2019 Forbes declares Jay-Z a billionaire, making him the first rapper to hit that mark. $310 million of his fortune comes from his stake in Armand de Brignac champagne.
2007 During a gig in New York, a fan throws something at Akon during his set. The singer brings the offender on stage, picks him up and hurls him into the crowd.More
1992 Arkansas governor Bill Clinton, campaigning for US president, makes a whistle stop on The Arsenio Hall Show, where he plays the Elvis Presley hit "Heartbreak Hotel" on the saxophone to a cheering, youthful audience. The appearance is later seen as the definitive moment when Clinton captured the trust and support of young voters, and locked the election on charisma points.More
1991 In an effort to pay off his tax debt, Willie Nelson releases Who'll Buy My Memories: The IRS Tapes. Available by mail order at (800) IRS-TAPE, it's part of a deal Nelson made with the IRS to help reconcile his whopping $32 million tax bill.
1972 The Staple Singers' "I'll Take You There" hits #1 as the group makes a successful transition from gospel to secular music.
1967 "It was the third of June, another sleepy, dusty delta day," as Billie Joe McAllister jumps off the Tallahatchee Bridge, according to the Bobbie Gentry song "Ode To Billie Joe."
1967 Aretha Franklin's "Respect" hits #1 in America. The song was written and originally recorded by Otis Redding, whose version hit #35 in 1965.
1967 The Doors release a truncated version of "Light My Fire" as a single, trimming it from an album-awesome 6:50 to a radio-friendly 2:52. The group's first single, "Break On Through," didn't, but "Light My Fire" ignites, going to #1 and becoming their most famous song.
1950 Suzi Quatro is born in Detroit. She makes her musical mark in England, where she moves in 1971 after Mickie Most signs her to his label. In America, she's best known for her role as Leather Tuscadero on the TV series Happy Days.
2023 Lauryn Hill stages a surprise Fugees reunion when she brings Wyclef Jean and Pras Michel on stage to perform at her concert in Philadelphia.
2016 After a 32-year battle with Parkinson's disease, Muhammad Ali, the heavyweight boxing champion and civil rights activist who was the subject of the 1975 hit "Black Superman," dies of respiratory complications at age 74.
2014 Jade Castrinos, the female vocalist in Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros, updates her Instagram bio to read: "For seven years i sang and wrote music with edward sharpe. they voted me off of tour a week before they left, via email. lol."More
2011 Andrew Gold, who penned what would famously become the theme song to The Golden Girls, dies of heart failure at age 59.
2011 R&B singer Benny Spellman dies of respiratory failure at age 79.
2010 Esquire posts video of a fashion shoot where Gavin Rossdale's daughter Daisy Lowe dances to the song "Tiger" by Maximum Balloon, garnering millions of views and giving the song a huge boost.More
2009 Blues singer Koko Taylor, known for her popular cover of Willie Dixon's "Wang Dang Doodle," dies of surgical complications after a procedure for gastrointestinal bleeding at age 80.
2006 At the Rock am Ring Festival in Nürburgring, Germany, Metallica perform their classic album Master Of Puppets in its entirety for the first time ever.
2006 Red Hot Chili Peppers' Stadium Arcadium hits #1 on both the UK and US albums charts.
2005 Shakira releases the Spanish-language portion of her double-album project, Oral Fixation, which is joined by its English counterpart in the fall. The two-part project is a followup to her first English-language album, Laundry Service, and reflects the singer's evolution from a Colombian pop princess to an international superstar.More
2003 Barry Manilow suffers a broken nose after he accidentally walks into a wall at his home in Palm Springs, California, and knocks himself unconscious. Although he passed out for four hours, he doesn't endure any lasting effects and doctors determine that surgery is not necessary.
2002 Paul McCartney and Aretha Franklin are the performers at Queen Elizabeth II's Golden Jubilee celebrating the 50th year of her reign.
2001 Tom Petty marries Dana York in a ceremony officiated by Little Richard. It's his second marriage, and his last - he and Dana are still married when he dies in 2017.
2001 Staind's Break The Cycle starts a three-week run at #1 on the US albums chart.
2001 Shaggy's "Angel" starts a four-week run at #1 on the UK singles chart. His album Hot Shot also goes to #1 on the UK albums chart.
With the BBC refusing to air The Kinks' new single "Lola" because of its reference to "Coca-Cola" (brand names being a no-no for the corporation), lead singer Ray Davies flies all the way from London to New York to re-record the line as "Where you drink champagne and it tastes just like cherry-cola."
After the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) refuse to play the The Kinks' new single, "Lola," singer Ray Davies is forced to interrupt the band's US tour for the second time in two weeks - flying from New York to London and back to re-record a single line of the song to meet their rules. As the BBC holds the virtual monopoly on public radio and TV broadcasting in the UK, an airplay ban could have significant implications for the single's sales. Surprisingly for the conservative corporation, the reason for the ban is not the song's subject matter - a tale of a tryst between the protagonist and a transsexual who "walked like a woman and talked like a man" - but a breach of their strict rules on advertising and product placement. The offending line, "Where you drink champagne and it tastes just like Coca-Cola," has the beverage changed to "cherry cola" for British audiences. There are other bans and edits of the track around the world: Australian radio stations refuse to play the song at all due to its controversial narrative, and many America radio stations fade the song out before the hinted reveal of Lola's true gender: "Now I'm not the world's most masculine man, but I know what I am and I'm glad I'm a man, and so is Lola." After initially traveling to London after the Kinks' May 23 gig in Minnesota, Davies failed to capture the performance to his satisfaction, so he makes a second round trip to capture the two-word phrase. This time both he and the BBC are happy with the change, and the single is cleared for airplay. When the edited version is eventually released in the UK it is a #2 hit and the original version peaks at #9 in the US. Ray Davies' re-recording woes are not over, though, as he soon has to make yet another transatlantic trip when the word "fogging" in the band's next single "Apeman" is mistaken by the US censors for a much stronger curse word.
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