Events
January
- 29 January
- Face to Face announce
that they will reunite for select shows in the US and
internationally.
- Rage Against the
Machine headline the Big Day Out
festivals in Australia and New Zealand, their first shows outside
the United States since reforming, and their first Australian shows
in 12 years.
February
March
April
- 1 April - Scott
Weiland's departure from rock band Velvet Revolver becomes official. Weiland's
reunion with his former band, Stone
Temple Pilots, and tensions between Weiland and the rest of
Velvet Revolver, led to his departure.
- 2 April - Madonna's new single, "4 Minutes", from her album
Hard Candy,
becomes her 37th top 10 single in the United States, making her the
artist with the most top 10 hit singles.
- 5 April - The reunited
Face to Face perform
together for the first time in four-and-a-half-years at The
Bamboozle Left in Irvine, California
, USA.
- 7 April - The newly
reunited Stone Temple Pilots
hold a press conference announcing a 65-date reunion tour and play
for the first time since 2002 in Los Angeles, California
, USA.
- 8 April - Japanese superstar Ayumi Hamasaki celebrates the beginning of
her 10th year in the music industry.
- 15 April - Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa officially
proclaims Mariah Carey Day in Los Angeles, California,
USA.
- 19 April - With her single, "I'm a Fire", Donna
Summer becomes the first artist to have a song reach number one
on the Billboard
Hot Dance Club Play chart in
every decade since the chart's inception in 1974.
- 19—20 April - The Festival Imperial
2008 is held in Autódromo La Guácima, Alajuela
, Costa
Rica
.
- 25—27 April - The Coachella Valley
Music and Arts Festival is held in Indio, California
, USA.
- 26 April - The MTV Australia Awards 2008 take
place in Sydney, Australia.
- 27 April - Madonna releases her
eleventh studio album Hard Candy which debuts at
#1 on the Billboard 200, making her
the female artist with second most number-one albums (behind
Barbra Streisand). The album
reaches number one in 37 countries.
May
- 3 May - Girls Aloud begin their Tangled Up Tour in Belfast
, UK.
- 3–4 May - The sixth
annual The Bamboozle festival is held
at the Meadowlands Sports Complex
, East Rutherford, New Jersey
, USA.
- 10–11 May - The Give It A
Name 2008 festival is held at Earls
Court
, London, UK.
- 16 May - The
Offspring begin the first leg of their Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace
Tour to promote their new album, Rise and Fall, Rage and
Grace.
- 17 May - The sixteenth
annual KROQ Weenie Roast is held at the Verizon
Wireless Amphitheatre
, Irvine, California, USA.
- 21 May - David Cook defeats David Archuleta to win season 7 of American Idol,
with the contest decided
by 97 million votes, a record for the show.
- 24 May – 43 countries
competed in the 2008
Eurovision Song Contest final in Belgrade
, Serbia
, including
newcomers San
Marino
and Azerbaijan
. The contest was won by Russia, with
Believe by Dima Bilan.
- 24–26 May - The Sasquatch! Music Festival is held over
Memorial Day weekend at The Gorge
Amphitheatre
in central Washington
, USA.
- 30 May–1 June
June
- 1 June - Westlife play their 10th anniversary concert at
Europe's fourth biggest stadium, Croke Park
, in Dublin
, Ireland
.
- 6-7
June - Foo Fighters play their
biggest UK stadium shows at Wembley Stadium
in London.
- 6-8 June - The
2008 Wakarusa
Music and Camping Festival is held at Clinton
State Park
near Lawrence, Kansas
, USA.
- 10 June - Lil
Wayne (rapper) released his sixth album Tha Carter III, which sold 1 million copies
in its debut week.
- 12 – 15 June - The 2008 Bonnaroo Music Festival is
held in Manchester,
Tennessee
, USA.
- 13 – 15 June
- 14 June - After a
45-year wait, Ukrainian fans of The Beatles finally get to see former Beatle
Paul McCartney
perform on their soil, in Kiev
.
- 17 June - George Michael begins the American leg of his
25 Live tour in San Diego,
California
, USA, his first U.S. tour for 17 years.
- 20 June - My Bloody Valentine play their
first reunion show at the Roundhouse
, London, UK.
