Music History: May 20th:
2017 At the Palladium in London, The Cranberries play their last show with lead singer Dolores O'Riordan, whose health issues for cancellation of the remaining dates. She dies on January 15, 2018.
2017 Toby Keith performs to an all-male audience in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in one of the first concerts in the city since a ban on public performance of music was relaxed after more than 25 years.
2016 Barenaked Ladies release the live album BNL Rocks Red Rocks, which was recorded on June 10, 2015, at the famous Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colorado, during the band's Last Summer On Earth tour. Guests include former Men at Work frontman Colin Hay and Violent Femmes sax player Blaise Garza, who join BNL for a rendition of Hay's 1982 hit "Who Can It Be Now?"
2016 The National release an anthology album of 59 Grateful Dead covers called Day of the Dead, with appearances by Lucinda Williams, Bruce Hornsby, Courtney Barnett and Wayne Coyne. Proceeds go to the Red Hot Organization, which helps fight AIDS.
2013 Ray Manzarek (keyboardist for The Doors) dies at age 74 in Rosenheim, Germany, while receiving treatment for a rare form of cancer (Cholangiocarcinoma or bile duct cancer).
2012 Robin Gibb (of Bee Gees) dies from colorectal cancer-related kidney and liver failure at age 62.
2012 Lady Gaga appears on The Simpsons, where she tries to help Lisa improve her social standing in the episode "Lisa Goes Gaga."
2007 Composer Ben Weisman dies in Los Angeles, age 85. He wrote or co-wrote more songs for Elvis Presley (57!) than anyone else.
2006 Hawthorne, California, dedicates a monument to their famous hometown sons: the three Wilson brothers of The Beach Boys.
2003 South Carolina's parole board pardons James Brown of all past offenses committed in the state, even the felonies, spurring James to spontaneously sing "God Bless America" at the conclusion of the hearing.
2003 Lynyrd Skynyrd releases Vicious Cycle, their twelfth studio album. It's the last to feature work by bassist Leon Wilkeson, who passed away during recording. Kid Rock appears on the album in a remake of "Gimme Back My Bullets."
1998 Tommy Lee of Motley Crue is sentenced to six months in jail and three years' probation stemming from an incident three months earlier when he got in a fight with his wife, Pamela Anderson Lee. Goes to jail that evening and serves three months before he is released.
1998 Frank Sinatra's funeral takes place in Beverly Hills, which draws 400 invited guests and a slew of onlookers. Tony Bennett, Angie Dickinson, Joey Bishop (the only surviving member of the Rat Pack), Liza Minnelli, Jack Nicholson, Tony Danza and Tom Selleck all show up to pay their respects.
1995 The Eagles' Don Henley marries his first and only wife, model Sharon Summerall, in Malibu, with Glenn Frey, Joe Walsh, Randy Newman, Jackson Browne, David Crosby, Jimmy Buffett, Sheryl Crow, and other celebs attending. At the reception, live music is provided by Tony Bennett, Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, and Sting.
1991 The first album from an MTV Unplugged performance is released when Paul McCartney issues Unplugged (The Official Bootleg) in the UK. It is released in America in June.
1989 Paula Abdul notches her second #1 US hit with "Forever Your Girl," the title track to her debut album. The song is written by Oliver Leiber, son of Jerry Leiber of the Leiber & Stoller songwriting team.
1985 Hall & Oates perform with Temptations Eddie Kendrick and David Ruffin at the reopened Apollo Theatre in Harlem. The concert is later released as Live At The Apollo.
1981 Alice Cooper and his wife Sheryl have their first child, a daughter named Calico. Their next two kids also have creative names: Dash and Sonora.
1981 Rachel Platten is born in New York City. She grows up in Newton, Massachusetts.
1980 The Clash concert in Hamburg, West Germany is plagued by crowd violence. When Joe Strummer smashes one particularly bellicose fan over the head with his guitar, he is arrested, but cleared after a test proves he was not drinking.
1978 Wings' "With A Little Luck" hits #1.
1977 The stage show "Beatlemania" opens at the Winter Garden Theater, New York.
1972 Rapper Busta Rhymes is born Trevor George Smith Jr. in Brooklyn, New York.
1970 George Harrison meets producer Phil Spector at Abbey Road Studios to play demos of the songs which will appear on his debut album, All Things Must Pass.
