William Grant Still

1980-1989

1980

The Black Entertainment Network (BET) is established in Washington, D.C.

1981

A Bayou Legend, by William Grant Still, produced for PBS.

Songs of Zion, a collection of hymns, spirituals, and gospel songs, issued as a supplement to the official hymnal of the United Methodist Church.

Mary Lou Williams dies in Durham, North Carolina.

Scholar Samuel Floyd Jr. (1937- ) publishes An Anthology of the Music of Black American Composers.

1982

Eileen Southern publishes the Biographical Dictionary of Afro-American and African Musicians (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1982).

Michael Jackson releases Thriller

1983

Eubie Blake dies in New York City.

Television program Motown 25-- Yesterday, Today, and Forever" is broadcast by NBC.

1984

Premiere of William Grant Still's Minette Fontaine given by the Baton Rouge Opera Company.

Wynton Marsalis (1961- ) wins Grammy Awards in both the jazz and classical categories, the first musician to do so.

Count Basie dies in Hollywood, Florida.

1985

Leontyne Price gives her farewell performance at the Metropolitan Opera in Verdi's Aida

1987

Aretha Franklin is the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.