- 27 June - The
Nelson Mandela 90th
Birthday Tribute charity concert takes place in Hyde
Park
in London, in support of Mandela's 46664 Aids Foundation.
- 27 –
29 June - Glastonbury Festival
is held at Worthy Farm, Somerset
, UK.
- 29 June
July
August
September
- 1 September - Verity and her band The Shades releases her debut album
Journey, pre-bought by 2000
people in 25 countries.
- 2 September - New Kids On The Block release their
album The Block, their debut studio album
in 15 years.
- 6 September - Six members of
The Specials re-unite at the Bestival as a 'Surprise Act'. They use the name
"Terry Hall and Friends", because Jerry
Dammers, who owns the band's name, did not participate.
- 7 September - The
2008 MTV Video Music
Awards event took place at Paramount Studios, Hollywood
also being called Britney Spears' night who won the
awards for Video Of The Year,
Best Pop Video and Best Female Video for Piece of Me.
- 9 September
- 10 September - The 22nd Annual ARIA Music Awards are
held in Sydney, Australia, recognizing Australian music in 2008.
Dance-punk group The Presets win Album
of the Year.
- 12 September - Season 4 of the
Finnish talent contest, Idols, begins.
- 15 September - Queen + Paul Rodgers release their
studio album The Cosmos
Rocks, the first Queen album with a lead singer other than
late Freddie Mercury.
- 18 September - Soilwork, Hires Peter
Wichers
- 19 September -
Travis Barker and Adam Goldstein (DJ AM) survive a plane
crash
that claims four lives.
- 20 September - Pink scores her first solo number-one hit in
her native USA, with "So
What".
- 21 September - At the Gates play their final Show.
- 23 September - Demi Lovato released her first studio album, called Don't Forget
- 24 September - Within Temptation release Black Symphony DVD, featuring the Metropole Orchestra and guest
musicians.
- 25 September -
Former Beatle Paul McCartney performs
at Tel
Aviv
park, his first performance in Israel since
The Beatles were banned from the country
in 1965.
- 29 September - Former American Idol finalist and Academy Award winning actress Jennifer Hudson releases her debut
album.
- 30 September
October
- October 2 - Oasis release thier final
studio album entitled Dig Out Your
Soul, which instantly tops the album charts in the uk.
- 8 October - Beyoncé releases first two singles off I Am... Sasha Fierce titled "If I Were a Boy" and "Single Ladies ".
- 10 October - Ringo Starr announced on his website that after
the 20th, October he doesn't want anymore fan mail.
- 14 October - Sean Combs officially sets the record straight on
his platinum-selling girl group Danity
Kane. Both Aubrey O'Day and
D. Woods are kicked
out of the band in the live finale, leaving the remaining members-
Dawn Richards, Shannon Bex and Aundrea Fimbres to ponder the group's future
as a threesome.
- 16 October - Britney Spears sets a new record for the
biggest jump to number one on the Billboard Hot 100, rising from number 96
to number one in just one week, with her single "Womanizer". It is Spears' first American
number one since her debut single "...Baby One More Time". It also
garnered first-week download sales of 286,000, the biggest
opening-week tally by a female artist.
- 18 October - Rihanna scores her fifth number one song on the
Billboard Hot 100 (as a featured
artist on T.I.'s "Live Your Life", which followed "SOS", "Umbrella", "Take a Bow", and "Disturbia"), becoming the leading solo
female artist with the most number ones to have charted in this decade Until Beyoncé Knowles break her reccord (as a
solo artist).
- 22 October
November
December
- December - Beyoncé makes Billboard
history along with rapper T.I. by both having
two singles simultaneously in the top 4 spots on the Billboard Hot 100 chart; with Beyoncé
having "If I Were a Boy" at #3 and
"Single Ladies " at
#2, and T.I. with "Whatever You
Like" at #4 and "Live Your Life
(ft. Rihanna)" at #1.
- December 2 - Britney Spears releases Circus, her highly
anticipated sixth studio album, on her birthday. Circus
sells over 505,000 copies in its first week, becoming Spears' fifth
number one album. Spears also becomes the only artist in music
history to have four albums (which is the most number of albums) to
have a first-week sales of at least 500,000 units, with the albums
Oops!...I Did It
Again, Britney,
In The Zone and
Circus.
