Musical milestones
Gaurav & Saurabh tune into high and low notes of 2006

Kelly Clarkson, Tim McGraw and Green Day are the top music winners at the 32^nd People’s Choice Awards.

February
Rock stars Bono and Bob Geldof are nominated for the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize.

Kaiser Chiefs take home three trophies at the Brit Awards, including British live act, British group and British rock act.

James Yancey, the man known to the hip-hop world as Jay Dee and J Dilla, passed away on February 10 in Los Angeles.

March
Prince achieves his first career No. 1 debut on The Billboard 200 with his new NPG Music/Universal album, 3121.

Replacement members Paul Westerberg, Tommy Stinson and Chris Mars reunite to record two new songs for the Rhino retrospective Don’t You Know Who I Think I Was?

Michael Jackson closes the house on his Neverland Ranch.

Toni Braxton returns to the road for the first time in several years in Atlantic City.

April
Michael Jackson announces a return to his musical career by signing an exclusive recording agreement with Bahrain-based Two Seas Records.

D12 rapper Proof is shot to death at a Detroit club that was operating illegally after hours.

Rapper Snoop Dogg is released on bail after a fracas at London’s Heathrow Airport that injured seven police officers.

Courtney Love sells 25 per cent of Nirvana’s publishing rights.

May
Madonna hits the road in support of her 2005 album Confessions on a Dance Floor.

Veteran Seattle rock act Alice In Chains kicks off its first tour since 1996 at the Super Bock Festival in Lisbon.

Sum 41 guitarist Dave Baksh amicably leaves the group to concentrate on his own band, Brown Brigade.

Gwen Stefani and husband Gavin Rossdale’s baby Kingston James McGregor Rossdale is born.

June
Korn is forced to cancel its European tour due to a blood-related illness suffered by frontman Jonathan Davis.

Jay-Z celebrates the 10th anniversary of his first and most critically acclaimed album, Reasonable Doubt, by performing at New York’s Radio City Music Hall.

Axl Rose spends most of one night in a Stockholm jail cell after allegedly biting a security guard in the leg at his hotel.

Kevin Richardson leaves the Backstreet Boys on the eve of the start of work on the group’s next album.

July
Paul Simon kicks off a tour at Milwaukee’s Summerfest in support of his Warner Bros album Surprise.

R&B superstar Mary J. Blige begins a North American tour in Maryland Heights, in support of her mega-selling album The Breakthrough.

Dallas Austin pleads guilty to drug charges in Dubai but is pardoned and released from jail.

August
R&B superstar Usher makes his Broadway debut in the long-running musical revival Chicago.

The Black Crowes part ways with longtime keyboardist Eddie Hawrysch .

Pearl Jam, Franz Ferdinand and Muse headline the Reading and Leeds Festivals in England.

September
The Arctic Monkeys win the 2006 Nationwide Mercury Prize, the "album of the year" award for British and Irish acts.

Country superstar Toby Keith tries on a new hat by appearing in his first film, Broken Bridges.

A Tribe Called Quest embarks on its first tour since it went on a hiatus in 2000.

R.E.M. performs three songs with original drummer Bill Berry to celebrate its induction into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in Atlanta.

Microsoft unveils its Zune digital music device, providing a glimpse into exactly how the company intends to take on Apple Computer’s iPod.

October
A record is broken on the Hot 100, as Akon achieves the largest climb in the chart’s 48-year history with Smack That, featuring Eminem.

Rapper Fabolous is shot while standing at a Manhattan parking garage near Sean "Diddy" Combs’ Justin restaurant.

Singer Justin Hawkins quits British band Darkness to continue his drug rehabilitation.

Rod Stewart earns his fourth No 1 album on The Billboard 200 with "Still the Same... Great American Rock Classics of Our Time."

November
Michael Jackson performs Thriller from his famed 1982 album of the same name during a rare public appearance at the World Music Awards in London.

Eddie Van Halen names his 15-year-old son Wolfgang as the replacement for longtime bassist Michael Anthony in Van Halen.

The long-awaited Tenacious D feature film Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny is released along with an accompanying soundtrack album.

December
Legendary vocalist Tony Bennett is presented the 2006 Billboard Century Award, the magazine’s highest honour for creative achievement, at the 2006 Billboard Music Awards.

Mary J. Blige leads the nominations for the 49th annual Grammy awards with nods in eight categories.

Newly reunited British boy band Take That tops the UK singles and album charts simultaneously for the first time.

‘Godfather of Soul’ James Brown dies at 73.