1997 in music

January 9 - David Bowie performs his 50th Birthday Bash concert (the day after his birthday) at Madison Square Garden, with guests Frank Black, The Foo Fighters, Sonic Youth, Robert Smith of The Cure, Lou Reed, and Billy Corgan of The Smashing Pumpkins, with the opening act Placebo. Proceeds from the concert went to the Save The Children fund.
January 10 - James Brown receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
February 10 - 52 year old Brian Connolly of Sweet dies of kidney failure in England.
January 20 - Ben and Jerry's introduce "Phish food", a new flavor of ice cream named after the rock group Phish. The ingredients are chocolate ice cream, marshmallows, caramel and fish-shaped fudge
February 2 - Rich Mullins' musical The Canticle of the Plains premieres in Wichita, Kansas.
February 12 - David Bowie receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
February 13 - Michael Jackson's first son is born.
March - Pianist David Helfgott appears at the Boston Symphony Hall during his world tour. The Boston Globe describes his performance as "without phrasing, form, harmonic understanding, differentiation of style and often basic accuracy; worst of all, it was without emotional content."
March 9 - The Notorious B.I.G. is shot to death while sitting in the passenger seat of a car after a Soul Train Awards party
March 11 - Paul McCartney is knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.
April 2 - Joni Mitchell is reunited with the daughter that she gave up for adoption 32 years ago, Kilauren Gibb.
25–27 April - The first Terrastock festival is held in Providence, Rhode Island
September 19 - While on his way to a benefit concert in Kansas, Rich Mullins loses control of his jeep, flipping the automobile and throwing both Mullins and passenger Mitch McVicker out onto the road. A tractor trailor approaching the scene swerves to miss McVicker, striking and killing Mullins instantly. McVicker survives, but suffered major injuries.
August 16-17 - Phish preform two day music festival, The Great Went, in Limestone, Maine at Loring Air Force Base. 500 minutes of music, 6 sets, 2 encores. There was an estimated attendance that falls anywhere between 65,000-70,000 and was the top grossing concert of the summer by pulling in over $4,000,000.
September - Elton John performs "Candle In The Wind" at the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales; John Tavener's Song for Athene is performed at the same ceremony.
After more than a year absence Garth Brooks returns to the top of the charts with his album "Sevens".
Nigel Kennedy returns to performing in public after a 5-year absence resulting from neck surgery, now calling himself simply "Kennedy".
The reunited Fleetwood Mac release The Dance and begin a highly successful concert tour in the United States.
The reunited Monkees perform 2 sold out concerts at Wembley Arena in London.
Orgy's musical career begins
Lostprophets' musical career begins
The Shins are formed.
Dinosaur Jr. disbanded
Gin Blossoms disbanded
Soundgarden disbanded
The Memorex , Maxell, and TDK company introduce Blank recordable CDs
God Ate My Homework formed as one of the first bands to offer their music in MP3 format.
The White Stripes are formed.
Coldplay are formed.
March 17 - Whirlwind Heat play their first show.