- 9 December -
Damon Albarn and Graham Coxon say that Blur will reunite for a concert at Hyde
Park on July 3, 2009. Tickets for the concert
sell out within two minutes of release, and Blur announce another date on July 2, 2009.
- 13 December - Joel Feldman and
Shayna Cohen rewrite the American classic "Baby, It's Cold Outside", making it
more suitable for the 21st century.
- 20 December - Britney Spears scores her first top ten debut
on the Billboard Hot 100 with
"Circus" selling 212,000 copies only
with download sales. With "Womanizer" at #10, she also has two singles
in the top ten for the first time in her career.
- 21 December - Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" becomes the
first song to simultaneously reach the first and second positions
in the UK Singles Chart since 1957
with Alexandra Burke's and Jeff Buckley's covers.
- 22 December - Live Nation announced Madonna Sticky & Sweet Tour is the
highest-grossing tour for solo artist with US$280 million in ticket
sales and 2,350,282 fans attending the 58 shows during the 3 leg
tour across Europe and the Americas.
Bands formed
Bands reformed
Returning performers
Bands disbanded
Bands on hiatus
Albums released
Best-selling albums globally & United States
The best-selling records in 2008 according to
IFPI:
The best-selling album in United States :
Hit records
United States
Billboard Hot 100 #1 Hits:
Singles which have ranked within Top 20 within the
Billboard Hot 100 Hits
United Kingdom
UK Official Top 75 #1 Hits
UK Official Top 75 Hits – Singles which have ranked within
Top 20
Australia
Australia Official Top 50 #1 Hits
Australia Official Top 50 Hits – Singles which have ranked
within Top 20
Classical music
Instrumental music
- Martin Bresnick - Joaquin is
Dreaming
- Lorenzo Ferrero
- Freedom Variations
- 2 Agosto. Prima variazione (from Quatro
variazioni su un tema di Banchieri)
- Tourists and Oracles
Opera
Other
Deaths
January
- January 3 - Henri Chopin, 85, French sound poet
- January 10 - Dave Day, 66 (heart attack), American guitarist (The Monks)
- January 11 - Pete Candoli, 84 (prostate cancer), American jazz
trumpeter
- January 13 - Sergejus Larinas, 51, Russian tenor
- January 17 - Madeleine Michaud, 105, French librettist
- January 19
- January 20 - Tommy McQuater, 93, British jazz
trumpeter
- January 25 - Evelyn Barbirolli, 97, British oboist
- January 30 - Miles Kington, 66, British bassist
February
- February 3 - Jackie Orszaczky, 60, Hungarian jazz
bass-guitarist and composer
- February 4 - Tata Güines, 77, Cuban percussionist and
composer
- February 10
- February 13 - Henri Salvador, 90 (ruptured aneurysm),
French singer
- February 15 - Willie P. Bennett, 56 (heart
attack), Canadian folk singer-songwriter
- February 19
- February 21 - Joe Gibbs, 65 (heart attack),
Jamaican record producer
- February 24 - Larry Norman, 60, American musician
- February 25 - Stephen "Static Major" Garrett, 33, American
rapper
- February 26 - Buddy Miles, 60, American drummer (Jimi
Hendrix's Band of Gypsys)
- February 27
- February 28
March
- March 2 - Jeff
Healey, 41 (cancer), Canadian blues guitarist
- March 3
- March 4 - Leonard Rosenman, 83 (heart attack), American composer
- March 12 - Alun Hoddinott, 78, British composer
- March 13 - Bill Bolick, 90, country musician (The Blue Sky Boys)
- March 15 - Mikey
Dread, 53 (brain tumor), Jamaican
reggae musician and broadcaster
- March 16
- March 21
- March 22 - Cachao López, 89 (kidney failure), Cuban
bassist
- March 23 - Neil Aspinall, 66 (lung cancer), British music
industry executive
- March 29 - Allan Ganley, 77, British jazz drummer
- March 30 - Sean
LeVert, 39, American vocalist (LeVert)
