The Current

Great Music Lives Here ®
Listener-Supported Music
Donate Now

Today in Music History: Frank Sinatra performed his final concert

Frank Sinatra at Liederkranz Hall, New York, circa 1947.
Frank Sinatra at Liederkranz Hall, New York, circa 1947.William P. Gottlieb Collection, Library of Congress

February 25, 2016

History Highlight:

Today in 1995, at a private party for 1,200 select guests on the closing night of the Frank Sinatra Desert Classic golf tournament, Frank Sinatra sang before a live audience for the very last time. His closing song was "The Best is Yet to Come". He is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, having sold more than 150 million records worldwide.

Also, Today In:

1957 - Buddy Holly and The Crickets taped "That'll Be The Day" at their first session with producer Norman Petty at his studio in the eastern New Mexico town of Clovis. It would become Holly's biggest hit, rising to No. 2 on the singles chart.

1967 - The Spencer Davis Group peaked at number seven on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart with "Gimme Some Lovin'" which was their first top ten single in the U.S.

1972 - Led Zeppelin appeared in front of more than 25,000 fans at the Western Springs Stadium in Auckland, New Zealand, the group's first ever gig in New Zealand (and the largest crowd ever to attend a concert on the island). News reviews the next day reported the band could be heard more than five miles from the stadium.

1980 - Bob Seger released his eleventh studio album Against the Wind which was his third album with The Silver Bullet Band. The album went on to reach number one on the Billboard 200 Album Chart and sell five million copies in the U.S.

1984 - "Jump" by Van Halen started a five-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart.

1985 - U2 launched their first full-scale arena tour of North America, starting at the Dallas Reunion Arena in Texas.

1998 - Bob Dylan won three Grammys, including one for Best Album for Time Out Of Mind. During Dylan's performance of the song "Love Sick," Michael Portnoy, hired as a background dancer, ripped his shirt off and jumped in among the band, revealing the words "Soy Bomb" painted on his chest.

2007 - Kaiser Chiefs went to No. 1 on the U.K. singles chart with "Ruby", taken from their second album, Yours Truly, Angry Mob.

2009 - At a ceremony at the White House, President Barack Obama honored Stevie Wonder, his musical hero, with America's highest award for pop music, the Library of Congress' Gershwin Prize.

Birthdays:

George Harrison was born today in 1943.

Stewart Wood of the Bay City Rollers is 59.

Mike Peters of The Alarm is 57.

Highlights for Today in Music History are gathered from This Day in Music, Paul Shaffer's Day in Rock, and Wikipedia.