January 25 – Alice in Chains release their Jar of Flies album which makes its US chart debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, becoming the first ever EP to do so.
January 29 – The Supremes' Mary Wilson is injured when her Jeep hits a freeway median and flips over just outside Los Angeles, USA. Wilson's 14-year-old son is killed in the accident.
February 7 – Blind Melon's lead singer Shannon Hoon is forced to leave the American Music Awards ceremony because of his loud and disruptive behavior. Hoon is later charged with battery, assault, resisting arrest, and destroying a police station phone.[4]
February 11 – The three surviving members of The Beatles secretly reunite to begin recording additional music for a few of John Lennon's old unfinished demos, presented to Paul McCartney by Yoko Ono, with Jeff Lynne producing. The track, "Free As A Bird", is released as a single in late 1995 as part of the exhaustive Beatles Anthology project, reaching No. 2 in the UK and No. 6 in the United States.
Frank Sinatra receives the Grammy Legend Award. Sinatra's acceptance speech is cut short. Other artists criticize the producer's decision during the show, and Billy Joel takes extra time to perform his song, The River of Dreams, noting that he is wasting valuable air time.
March 8 – Nine Inch Nails release their second studio album The Downward Spiral. It would go on to sell over 3 million copies and be credited with helping bring industrial rock music into the mainstream.
March 13 – Selena releases her final Spanish album Amor Prohibido. Its production had been delayed because of the launch of Selena's fashion clothing line and boutiques, and her "Selena Live!" tour in support of Live!.[9]
Courtney Love calls the police, fearing that her husband, Nirvana'sKurt Cobain, is suicidal. Police confiscate four guns and 25 boxes of ammo from Cobain's home.
March 30 – Pink Floyd embark on what would be their last world tour before their breakup. The record-breaking tour supports their Division Bell album, with the band playing to 5,500,000 people in 68 cities and grossing over £150,000,000 (US$186,952,500).
April 8 – The body of Kurt Cobain, lead singer of Nirvana, is found. Cobain's death, three days before, is legally declared to be suicide from a self-inflicted gunshot.
April 11 – The Offspring release Smash, which goes on to become the best selling independent album of all time and one of the most influential albums of the 90s.
Blur releases Parklife, its first album reaching No. 1 in UK, where it was certified "quadruple platinum".[11]
Adam Horovitz of the Beastie Boys is sentenced to 200 hours of community service for attacking a television cameraman during funeral services for actor River Phoenix in November 1993.
April 26 – Grace Slick pleads guilty to having pointed a shotgun at police officers on March 5.
Pearl Jam files a complaint against Ticketmaster with the U.S. Justice Department charging that the company has a monopoly on the concert ticket business.
May 27 – The Eagles launch the Hell Freezes Over tour in Burbank, California. The reunion tour is the group's first since breaking up in 1980, but much is also made of the band becoming the first to charge over $100 per ticket for arena shows.
June 7 – Grace Slick is sentenced to 200 hours of community service and three months' worth of Alcoholics Anonymous meetings after a March 5 incident with police officers.
June 9 – Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes of TLC, in a domestic dispute with partner Andre Rison, sets fire to his shoes; the fire ultimately spreads to the mansion they share and destroys it.
June 27 – Aerosmith becomes the first major band to premiere a new song on the Internet. Over 10,000 CompuServe subscribers download the free track "Head First" within its first eight days of availability.
In keeping with the country's new constitution and the promotion of its native language, Moldova adopts Limba noastră as its new national anthem, replacing the anthem of Romania which was previously in use.
Suede announce that guitarist Bernard Butler has left the band following fractious recording sessions for their album Dog Man Star.
Rich Mullins and "Leave a Legacy" contest winner, 76-year-old Miguel Garcia Massiate, travel to Bogotá, Colombia, with Compassion International. The two men visit the Ciudad Sucre Center where Mullins presented them with over $40,000 that was raised on his summer '94 Ragamuffin Band tour.
