24 JULY
Featured Events
2001 Bob Seger's boat Lightning (named because a previous boat was struck by lightning) wins its division in the 291-mile Port Huron to Mackinac Boat Race in Michigan with a time of 30 hours, 34 minutes, 42 seconds. Seger is one of 11 crew members on board.
1999 On the third day of the Woodstock '99 festival on Griffiss Air Force Base, overpriced water, overflowing toilets and a Limp Bizkit performance of "Break Stuff" lead to riots, groping and injuries. Conditions deteriorate as the festival rages on, and by the final day, MTV is covering the event with the tagline "Apocalypse Woodstock."
1999 The rapper Treach (Anthony Criss) from Naughty by Nature ("O.P.P.") marries Pepa (Sandra Denton) of Salt-N-Pepa in a ceremony officiated by Reverend Run of Run-D.M.C., who says it's the first time a rapper has married two rappers. Among the guests are Salt, Queen Latifah and Vivica A. Fox. The couple divorce in 2001, with Pepa alleging abuse.
1987 The movie La Bamba, a somewhat fictionalized biography of Latin rock star Ritchie Valens, opens in the US. It's generally well received, especially the soundtrack by Los Lobos. Lou Diamond Phillips stars as Valens, who died in the infamous plane crash that killed Buddy Holly and The Big Bopper; Marshall Crenshaw appears as Buddy Holly and Brian Setzer as Eddie Cochran.
1982 Thanks to its use in the movie Rocky III, "Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor hits #1 for the first of six weeks.
1978 The film Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band opens in America, and it tanks hard. Savaged by critics, it becomes a legendary Hollywood flop despite appearances by Peter Frampton, Billy Preston, Aerosmith and The Bee Gees.More
24 JULY
In Music History
2022 Joni Mitchell makes a surprise appearance at the Newport Folk Festival, performing a full set for the first time since 2000. Performing from a chair (Mitchell had a brain aneurism in 2015), she's joined by Brandi Carlile for most of the set.
2020 Taylor Swift releases her eighth album, Folklore. Instead of leading into it with a big publicity campaign, it's announced just a day earlier. Like her previous six albums, it goes straight to #1 in America.
2016 Marni Nixon, a soprano singer who dubbed vocals for numerous stars of the silver screen, including Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady and Natalie Wood in West Side Story, dies at age 86.
2014 Chubby Checker settles his lawsuit with Hewlett-Packard over their app: "The Chubby Checker." The app, which sold for 99 cents, purported to estimate a man's penis size based on his shoe size.
2011 At the Mod Club in Toronto, Abel Tesfaye performs as The Weeknd for the first time. Visibly nervous, he keeps a firm grip on the microphone.More
2011 Dan Peek (multi-instrumentalist and vocalist for America) dies of fibrinous pericarditis in his sleep at age 60.
2001 Jimmy Eat World release their fourth album, Bleed American, featuring the tracks "The Middle" and "Sweetness." The album is re-titled Jimmy Eat World after September 11.
1998 Country legend Tanya Tucker files suit against her label, Capitol Nashville, for $300,000, claiming the label has not promoted her properly.
1995 A three-night career retrospective honoring Frank Sinatra on his 80th birthday begins at Los Angeles' Shrine Auditorium. A visibly ailing Sinatra attends but does not perform. Meanwhile, in New York City, the Empire State Building is lit with blue lights in his honor.
1985 A stretch of Detroit's Washington Boulevard is renamed "Aretha Franklin's Freeway Of Love," in honor of her recent comeback hit.
1984 Reverend Clarence LaVaughn Franklin (Aretha Franklin's father) dies five years after being shot during a robbery attempt at his Detroit home. The incident left him in a coma until his death at age 69.
1977 Led Zeppelin play their last concert in America, performing at the "Day On The Green" at Alameda County Coliseum in Oakland, California. Their tour is set to continue into August, but is cancelled when Robert Plant's son, Karac, dies two days later.
1976 The Manhattans' "Kiss And Say Goodbye" hits #1 in the US.
1976 Elton John's duet with Kiki Dee, "Don't Go Breaking My Heart," hits #1 in the UK.
1973 Mary Ann "Ladybug Mecca" Vieira, of the alt Hip-Hop group Digable Planets, is born in Brazil.
Jennifer Lopez Is Born
1969Jennifer Lopez is born to Puerto Rican parents in The Bronx in New York City.
A singer, dancer, and actress, Lopez has been hailed as the most influential Latin performer in the US, with a number of hit singles and popular films to her credit. She starts out as a dancer, backing New Kids on the Block until she gets a regular gig as a Fly Girl on the '90s sketch-comedy series In Living Color. Soon after, she turns her attention towards acting, earning praise in small parts until she lands the breakthrough title role of Selena in the 1997 biopic of the murdered Tejano singer. Portraying Selena fuels Lopez's desire to pursue her own singing career. With a team of star R&B producers, including Cory Rooney, Dan Shea, and Rodney Jerkins – as well as her then-boyfriend Sean "Puffy" Combs - Lopez releases her debut album, On The 6, in 1999. Featuring the chart-topping single "If You Had My Love," the album is a collection of Latin-infused R&B-pop songs. The timing can't be more perfect, as Latin-pop is all the rage, with artists like Ricky Martin, Marc Anthony, and Enrique Iglesias climbing the charts. In the meantime, her acting career continues to take off with star turns in Out of Sight opposite George Clooney and U Turn alongside Sean Penn. All eyes are on Lopez at the 2000 Grammys when she shows up wearing a slinky green Versace dress with a daring how-low-can-you-go neckline, boosting her image as a sex symbol. Her next album, titled J.Lo, features the hit singles "Love Don't Cost A Thing" and "Play." J.Lo goes to #1 in the US the same week her romantic comedy The Wedding Planner hits #1 at the box office, making her the first entertainer to have a #1 hit album and movie at the same time. Lopez's personal life is on display when she has a high-profile romance with Ben Affleck, who stars with her in the box-office bomb Gigli and inspires much of her third album, This Is Me… Then (2002). Their engagement fizzles and – after a three-year recording hiatus – she returns with Rebirth, featuring the hit single "Get Right." Throughout the next decade, Lopez not only releases four more albums – all but one reaching the Top 10 – but also becomes a TV personality as an American Idol judge and star of the crime drama Shades of Blue. But music is never far behind for the dancer-turned-actress-turned-singer. She says: "The bottom line is that musicians love to make music and always will."
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