Events in 2007
- Elvis Presley Enterprises announced plans for a major redevelopment of the Graceland complex, including a new visitor center, hotel, and modern multimedia exhibits.
- Keith Richards signed a deal to write his autobiography, which was later published under the title Life.
- DNA testing of people who claimed to be James Brown’s children showed that at least two of them were indeed his children.
- Lee Hazlewood, American singer, songwriter, and producer known in part for his work with Nancy Sinatra, died at the age of 78 at his home near Las Vegas after a three-year battle with kidney cancer.
- Procter & Gamble secured a license to use The Beatles' song “All You Need Is Love” in a television advertisement for Luvs diapers.
- Marilyn Manson was sued by former band member Stephen Bier, known as Madonna Wayne Gacy, who claimed that Manson owed him $20 million in profit shares. Bier also claimed that he had not been properly paid for nearly two decades with the band.
- Lily Allen was stripped of her U.S. work visa after arriving at Los Angeles airport. She was detained while police investigated an alleged assault in London.
- Pete Doherty was warned by a judge that he could face prison or community service for drug offenses.
- Ron Isley of The Isley Brothers began serving a 37-month sentence for tax evasion. A judge rejected his request for a reduced sentence due to his health problems and called him a serial tax offender.
- Amy Winehouse overdosed on a mixture of alcohol, heroin, cocaine, ecstasy and ketamine after visiting several London pubs. Her hospitalization led to the cancellation of her first U.S. tour. The singer refused her record company's request that she enter rehabilitation for alcohol abuse, which inspired her hit "Rehab". She later did enter rehab, but never remained sober for long.
- The American National Music Publishers' Association joined legal action against YouTube over claims that songwriters were not properly compensated for the use of their music on the platform.
- Amy Winehouse cancelled a series of European concerts after being admitted to University College London Hospital due to severe exhaustion. She was later discharged.
- Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon proclaimed August 9 as the official Frank Zappa Day in the city, recognizing his musical achievements and his advocacy of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.
- Jennifer Lopez won a lawsuit against her first husband, Ojani Noa, and was awarded $545,000. Lopez claimed that Noa had violated a previous legal agreement prohibiting him from disclosing private information about their relationship.
- Jurors, lawyers and Phil Spector toured his California mansion to see for themselves the site where actress Lana Clarkson had died four years earlier. Spector was on trial for her murder. On September 26, Judge Larry Paul Fidler declared a mistrial after a deadlocked jury voted 10–2 for conviction. At the second trial, Spector was convicted on April 13, 2009, and sentenced to 19 years to life.
- Anthony Wilson, the British music entrepreneur behind some of Manchester’s most successful bands, died of kidney cancer at the age of 57. He was a television presenter, co-owner of Factory Records, an artist manager, and the founder of the Haçienda and Dry Bar. In 2000, he also helped launch Music33, one of the first digital music stores.
- Emma Bunton of the Spice Girls gave birth to a son, Beau, at the Portland Hospital private hospital in London. His father was her partner Jade Jones, a former member of the boy band Damage.
- Laura Marling performed alongside Crystal Castles and Mystery Jets at the first Underage Festival in Victoria Park, London. The festival was open exclusively to attendees aged 13 to 17.
- Jon Foreman, frontman of Switchfoot, announced that the band had left Columbia Records. Switchfoot subsequently founded their own label, lowercase people records.
- “Beautiful Girls,” the debut single by 17-year-old Sean Kingston, reached No. 1 in the US. According to the source, Kingston became the first artist born in the 1990s to have a No. 1 hit.
- Amy Winehouse canceled two scheduled performances in Hamburg, where she was due to open for The Rolling Stones. She cited exhaustion as the reason; Starsailor replaced her.
- The Recording Industry Association of America honored Fats Domino with the title “American Music Legend”.
- The soundtrack to the film High School Musical 2 was released and reached number one on the US chart in its first week, selling approximately 615,000 copies. By the end of 2007, it became the second-best-selling album of the year, with nearly 3 million copies sold. Only Josh Groban's Christmas album Noël sold more.
