25
Featured Events
1991Paul McCartney appears on the second season of MTV's Unplugged, including some Beatles songs in his set. In June, he becomes the first artist to release his performance as an album.
1980Alicia Keys is born Alicia Augello Cook in Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan, New York. Her background as a classically trained pianist influences her stage name. "It's like the piano keys," she explains, "And it can open so many doors." Her first album, Songs In A Minor, featuring her own compositions, goes to #1 in 2001.
1971Grace Slick and Paul Kantner of Jefferson Airplane welcome a baby girl they name "God." Her name is later changed to "China," and as "China Kantner" she becomes a VJ on MTV.
1915Folk singer Ewan MacColl is born James Henry Miller in London. In 1957 he takes an hour to write "First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" for a play his mistress is appearing in and, 15 years later, it becomes a #1 hit for Roberta Flack.
25
In Music History
2016Neil Young performs "Till the Morning Comes" live for the first time in his career while playing a private concert for French billionaire Édouard Carmignac. Young does the song as a medley with "Cripple Creek Ferry."
2003Clarence Carter and Eddie Floyd are inducted into the Alabama Music Hall of Fame.
2003Billy Joel crashes his Mercedes while driving in Long Island, New York. The singer later says that he was in a "mental fog" around this time, caused by relationship issues and a lingering depression after the September 11, 2001 attacks.
2003Thanks to a raft of Grammy nominations, Norah Jones' debut album Come Away With Me goes to #1 in America 11 months after it was released. It stays on top for three weeks, then returns the week of March 15 after winning the Grammy for Album of the Year.
2000D'Angelo releases his second album, Voodoo.
1999The Rolling Stones begin their No Security tour in Oakland, California.
1994R. Kelly releases the single "Bump N' Grind."
1990In Rio De Janeiro, Eurythmics play their last concert until their 1999 reunion. "Dave [Stewart] and I had got quite heartily sick of each other," Annie Lennox explains. "And I say that in an affectionate way."
1990The Righteous Brothers' Bill Medley guest stars on NBC's Cheers in the two-part episode "Finally!"
1989Performing in Columbus, Georgia, Bobby Brown is arrested under the city's anti-lewdness act when he brings a girl on stage and simulates sex with her. Brown finishes the show about an hour later after he is booked and pays a $652 fine.
1987Neil Diamond sings the US national anthem at Superbowl XXI in Pasadena, California. Halftime entertainment is Disney's "Salute to Hollywood's 100th Anniversary."
1986Albert Grossman, manager to Bob Dylan and Janis Joplin, dies of a heart attack at age 59.
1985Prince releases "Take Me With U," the last single from Purple Rain.
1984John Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, donates $375,000 to Liverpool's Strawberry Field, an orphanage which served as the inspiration for the Beatles song "Strawberry Fields Forever."
1980Paul McCartney is released and deported from Japan after spending nine days in a Tokyo jail. He was arrested at the airport when customs officials found 219 grams of marijuana in his luggage.
Etta James Is Born
1938Blues singer Etta James, known for the enduring ballad "At Last," is born Jamesetta Hawkins in Los Angeles, California.
Born to a teen mother, James is bounced around to different foster homes throughout her childhood, but her one constant is singing. She makes an impression in her church choir, but it's the cool sounds of doo-wop and the forbidden beat of Rhythm & Blues that catches her attention. By the age of 14, she is spotted by Johnny Otis, a musician and talent scout whose finger is firmly planted on the pulse of R&B and the burgeoning rock and roll scene. He produces her first hit, "The Wallflower," for the record label Mercury. James tours with Otis and other singers on the R&B circuit throughout the '50s until she lands at Chess Records in 1960, where her raw and passionate vocals are suited to modern blues and pop-tinged R&B ballads like "All I Could Do Was Cry" and "At Last." Throughout the decade, she continues to toy with her sound, recalling her gospel roots in the crossover hit "Something's Got A Hold On Me," and adding a heavy dose of grit to Southern soul tracks like "Tell Mama" and "I'd Rather Go Blind." All the while, she struggles with a heroin addiction that forces her in and out of rehabilitation centers and sets her up for various substance abuse issues throughout the rest of her life. By the time James is inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993, her catalog includes 30 R&B hits, nine of which peaked in pop's Top 40. She will earn her first Grammy Award two years later for the Billie Holiday tribute album Mystery Lady: Songs of Billie Holiday. The last decade of her life is plagued by diagnoses of Alzheimer's disease and leukemia, but the entertainment industry still isn't done with the blues singer. In 2008, Beyoncé portrays James in the film Cadillac Records, which chronicles her rise to fame at Chess Records, along with other artists like Chuck Berry. In 2011, Swedish DJ Avicii samples "Something's Got A Hold On Me" in his chart-topping dance hit "Levels," while rapper Flo Rida also samples the song in his single "Good Feeling." James dies of leukemia on January 20, 2012, just days shy of her 74th birthday.
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