19 May

Pick a Day

19 MAY

In Music History

Page 1
1 2 3

2022 Ciara lands on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, which is starting to feature singers in addition to athletes and models. Megan Thee Stallion made the cover the previous year.

2017 Linkin Park release the pop album One More Light, which ends up being their last album with lead singer Chester Bennington, who commits suicide on July 20. The lead single, "Heavy," reflects his troubled state of mind.

2010 David Guetta's "Gettin' Over You" becomes the billionth track to be Shazamed.

2007 Frank Guida, a Sicilian-American songwriter and music producer whose first hit was Tommy Facenda's "High School U.S.A.," dies in Norfolk, Virginia, at age 84.

2007 At Porter Wagoner's 50th anniversary celebration at the Grand Ole Opry, Dolly Parton sings "I Will Always Love You" to Wagoner, whom she wrote the song about in 1974.

2006 Freddie Garrity (frontman of Freddie & the Dreamers) dies at age 69 while on holiday in North Wales.

2004 Blues singer Arnold "Gatemouth" Moore dies in Yazoo City, Mississippi, at age 90.

2000 Folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary celebrate their 40th year together with a US tour that kicks off with a three-night stand in Las Vegas.

2000 The Allman Brothers Band announce that founding guitarist Dickey Betts will not be a part of their summer tour. Reason given: "sadly, there are creative differences."

1999 Moby releases Play, a downtempo collection of electronic tunes built on samples of field recordings and old blues numbers. Thanks to music licensing, the songs reach lots of ears and the album becomes a global hit.More

1998 Jewel releases a book of poetry, A Night Without Armor.

1998 DMX releases his debut album, It's Dark And Hell Is Hot, featuring "Ruff Ryders' Anthem," produced by the up-and-coming Swizz Beatz. It debuts at #1 in America.

1998 After signing with DreamWorks Records thanks to the demo tape his dad, Loudon Wainwright III, passed on to the label, Rufus Wainwright releases his self-titled debut album. A standout track is "Baby," which showcases his opera influence.

1997 Backstreet Boys release "Quit Playing Games (With My Heart)," their breakthrough single in the US.

1996 Sonic Youth, Smashing Pumpkins, Peter Frampton and Cypress Hill appear on the "Homerpalooza" episode of The Simpsons.

Page 1
1 2 3

Billy Ray Cyrus Debuts With #1 Album

1992

Billy Ray Cyrus releases his debut album, Some Gave All, featuring his signature song "Achy Breaky Heart." The album dominates the Billboard 200 chart for 17 consecutive weeks, and the single's music video spawns a line-dancing trend across the US, where a new breed of country music is already becoming a phenomenon.

Billy Ray joins a wave of new country artists who are shaking up the genre with pop melodies and rock-influenced instrumentation. Just two months earlier, Garth Brooks became the first country artist to debut at #1 on the Billboard 200 with his Ropin' the Wind album, launching country into the mainstream. For purists, these guys are little more than country-flavored pop stars, but their appeal is undeniable. Billy Ray usurps Garth's reign and Some Gave All enjoys a record 17-week run at #1, largely due to the popularity of the single "Achy Breaky Heart." Thanks to the single's music video, New Country doesn't sweep the nation: It line dances. Billy Ray, who prefers a mullet to a cowboy hat, does his best Elvis for a crowd of screaming women. When they're not screaming, they're line dancing. The country-western dance gained some popularity in the '80s when the film Urban Cowboy, starring John Travolta, inspired a renewed interest in all things country, but the trend explodes with "Achy Breaky Heart." That same month, Brooks & Dunn releases "Boot Scootin' Boogie," the country fan's answer to the "Electric Boogie." By the mid-'90s, Americans are so caught up in the shuffle that country veteran Chet Atkins blames the fad for ruining country music, saying, "The music has gotten pretty bad, I think. It's all that damn line dancing." Some Gave All, which also includes the popular ballad "Could've Been Me," marks the peak of Billy Ray's career. The album is the first debut to enter the country charts at #1 and, with more than 20 million records sold worldwide, it's the best-selling debut album for a male solo artist. As his popularity wanes, he focuses on acting, eventually playing father to real-life daughter Miley Cyrus on the hit Disney Channel series Hannah Montana.

Categories

Comments

send your comment
Be the first to comment...

©2024 Songfacts®, LLC