2017 Gene Simmons of Kiss files a trademark application for the devil horns hand gesture, which he claims he invented in 1974.More
2007 Rihanna's "Umbrella," with a guest verse from her label boss Jay-Z, reaches #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, where it stays for seven weeks.
1998 Jimmy Buffett's memoir A Pirate Looks At Fifty is released. It reaches #1 on the New York Times Best Seller List for Nonfiction. The title is taken from his 1974 song "A Pirate Looks At Forty."
1993 Tina Turner's life story, including her stormy relationship with her husband Ike, is portrayed in the film What's Love Got To Do With It, starring Angela Bassett as Tina.
1990 Wilson Phillips hit #1 on the Hot 100 with "Hold On," a feat accomplished by their famous parents in the '60s - Wendy and Carnie Wilson are the daughters of Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys; Chynna Phillips was born to John and Michelle Phillips of The Mamas & the Papas.
1986 Genesis release Invisible Touch, their most successful album. The title track gives them their only #1 hit.
1915 Les Paul, a key developer of the electric guitar, is born Lester William Polsfuss in Waukesha, Wisconsin.
1891 Cole Porter is born in Peru, Indiana. His classic songs include "It's De-Lovely," "Anything Goes" and "Begin The Beguine."
2022 Britney Spears (40) marries the actor/model Sam Asghari (28). Wedding guests include Madonna, Selena Gomez, Drew Barrymore, and an interloper who crashes the ceremony: Jason Alexander, whom Spears was married to for 55 hours in 2004. Spears and Asghari split up 14 months later.
2017 Katy Perry begins live-streaming four days straight to promote the release of her new album, Witness. We learn that of her ex-boyfriends, John Mayer was the best in bed and Josh Groban was "the one that got away."
2010 Shania Twain's divorce from producer Robert "Mutt" Lange is finalized. The couple announced the split in 2008.
2000 The day after Curve magazine runs an interview with Sinead O'Connor declaring she's a lesbian, the Irish singer appears on The Rosie O'Donnell Show to perform her anthemic single "No Man's Woman."
1998 At a show in San Rafael, California, Steve Augeri debuts as lead singer of Journey, who have parted ways with Steve Perry because he's unable to tour. He's later replaced by Arnel Pineda as the band soldiers on into the 2020s. Perry never returns to the band, which is anchored by their founding member, guitarist Neal Schon.
1998 The Spice Girls play their first concert after the departure of Geri Halliwell, teaming up with opera star Luciano Pavarotti in Modena, Italy.
1994 After a fight with boyfriend and NFL star Andre Rison, TLC singer Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes douses Rison's tennis shoes with lighter fluid and sets them on fire in a bathtub. The fire quickly melts the plexiglass tub and catches onto the frame of the house. Rison's mansion is burned to the ground and Lopes is charged with first degree arson. She is sentenced to five years probation and ordered to pay a $10,000 fine.
1993 Country/soul singer Arthur Alexander dies of a heart attack at age 53, just a month after signing a new publishing and recording contract.
1987 At Gay Head in Martha's Vineyard, Carly Simon plays the first of two shows that are recorded for her HBO special Carly Simon - Coming Around Again. It's her first concert appearance since 1980, when her tour was truncated by stage fright and exhaustion.
1978 Muse frontman Matt Bellamy is born in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England.
1977 George and Pattie Harrison's divorce is finalized.
1972 Puddle Of Mudd leader Wes Scantlin is born in Kansas City, Missouri. After getting a demo tape to Fred Durst in 1999, he signs with Durst's label and, with a new band lineup, releases their debut album, Come Clean, with the hits "Blurry" and "She Hates Me."
1972 After several years playing the New Jersey bar scene, Bruce Springsteen signs with Columbia Records and begins recording his first album, Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J.
1971 Paul McCartney's second solo album, Ram, is certified Gold.
1970 Ed Simons of The Chemical Brothers is born in Herne Hill, South London, England.
MC Hammer's Please Hammer, Don't Hurt 'Em becomes just the second rap album to reach #1 in America (Licensed to Ill by Beastie Boys was the first).
The album is a very accessible form of rap that makes an easy crossover to pop. Acts like Bobby Brown and Milli Vanilli have been incorporating rap into their tracks with tremendous success, but Hammer flips the formula, making his raps the basis for the vocals while using dance music samples and beats to carry the tracks. The breakout hit is "U Can't Touch This," which gets the rapper on MTV with an iconic video that shows off his high-energy Hammer dancing (including his signature move: the Chinese typewriter). The party vibe becomes the basis for his live appearances, where dozens of dancers and hypemen join him on stage. Hammer grew up in a rough neighborhood in Oakland, California. After becoming a batboy for the Oakland A's baseball team, he released his first album, Feel My Power, in 1987. Let's Get It Started was issued in 1988, and Please Hammer, Don't Hurt 'Em followed in 1990, catapulting him to fame and making him unquestionably the most popular rapper in the world. His world tour fills arenas while more stalwart rap acts like Public Enemy perform in much smaller venues. He burns through cash at an alarming rate, with huge payroll budgets and massive expenses for his next album, Too Legit To Quit. In 1996, he files for bankruptcy. There is no stopping the rise of this rap/pop hybrid Hammer has wrought: the album spends a total of 21 weeks at #1, finally replaced by Vanilla Ice's To the Extreme.
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