Pick a Day

22 FEBRUARY

In Music History

1993 Radiohead release their debut album, Pablo Honey. Thanks to the lead single "Creep," it gradually earns them a substantial following, especially in the US where they tour in the summer and fall.

1990 A jury rules that Stevie Wonder didn't not infringe on a song written in 1976 called "I Just Called To Say" on his hit "I Just Called To Say I Love You." The lawsuit was filed in 1985 by "I Just Called To Say" writers Lee Garrett and Lloyd Chiate, but in 1986, Garrett, a childhood friend of Wonder's, pulls out of the case.

1989 DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince (Will Smith) win the first-ever rap Grammy (Best Rap Performance) for "Parents Just Don't Understand," their comic tune built from the I Dream of Jeannie theme song.

1987 Pop artist Andy Warhol, former manager of The Velvet Underground and designer for The Rolling Stones' Sticky Fingers album cover, dies of a cardiac arrhythmia following gallbladder surgery.

1985 Carl Perkins plays a nightclub bouncer in the John Landis-directed film Into The Night. It is Perkins' only film role as an actor.

1980 In Fort Worth, Texas, Rick James launches his first headlining tour, with Prince as opening act. Both released their debut albums in 1978, but James is the more popular artist at this point.

1979 Plain White T's frontman Tom Higgenson is born in Villa Park, Illinois.

1976 Shortly after emerging from poverty and alcoholism to make a musical comeback, Florence Ballard (of The Supremes) dies at age 32 of a cardiac arrest caused by a blood clot.

1975 Average White Band's "Pick Up the Pieces" hits #1.

1975 The Average White Band LP AWB hits #1.

1974 Ten Years After play their final live gig, in London.

1974 James Blunt is born in Tidworth, England.

1969 Elvis Presley records "In The Ghetto" and "Who Am I?"

1969 David Bowie begins a UK tour with T. Rex where he doesn't sing, but does a mime act.

1968 Sublime lead singer Brad Nowell is born in Long Beach, California. He dies of a drug overdose in 1996 at 28, just months before the band break through with a string of hits that includes "Doin' Time" and "Santeria." Sublime return to action with Brad's son Jakob at the helm in 2023.