay, Tasmania at the same time. The same artists perform
at both events, alternating between the two venues each night.
Undated
- Skinny Puppy reunites
- Lemon Demon releases "Clown
Circus", his first album, and "Live from the Haunted Candle Shop",
his second album, on MP3.com.
- Ken Jay leaves Static-X because of musical/political
differences.
Bands formed
See Musical groups
established in 2003
Bands disbanded
Albums released
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
Release date unknown
Top 5 albums of Billboard year
- Beyoncé - Dangerously in Love
- 50 cent - Get Rich or Die
Tryin'
- Norah Jones - Come Away With Me
- Shania Twain - Up!
- Dixie Chicks - Home
Top 10 Selling Albums Of the Year
- Come Away with Me –
Norah Jones
- Get Rich Or Die
Tryin' - 50 Cent
- Meteora
- Linkin Park
- Life For Rent - Dido
- Dangerously In Love -
Beyonce
- A Rush Of Blood To
The Head - Coldplay
- Fallen - Evanescence
- In The Zone - Britney Spears
- Let Go -
Avril Lavigne
- One Heart - Celine Dion
Top hits on record
See also: Hot 100
No. 1 Hits
of 2003
Acclaimed Music
AcclaimedMusic.net's Top Albums from 2003
- Elephant — The White Stripes
- Speakerboxxx/The
Love Below — OutKast
- Boy in da Corner —
Dizzee Rascal
- Hail to the Thief —
Radiohead
- Chutes Too Narrow —
The Shins
- Think Tank — Blur
- Permission to Land —
The Darkness
- De-Loused in the
Comatorium — The Mars
Volta
- You Are Free — Cat Power
- Room on Fire — The Strokes
- Echoes —
The Rapture
- Fever to Tell — Yeah Yeah Yeahs
- Rounds — Four Tet
- It Still Moves —
My Morning Jacket
- Up in Flames — Manitoba
AcclaimedMusic.net's Top Songs from 2003
- "Hey Ya!" — OutKast
- "Crazy in
Love" — Beyoncé
- "Seven Nation Army" — The White Stripes
- "Toxic" — Britney Spears
- "Milkshake" — Kelis
- "In Da Club" — 50
Cent
- "99 Problems" — Jay-Z
- "Maps" — Yeah Yeah Yeahs
- "Out of Time" — Blur
- "Move Your Feet" — Junior Senior
- "Me And Giuliani Down By The School Yard (A True Story)" —
!!!
- "I Luv U" —
Dizzee Rascal
- "Ignition " — R. Kelly
- "Such Great Heights —
The Postal Service
- "12:51" — The
Strokes
Classical music
Opera
Musical theater
Musical film
Births
Deaths
- January 1 - Giorgio Gaber (63), actor,
singer-songwriter
- January 8 - Ron
Goodwin (77), composer and conductor
- January 11 - Mickey Finn (55), bongo player and T.Rex sideman
- January 12 - Maurice Gibb (53), Bee
Gees singer and bassist; cardiac arrest
- January 15 - Doris Fisher (87),
singer-songwriter
- January 23 - Nell Carter (54), singer and actress; heart
disease
- February 1 - Mongo Santamaría (80), Latin jazz
percussionist
- February 2 - Lou Harrison (85), composer
- February 19 - Johnny Paycheck (65), country singer
- February 20 - Ty Longley (31), guitarist for Great White; fire accident
- February 23 - Howie Epstein (47), bassist for Tom Petty and the
Heartbreakers
- March 3
- March 8 - Adam
Faith (62), singer, actor; heart attack
- April 1 - Leslie Cheung (46), actor, musician;
suicide
- April 2 - Edwin
Starr (61), soul singer; heart attack
- April 6 - Babatunde Olatunji (75), drummer;
diabetes
- April 13 - Alex
Baroni (35), singer; Accident
- April 15 - Little
Eva (59), singer; cervical cancer
- April 17 - Earl
King (69), blues musician
- April 19 - Conrad Leonard (104), composer and
pianist
- April 21 - Nina
Simone (70), singer and pianist
- April 22 - Felice Bryant (77), Hall of Fame
songwriter
- May 11 - Noel
