5
Featured Events
1998Sonny Bono (of Sonny & Cher) dies in a skiing accident in Nevada, near South Lake Tahoe, California, at age 62. An advanced skier, he goes off course to do some "tree skiing" when he crashes and dies. His wife and two children are with him on the slopes, but don't witness the accident.
1997Johnny Cash plays Coyote, Homer Simpson's imaginary guru, on The Simpsons. Coyote tells Homer to buy more material possessions.
1979The double-album soundtrack to the film Saturday Night Feverreaches sales of 25 million worldwide, making it the best-selling LP in history.More
1976Former Beatles road manager Mal Evans is shot and killed by police in Los Angeles after he brandishes an unloaded rifle (some claim it was an air gun) after becoming despondent.
1975The Wiz premieres at the Majestic Theatre on Broadway. An adaptation of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz with an all-black cast, it stars future disco diva Stephanie Mills ("Never Knew Love") as Dorothy. In 1978, the production is turned into a movie starring Michael Jackson and Diana Ross.
1973With a boulder on his shoulder, feelin' kinda older, 23-year-old Bruce Springsteen releases his first album, Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J.More
1969Marilyn Manson is born Brian Hugh Warner in Canton, Ohio.
5
In Music History
2015Good Charlotte's Benji Madden marries actress Cameron Diaz. Nicole Richie and Drew Barrymore are among the bridesmaids.
2010Record producer Willie Mitchell, who ran Royal Studios in Memphis, Tennessee, dies of a cardiac arrest at age 81.
2009Sam "The Bluzman" Taylor dies of complications from heart disease in Islandia, New York, at age 74.
2005Danny Sugerman, second manager for The Doors who wrote a number of books about the band, dies of lung cancer at age 50.
2005Amerie releases "1 Thing."
2004Ray Davies of The Kinks is shot in the leg when he pursues two men who snatched his girlfriend's purse.
2003Green Day lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong is arrested for drunk driving in Berkeley, California, after he is caught speeding in his BMW convertible and blows a .18.More
1998Ken Forssi (original bassist for Love) dies of a brain tumor in Tallahassee, Florida, at age 54.
1991Madonna's "Justify My Love," a new song included on her compilation album The Immaculate Collection, goes to #1 in America, her ninth topper on the tally. The song, co-written by Lenny Kravitz, gets a lot of attention thanks to its video, which was banned by MTV and subsequently released on home video.
1981DJ/producer Deadmau5 is born in Niagara Falls, Canada. His birth name is Joel Zimmerman; he takes the name Deadmau5 (pronounced "Deadmouse") as his chatroom handle after claiming to find a dead mouse in his computer.
1980"Rapper's Delight" by The Sugarhill Gang becomes first rap song to hit the Top 40 when it reaches #37 on the chart.
1979Jazz double bassist Charlie Mingus dies of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, in Cuernavaca, Mexico, at age 56.
1974Bruce Springsteen performs "Rosalita" for the first time at a concert at Joe's Place in Boston. The song becomes a live favorite that Bruce often plays as an encore.
Beyonce Sings "At Last" For Obamas, Angers Etta James
2009
Beyoncé serenades Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, at the Neighborhood Ball as the couple shares their first dance together as president and first lady of the United States. The choice of song, Etta James' signature hit "At Last," throws the blues singer into a fit of rage aimed at Beyoncé.
Just a month before the Neighborhood Ball celebrating Obama's inauguration, Beyoncé gave an acclaimed performance as soul legend Etta James in the musical biopic Cadillac Records. Among other songs, Beyoncé recorded James' 1961 hit "At Last" for the soundtrack and won a Grammy Award for Best Traditional R&B Performance and a place on the Hot 100 at #67. None of this seemed to bother James, who greeted Beyoncé warmly at the film's premiere. But when the Obamas ask Beyoncé to sing "At Last" to accompany their special moment at the inauguration ball, James explodes. "I can't stand Beyoncé. She has no business up there, singing up there on a big ol' president day... singing my song that I've been singing forever," James says at a Seattle concert after a tirade against Obama and his "big ears."
James later backpedals on her comments, saying the whole thing was a joke (though some point to an Alzheimer's diagnosis as the cause for her erratic behavior) and she thinks the president is "handsome" and "cool." She was just a little hurt that she was "left out of something that was basically mine, that I had done every time you look around."
But "At Last" isn't really James' song, either. The ballad was written for the 1941 musical film Orchestra Wives, and was originally recorded by Glenn Miller and his orchestra, with vocals from Ray Eberle and Pat Friday. The highest-charting pop version came in 1952 from trumpeter Ray Anthony, whose rendition landed at #2. As far as we know, neither Miller, Eberle, Friday, or Anthony threatened to "whup ass" when James covered the tune in 1960, nearly 20 years after the original, and called it her own. It was an important song for James, though, bringing her another #2 R&B hit and crossing over to the pop chart at #47. And James is correct in the sense that hers is the quintessential version. Her passionate vocals elevate the song to romantic heights, making it perfect for tender film scenes and weddings… but apparently not inaugurations.
James later backpedals on her comments, saying the whole thing was a joke (though some point to an Alzheimer's diagnosis as the cause for her erratic behavior) and she thinks the president is "handsome" and "cool." She was just a little hurt that she was "left out of something that was basically mine, that I had done every time you look around."
But "At Last" isn't really James' song, either. The ballad was written for the 1941 musical film Orchestra Wives, and was originally recorded by Glenn Miller and his orchestra, with vocals from Ray Eberle and Pat Friday. The highest-charting pop version came in 1952 from trumpeter Ray Anthony, whose rendition landed at #2. As far as we know, neither Miller, Eberle, Friday, or Anthony threatened to "whup ass" when James covered the tune in 1960, nearly 20 years after the original, and called it her own. It was an important song for James, though, bringing her another #2 R&B hit and crossing over to the pop chart at #47. And James is correct in the sense that hers is the quintessential version. Her passionate vocals elevate the song to romantic heights, making it perfect for tender film scenes and weddings… but apparently not inaugurations.
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