August 11 – A compact disc copy of Sting's album Ten Summoner's Tales, released the previous year, becomes the first item securely purchased over the internet; the CD is sold for $12.48 plus shipping and handling fees.
Luis Miguel release Segundo Romance, the best-selling Latin album of the 1990s by a male artist.[citation needed] Four singles from the album were released; two of which reached No. 1 on the Top Latin Songs.[citation needed] It received a Grammy Award and a Billboard Latin Music Award.[citation needed]
Bad Religion release their eighth studio album (and proper major-label debut) Stranger than Fiction. This proved to be the last to feature founding guitarist/songwriter Brett Gurewitz for seven years, until his return. Gurewitz would be replaced by former Minor Threat / Dag Nasty / Junkyard guitarist Brian Baker, who turned down a touring job for R.E.M. at this time, and eventually becomes a permanent member of Bad Religion.
September 8 – Richard A. Morse, lead male vocalist of RAM, narrowly escapes a kidnapping by armed men during the band's live performance at the Hotel Oloffson in Port-au-Prince, Haiti; the attempted kidnapping was provoked by the performance of "Fèy", a RAM single banned nationwide by the military authorities.
October 12 – Jimmy Page and Robert Plant: No Quarter (Unledded) premieres on MTV. The "unplugged" concert special featuring the two former Led Zeppelin bandmates was filmed to accompany the release of the album of the same name.
November–Decemberedit
November 20 – David Crosby undergoes a seven-hour liver transplant operation in Los Angeles.
November 30 – The Breeders guitarist Kelley Deal is arrested at her Ohio home after accepting a private-courier package containing four grams of heroin.[17]
December 2 – Warner Music Group acquires a 49 percent share of Seattle record label Sub Pop in a deal believed to be worth over $30 million.
Social Distortion manager Jim Guerinot forms the label Time Bomb Recordings in joint-venture agreement with Arista. The label actually exists mostly as an imprint for current releases from Social Distortion and solo albums by Mike Ness, along with the administration of the label's back catalog.
Austria 1 – Apr 1994, Norway 1 – Feb 1994, Poland 1 – Feb 1994, Germany 1 – Mar 1994, Republic of Ireland 1 – Mar 1994, Oscar in 1993, UK 2 – Mar 1994, Switzerland 2 – Mar 1994, Italy 3 of 1994, France 4 – Feb 1994, Holland 6 – Feb 1994, RYM 6 of 1994, Sweden 7 – Feb 1994, US BB 9 of 1994, Europe 29 of the 1990s, US BB 30 of 1994, Australia 30 of 1994, US CashBox 49 of 1994, POP 63 of 1994, AFI 68, Germany 74 of the 1990s, WXPN 837
US BB 1 of 1994, Sweden 1 – Dec 1993, Austria 1 – Feb 1994, Switzerland 1 – Jan 1994, Norway 1 – Jan 1994, Poland 1 – Dec 1993, Germany 1 – Jan 1994, Republic of Ireland 1 – Jan 1994, Australia 1 for 2 weeks Apr 1994, UK 2 – Jan 1994, Holland 3 – Jan 1994, US BB 9 of 1994, Italy 9 of 1994, Australia 10 of 1994, US CashBox 22 of 1994, POP 25 of 1994, Germany 87 of the 1990s
UK 1 – Dec 1994, US BB 1 of 1995, Holland 1 – Aug 1994, Sweden 1 – Aug 1994, Austria 1 – Oct 1994, Switzerland 1 – Oct 1994, Norway 1 – Oct 1994, Germany 1 – Jan 1995, New Zealand 1 for 6 weeks Mar 1995, POP 1 of 1995, Germany 18 of the 1990s, US BB 25 of 1995, Australia 41 of 1995, Party 54 of 2007, Scrobulate 72 of party
