22 AUGUST
Featured Events
2012 Rap star LL Cool J hears his alarm go off in his Los Angeles home and rushes downstairs to confront an alleged burglar named Jonathan Kirby. One broken nose, jaw, and rib later, Cool J has subdued the intruder and police are on their way to take the suspect into custody. No word on whether LL quoted one of his own songs, "Mama Said Knock You Out," during the altercation.
1998 With Hugh Grant and Elizabeth Hurley in the audience, Jim Carrey joins Elton John on stage at a show in Anaheim, California, where the pair duet on "Rocket Man." After a reasonably straight rendition, Carrey sits at the piano and smashes his head into the keys.
1987 Madonna hits #1 in the US with her Spanglish ("Quien es esta nina?") hit "Who's That Girl." It's the title song to a movie starring Madonna that doesn't fare nearly as well.
1970 Derek & the Dominos begin recording their famous album, Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs. The band features Eric Clapton, who in an attempt to lay low, downplays his involvement.
1969 The Beatles participate in their final photo shoot, which is held on the lawn of John Lennon's home at Tittenhurst Park in Sunninghill, England. Photos from the session are used on the front and back covers of their Hey Jude compilation album.More
1964 After three years without a big hit, The Supremes' "Where Did Our Love Go" hits #1 in the US, the first of five consecutive chart-toppers.More
1963 Myra Ellen Amos is born to a religious family in Newton, North Carolina. She changes her name to Tori and becomes an alt-rock icon of the '90s with empowering tunes about women, right-wing politics, and religious oppression.More
22 AUGUST
In Music History
2020 "WAP" by Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion hits #1 in America, becoming the most sexually explicit song ever to top the tally. It's bumped off two weeks later by a wholesome slice of K-pop: "Dynamite" by BTS.
2018 Vampire Weekend lead singer Ezra Koenig and his girlfriend, Rashida Jones, have a son, Isaiah. His grandfather is Quincy Jones, Rashida's dad.
2016 Legendary jazz harmonicist Toots Thielemans dies in Brussels, Belgium, at age 94.
2012 Presidential candidate Mitt Romney becomes yet another Republican candidate admonished for misappropriating music at his events, after Dee Snider of Twisted Sister protests his use of the band's songs. There is a long history of bands squaring off against Republican campaigns appropriating their music.
2011 Lindsay Lohan sues Pitbull, along with Ne-Yo and DJ Afrojack, for referencing her in the song "Give Me Everything (Tonight)" ("Hustlers move aside, so I'm tiptoeing, keep flowin', I got it locked up like Lindsay Lohan"). The judge rules in Pitbull's favor, citing the First Amendment's protection of freedom of speech and creative expression.
2011 Nick Ashford, half of the husband-and-wife songwriting/production team Ashford & Simpson, dies of complications from throat cancer at age 70.
2011 Jerry Leiber, half of the Leiber & Stoller songwriting team, dies of cardio-pulmonary failure in Los Angeles, California, at age 78. The pair wrote hits for Elvis Presley, The Coasters and The Drifters.
2006 Bruce Gary (drummer for The Knack) dies of Non-Hodgkin lymphoma in Tarzana, California, at age 55.
2004 Bandleader Al Dvorin, who coined the phrase "Elvis has left he building," dies in a car accident near Ivanpah, California, at age 82. He organized the King's concerts for 22 years, starting in 1955.
2003 An Elvis impersonator in Norway named Kjell Bjornestad sets a new world record by doing 26 hours of Elvis songs.
2002 Jimmy Buffett's first Cheeseburger In Paradise restaurant, named for his 1978 song, opens in Indianapolis, Indiana.
1997 Twelve-year-old Georgia Lee Moses is found dead in South Petaluma, California. Tom Waits hears her story and is inspired to write "Georgia Lee," the thirteenth track on Mule Variations.
1995 Dua Lipa is born in London to parents who immigrated there from Kosovo. Her family moves to Kosovo when she's 11, but Dua convinces them to let her return to London on her own at 15, where she finishes high school and launches her music career.
1992 Madonna begins filming her "Erotica" video at The Kitchen in New York City.
1985 Rick Nelson and Fats Domino begin filming the PBS special Rockin' With Rick And Fats, which will turn out to be Nelson's last television appearance before his untimely death in a plane crash.
Stand By Me Released In Theaters, Reviving The Song
1986The movie Stand By Me is released in theaters. It's based on a novella by Stephen King called The Body, but director Rob Reiner decides to name it after the famous song to play up the friendship storyline and keep it from sounding like a slasher film.
When the song "Stand By Me" was released in 1961, it became a modest hit for Ben E. King, reaching #4 in the US. King wrote the song with the team of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, the guys responsible for the Elvis hits "Hound Dog" and "Jailhouse Rock." Reiner is a huge fan of their work, and when he meets Stoller at a party, he insists on singing along while Stoller plays some of these classic songs on a piano. Months later, it dawns on Reiner that Stand By Me is the perfect title for the film, so he asks to use the song. Leiber and Stoller assume they will have a modern hitmaker cover it for the film, but Reiner wants the orignial so it will synch with the era of the film, which is set in 1959. The movie is a commercial and critical success, and the song is re-released to tie in. This time, it reaches #9 in America but goes all the way to #1 in the UK. Now a hit with two generations and tied to a beloved film, the song becomes a staple at stand-by events like weddings and dances. Jerry Leiber is thrilled to see a song he co-wrote return to the charts 25 years later, but he's not sure why Reiner used it. "The movie was about a dead body in the woods," he says. "What does 'Stand By Me' have to do with that?"
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