Editing 1985 in music (section)

===January–March===
*[[January 1]] – The newest music video channel, [[VH1|VH-1]], begins broadcasting on American cable. It is aimed at an older demographic than its sister station, [[MTV]]. The first video played is [[Marvin Gaye]]'s rendition of "[[The Star-Spangled Banner]]".<ref>{{cite book|author=Mitchell E. Shapiro|title=Cable Television Prime Time Programming, 1990–2010|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A3UwxekfBf4C&pg=PA217|date=10 January 2014|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0-7864-9258-9|pages=217}}</ref>
*[[January 11]]
**One of the biggest music festivals in the world begins in [[Rio de Janeiro]], Brazil. [[Rock in Rio]] had an audience of 1.5 million people, and featured [[Iron Maiden]], [[Nina Hagen]], [[The B52's]], [[Go Go's]], [[Queen (band)|Queen]], [[Rod Stewart]], [[James Taylor]] and [[AC/DC]], along with Brazilian artists such as [[Gilberto Gil]], [[Elba Ramalho]], [[Barão Vermelho]] and [[Paralamas do Sucesso]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Dave DiMartino|title=Music in the 20th Century (3 Vol Set)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sB4GDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA536|date=15 April 2016|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-317-46430-3|pages=536}}</ref>
**[[Willie Dixon]] sues [[Led Zeppelin]] over the song "[[Whole Lotta Love]]", on the grounds that it contains too many similarities to his own song "You Need Love". The lawsuit is settled out of court.{{Citation needed|date=December 2012}}
*[[January 28]] – Various artists, under the group name [[USA For Africa]], including [[Ray Charles]], [[Bob Dylan]], [[Michael Jackson]], [[Billy Joel]], [[Cyndi Lauper]], [[Steve Perry]], [[Kenny Loggins]], [[Willie Nelson]], [[Lionel Richie]], [[Smokey Robinson]], [[Kenny Rogers]], [[Diana Ross]], [[Paul Simon]], [[Bruce Springsteen]], [[Huey Lewis]], [[Tina Turner]], [[Sheila E.]], [[Harry Belafonte]], [[Lindsey Buckingham]], [[Kim Carnes]], [[Dionne Warwick]], [[Waylon Jennings]], [[Bob Geldof]] and [[Stevie Wonder]], record the song "[[We Are the World]]", written by Jackson and Ritchie.
*[[February]] – Just months after the [[compact disc]] release of his sixteenth and most recent studio album, ''[[Tonight (David Bowie album)|Tonight]]'', and nearly two years after the initial CD release of its predecessor, ''[[Let's Dance (David Bowie album)|Let's Dance]]'', [[RCA Records]] reissues [[David Bowie]]'s previous fourteen studio albums plus four [[greatest hits album]]s on the format. Consequently, Bowie becomes the first major artist to have his entire catalog converted to CD.
*[[February 14]]
**[[Whitney Houston]] releases her [[Whitney Houston (album)|debut album]].
*[[February 22]]
**The "[[One Night with Blue Note]]" concert, celebrating the relaunch of [[Blue Note Records]] and featuring over 30 jazz greats, is held at [[The Town Hall (New York City)|The Town Hall]] in New York. [[Freddie Hubbard]], [[Herbie Hancock]], [[Jack DeJohnette]], [[McCoy Tyner]] and [[Grover Washington, Jr.]] are just a few of the performers.
*[[February 26]] – The [[27th Annual Grammy Awards]] are presented in [[Los Angeles]], hosted by [[John Denver]]. [[Lionel Richie]]'s ''[[Can't Slow Down (Lionel Richie album)|Can't Slow Down]]'' wins [[Grammy Award for Album of the Year|Album of the Year]], while [[Tina Turner]]'s "[[What's Love Got to Do with It (song)|What's Love Got to Do with It]]" wins both [[Record of the Year]] and [[Grammy Award for Song of the Year|Song of the Year]]. [[Cyndi Lauper]] wins [[Best New Artist]].
*[[March 9]] – [[Tears for Fears]] album ''[[Songs from the Big Chair]]'' debuts at number two on the UK Albums Chart. Enjoying massive sales, it spends 29 consecutive weeks on the top 10 and remain on the chart for another 50 weeks until September 1986.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/25022/tears-for-fears/ |title=Tears for Fears |publisher=Official Charts}}</ref>
*[[March 27]] – The South African Broadcasting Corporation bans [[Stevie Wonder]]'s music in response to Wonder dedicating the [[Academy Awards|Oscar]] he had won the night before to [[Nelson Mandela]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F00E4DD1438F934A15750C0A963948260 |title=Stevie Wonder Music Banned in South Africa |agency=Associated Press |date=March 27, 1985 |work=The New York Times |access-date=July 15, 2008}}</ref>
*[[March 28]] – A wax likeness of [[Michael Jackson]] is unveiled at [[Madame Tussaud's]] in London, UK.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mj-in-the-early-80s.com/1985.htm |title=Michael Jackson, 1985  |year=2005 |publisher=Michael Jackson in the Early 1980s|access-date=July 15, 2008| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080613235221/http://www.mj-in-the-early-80s.com/1985.htm| archive-date=June 13, 2008| url-status= dead}}</ref>