US BB 1 of 1994, Holland 1 – Jul 1994, Austria 1 – Aug 1994, Switzerland 1 – Jul 1994, Germany 1 – Jul 1994, New Zealand 1 for 6 weeks Jul 1994, Australia 1 for 5 weeks Nov 1994, UK 2 – Jun 1994, Norway 2 – Jul 1994, Australia 2 of 1994, US CashBox 3 of 1994, Sweden 3 – Aug 1994, US BB 7 of 1994, Poland 14 – Jul 1994, Germany 39 of the 1990s, OzNet 657
UK 1 – Feb 1994, Holland 1 – Feb 1994, Sweden 1 – Feb 1994, Austria 1 – Apr 1994, Switzerland 1 – Apr 1994, Poland 1 – Feb 1994, Germany 1 – Mar 1994, Republic of Ireland 1 – Feb 1994, New Zealand 1 for 1 weeks Apr 1994, US BB 3 of 1994, Norway 3 – Mar 1994, US CashBox 15 of 1994, Australia 15 of 1994, Germany 25 of the 1990s, POP 37 of 1994
Harry Styles, British musician, singer-songwriter, activist, (pop singer of boy band One Direction) (worked with Taylor Swift, Mabel, Stevie Nicks, Kacey Musgraves)
February 22 – Rachael Leahcar, (Italian) Australian multi lingual singer-songwriter, musician, performer, writer, runner, composer, and runner composer (The Voice (Australia)) (team and toured with Delta Goodrem)
June 27 - Malinda Kathleen Reese, American stage actress, multi-instrumentalist, and singer-songwriter, comedian, YouTuber, and activist (Founder, Leader, Creator of Twisted Translations/ Google Translate Sings / Translator Fails)
^Gerosa, Melina (February 4, 1994). "Bryan Adams performs in Vietnam". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved July 23, 2016.
^Condon, Dan (September 30, 2019). "The definitive guide to every Big Day Out line-up ever". ABC. Retrieved August 31, 2020.
^"Green Day's Dookie: 15 Years Later, Still A Genuine Punk Classic". MTV. May 13, 2009. Retrieved July 23, 2016.
^"The Rock Cemetery: Shannon Hoon (Blind Melon)". Perso.wanadoo.es. Archived from the original on April 28, 2008. Retrieved July 23, 2016.
^Lesh, Phil (2005). Searching for the Sound: My Life with the Grateful Dead. Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 0-316-00998-9.
^Maria Pia Fusco (27 February 1995). "Vincono Baldi e Bocelli". la Repubblica (in Italian). Archived from the original on 29 November 2014. Retrieved 17 August 2011.
^Stacy, Lee, ed. (2002). Mexico and the United States. New York: Marshall Cavendish. ISBN 0-7614-7402-1.
^Slick, Grace; Andrea Cagan (September 1, 1998). Somebody to Love? A Rock-and-Roll Memoir. New York, New York: Warner Books. pp. 340–3. ISBN 978-0446523028.
^(actor) Edward James Olmos, (producers) Abraham Quintanilla Jr., Claribel Cuevas, Jeffrey Coulter, José Behar, Ranal J. Edwards, (director) Cecilia Miniucchi, (writer) John Lannert (1997). Selena Remembered. Corpus Christi, Texas: EMI Latin. Event occurs at 60.
^Tucker, Ken. "Like Aversion: Madonna's shocking David Letterman interview – The pop-star's interview on the Late Show produces the show's highest ratings". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on February 1, 2014. Retrieved January 26, 2014.
^"Platinum Awards Content". Archived from the original on February 20, 2008. Retrieved December 30, 2018.
^Hayes, Cathy (January 29, 2015). "Amazing facts about the Irish dance phenomenon "Riverdance"". IrishCentral.com. Retrieved July 15, 2015.
^Leiby, Richard N. (August 9, 1994). "One Theory On Michael-Lisa: It's All A Plot". Washington Post. Seattle Times. Archived from the original on May 19, 2011. Retrieved June 2, 2008.
^"In The News". Rolling Stone. No. 694. November 3, 1994. p. 32.
^"In The News". Rolling Stone. No. 700. January 26, 1995. p. 25.
