Songs in the Key of Life in a series of concert dates in the U.S. and Canada. The start of the tour coincided with the 38th anniversary of the release of "Songs in the Key of Life". Highly anticipated, the album surpassed all commercial expectations. It debuted at number 1 on the "Billboard" Pop Albums Chart on October 8, 1976, becoming only the third album in history to achieve that feat and the first by an American artist (after British singer/composer Elton John's albums "Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy" and "Rock of the Westies", both in 1975). In Canada, the album achieved the same
Dee Murray album, but this changed with "Honky Château" in 1972 when John exerted some of his skyrocketing popularity at the time to convince DJM to allow Murray and Olsson to also become full-time recording members of his band, so along with fellow new recruit Davey Johnstone on guitars, banjo, mandolin, sitar, fretted string instruments and backing vocals, Murray and Olsson played on John's hit albums, including the milestone album "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road", singles, and world tours for several years. In 1975, after recording "Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy", Murray and Olsson were released from the band because John