20 MARCH
Featured Events
2010 Three days after their lead singer Alex Chilton died of a heart attack, Big Star play the SXSW festival in Austin, Texas, with a number of guests joining to pay tribute to Chilton.More
2003 On the day the Iraq war begins, Bruce Springsteen opens his Melbourne, Australia, show with a quiet, acoustic version of his hit "Born In The U.S.A." and follows it, pointedly, with a cover of Edwin Starr's "War."
1997 Yanni becomes the first Western artist to play a concert at the Taj Mahal when he performs the first of three shows at the monument. Before a financial settlement is reached, farmers displaced by the spectacle threaten to immolate themselves in protest.
1993 Reggae rules as "Oh Carolina" by Shaggy hits #1 in the UK while Snow's "Informer" holds the top spot in America. It's the first #1 for both artists - Snow is Canadian; Shaggy is Jamaican-American.
1991 Eric Clapton's 4-year-old son, Conor, dies after falling out of a window at his mother's apartment. Clapton later writes "Tears In Heaven" about Conor.
1990 Near Scranton and heading for a show in Syracuse, Miami Sound Machine's tour bus is hit by a tractor trailer on a snowy highway. Gloria Estefan suffers a serious spinal injury requiring four hours of surgery.More
1982 The duo Buckner & Garcia appear on American Bandstand to perform their hit single "Pac-Man Fever," the first successful song about a video game.More
1969 John Lennon marries Yoko Ono at the Rock of Gibraltar in Spain, which is still owned by Britain. The Beatles song "The Ballad of John and Yoko" describes their ordeal finding a location for the nuptials.
20 MARCH
In Music History
2020 The Weeknd releases After Hours, an album filled with the kind of anxiety and paranoia many are feeling in the early weeks of coronavirus lockdown. It goes to #1 in the United States and many other territories, and the single "Blinding Lights" becomes one of the most-streamed songs of the spring and summer.
2020 Kenny Rogers dies at 81.
2017 Rihanna begins her stint as Marion Crane on Bates Motel, a role originated by Janet Leigh as the infamous shower-stabbing victim in the Alfred Hitchcock thriller Psycho.
2016 Trisha Yearwood stars as Mary in the Palm Sunday broadcast of the Fox live musical The Passion, the story of Jesus Christ's last hours on Earth.
2015 Twisted Sister drummer A.J. Pero dies of an apparent heart attack in New York at age 55.
2009 Blues guitarist/singer Mel Brown dies of complications from emphysema at age 69.
2009 The quirky garden store Fountains Of Wayne, which provided the moniker for the band of that name, closes shop after more than 40 years in business. The Wayne, New Jersey, landmark was a Christmas hotspot, as giant santas and holiday displays appeared every season. It was also the backdrop for some scenes from the HBO series The Sopranos.
2008 At the O2 Arena in London, the Eagles launch their world tour in support of their album Long Road Out of Eden.
2008 Rolling Stone magazine endorses Barack Obama by putting him on the first of three 2008 covers.
2006 The song "Thank You For Being A Friend" is played at Leeds Crown Court when John Humble pleads guilty to perpetrating the Wearside Jack hoax (he pretended to be the Yorkshire Ripper serial killer).
2004 Quincy Jones receives an honorary doctorate in Music from The University of Washington.
2000 Gene "Eugene" Andrusco (of Adam Again, Lost Dogs, The Swirling Eddies) dies of a brain aneurysm at age 30.
2000 American composer Vivian Fine dies at age 86.
1994 Madonna snags her third Razzie for Worst Actress at the 14th Golden Raspberry Awards. Her first came in 1987 for Shanghai Surprise, and the second followed in 1988 for Who's That Girl. This time around, it's her role as Rebecca Carlson in Body Of Evidence that underwhelms the judges.
1993 Two children are killed in an Irish Republican Army bombing in Warrington, England, inspiring the Cranberries song "Zombie."
Glee Ends Six-Season Run
2015The series finale of Glee, titled "Dreams Come True," airs on FOX. During its six-year run, the influential musical drama made old music new again with a stream of hit covers... and broke records from Elvis Presley and The Beatles along the way.
For six seasons, the musical series followed the ups and downs of William McKinley High School's glee club, New Directions, through a mixed bag of show tunes and chart hits that reflected the theme of each episode. Glee's musical impact starts from the very first episode when the team begs their choir director Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison) to keep his post with a rendition of Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'." The cover lands at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100, five spots higher than the original, and sets the standard for reinterpreting classic songs for modern audiences. Journey lead singer Steve Perry weighs in on Glee's influence: "The show has introduced to a whole new generation a treasure chest of songs from many, many great writers and artists. I mean, where could a younger generation hear or see a Burt Bacharach and Hal David song being performed these days except on Glee?... It's kinda become more than a TV show... It's a social comment and at the same time - It's a new Classic Radio." The original eight club members include Dianna Agron, Chris Colfer, Kevin McHale, Lea Michele, Cory Monteith, Amber Riley, Mark Salling, and Jenna Ushkowitz. Starting with Season 1's "The Power of Madonna," a series of themed episodes pays tribute to individual artists, including Britney Spears, Michael Jackson, and Fleetwood Mac, and other musicals like The Rocky Horror Picture Show, West Side Story, and Grease. In 2010, guest star Gwyneth Paltrow, as substitute teacher Holly Holliday, leads the New Directions in a hit performance of Cee Lo Green's "Forget You." Sometimes, a Glee cover helps bolster a current song; Rihanna's "Take A Bow" sees a 189 percent sales increase after getting the Glee treatment. By the end of the show's run, the Glee cast notches over 200 singles on the Hot 100, surpassing Elvis Presley, shatters the Beatles' record Top 40 hits with (71 to 75). Glee fans, known as "Gleeks," lap up the show's many releases, including 460 singles, 16 soundtrack albums, most landing in the Top 10 on the albums chart, 19 EPs, and six compilations. Tonight's finale features the latest iteration of the New Directions as they win the Nationals show choir competition and prepare for life beyond William McKinley High School. Aside from one original song, "This Time," five covers round out the story: "Teach Your Children" by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young "Someday We'll Be Together" by Diana Ross and the Supremes "The Winner Takes It All" by ABBA "I Lived" by OneRepublic "Daydream Believer" by The Monkees
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