Events in 2006
- Arthur Lee, singer and guitarist of the psychedelic rock group Love, died in Memphis at the age of 61 after battling acute myeloid leukemia.
- John Locke, keyboardist with Spirit and Nazareth, died in Ojai, California, at the age of 62 from cancer.
- Shakira and Wyclef Jean began a four-week run at No. 1 on the UK singles chart with “Hips Don't Lie.” The song reached No. 1 in 18 countries.
- Janet Jackson appeared on the cover of Vibe magazine wearing only bikini bottoms and a necklace made of large shells. She had lost a significant amount of weight shortly beforehand.
- Travis Barker of Blink-182 filed for divorce from his former beauty queen wife, Shanna Moakler.
- Christina Aguilera released her first album after a four-year break, “Back To Basics”. The album reached No. 1 on the chart and was her first album to top the chart since her 1999 debut.
- American R&B singer Barbara George, who reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “I Know (You Don't Love Me No More)” in 1961, died at the age of 63 in Chauvin, Louisiana, from a lung infection related to liver disease and hepatitis C. Although two more of her songs reached the Hot 100 the following year, she never repeated the success of her first hit and largely withdrew from the music industry in the early 1980s.
- American entertainer and talk-show host Mike Douglas died suddenly in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. He hosted The Mike Douglas Show from 1965 to 1981 and had the 1966 hit “The Men In My Little Girl's Life,” which reached No. 6 on the Billboard chart.
- She reached No. 1 on the U.S. album chart with her debut solo album “LeToya.”
- She released her debut album Memories Are Made of This, featuring songs associated with her father Dean Martin as well as Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. The album was produced by her husband John Griffeth and spent 40 weeks in the iTunes Top 10 during 2006 and 2007.
- Jerry Schilling published the book Me and a Guy Named Elvis: My Lifelong Friendship with Elvis Presley about his lifelong friendship with Elvis Presley.
- American filmmaker Adam Muskiewicz launched the website elviswanted.com as part of a documentary investigating the myth that Elvis Presley is still alive, offering a $3 million reward to anyone who could find Elvis alive. The film was scheduled for release in August 2007 to mark the 30th anniversary of Presley's death.
- Justin Hawkins, singer with The Darkness, entered the Priory rehabilitation clinic because of exhaustion after three years of nonstop work.
- Pete Doherty, frontman of Babyshambles, appeared before Thames Magistrates' Court in London on seven charges of drug possession.
- Drake made his professional debut with a thirty-minute performance at Kool Haus in Toronto, opening for Ice Cube. He earned $100 for it.
- The 22nd edition of the US Now! series, “Now That’s What I Call Music! 7”, reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200. The compilation album was released by Sony BMG and contained songs by various artists, including Rihanna, Sean Paul, Nickelback, Keith Urban and Beyoncé.
- The Rolling Stones played the first of two concerts at Twickenham Stadium as part of the A Bigger Bang tour. Feeder and The Charlatans also performed.
- German prosecutors announced that they had decided not to open an investigation into Madonna after she performed a controversial mock crucifixion scene during a concert on August 20.
- A man surfing the internet in America helped catch three men who broke into a shop in Liverpool, England. He was watching a live internet feed from Mathew Street and the nearby Beatles festival when he saw men smashing the shop window and climbing inside. He called Merseyside Police, who arrested the offenders.
- Bruce Gary, American musician, producer, and drummer for The Knack, died at the age of 55 in Tarzana, California, from non-Hodgkin lymphoma. He was best known as the drummer of The Knack on their multimillion-selling hit “My Sharona”. He was also a sought-after session musician and recorded or performed with George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Sheryl Crow, Rod Stewart, and Jack Bruce.
- Canadian composer John Weinzweig died at the age of 93.
- Representatives for Linda Ronstadt announced the cancellation of all her concerts through the end of the year while she recovered from planned surgery. They stated that it was not an emergency procedure.
- Deana Martin, daughter of Dean Martin, released her first album “Memories Are Made of This”. The collection included her versions of hits by her father as well as songs by Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr.
- Franz Ferdinand, Kaiser Chiefs, Fall Out Boy, Panic at the Disco and The Subways performed on the first day of the three-day Reading Festival in Leeds and Reading, England.
- Christina Aguilera scored her first No. 1 album in the UK with her fifth studio album “Back to Basics”.
- Taylor Hicks's song “Do I Make You Proud?” dropped out of the Billboard Hot 100 after only eight weeks, setting a new record as the shortest chart run for a song that had reached No. 1. By comparison, Fergie's “London Bridge” was No. 1 in 2006 and had the second-shortest chart run, at 21 weeks.
- The television special “Barry Manilow: Music and Passion” won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program.
- The Rolling Stones performed at Don Valley Stadium in Sheffield, England, as part of their “A Bigger Bang” world tour. The legendary rock band played on a notoriously rainy night, but the wet weather did not reduce the energy of the crowd on the stadium floor.
- Barry Manilow underwent surgery to repair torn cartilage in both hips and faced a six- to eight-week recovery. He spent the first few days using a wheelchair before getting back on his feet and making a full return to the stage later that October.
- KISS bassist Gene Simmons took his stage name from rockabilly singer Jumpin' Gene Simmons, who died at the age of 69 after a long illness.
- Canadian-American actor and occasional singer Glenn Ford died at the age of 90.
- Jumpin' Gene Simmons, American rockabilly singer and songwriter, died after a long illness at the age of 69. He became known especially for his version of the song "Haunted House", which reached No. 11 in the US in 1964. KISS bassist Gene Simmons, born Chaim Witz, chose his stage name in his honor.
- The album "Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band" was voted by the British public as the best album ever to reach No. 1 in a poll held to mark the 50th anniversary of the UK album chart. The Beatles also had "Revolver" at No. 6, "Abbey Road" at No. 8, and "The Beatles" ("White Album") at No. 10 among the top ten.
- The Times published an article about rock stars' demands while on tour. Ozzy Osbourne required a doctor specializing in the eyes, ears, nose and throat at every venue. The Beach Boys required a licensed masseur, Meat Loaf a mask and a small oxygen tank, David Bowie a dressing-room temperature between 14 and 18°C, Paul McCartney a large arrangement of Casablanca white lilies, and Mick Jagger a reading device containing the lyrics to all the songs that also reminded him of the name of the city where they were performing.
- Producer Phil Spector, 65, who was awaiting trial for the murder of actress Lana Clarkson, married his fourth wife, 26-year-old Rachelle Marie Short. The small ceremony took place in the entrance hall of his mansion in Alhambra, California, exactly where Clarkson had been fatally shot three years earlier. The couple remained together for just over two and a half years before Spector was convicted of murder and sentenced to 19 years to life. In 2016, he filed for divorce from prison, and the marriage was officially dissolved in 2018. Spector died on January 16, 2021, at the age of 81.
- Ronald Isley, frontman of The Isley Brothers, was sentenced to 37 months in prison for tax evasion against the federal government. The 65-year-old singer was found guilty on five counts of tax evasion and one count of willfully failing to file a tax return concerning income worth millions of dollars.