- At the age of 31, he released his debut album I'll Stay Me. Before that, he had found success as a songwriter in Nashville, writing songs including “Good Directions” for Billy Currington and “My Honky Tonk History” for Travis Tritt.
- Sixteen of John Lennon's solo albums were made available for download through iTunes for the first time following an agreement approved by Yoko Ono. The agreement followed a long legal dispute between Apple Corps and Apple.
- Kate Nash reached No. 1 on the UK album chart with her debut studio album, Made of Bricks.
- The collaboration between producer Kleerup and singer Robyn produced the single “With Every Heartbeat,” which reached No. 1 on the UK singles chart.
- Elvis Presley posthumously reached number one on the UK album chart with the album “The King”.
- The funeral of music producer, Factory Records founder and radio presenter Tony Wilson was held at St Mary's Roman Catholic Church in Manchester. Peter Hook and Stephen Morris of Joy Division, the first group signed to Factory Records who later also performed in New Order, attended, along with Happy Mondays singer Shaun Ryder.
- Former Savage Garden singer Darren Hayes was arrested on suspicion of racially assaulting an employee of a Thai restaurant in London’s Soho. He was released on bail pending further investigation.
- Judge Rodney Melville ruled that the lawsuit filed by the family of a woman who died in a hospital after being moved to make room for Michael Jackson could not proceed in its original form. The lawsuit alleged that 73-year-old Manuela Gomez Ruiz did not receive the necessary intensive care after suffering a heart attack on the same day Jackson was admitted with flu-like symptoms during his child-abuse trial. Jackson was dismissed from the lawsuit in April 2008, and in September 2008 the family decided to voluntarily end the entire dispute with the hospital because of the stress of the lengthy legal proceedings.
- Queen guitarist Brian May received a doctorate in astrophysics from London's Imperial College, 36 years after beginning his doctoral thesis. He had interrupted his studies to pursue a music career, later completing the 48,000-word thesis, which he submitted earlier in the month, and defending it during a three-hour examination.
- Comedy writer Buddy Sheffield sued Disney, claiming that he had originally come up with the idea for the series “Hannah Montana” but was never paid for it. He claimed that in 2001 he had offered Disney Channel an idea for a series called “Rock and Roland” about a junior high school student who led a secret double life as a rock star.
- During a routine medical examination in Gainesville, Florida, Bo Diddley complained of dizziness and nausea and was admitted to a local hospital, where doctors determined that he had suffered a heart attack. He was in stable condition and was released on September 1 after recovering. Just several months earlier, he had suffered a stroke.
- Mark Lindsay of Paul Revere & the Raiders opened Mark Lindsay's Rock And Roll Cafe in his hometown of Portland, Oregon. The restaurant closed the following year.
- On the first day of the British Carling Weekend Reading Festival in Leeds and Reading, performers included Kings of Leon, Razorlight and Jimmy Eat World.
- While singing his 1968 hit “Fire” on stage in Lewes, England, Arthur Brown caught fire after the characteristic foil cap he was wearing, with a small fire in the middle, ignited.
- The compilation album “Elvis the King”, containing eighteen of Elvis Presley's greatest singles, reached number one on the UK chart.
- Kanye West reached number one on the UK singles chart with the Grammy-winning song “Stronger”.
- The Veronicas' fashion collection for the Target retail chain was launched in Australia.
- Police raiding rapper DMX's home in Arizona found 12 neglected pit bulls, the buried bodies of three other dogs and several weapons. DMX told police that he had not been on the property for at least two months.
- The soundtrack album “High School Musical 2” was at No. 1 on the US album chart. It remained at the top for four weeks, and the musical's premiere attracted 17.2 million viewers in the United States.
- The Rolling Stones concluded their two-year A Bigger Bang World Tour with the final concert at London's O2 Arena. The tour became the highest-grossing rock tour up to that time, with gross revenues of $558 million.
- Kevin Federline's lawyers asked Britney Spears to pay part of her former husband's legal costs in their divorce proceedings. According to documents filed in Los Angeles, Federline had no net income after various expenses, while Spears had an average monthly income of $737,868.
- Hilly Kristal, founder of New York punk club CBGB, died at the age of 75 from complications related to lung cancer. He is credited with discovering Patti Smith and The Ramones, and his club became an important venue for the development of punk rock. It originally opened as a venue focused on country, bluegrass and blues.
