20 FEBRUARY
Featured Events
2009 The White Stripes, favorites of the host, play "We're Going To Be Friends" on the final episode of Late Night with Conan O'Brien. It ends up being the last performance by the group, which splits up two years later.
2003 A fire breaks out at a Great White concert in Rhode Island, killing 100 people, including the band's guitarist, Ty Longley.More
1991 Public Enemy and Sinead O'Connor are nominated for Grammy Awards, but skip the ceremony: PE has beef because the rap award isn't televised; Sinead says they "respect mostly material gain." She wins anyway, taking the trophy for Best Alternative Music Performance for her album I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got.More
1988 "What Have I Done To Deserve This?" by Pet Shop Boys climbs to #2 in America, behind Tiffany's "Could've Been." The song features Dusty Springfield, marking her first big hit since 1969.
1988 Rihanna is born Robyn Rihanna Fenty in Saint Michael, Barbados. At 16, she's discovered by Evan Rogers of the group Rythm Syndicate, who brings her to America and helps her land a deal with Jay-Z's label, Def Jam.
1967 Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain is born in Aberdeen, Washington. He gets his first guitar on his 14th birthday and works on mastering Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven."
1941 Singer-songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie is born. According to her birth certificate, she's born Beverly Jean Santamaria in Stoneham, Massachusetts, but she claims to be Native-Canadian, born Beverly Sainte-Marie in Qu'Appelle Valley, Saskatchewan and adopted by a couple in Stoneham.More
20 FEBRUARY
In Music History
2017 David Cassidy has not fallen off the wagon, the former Partridge Family star explains two days after giving what appeared to be a drunken performance at a concert outside of Los Angeles, complete with slurring and stumbling over lyrics. He tells People magazine the real reason for his behavior: dementia. Cassidy, whose grandfather and mother (actress Evelyn Ward) both had the disease, decides to stop touring, saying, "I want to focus on what I am, who I am and how I've been without any distractions. I want to love. I want to enjoy life."
2016 Ne-Yo marries Crystal Renay Williams, who is pregnant with their son Shaffer.
2011 Katy Perry launches her worldwide California Dreams Tour in support of her Teenage Dream album, starting in Lisbon, Portugal, where she transforms the venue into a candy-coated wonderland. "It's very kitsch," she says. "I'm borrowing from The Wizard of Oz, Alice In Wonderland, Black Swan, Pee Wee's Big Adventure and a little John Waters. People are raising the bar so you either have to get to that level or you're out of the game."
2003 Olivia Rodrigo is born in Murrieta, California. She stars on the Disney shows Bizaardvark and High School Musical: The Musical: The Series before releasing her debut single, "Drivers License," in 2021.
2000 The biographical TV movie Little Richard airs on NBC, with mononymous actor Leon in the title role.
1993 Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You" from the soundtrack to The Bodyguard tops Billboard's Hot 100 singles chart for the 13th week.
1991 While two Garth Brooks hits ("The Dance," "Friends In Low Places") are among the nominees for Best Country Song at the 33rd Annual Grammy Awards, Kathy Mattea's "Where've You Been" takes the prize. The tender ballad was written by Mattea's husband, Jon Vezner, and Nashville songwriter Don Henry. The tune also earns Mattea the trophy for Best Female Vocal Country Performance.
1991 Alison Krauss wins her first Grammy Award when I've Got That Old Feeling takes Best Bluegrass Recording. By 2016, Krauss wins 26 more statuettes, surpassing Aretha Franklin as the most-awarded female artist in Grammy history and tying for second place with Quincy Jones as the most-awarded living recipient.
1985 Julia Volkova (of t.A.T.u.) is born in Moscow, Russia (then part of the Soviet Union).
1982 Pat Benatar marries her guitarist, Neil Giraldo. Many rock-and-roll and marriages flame out quickly, but this one takes. They have two children together and keep their musical partnership alive as well, with Giraldo stepping in as a producer.
1982 Death Wish II is released in the USA with a soundtrack by Jimmy Page.
1981 Rick James releases "Give It To Me Baby," a #1 R&B hit filled with that funk, that sweet, that funky stuff.
1979 George Harrison issues his eighth, self-titled album.
1976 Kiss immortalize their hand prints at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.
1975 Brian Littrell of Backstreet Boys is born in Lexington, Kentucky. His cousin is bandmate Kevin Richardson.
Snoop Dogg Is Innocent!
1996Snoop Doggy Dogg is acquitted of murder, ending an ordeal that started in 1993 when his bodyguard shot and killed a rival gang member from the Jeep Snoop was driving.
On August 25, 1993, Snoop and his bodyguard, McKinley Lee, confronted a rival, Philip Woldemariam, in a Los Angeles park. What happened next is the subject of the murder trail that started in November 1995, with Johnnie Cochran, fresh off the O.J. Simpson trial, representing the Snoop and Lee, the defendants. Details in the case are murky, but we know that after exchanging verbal threats, Snoop drove his Jeep to the park with Lee in the passenger seat. Lee stood up and shot the rival, killing him, and Snoop drove off, turning himself in a week later. Cochran makes the case that Woldemariam reached for his gun first, and Lee shot in self-defense. He also claims the LAPD bungled evidence and botched the investigation, the same arguments that helped him free O.J. Simpson. The jury agrees. Snoop and Lee are cleared of charges. At the time of the shooting, Snoop was Dr. Dre's protégé, known for rapping on Dre's first solo album, The Chronic. When Snoop turned himself in on September 2, 1993, it was at the MTV Video Music Awards just after presenting an award with Dre and George Clinton. He was signed to the fledgling Death Row Records, run by Dre and Suge Knight, which posted his $1 million bail. It was a agonizing ordeal for Snoop, but it stoked anticipation for his debut album, Doggystyle, which went straight to #1 when it was released in November. The acquittal is a second chance for Snoop, who takes advantage, becoming one of the best-known and most-beloved personalities in hip-hop, making a mark not just in music, but in movies and TV as well.
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