20 MAY
Featured Events
2017 Toby Keith performs to an all-male audience in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in one of the first concerts in the city since a ban on public performance of music was relaxed after more than 25 years.
2012 Lady Gaga appears on The Simpsons, where she tries to help Lisa improve her social standing in the episode "Lisa Goes Gaga."
1989 Paula Abdul notches her second #1 US hit with "Forever Your Girl," the title track to her debut album. The song is written by Oliver Leiber, son of Jerry Leiber of the Leiber & Stoller songwriting team.
1981 Alice Cooper and his wife Sheryl have their first child, a daughter named Calico. Their next two kids also have creative names: Dash and Sonora.
1967 Because of the line, "I'd love to turn you on," the BBC bans The Beatles song "A Day In The Life," claiming it may promote drug use.
1954 Bill Haley and His Comets' "Rock Around The Clock" is released for the first time. It stalls on the charts, but becomes a hit a year later when it is used in the movie Blackboard Jungle.
1946 Cher is born Cherilyn Sarkisian in El Centro, California. She first records as "Bonnie Jo Mason," and then "Cherilyn." Teaming up with Sonny Bono in 1964, they record as "Caesar and Cleo," before changing it to "Sonny and Cher" the next year. When they hit it big with "I Got You Babe," she sticks with Cher.
20 MAY
In Music History
2022 Harry Styles releases his third solo album, Harry's House, which debuts at #1 in the US, UK, and many other countries. Hits from the album include "As It Was" and "Late Night Talking."
2018 Hosting the Billboard Music Awards, Kelly Clarkson rejects the planned moment of silence in favor of a "moment of action" for the victims of a school shooting that took place two days earlier in her native Texas.More
2017 At the Palladium in London, The Cranberries play their last show with lead singer Dolores O'Riordan, whose health issues for cancellation of the remaining dates. She dies on January 15, 2018.
2016 Barenaked Ladies release the live album BNL Rocks Red Rocks, which was recorded on June 10, 2015, at the famous Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colorado, during the band's Last Summer On Earth tour. Guests include former Men at Work frontman Colin Hay and Violent Femmes sax player Blaise Garza, who join BNL for a rendition of Hay's 1982 hit "Who Can It Be Now?"
2016 The National release an anthology album of 59 Grateful Dead covers called Day of the Dead, with appearances by Lucinda Williams, Bruce Hornsby, Courtney Barnett and Wayne Coyne. Proceeds go to the Red Hot Organization, which helps fight AIDS.
2013 Ray Manzarek (keyboardist for The Doors) dies at age 74 in Rosenheim, Germany, while receiving treatment for a rare form of cancer (Cholangiocarcinoma or bile duct cancer).
2012 Robin Gibb (of Bee Gees) dies from colorectal cancer-related kidney and liver failure at age 62.
2009 Kris Allen wins season 8 of American Idol, defeating Adam Lambert in a surprise victory.
2007 Composer Ben Weisman dies in Los Angeles, age 85. He wrote or co-wrote more songs for Elvis Presley (57!) than anyone else.
2006 Hawthorne, California, dedicates a monument to their famous hometown sons: the three Wilson brothers of The Beach Boys.
2006 Saturday Night Live spoofs Neil Young's latest album, the very political Living With War, reimagining it as I Do Not Agree With Many Of This Administration's Policies.More
2003 Lynyrd Skynyrd release Vicious Cycle, their twelfth studio album. It's the last to feature work by bassist Leon Wilkeson, who passed away during recording. Kid Rock appears on the album in a remake of "Gimme Back My Bullets."
2003 South Carolina's parole board pardons James Brown of all past offenses committed in the state, even the felonies, spurring James to spontaneously sing "God Bless America" at the conclusion of the hearing.
1998 Frank Sinatra's funeral takes place in Beverly Hills, which draws 400 invited guests and a slew of onlookers. Tony Bennett, Angie Dickinson, Joey Bishop (the only surviving member of the Rat Pack), Liza Minnelli, Jack Nicholson, Tony Danza and Tom Selleck all show up to pay their respects.
1998 Tommy Lee of Motley Crue is sentenced to six months in jail and three years' probation stemming from an incident three months earlier when he got in a fight with his wife, Pamela Anderson Lee. Goes to jail that evening and serves three months before he is released.
Metal Band Lordi Wins Eurovision
2006The Finnish band Lordi win the Eurovision Song Contest - the first heavy metal band ever to do so.
The annual Eurovision Song Contest is the world's longest-running televised songwriting competition. First broadcast in 1956, it is contested between the members of the European Broadcasting Union, which also includes several non-European countries such as Turkey and Israel. The 2006 event is held in Athens and hosted by Greek Singer Sakis Rouvas and Access Hollywood's Maria Menounos. A camp and glitzy affair, Eurovision has built up an enormous cult following around the globe, with its dedicated followers holding parties to celebrate the broadcast of the live show. The highlight for fans is the last quarter of the lavish four-hour spectacular, which features representatives of each country awarding scores of up to 12 points to their nation's favorite entries - the voting often following strict geographic and political lines. Since 2003 the results have been entirely based on audience telephone voting, rather than the previous jury system, which has opened up an opportunity for a shock result. Costumed Finnish shock rockers Lordi are an unexpected entry into the contest, which has historically focused on glam pop, ethnic music and power ballads (Celine Dion was a winner for Switzerland in 1988). Their appearance and sound is more akin to Slipknot and Kiss than the slick bubblegum pop of their more mainstream competitors. In a knowing nod to their hard-rock heritage, the band is joined on stage by a backing singer who wears a mask painted with Gene Simmons' iconic Kiss make-up. The masked quintet's pyrotechnic-packed performance of "Hard Rock Hallelujah" is a surprise hit with viewers, leading to it achieving a score of 292 points - the highest scoring winner to date. Pre-contest favorites Belgium, with their entry "Je T'Adore" performed by Kate Ryan, are only able to manage a lowly 12th place. Following the historic win, an area in the lead singer's home town of Rovaniemi, Finland, is renamed to Lordi's Square in his honor.
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