- The Police began their reunion tour at the Globe Arena in Stockholm, Sweden.
- Rapper Lil Wayne was sued by a woman for $1 million, who claimed she had been crushed during one of his concerts after a large amount of cash was thrown into the audience. Tyrique Layne, who was 17 at the time, said that she lost consciousness during the concert in Maryland in October 2006 after being trampled by the crowd and subsequently suffered memory loss and severe headaches.
- The soundtrack to the film “High School Musical 2” began a four-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard 200. It also reached No. 1 in Canada and on the compilation charts in Italy and the United Kingdom.
- The mayor of St. Louis refused to declare the day “Ike Turner Day”. Turner was performing at the Big Muddy Blues Festival in the city at the time.
- Seventeen-year-old Jamaican-American singer Sean Kingston reached number one on the UK singles chart with “Beautiful Girls”, which was also a US number-one hit. The song uses the bassline from Ben E. King’s classic hit “Stand by Me”.
- Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance married Lyn-Z, bassist of Mindless Self Indulgence, backstage at the Projekt Revolution festival featuring Linkin Park.
- Rockabilly and country singer Janis Martin died in Durham, North Carolina, at the age of 67 from cancer. She was known for her version of “Love Me to Pieces”.
- The Bob Dylan biographical film I'm Not There: Suppositions on a Film Concerning Dylan premiered at the Venice Film Festival in Italy. Directed by Todd Haynes, the film features six actors portraying different aspects or periods of Dylan's life and music, including Cate Blanchett, Richard Gere, Heath Ledger and Christian Bale. Before its wider release later in 2007, the title was shortened to I'm Not There.
- The Police played the first UK concert of their reunion tour, performing for two nights at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham, England.
- Austrian-American keyboardist Joe Zawinul, co-founder of Weather Report, died at the age of 75.
- Operatic tenor Luciano Pavarotti, a member of the vocal trio The Three Tenors, died in Modena, Italy, at the age of 71 from pancreatic cancer.
- Connie Stevens began filming Saving Grace in Missouri, her directorial debut.
- A court awarded Kevin Federline custody of his two children with Britney Spears. The judge cited, among other concerns, issues related to her use of controlled substances and alcohol.
- Laura Marling and her band performed outside the Soho Revue Bar in London because the 17-year-old singer was not allowed inside under a rule permitting entry only to people over 18. The concert was therefore performed directly on the street in front of surprised and enthusiastic fans.
- Radiohead’s official website crashed after the band announced that their album “In Rainbows” could be ordered through their own website. Fans could pre-order the digital version for any price they chose, while a special physical package costing £40 contained two CDs, two vinyl records, artwork, and booklets.
- The Spice Girls reunion concert at London’s O2 Arena sold out in 38 seconds after fans were informed that tickets had gone on sale. More than one million people applied for tickets, and three additional London dates were added because of the enormous demand.
- A judge in Los Angeles ordered Britney Spears to turn over her two young children to her former husband, Kevin Federline. Federline was granted temporary custody of Sean Preston and Jayden James. The court also ordered Spears to undergo random drug and alcohol tests twice a week as part of the ongoing custody dispute.
- The state of Connecticut proclaimed “Bruce Springsteen Day,” a decision announced by Governor Jodi Rell.
- American jazz bassist Lloyd Trotman died at the age of 84 from pneumonia. During the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, he accompanied numerous jazz and rock 'n' roll artists, including Sam Cooke, James Brown and The Everly Brothers. His bass can also be heard on Ben E. King's recording of “Stand by Me.”
- The Rolling Stones set a new record for the highest-grossing concert tour of all time. Their A Bigger Bang Tour, which ran from autumn 2005 through August 26, 2007, grossed $558,255,524 and sold 4.68 million tickets. It surpassed the previous record held by U2's Vertigo Tour, which grossed approximately $389 million.
