20 January

Pick a Day

20 JANUARY

In Music History

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2022 Meat Loaf dies at 74. His 1977 album Bat Out Of Hell is one of the best-selling albums of all time; its 1993 sequel, Bat Out Of Hell II: Back Into Hell, contains the #1 hit "I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)."

2021 Garth Brooks sings "Amazing Grace" at the inauguration of Joe Biden at the request of incoming First Lady Jill Biden. Brooks explains his performance is not a political statement, but "a statement of unity."

2021 At Joe Biden's inauguration, Lady Gaga sings the national anthem and Jennifer Lopez belts out "This Land Is Your Land" before he is sworn in. At night, Bruce Springsteen, John Legend, Demi Lovato, and Tim McGraw all perform on a socially distanced concert special capped by a massive fireworks display on the National Mall as Katy Perry sings, of course, "Firework."

2021 On his last day in office, President Donald Trump pardons Lil Wayne, who pleaded guilty to weapons charges. Days before the election, the rapper was photographed with Trump and tweeted his support.

2019 Marking the 37th anniversary of that time he bit the head off a bat, Ozzy Osbourne's official store releases a plush bat with a detachable head.More

2015 Edgar Froese (drummer for Tangerine Dream) dies of a pulmonary embolism at age 70 in Austria.

2013 Bob Engemann (of The Lettermen) dies of complications from heart bypass surgery at age 77.

2012 Etta James dies at age 73 of leukemia complications.More

2011 Appearing on the Bravo show Watch What Happens Live, Tiffany talks about dating Jonathan Knight of New Kids on the Block in the '80s, and inadvertently outs him, saying, "He became gay later."More

2009 Bon Iver releases Blood Bank, a four-track EP and follow up to the hugely-successful For Emma, Forever Ago. The song "Woods," which features on the EP, will go on to be sampled by Kanye West on his track "Lost in The World."

2009 David "Fathead" Newman, a jazz and R&B saxophonist who played alongside Ray Charles, dies at age 75 of complications from pancreatic cancer.

2009 Kid Rock, Kanye West and Fall Out Boy perform at President Barack Obama's inauguration, playing the Youth Ball, which is broadcast live on MTV. Obama headlines, making a speech where he hypes the crowd with his "Yes We Can" slogan. Rock and West later throw their support to the next president: Obama's ideological opposite, Donald Trump.

2001 With the debut Lifehouse album climbing the charts, lead singer Jason Wade marries his longtime girlfriend, Braeden.

1999 Bill Albaugh (drummer for the psychedelic pop group The Lemon Pipers) dies at age 53.

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Beyonce Sings "At Last" For Obamas, Angers Etta James

2009

Beyoncé serenades Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, at the Neighborhood Ball as the couple shares their first dance together as president and first lady of the United States. The choice of song, Etta James' signature hit "At Last," throws the blues singer into a fit of rage aimed at Beyoncé.

Just a month before the Neighborhood Ball celebrating Obama's inauguration, Beyoncé gave an acclaimed performance as soul legend Etta James in the musical biopic Cadillac Records. Among other songs, Beyoncé recorded James' 1961 hit "At Last" for the soundtrack and won a Grammy Award for Best Traditional R&B Performance and a place on the Hot 100 at #67. None of this seemed to bother James, who greeted Beyoncé warmly at the film's premiere. But when the Obamas ask Beyoncé to sing "At Last" to accompany their special moment at the inauguration ball, James explodes. "I can't stand Beyoncé. She has no business up there, singing up there on a big ol' president day... singing my song that I've been singing forever," James says at a Seattle concert after a tirade against Obama and his "big ears." James later backpedals on her comments, saying the whole thing was a joke (though some point to an Alzheimer's diagnosis as the cause for her erratic behavior) and she thinks the president is "handsome" and "cool." She was just a little hurt that she was "left out of something that was basically mine, that I had done every time you look around." But "At Last" isn't really James' song, either. The ballad was written for the 1941 musical film Orchestra Wives, and was originally recorded by Glenn Miller and his orchestra, with vocals from Ray Eberle and Pat Friday. The highest-charting pop version came in 1952 from trumpeter Ray Anthony, whose rendition landed at #2. As far as we know, neither Miller, Eberle, Friday, or Anthony threatened to "whup ass" when James covered the tune in 1960, nearly 20 years after the original, and called it her own. It was an important song for James, though, bringing her another #2 R&B hit and crossing over to the pop chart at #47. And James is correct in the sense that hers is the quintessential version. Her passionate vocals elevate the song to romantic heights, making it perfect for tender film scenes and weddings… but apparently not inaugurations.

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