1968 Pete Townshend of The Who marries Karen Astley (daughter of composer Ted Astley), whom he met at Ealing Art College in London. The couple have three children before separating in the '90s. They divorce in 2009.
1967 After his wife dies in a car accident, 23-year-old Manuel Fernandez (electric organist of Los Bravos) commits suicide.
1967 George Harrison visits the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi for the first time.
1967 The Young Rascals' "Groovin'" hits #1.
1966 Alt rock guitarist Tom Gorman (of Belly) is born.
1966 When John Entwistle and Keith Moon are late for a Who show at the Rikki Tik club in Newbury, England, Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey go on with the opening act as their rhythm section. Entwistle and Moon show up halfway through, and after the show Moon announces that he and Entwistle are leaving to form a duo. All is well a week later when they patch things up.
1966 Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band play their first gig, performing at the Avalon Ballroom in San Francisco.
1964 The Drifters' lead singer Rudy Lewis is found dead on the morning the group is scheduled to record "Under The Boardwalk." He is replaced by Johnny Moore, who was with a previous incarnation of the group, who sings lead on the song the next day. Lewis' death is widely reported as a drug overdose, although this is never confirmed by a medical authority.
1961 Haircut 100 lead singer Nick Heyward is born in Beckenham, Kent, England.
1959 Susan Cowsill (The Cowsills) is born in Canton, Ohio, the youngest member and only daughter of the Cowsill family.
1958 Jane Wiedlin (rhythm guitarist of The Go-Go's) is born in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin.
1957 Frank Sinatra records "Witchcraft."
1955 Steve George (keyboardist for Mr. Mister) is born in Phoenix, Arizona.
1954 Jimmy Henderson (guitarist for Black Oak Arkansas) is born in Mississippi.
1954 Bill Haley and His Comets' "Rock Around The Clock" is released for the first time. It stalls on the charts, but becomes a hit a year later when it is used in the movie Blackboard Jungle.
1946 Cher is born Cherilyn Sarkisian in El Centro, California. She first records as "Bonnie Jo Mason," and then "Cherilyn." Teaming up with Sonny Bono in 1964, they record as "Caesar and Cleo," before changing it to "Sonny and Cher" the next year. When they hit it big with "I Got You Babe," she sticks with Cher.
1944 Joe Cocker is born John Robert Cocker in Sheffield, England.
1942 Pop singer Jill Jackson (of Paul & Paula) is born in McCartney, Texas.
1941 Harry James records "You Made Me Love You."
1940 Soul singer Shorty Long, known for the 1968 hit "Here Comes The Judge," is born Frederick Earl Long in Birmingham, Alabama.
1925 Vic Ames, pop singer of the '40s and '50s (The Ames Brothers), is born in Malden, Massachusetts.
1920 Montreal Canada's XWA broadcasts the first scheduled radio program in North America.
1901 Jazz pianist Jimmy Blythe, who composed the seminal boogie-woogie tune "Chicago Stomp," is born in South Keene, Kentucky.
1896 German composer Clara Schumann dies after suffering a stroke at age 76.
Metal Band Lordi Wins Eurovision
2006
The Finnish band Lordi wins the Eurovision Song Contest - the first heavy metal band ever to do so.
Featured Events
1969 Chicago singer Peter Cetera is attacked at a Dodgers-Cubs game at Dodger Stadium. Explaining the incident, Cetera says: "Four marines didn't like a long-haired rock 'n' roller in a baseball park, and of course I was a Cubs fan, and I was in Dodger Stadium, and that didn't do so well. I got in a fight and got a broken jaw in three places, and I was in intensive care for a couple of days. With my jaw wired together, I actually went on the road, and I was actually singing through my clenched jaw, which, to this day, is still the way I sing."
1967 Because of the line, "I'd love to turn you on," the BBC bans The Beatles song "A Day In The Life," claiming it may promote drug use.
1967 Because of the line, "I'd love to turn you on," the BBC bans The Beatles song "A Day In The Life," claiming it may promote drug use.
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