- A federal jury in Minnesota found Jammie Thomas-Rasset liable on October 4, 2007, for willful copyright infringement involving 24 sound recordings shared through the peer-to-peer service Kazaa. The jury awarded the rights holders statutory damages of $9,250 for each recording, totaling $222,000. It was the first trial against an individual in the recording industry's campaign against illegal music sharing, which began in 2003 and involved thousands of lawsuits.
- The Rolling Stones set a new record for the total gross of a concert tour with the A Bigger Bang Tour. The tour ran from late 2005 through August 2007, with the band playing 113 concerts to more than 3.5 million people and grossing £247 million ($437 million). It surpassed U2's previous record with the Vertigo Tour, which grossed £220 million ($389 million).
- Isaac Hanson of the band Hanson underwent surgery to remove a blood clot from his lung after being diagnosed with the potentially fatal Paget-Schroetter syndrome. He was expected to make a full and rapid recovery.
- A federal jury in Minnesota found Jammie Thomas-Rasset guilty of sharing music files through the KaZaa service and ordered her to pay $220,000 in damages.
- Bruce Springsteen faced an $850,000 lawsuit from a man who claimed that the singer had withdrawn from an agreement to purchase a horse. Florida court documents named Springsteen, his wife Patti Scialfa and a horse named Pavarotti. The man claimed that the couple had withdrawn from a $650,000 horse purchase agreement.
- Foo Fighters reached No. 1 on the UK album chart with their sixth studio album Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace.
- Reba McEntire reached No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard 200 with her twenty-seventh studio album Reba: Duets.
- Rapper Soulja Boy Tell 'Em returned to No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with “Crank That (Soulja Boy)” and began a five-week run at the top.
- Sugababes reached No. 1 on the UK singles chart with “About You Now,” beginning a four-week run at the top.
- Bruce Springsteen's album “Magic” reached No. 1 on the UK Albums Chart. It was his 15th studio album and his seventh No. 1 album in the UK; the album also reached No. 1 in the US and other countries. The songs “Radio Nowhere” and “Girls in Their Summer Clothes” later won a combined three Grammy Awards.
- Rascal Flatts reached No. 1 on the US Billboard 200 albums chart with their album Still Feels Good. It was their fifth studio album and their third album to reach the top of the US chart.
- Arctic Monkeys were named the world's best band at the Q Awards in London. The best album award went to Amy Winehouse for Back to Black, Muse won Best Live Act, and Paul McCartney received the Icon of the Year award. Damon Albarn received the Inspiration award, Billy Bragg the Classic Songwriter award, and Johnny Marr the Lifetime Achievement award. Tony Wilson was posthumously named a Q Hero.
- George Harrison's solo catalogue made its digital debut on iTunes, making him the last of the four Beatles to have his individual catalogue released digitally. Nine solo albums appeared initially, while the Beatles' group recordings remained unavailable online until 2010.
- The Imagine Peace Tower was officially unveiled in Kollafjörður Bay near Reykjavík, Iceland, on what would have been John Lennon's 67th birthday. The memorial, created by Yoko Ono, consists of a tall tower of light projected from a white stone monument bearing the words "Imagine Peace" in 24 languages.
- Josh Groban released his Christmas-themed fourth studio album "Noël". The album sold over 3.5 million copies in 2007 alone and topped the national charts in Canada and the US, becoming the best-selling album of 2007 and one of the most successful Christmas albums of all time.
- LeAnn Rimes released her ninth studio album "Family", featuring the successful singles "Nothin' Better to Do" and "What I Cannot Change".
- Radiohead independently released their seventh studio album, In Rainbows, offering it as a download at a price listeners could choose themselves. Most people paid nothing for the download, yet the album achieved major commercial success and reached number one in the charts in the UK, U.S., France, Canada and Ireland, helped in part by pre-orders of special “discbox” editions. The album surpassed the commercial performance of its predecessor, Hail to the Thief.
- Sting topped a Blender magazine poll of the worst lyricists. The criticism included references to Vladimir Nabokov in The Police song “Don't Stand So Close to Me” and other literary allusions. Neil Peart of Rush came second and Scott Stapp of Creed third.
- The album Magic reached number one on the UK chart. It was Bruce Springsteen's seventh album to top the UK chart.
- Country group Rascal Flatts’ album Still Feels Good reached number one on the US Billboard 200.