Redding (57), bassist of The Jimi Hendrix Experience
- May 15 - June
Carter Cash (73), musician and singer
- May 27 - Luciano
Berio (77), composer
- May 30 - Mickie
Most (64), record producer; mesothelioma
- June 6 - Dave
Rowberry (63), The Animals
- July 1 - Herbie
Mann (73), jazz flautist; prostate cancer
- July 4
- July 5 - Bebu
Silvetti (59), pianist, composer, arranger and record producer;
respiratory failure
- July 6 - Buddy
Ebsen (95), actor and singer
- July 7 - Izhak
Graziani (79), conductor
- July 12 - Benny
Carter (95), jazz saxophonist, composer, arranger and
bandleader; bronchitis
- July 16 - Celia
Cruz (77), salsa singer; brain tumor
- July 17 - Rosalyn Tureck (88), pianist
- July 25 - Erik
Braunn, Iron Butterfly
- July 26 - Richard Wayne Dirksen (81), organist
and choirmaster
- July 27 - Bob
Hope (100), actor, comedian and singer
- July 30 - Sam
Philips (80)
- August 2 - Don
Estelle (70), actor and singer
- August 5 - Tite Curet Alonso (77), songwriter; heart
attack
- August 8 - Julius Baker (87), flautist
- August 9 - Gregory Hines (58), actor, singer and
dancer
- August 10 - Carmita Jiménez, singer
- August 13 - Ed
Townsend (74), singer-songwriter
- August 21 - Wesley Willis (40), novelty musician
- August 23 - Imperio Argentina (96), singer and
actress
- September 4
- September 5 - Gisele MacKenzie (76), singer
- September 7 - Warren Zevon (56), rock and roll singer;
mesothelioma
- September 12 - Johnny Cash (71), country and rock 'n roll
singer
- September 14 - John Serry, Sr. (88) concert accordionist,
organist, composer, arranger
- September 19 - Slim Dusty (76), country singer
- September 26 - Robert Palmer (54), singer; heart
attack
- September 27 - Donald O'Connor (78), actor, singer and
dancer; congestive heart failure
- October 5 - Denis Quilley (75), actor and singer; liver
cancer
- October 10 - Eugene Istomin (77), pianist; liver
cancer
- October 21 - Elliott Smith (34), singer-songwriter
- October 23 - Tony Capstick (59), comedian, actor and
musician
- October 24 - Rosie Nix Adams, singer-songwriter
- October 29 - Franco Corelli (82), operatic tenor
- November 5 - Bobby Hatfield (63), The Righteous Brothers
- November 12 - Tony Thompson (48), drummer for Chic; kidney cancer
- November 14 - Gene Anthony Ray (41), actor and
dancer
- November 15 - Dorothy Loudon (70), actress and singer
- November 17
- November 18 - Michael Kamen (55), composer, conductor and
musician; heart attack
- November 26 - Soulja Slim (26), rapper; homicide
- November 28 - Zekra (?), Iconic Tunisian Singer, homicide
- December 8 - Rubén González (84), pianist
- December 16 - Gary Stewart (58), country singer;
suicide
- December 22 - Dave Dudley (75), country singer; heart
attack
- December 27 - Vestal Goodman (74), gospel singer; influenza
complications
- December 30 - Anita Mui (40), Hong Kong pop queen
Awards
Miscellaneous
ARIA Music Awards
Country Music Association Awards
Eurovision Song Contest
Grammy Awards
Mercury Music Prize
Charts
Triple J Hottest 100
External links
For a more detailed list of hits or albums by month, see
http://www.pauseandplay.com/cdfront.htm
, Latvia
, with the
song "Everyway That I
Can". It is the last time that the contest is a
one-night event.
in Moscow.
production opened at the Broadhurst Theatre on December 4 and ran for 84
performances
on October 30.
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