April
- April 6 - Larry Brown, 63 (respiratory
condition), American vocalist (Harold Melvin & The Blue
Notes)
- April 15
- April 17 - Danny Federici, 58 (melanoma), American rock multi-instrumentalist
(E Street Band)
- April 20
- April 22 - Paul Davis, American
singer-songwriter
- April 24
- April 25 - Humphrey Lyttelton, 86, British jazz
musician
- April 26 - Henry
Brant, 94, American composer
- April 27 - Frances Yeend, 95, American soprano
- April 29 - Micky Waller, 66, British drummer
May
- May 4 - Kishan
Maharaj, 84, Indian tabla player
- May 5 - Jerry
Wallace, 79 (congestive
heart failure), American country music singer
- May 6 - Franz
Jackson, 95, American jazz saxophonist
- May 8
- May 10 - Leyla
Gencer, 79, Turkish soprano
- May 11
- May 15
- May 17 - Wilfrid Mellers, 94, British musicologist and composer
- May 21 - Siegmund Nissel, 86, Austrian violinist
- May 23 - Utah
Phillips, 73 (heart disease), American folk singer-songwriter
- May 24 - Jimmy
McGriff, 72 (multiple
sclerosis), American jazz organist
- May 26 - Earle
Hagen, 88, American composer
- May 28 - Danny
Moss, 80, British jazz saxophonist
- May 30
June
- June 1 - Al
Jones, 62, British folk musician
- June 2 - Bo
Diddley, 79 (heart failure), American rock and roll and blues
singer, songwriter and guitarist
- June 4 - Bill
Finegan, 91, American jazz pianist and arranger
- June 8 - Šaban Bajramović, 72 (heart attack), Serbian Roma musician
- June 12 - Danny Davis, 83 (heart
attack), American band leader
- June 14
- June 16 - Margaret Kitchin, 94, Swiss pianist
- June 17 - Cyd
Charisse, 86 (heart attack), American dancer and actress
- June 24 - Ira
Tucker, 83 (cardiovascular
disease), American gospel singer
(The Dixie Hummingbirds)
- June 27
- June 30 - Ángel Tavira, 83 (kidney complications),
Mexican violinist and composer
July
- July 1 - Mel
Galley, 60 (esophagus cancer),
British guitarist (Whitesnake, Trapeze, Finders
Keepers and Phenomena)
- July 2 - Natasha Shneider, 52 (cancer), Russian
keyboardist and vocalist
- July 3 - Oliver
Schroer, 52 (leukemia), Canadian
fiddler and composer
- July 6 - Bobby Durham, 71, American jazz
drummer
- July 7 - Hugh
Mendl, 88, British record producer
- July 13 - Gerald Wiggins, 86, American jazz
pianist
- July 16 - Jo
Stafford, 90 (congestive
heart failure), American singer
- July 18
- July 20 - Artie
Traum, 65, American folk musician and
composer
- July 22 - Joe
Beck, 62 (lung cancer), American
jazz guitarist
- July 24 - Norman Dello Joio, 95, American
composer
- July 25
- July 27 - Horst
Stein, 80, German conductor
- July 28 - Wendo
Kolosoy, 83, Congolese rumba musician
- July 31 - Lee
Young, 94, American jazz drummer and singer
August
- August 3
- August 4 - Nicola Rescigno, 92, Italian American conductor
- August 5
- August 10
- August 11 - Don
Helms, 81, American steel guitarist
- August 12 - Donald Erb, 81, American composer
- August 14 - Lita
Roza, 82, British singer
- August 15 - Jerry Wexler, 91, American producer
- August 16
- August 18 - Pervis Jackson, 70, American R&B singer
(The Spinners)
- August 19 - LeRoi Moore, 46, American saxophonist (Dave Matthews Band)
- August 20 - Phil
Guy, 68, American blues guitarist
- August 21
- August 25 - Pehr Henrik Nordgren, 64, Finnish
composer
- August 31 - Jerry Reed, 71, American country musician
September
- September 2 - Arne Domnérus, 83, Swedish jazz
saxophonist
- September 6 - Nicole Lai, 34 (skin cancer), Singaporean
singr
- September 7
- September 8
- September 10 - Vernon Handley, 77, British conductor
- September 12
- September 15 - Richard Wright, 65, British
keyboardist (Pink Floyd)
- September 16
- September 18