^David Nolan (August 2, 2010). Tony Wilson – You're Entitled to an Opinion But. . .: The High times and ...ISBN 9781843582229. Retrieved July 23, 2016.
^"Aphex Twin: Selected Ambient Works Volume II". Warp. Archived from the original on November 18, 2009. Retrieved February 7, 2016.
^"Autechre: Amber". Warp Records. Retrieved August 17, 2014.
^"Songs from the Year 1994". Tsort.info. Retrieved July 23, 2016.
^"Best albums of 1994". besteveralbums. 2005. Retrieved December 31, 2011.
^Barnett, Rob (October 2000). "Review of Trio by David Diamond". Retrieved March 17, 2009.
^"Celebrating Morten Lauridsen – "O Magnum Mysterium"". USC Thornton School of Music. Retrieved April 9, 2023.
^"Chaand Kaa Tukdaa - Synopsis". The Times of India. August 19, 1994. Retrieved July 2, 2020.
^"The Biggest Blockbusters Ever In Hindi Cinema". Box Office India. Archived from the original on June 30, 2013. Retrieved April 28, 2013.
^John Sundholm; Isak Thorsen; Lars Gustaf Andersson (August 31, 2012). Historical Dictionary of Scandinavian Cinema. Scarecrow Press. p. 106. ISBN 978-0-8108-5524-3.
^"Sukham Sukhakaram". Malayalachalachithram.com. Retrieved October 1, 2014.
^Russell, Mark (2014). K-Pop Now!: The Korean Music Revolution. Tuttle Publishing. p. 77. ISBN 978-1-4629-1411-1. Archived from the original on May 27, 2016. Retrieved October 3, 2016.
^Mark Russell (April 29, 2014). K-Pop Now!: The Korean Music Revolution. Tuttle Publishing. p. 94. ISBN 978-1-4629-1411-1.
^Mark Russell (April 29, 2014). K-Pop Now!: The Korean Music Revolution. Tuttle Publishing. p. 93. ISBN 978-1-4629-1411-1. Archived from the original on May 27, 2016. Retrieved November 1, 2016.
^Hwang Hyo-jin (May 1, 2012). "EXO-K: My name is 카이, 세훈" [EXO-K: My name is Kai, Sehun]. TenAsia (in Korean). Archived from the original on August 17, 2016. Retrieved July 4, 2016.
^"Phoebe Lucille Bridgers, Born 08/17/1994 in Orange County, California". California Birth Index. Retrieved October 14, 2020.
^Mark Russell (April 29, 2014). K-Pop Now!: The Korean Music Revolution. Tuttle Publishing. p. 85. ISBN 978-1-4629-1411-1.
^Olivier, Bobby (October 15, 2017). "N.J. pop star Halsey was magnetic in her largest home-state concert yet". NJ.com. Archived from the original on October 15, 2017. Retrieved October 16, 2017.
^"The birth of Chrystal Jung". California Birth Index. Archived from the original on December 2, 2013. Retrieved December 26, 2020.
^Manorama Year Book. Manorama Publishing House. 1995. p. 92.
^Talevski, Nick (2006). Knocking on Heaven's Door: Rock Obituaries. Omnibus Press. p. 464,465. ISBN 1846090911.
^John Gillespie; Anna Gillespie (1995). Notable Twentieth-century Pianists: A Bio-critical Sourcebook. Greenwood Press. p. 194. ISBN 978-0-313-29695-6.
^"Papa John Creach, A Violinist Versed In Pop, Dies at 76" Archived October 16, 2017, at the Wayback MachineNew York Times (February 23, 1994)
^Harris M. Lentz (1994). Obituaries in the Performing Arts. McFarland & Company. p. 160. ISBN 978-0-7864-0254-0.
^Czechoslovak Society of Arts and Sciences (1994). SVU Bulletin. Czechoslovak Society of Arts and Sciences. p. 15.
^"Nicolas Flagello, 66, American Composer". The New York Times. March 17, 1994.
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