20 MAY
In Music History
1997 Foo Fighters release their second album, The Colour And The Shape, with the hits "Everlong" and "My Hero." It's their first album with members other than Dave Grohl (Pat Smear on guitar and Nate Mendel on bass).
1995 The Eagles' Don Henley marries his first and only wife, the model Sharon Summerall, in Malibu, with Glenn Frey, Joe Walsh, Randy Newman, Jackson Browne, David Crosby, Jimmy Buffett, Sheryl Crow, and other celebs attending. At the reception, live music is provided by Tony Bennett, Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, and Sting.
1991 The first album from an MTV Unplugged performance is released when Paul McCartney issues Unplugged (The Official Bootleg) in the UK. It is released in America in June.
1981 Rachel Platten is born in New York City. She grows up in Newton, Massachusetts.
1980 The Clash concert in Hamburg, West Germany is plagued by crowd violence. When Joe Strummer smashes one particularly bellicose fan over the head with his guitar, Strummer is arrested, but cleared after a test proves he was not drinking.
1978 Wings' "With A Little Luck" hits #1 in America.
1977 The stage show "Beatlemania" opens at the Winter Garden Theater, New York.
1972 Rapper Busta Rhymes is born Trevor George Smith Jr. in Brooklyn, New York.
1970 George Harrison meets producer Phil Spector at Abbey Road Studios to play demos of the songs which will appear on his debut album, All Things Must Pass.
1969 Chicago singer Peter Cetera is attacked at a Dodgers-Cubs game at Dodger Stadium. Explaining the incident, Cetera says: "Four marines didn't like a long-haired rock 'n' roller in a baseball park, and of course I was a Cubs fan, and I was in Dodger Stadium, and that didn't do so well. I got in a fight and got a broken jaw in three places, and I was in intensive care for a couple of days. With my jaw wired together, I actually went on the road, and I was actually singing through my clenched jaw, which, to this day, is still the way I sing."
1968 Pete Townshend of The Who marries Karen Astley (daughter of composer Ted Astley), whom he met at Ealing Art College in London. The couple have three children before separating in the '90s. They divorce in 2009.
1967 George Harrison visits the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi for the first time.
1967 The Young Rascals' "Groovin'" hits #1 in America.
1967 After his wife dies in a car accident, 23-year-old Manuel Fernandez (electric organist of Los Bravos) commits suicide.
1966 Gitarist Tom Gorman of Belly is born.
Metal Band Lordi Wins Eurovision
2006The Finnish band Lordi win the Eurovision Song Contest - the first heavy metal band ever to do so.
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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.
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