- September 19
- Earl Palmer, 84, American drummer,
member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
- Dick Sudhalter, 70, American jazz
trumpeter and critic
- September 20 - Nappy Brown, 78, American blues singer
- September 22 - Connie Haines, 87, American singer
- September 24 - Vice Vukov, 72, Croatian singer
- September 25 - Horaţiu Rădulescu, 66, Romanian
composer
- September 26
October
- October 1 - Nick Reynolds, 75, American folk musician
- October 3 - Johnny
"J", 39, American songwriter, music producer and rapper
- October 4
- October 9 - Gidget Gein, 39, American bassist (Marilyn Manson)
- October 10
- October 11
- October 13 - Gus Chambers, 52, British vocalist
- October 15 - Frankie Venom, 51,
Canadian vocalist (Teenage
Head)
- October 17 - Levi Stubbs, 72, American vocalist (The Four Tops)
- October 18
- October 24 - Merl Saunders, 74, American musician
- October 27 - Ray
Ellis, 85, American musician
- October 29 - Mike Baker, 45, American singer
(Shadow Gallery)
- October 31 - Frank Navetta, 46,
American punk rock guitarist (Descendents)
November
- November 1
- November 4 - Byron Lee, 73, Jamaican musician
- November 7 - Jody Reynolds, 75, American singer
- November 10 - Miriam Makeba, 76, South African singer
- November 12 - Mitch Mitchell, 61, British drummer (The Jimi Hendrix
Experience)
- November 22 - MC
Breed, 37, American Rapper
- November 23 - Richard Hickox, 60, British conductor
- November 24
- November 26 - Pekka Pohjola, 56, Finnish composer
- November 30 - Munetaka Higuchi, 49, Japanese drummer
(Loudness)
December
- December 2 - Odetta, 77, American folk
musician
- December 9
- December 14 - Jay E. Welch,
American Musician
- December 15 - Davey Graham, 68, British guitarist
- December 17
- December 25
- December 27 - Roque Cordero, 91, composer
- December 28 - Vincent Ford, 68, Jamaican reggae
songwriter
- December 29 - Freddie Hubbard, 70, American jazz
trumpeter
See also
References
- Official Grammy site
- http://www.langerado.com/home2.php
- http://www.wakarusa.com/2008/lineup.asp?y=2008
- http://www.bonnaroo.com/schedule/
-
http://www.isleofwightfestival.com/isle-of-wight-festival-2008.aspx
- http://www.10klf.com/index2008.php
- http://www.thesuburbs.org.uk/news/Reunion_DVD_Looks_Likely
-
http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003874105
- Paine, Andre. "Blur Reuniting, Unveils London Show Plans".
billboard.com. December 9, 2008.
-
http://dogsdieinhotcarsalbum2.blogspot.com/2008/04/about-project-2.html
- http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7710458.stm
-
http://www.derryjournal.com/northern/That-Petrol-Emotion-reform-for.4370560.jp
- "Junior Senior opløst" en: "Junior Senior
disbanded". Gaffa.
- Alternative Press: News: Life in Your Way break up, plan
final tour
- IFPI - 50 Top Selling Albums 2008
in Los Angeles, California
.
in southern Florida.
.
, USA.
Winter Music
Conference.
, Portugal,
continuing on 5–6 June.
, New York, USA.
, Newport, Isle of Wight
, UK.
, UK.
in Milton
Keynes
, UK.
.
, Florida
.
takes place in Denmark.
, USA.
festival
takes place in Belgium.
takes place in Ottawa
,
Canada.
took place in Gdynia
,
Poland.
, in Novi
Sad
, Serbia
, UK.
, Ireland
, USA.
airfield,
Kinross
, Scotland.
and London
dates for
Neverender.
, Hungary.
with
artists such as Sean Paul, Timbaland and The
Prodigy performing.
performing the entirety of their 1999 album
The
Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner, that was
filmed for DVD and web release by MySpace in
benefit for Operation Smile
in Camden, London.
is cancelled due his health
problems.
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