23 FEBRUARY
Featured Events
2003 Norah Jones wins all five Grammy Awards she is nominated for, including Record Of The Year and Song Of The Year for "Don't Know Why." Also at the ceremony, Simon & Garfunkel get a Lifetime Achievement Award and sing together for the first time in 10 years.
2000 Santana win eight Grammy Awards for their star-studded, chart-topping album Supernatural, tying Michael Jackson's record for the most awards won in a single night.More
1999 TLC's third album, FanMail, is released. It's a huge seller thanks to the tracks "No Scrubs" and "Unpretty," but causes friction among the trio, as Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes feels she's being cast aside.More
1997 During a show at the The London Astoria, Tool's lead singer Maynard James Keenan - an army veteran and Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner - floors a fan who comes onstage and keeps him in a choke hold. He continues to sing "Pushit" while detaining the fan.More
1983 After 18 nominations, Lionel Richie finally wins a Grammy when his solo debut single "Truly" takes the award for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male.
1974 Aretha Franklin becomes the first artist to have songs peak at each of the first 10 spots on the Hot 100 when "Until You Come Back To Me (That's What I'm Gonna Do)" fills in the gap at #3.
23 FEBRUARY
In Music History
2019 Ariana Grande becomes the first solo artist to hold the top three spots on the Hot 100 in the same week, a feat previously accomplished only by The Beatles. The songs: #1: "7 Rings" #2: "Break Up With Your Girlfriend, I'm Bored" #3: "Thank U, Next"
2014 Chip Damiani, drummer for The Remains, dies of a brain hemorrhage at age 68.
2013 At the 33rd Golden Raspberry Awards ceremony, Rihanna is named Worst Supporting Actress for her role as weapons specialist Cora Raikes in the sci-fi action flick Battleship. Fellow nominees include Razzie vet Jennifer Lopez (What to Expect When You're Expecting), who won her first award back in 2003 as Worst Actress for Gigli.
2007 Rockabilly singer Donnie Brooks dies at age 71.
2004 Don Cornell, a popular singer in the '40s and '50s, dies at age 84.
2003 Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers bass player Howie Epstein dies at age 47 after a long battle with drug addiction.
2003 Nickel Creek wins the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album for the Alison Krauss-produced This Side.
2000 Tom Waits's heavily roots-influenced Mule Variations wins a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album.
1999 The Roots release their critical and commercial breakthrough album, Things Fall Apart. Featuring "You Got Me," it loses the Best Rap Album Grammy to Eminem's The Slim Shady LP.
1997 Jazz drummer Tony Williams dies at age 51.
1997 After declaring a truce in an effort to end violence between East Coast and West Coast rappers, Puff Daddy and Snoop Doggy Dogg appear on The Steve Harvey Show in the episode "I Do, I Don't."
1995 Melvin "Blue" Franklin (bass singer for The Temptations) dies at age 52. Franklin had long suffered with rheumatoid arthritis and developed diabetes in the '80s.
1993 Ska music gains a foothold in America as The New Ritz in Manhattan sells out for the Skalapalooza concert, with performances by The Toasters, Bad Manners, and The Skatalites. It leads to the first ska festival in America later that year: Skavoovee.
1993 Little Richard receives a Lifetime Achievement Grammy award.
1992 Anthrax appear on Married With Children in the episode "My Dinner with Anthrax." After eating the mystery food in the Bundy's fridge, they rock out on "In My World."
Eminem Takes Off With The Slim Shady LP
1999Eminem drops his first major-label album, The Slim Shady LP. He quickly becomes the most controversial rapper in the game.
In the mid-'90s, Eminem made a name for himself at rap battles and open mics in the Detroit area, and in 1996 released an independent album, Infinite, that bombed. His fortunes improved the next year when Dr. Dre heard his demo and signed him to his Aftermath label, producing three tracks for his debut, including the first single, "My Name Is," where Em introduced his alter-ego, Slim Shady. With outlandish rhymes about impregnating a Spice Girl and living with a mother who smokes more dope than he does, the song gets a lot of attention as listeners try to figure out exactly who this guy is. The answer: a 24-year-old white rapper whose real name is Marshall Mathers but calls himself Eminem (because of his initials M&M) and sometimes raps in character as Slim Shady, who is pure id. He's Dre-approved, with a hardscrabble upbringing that earns him credibility in the rap community. When The Slim Shady LP lands, it both delights and offends, garnering lots of media coverage and quickly selling a few million copies. It's clear that he really doesn't give a f--k (seriously - there's a song on the album called "Just Don't Give a F--k"), which makes him all the more intriguing. He proves his staying power with a successful follow-up, The Marshall Mathers LP, and a starring role in 8 Mile, a movie loosely based on his life.
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