This month in popjuly 1983

01 Bon Jovi sign to Mercury Records in the United States. The group, headed up by singer Jon Bon Jovi, will become one of the defining rock outfits of the decade.

02 Rod Stewart starts a three-week run at No.1 with Baby Jane, his biggest success since 1978’s Da Ya Think I’m Sexy and his last single – to date – to top the UK charts.

07 Martin Scorsese’s movie The King Of Comedy is released in Australia. The film includes cameo appearances from three members of The Clash – Mick Jones, Joe Strummer and Paul Simonon.

14 REM’s debut album Murmur enters the US Billboard chart where it peaks at No.36. (The LP doesn’t chart in the UK until 1994, where it hit No.100). A re-release of debut single Radio Free Europe would make No.25 soon after.

06 Jean-Michel Jarre’s album Musique Pour Supermarché (Music For Supermarkets), of which only one copy was ever pressed, is sold at auction for 69,000 francs.

09 The Police begin an eight-week run at No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with Every Breath You Take. The track would later win Song of the Year at the 1984 Grammy Awards.

21 Diana Ross performs at New York’s Central Park, a concert that lasted 45 minutes before being cut short due to a massive lightning storm. The performance – what there is of it – is aired on TV as For One And For All.

12 Former Traffic member Chris Wood dies of liver failure aged just 39. During his career he also performed with Jimi Hendrix (appearing on the 1968 album Electric Ladyland), Dr John and Nick Drake.

23 Paul Young enjoys his first UK No.1 single with his version of the Marvin Gaye classic Wherever I Lay My Hat (That’s My Home).

01 Wham!’s debut album, Fantastic, was released via Innervision on 1 July. The group – consisting of George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley – had put out three singles in Young Guns (Go For It) (UK No.3), Wham Rap! (Enjoy What You Do) (UK No.8) and Bad Boys (UK No.2), so their first full-length offering was eagerly anticipated in the summer of 1983. The LP contained just eight tracks,