13 February

Pick a Day

13 FEBRUARY

In Music History

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2022 Dr. Dre anchors the first hip-hop-heavy Super Bowl halftime show, performing with Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, Mary J. Blige and 50 Cent.

2019 In a New York Times story, seven female musicians accuse Ryan Adams of inappropriate and sometimes abusive behavior. His accusers include Phoebe Bridgers and his ex-wife, Mandy Moore. Adams' upcoming album release is cancelled and he's dropped from his label.

2016 All four members of the promising English group Viola Beach are killed, along with their manager, when their car crashes on a bridge near Stockholm. Coldplay pay tribute by covering their song "Boys That Sing" at the Glastonbury Festival.

2016 Justin Bieber's "Love Yourself" replaces his song "Sorry" at #1 on the Hot 100. It's the third consecutive #1 single from his Purpose album ("What Do You Mean?" was the first), making it the first album by a male artist with three straight chart-toppers since Justin Timberlake's FutureSex / LoveSounds.

2011 Arcade Fire's The Suburbs scoops Album of the Year at the Grammy Awards, beating Eminem's hotly tipped comeback, Recovery. Many folks have not heard of the Canadian band, prompting the internet meme, "Who Is Arcade Fire?" Esperanza Spalding surprisingly beats out Justin Bieber for Best New Artist, becoming the first jazz artist to win the award.

2005 50 Cent appears on The Simpsons in the episode "Pranksta Rap."

2005 Robin Thicke wins his first Grammy, thanks to his work on Usher's 2004 album, Confessions, which takes Best Contemporary R&B Album. Robin co-produced the track "Can U Handle It?" Wilco wins for Best Alternative Music Album and Best Recording Package for their fifth album, A Ghost Is Born.

2002 Country music great Waylon Jennings dies at age 64.

2001 Peter Frampton is recognized in the guitar community with the Orville H. Gibson Lifetime Achievement Award.

2001 George Simon, a jazz writer who won a Grammy award in 1978 for his liner notes on the album Bing Crosby: A Legendary Performer, dies of pneumonia at age 88.

1998 Buddy Lee, a booking agent who worked with Garth Brooks and Willie Nelson, among others, dies of respiratory failure related to lung cancer.

1996 After three albums and seven UK #1 singles, the boy band Take That announce their breakup. They return to action in 2005.

1988 Michael Jackson buys a ranch in Santa Ynez, California, which he renames "Neverland."

1987 Metallica conclude their breakthrough - yet tragic - Damage Inc. tour at Frolundaborg in Gothenburg, Sweden. They drew huge crowds throughout the tour but lost bass player Cliff Burton, who was killed when their tour bus slid off the road during an earlier stop in Sweden.

1982 The 300-pound marble slab marking the grave of Lynyrd Skynyrd lead singer Ronnie Van Zant is stolen from a cemetery in Orange Park, Florida. Police find it two weeks later in a dry river bed.

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Fugees Release The Score

1996

The Fugees release their second album, The Score. It's a landmark, topping the charts around the world and pushing the boundaries of hip-hop. It's also their last album, as they disband soon after.

The group - Lauryn Hill, Wyclef Jean and Pras Michel - released their first album, Blunted on Reality, in 1993. It had just modest success, with rough-hewn tracks featuring lots of yelling by Wyclef. With just a $135,000 budget for their next album, they have to stay lean and hungry, so they invest the money in their own studio equipment that they set up in the basement of Wyclef's uncle in East Orange, New Jersey. In the "Booga Basement," as they call it, they create their masterpiece. By doing most of the production work themselves, they are free to experiment and call all the shots. Along the way, they develop a distinctive style blending snappy rhymes with pop hooks and familiar melodies. Hill, who didn't rap until she teamed up with Wyclef, proves herself not just a competent MC, but one of the best in the game, weaving rapped verses and sung choruses into a tapestry that takes hip-hop to the next level. The first single is Fu-Gee-La, based on the Teena Marie track "Ooo La La La." Released ahead of the album in December 1995, it makes a quick impact in New York: When the group is sent to sign copies at a record store in the city, they are shocked to see throngs of new fans waiting for them. It's their first taste of the adulation that grows to a frenzy as The Score takes off. It's clear they have a hit on their hands, so their record company doesn't sell any more singles in America, which boosts album sales to over 6 million. The most popular track is their remake of Roberta Flack's "Killing Me Softly With His Song," a soul classic that is Hill's bailiwick. In America, it's one of the most-played songs on radio throughout 1996, and in the UK, it's the biggest-selling single of the year. They perform the song with Flack on a few occasions. After spending 1996 and the first half of 1997 performing around the world and collecting awards (including a Grammy for Best Rap Album), the group splits to pursue solo projects. Wyclef becomes a superproducer, Pras a Ghetto Supastar, and Hill a sensation; her 1998 solo album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill win the Grammy for Album of the Year.

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