Timeline March 1991

Events in March 1991 10

• 1909 – 1991 Edwin Land (1909-1991) Died 1 March 1991, aged 81 Inventor and Polaroid founder Edwin Land died in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He developed instant photography and held over 500 patents during his career. His Polaroid cameras made instant pictures a fixture of consumer life for decades.
• 1909 – 1991 Leo Fender (1909-1991) Died 21 March 1991, aged 81 Leo Fender, founder of Fender Musical Instruments, died in Fullerton, California. His Telecaster and Stratocaster guitars, along with the Fender Precision Bass, became standard instruments of modern popular music. Despite his enormous influence on music, Fender himself was not a proficient musician.
• 1928 – 1991 Serge Gainsbourg (1928-1991) Died 2 March 1991, aged 62 French singer-songwriter Serge Gainsbourg died of a heart attack in Paris. His provocative and genre-spanning songwriting, including "Je t'aime... moi non plus," made him one of the most influential figures in French popular music. His funeral drew a public address from President Francois Mitterrand.
• 1991 Iditarod 1991 Winner: Rick Swenson — 12 days 16h Rick Swenson claimed his fifth and final Iditarod title in 1991, becoming the first five-time champion and the only musher to win in three different decades.
• 1991 Out of Time -- Number 1 worldwide, Losing My Religion Out of Time (March 1991) is R.E.M.'s commercial zenith -- reaching Number 1 in both the UK and US and winning three Grammy Awards including Album of the Year. 'Losing My Religion' -- built on a mandolin riff by Buck, with Stipe's most emotionally exposed vocal to date -- reaches Number 4 in the US, Number 1 in multiple European countries and wins the Grammy for Best Short Form Music Video. The song's combination of vulnerability, melodic beauty and religious imagery makes it one of the defining songs of the 1990s. R.E.M. does not tour the album.
• 1991 Tests positive for cocaine — 15-month ban Italian authorities administer a drug test that reveals cocaine use. Maradona receives a 15-month ban, effectively ending his time at Napoli. He leaves Italy having brought the city everything it dreamed of, but departs in personal and professional disgrace.
• 1991 The Doors film by Oliver Stone Val Kilmer as Morrison A biopic starring Val Kilmer.
• 1991 The Clash top the UK charts with Should I Stay or Should I Go Levi's ad A jeans commercial gives them their only UK number one.
• 1991 Rodney King Beaten by Los Angeles Police Videotaped beating exposes police brutality Los Angeles police officers were videotaped beating motorist Rodney King after a high-speed chase, and the footage was broadcast nationwide. The incident became a flashpoint over police brutality and racial injustice in the United States. The officers' acquittal the following year triggered the 1992 Los Angeles riots.
• 1991 Death of Eric Clapton's son Conor 20 March 1991 Clapton's four-year-old son Conor fell from the 53rd-floor window of a New York City apartment while in the care of his mother. The tragedy devastated Clapton; Conor's funeral was held in Ripley, the village where Eric was born.