14 FEBRUARY
Featured Events
2003 The movie Daredevil is released, featuring two songs by a new band called Evanescence: "Bring Me To Life" and "My Immortal." Both songs later appear on the group's debut album, Fallen, and become hits.
2001 Prince launches the NPG Music Club, one of the first music subscription services. The club acts as a virtual hub for the Prince faithful, with a thriving community, online access to his music, VIP passes to concerts and other exclusives. It runs until 2006, when Prince shuts it down, saying it "has gone as far as it can go."
1996 Prince, 37, marries the 22-year-old model/belly dancer Mayte Garcia at a ceremony in Minneapolis. White doves are released when they exchange vows - no word on if they were crying. The marriage is annulled three years later, and Garcia takes up with Tommy Lee of Mötley Crüe.
1992 Thanks to Alice Cooper's appearance in Wayne's World, we learn that "Milwaukee" is Algonquin for "the good land." We also get a fresh blast of "Bohemian Rhapsody."More
1992 Lead singer Vince Neil, who had been pursuing IndyCar racing, is booted from Mötley Crüe. "Race car driving has become a priority in Neil's life," the band's management says in a statement. "His band mates felt he didn't share their determination and passion for music." Neil returns to the fold in 1997.
1991 Boyz II Men release their debut album, CooleyHighharmony, with Michael Bivins of Bell Biv DeVoe as executive producer. Bivins' former group, New Edition, inspired the Boyz' name with their 1988 track "Boys To Men."
1987 Bon Jovi's working-class anthem "Livin' On A Prayer" hits #1 in the US, where it stays for four weeks. The funky distorted sound in the intro is a talkbox hooked up to Richie Sambora's guitar. Peter Frampton popularized the device on his 1976 album Frampton Comes Alive.
1981 The Funky 4 + 1 become the first hip-hop group to perform on national TV when they do "That's The Joint" on Saturday Night Live. Debbie Harry of Blondie, an early proponent of rap music, is the host.
1976 After singing about "The valentines I never knew" in her song "At Seventeen," Janis Ian gets hundreds of Valentine's Day cards from fans.More
1974 Daryl Dragon and Toni Tennille (Captain & Tennille) are married in Virginia City, Nevada. Love keeps them together until 2014, when they divorce after nearly 40 years of marriage.
1970 After failing to get a suitable recording during their US tour, The Who play a standout show to 2,000 boisterous fans at Leeds University in England that becomes their classic album Live at Leeds.
14 FEBRUARY
In Music History
2024 The biopic Bob Marley: One Love, produced by Bob's son Ziggy Marley, opens in theaters. It gets plenty of love at the box office, going to #1 its first week of release.
2019 Kanye West hires Kenny G to play his sultry sax in a room full of roses for his wife, Kim Kardashian, as a Valentines' Day surprise. They end up collaborating, with Kenny G playing on Kanye's Jesus Is King track "Use This Gospel."
2015 Lady Gaga gets engaged to actor Taylor Kinney. She confirms the news two days later by posting a photo of the heart-shaped diamond ring on Instagram with the caption, "He gave me his heart on Valentine's Day, and I said YES!"
2014 With their music in legal limbo, De La Soul give away free downloads of their first six albums to anyone who signed up on their website. Their catalog isn't available digitally because of rights issues with the samples. "We're in the Library of Congress, but we're not on iTunes," group member Posdnuos says, referring to their debut album 3 Feet High And Rising.
2012 Dory Previn, a singer-songwriter who wrote many songs with her second husband André Previn, dies at 86.
2010 Blues musician Lil' Dave Thompson dies in a car accident at age 40.
2009 Jazz drummer Louie Bellson dies at age 84 of Parkinson's disease and complications from a broken hip.
2008 Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher marries Nicole Appleton of the girl group All Saints.
2006 Willie Nelson issues the single "Cowboys Are Frequently, Secretly Fond of Each Other."
2006 The Veronicas' debut studio album, The Secret Life of..., is released in the US.
2006 English pop singer Lynden David Hall dies at age 40 of complications from a stem cell treatment he received to treat Hodgkin's lymphoma.
2004 After nine weeks at #1 in the US, "Hey Ya" gives way to another OutKast song, "The Way You Move," which has been #2 the previous eight weeks, a record for most weeks at #2 before claiming the top spot.
2002 Sweet drummer Mick Tucker dies of leukemia at age 54.
1999 Rocker Buddy Knox dies of lung cancer at age 65.
1999 The Deftones, on the final stop of their tour opening for Black Sabbath, find that their truck has been stolen from the parking lot of the Holiday Inn in Dearborn, Michigan. Taken are all of the band's backline equipment and instruments, including several of Chi Chings' Precision Fender Bass guitars, and Stephen Carpenter's custom-made guitars and racks.
Matchbox Twenty's Rob Thomas Is Born
1972Rob Thomas of Matchbox Twenty is born to American parents in West Germany.
Thomas spends his early childhood in South Carolina before relocating to Orlando, Florida by age 11. He develops an interest in music that is fueled by country storytellers like Merle Haggard, Waylon Jennings, and Johnny Cash before discovering alternative radio as a teen. In 1993, Thomas forms the rock band Tabitha's Secret, which evolves into Matchbox Twenty when producer Matt Serletic shows interest in the group. In 1996, they release their debut album, Yourself Or Someone Like You, with Thomas as the lead vocalist and primary songwriter of hits like "3 AM," "Push," and "Real World." Almost immediately, Matchbox Twenty becomes alt-rock superstars, but Thomas takes a detour that makes him shine even brighter in the limelight. In 1999, he reworks a Latin love song with songwriter Itaal Shur for Santana's comeback album, Supernatural. Thomas' vocals paired with Carlos Santana's iconic guitar work makes for the hottest single of the new millennium. "Smooth" is a #1 hit and wins Grammy Awards for Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals. While Thomas continues to record with Matchbox Twenty - releasing the albums Mad Season, More Than You Think You Are, and North - his "Smooth" success bolsters his confidence as a solo act. In 2005, he releases his debut solo album, …Something To Be, which usurps Mariah Carey's The Emancipation Of Mimi at #1. It also features the Top 10 hit "Lonely No More." By 2019, he issues three more albums: Cradlesong, The Great Unknown, and Chip Tooth Smile. In a 2020 Songfacts interview, Thomas says the balancing act between writing for Matchbox Twenty and solo work is simple: "My process is just to write all the time and whenever something comes along to see what I have that I love. For Matchbox, the deciding factor is the other three members. If they don't like something, we don't do it."
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