12 FEBRUARY
Featured Events
1997 Snoop Doggy Dogg and Sean "Puffy" Combs hold a press conference where they call for an end to the East Coast-West Coast rap rivalry that has claimed the life of Tupac Shakur. "Kids around the world are watching," Long Beach rapper Snoop says. "By calling for a truce we're giving them something to live for." The detente fails to quell the violence: Less than a month later, The Notorious B.I.G. is killed in a shooting.
1981 Riding the (permanent) wave of their previous album, Rush release Moving Pictures. Featuring "Tom Sawyer," "Limelight" and "YYZ," it becomes the best-selling album in the Rush discography. "The Camera Eye" is the last 10-minute-long song Rush ever record in the studio.
1977 Barbra Streisand's soundtrack album A Star Is Born hits #1 in the US. Her fourth album to top the tally - following People (1964), Stoney End (1971), and The Way We Were (1974) - it features the #1 hit "Evergreen."
1976 Sal Mineo, an actor who starred alongside James Dean in the movies Giant and Rebel Without a Cause, is murdered by a deranged assailant. Mineo had several hits as a singer including "Start Movin' (In My Direction)," which reached #9 US in 1957.
1972 Al Green's "Let's Stay Together" hits #1 in the US. Eleven years later, Tina Turner revitalizes her career with a hit cover of the song.
1970 BBC's Top of the Pops broadcasts John Lennon's "Instant Karma!" performance clip, taped just the day before.
1967 Police raid Keith Richards' Redlands estate, where they discover "various substances of a suspicious nature" and arrest him along with Mick Jagger and Marianne Faithfull. The whole thing is a setup.More
1937 On the Avenue, a musical starring Dick Powell and Alice Faye, debuts in movie theaters and introduces the holiday classic "I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm."
12 FEBRUARY
In Music History
2023 De La Soul rapper Trugoy the Dove (David Jolicoeur) dies at 54.
2023 Performing on a suspended platform and on a stage with 80 dancers, Rihanna is the halftime entertainment at Super Bowl LVII, where the Chiefs beat the Eagles 38-35. After the performance she confirms she's pregnant with her second child.
2018 Judas Priest guitarist Glenn Tipton announces he will no longer tour with the band due to Parkinson's disease, which he was diagnosed with in 2008. Andy Sneap takes his place.
2017 Al Jarreau dies at age 76. At the Grammy Awards that night, Pentatonix acknowledge his passing, calling him a "voice for the ages." Jarreau won seven Grammy Awards.
2016 Ween play the first of three reunion shows in Broomfield, Colorado. Originally, only two shows are scheduled, (for February 12 and 13), but the demand for tickets is so high during the pre-sale period that a third show is added on February 14. This marks the official return of Ween after breaking up nearly four years before.
2016 Kanye West drops "Famous," with the lyric: I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex Why? I made that bitch famous West claims that he got Taylor Swift's blessing before releasing the song, but she clearly doesn't expect it. Her spokesperson says she was never told the actual lyric, and takes issue with it.
2015 "Weird Al" Yankovic becomes the first-ever guest editor at MAD magazine when it is announced that he will be assisting with issue #533.
2015 Laugh-In announcer Gary Owens dies of complications from type 1 diabetes at age 80 in Encino, California.
2013 The second single from Soundgarden's album King Animal, "By Crooked Steps," is released. Its video is directed by Dave Grohl.
2009 At the 40th NAACP Image Awards, will.i.am's pro-Obama anthem "Yes We Can" wins in the Best Music Video and Best Song categories while Jennifer Hudson takes home three Awards, including Best New Artist.
2009 Fans at Paul Simon's concert at the Beacon Theater in New York City are treated to a surprise appearance by Art Garfunkel, who sings three songs with Simon.
2006 Beyoncé becomes the first woman to star in a #1 movie while having a #1 hit at the same time when The Pink Panther tops the box office as "Check On It" (used in the end credits) remains at the top of the chart. She's the third person to do it, following Prince with Purple Rain and "When Doves Cry," and Eminem with 8 Mile and "Lose Yourself."
2005 Country music singer/songwriter Sammi Smith dies from unconfirmed circumstances at age 61 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
2000 The singer Oliver ("Good Morning Starshine," "Jean") dies of cancer at age 54.
2000 D'Angelo's Voodoo replaces Santana's Supernatural as the #1 album in America. It stays for two weeks before Supernatural returns to #1.
Adele Restarts George Michael Tribute At Grammys
2017Adele opens the Grammy Awards with a performance of "Hello," which wins for Song of the Year and Record of the Year. Later, she sings "Fastlove" in a tribute to George Michael, who passed away on Christmas day, 2016. Before she can finish the first chorus, she stops the song and starts over, saying, "I can't mess this up for him."
"I f--ked up," Adele says after stopping the song, but when she starts over she pulls off a stirring tribute. Her night is far from over: She also takes the Album of the Year trophy for 25, making her the first to hit the trifecta of Album, Song and Record of the Year twice, a feat she accomplished in 2012 with her previous album, 21, and the song "Rolling In The Deep." She tears up when accepting Album of the Year, using the opportunity to pay tribute to Beyoncé, whose album Lemonade was up for the award. "The Lemonade album is just so monumental," she says. "So beautiful and soul-baring and we all got to see another side to you that you don't always let us see... You are our light." Earlier in the night, Bey performed for the first time since announcing she was pregnant with twins in an elaborate production number that used projections to show her as a kind of fertility goddess. Accepting the award for Best Urban Contemporary Album, she reads a prepared speech, where she says, "It's important to me to show images to my children that reflect their beauty." She doesn't get political, but Busta Rhymes does when he performs with A Tribe Called Quest, calling out President Trump: "I just want to thank President Agent Orange for perpetuating all of the evil that you've been perpetuating throughout the United States." Other memorable moments: Twenty One Pilots accept the award for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance in their underwear, explaining that they made a pact long ago that they would go pantless if they ever won a Grammy. Bruno Mars and The Time do a tribute to Prince, who died the previous year. Lady Gaga goes metal, performing "Moth Into Flame" with Metallica. James Hetfield's microphone fails, but Gaga gives it her all, even pulling off an admirable stage dive. David Bowie posthumously earns his first Grammy for a musical accomplishment when "Blackstar" takes Best Rock Song and Best Rock Performance (the album also wins for Best Alternative Music Album). Bowie's only Grammy wins during his lifetime were for Best Video, Short Form ("Jazzin' for Blue Jean") in 1985, and a lifetime achievement award in 2006.
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