On this day in 2009, friends and family of Michael Jackson paid their last respects to the performer at a star-studded funeral, held in Los Angeles. Elizabeth Taylor, Quincy Jones, Macaulay Culkin, Berry Gordy, and Lisa Marie Presley were among the 200 invited guests, while the singer’s famous family arrived in a motorcade of 31 vehicles. Jackson’s brothers – Randy, Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, and Marlon – acted as pallbearers, carrying the artist’s gold-plated coffin. An estimated 2.5 billion global viewers tuned into the funeral’s live broadcast, while public screenings were held in 37 movie theaters around the world. Jackson, who was laid to rest at Glendale’s Forrest Lawn Cemetary, died on June 25th.

In 2017, Walter Becker, the co-founder and guitarist of Steely Dan, died at the age of 67. The highly influential band first caught fans’ ears in 1972 with Can’t Buy a Thrill. From there, they released eight albums, including best-selling titles Pretzel Logic (1974), Aja (1977), and the Grammy-winning Two Against Nature (2000), plus such Top 10 hits as “Do It Again,” “Rikki Don’t Lose that Number,” and “Hey Nineteen.” During his lengthy career, Becker also released two solo albums and produced records for the likes of Rickie Lee Jones, China Crisis, and Michael Franks.

In 1982, the three-day US Festival kicked off in San Bernardino, CA. Among the weekend’s performers were Tom Petty, Fleetwood Mac, The Police, The Cars, the B-52’s, and the Talking Heads. The event was bankrolled by Apple founder Steve Wozniak, who hoped to encourage more community events, while pairing state-of-the-art technology with live music.

In 1983, UB40 scored their first No.1 single in the UK with “Red Red Wine.” The song, which appeared on their fourth studio album, Labour of Love, was a cover of the 1968 Neil Diamond hit. The song would be re-released in the US in 1988, where it also topped the pop charts.