19 November

Pick a Day

19 NOVEMBER

In Music History

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2018 Snoop Dogg gets a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame. In his speech, he thanks himself, inspiring the title track to his next album, I Wanna Thank Me.

2017 Country star Mel Tillis dies of respiratory failure at 85.

2012 Rihanna releases Unapologetic, her seventh album in eight years. The lead single is the #1 hit "Diamonds," written by Sia.

2012 Rihanna releases the single "Nobody's Business," featuring the man who assaulted her three years earlier, Chris Brown.

2011 17-year-old Justin Bieber hits #1 with his Christmas album Under The Mistletoe, making him the only teenager ever to top the chart with a holiday album.

2010 Nicki Minaj, already established thanks to her verse on Kanye West's "Monster" and features on tracks by Lil Wayne, Christina Aguilera and Usher, drops her debut album, Pink Friday. It includes her Eminem duet "Roman's Revenge," a meet-up of their unhinged alter egos, Slim Shady and Roman Zolanski.

2007 Queen guitarist Brian May is named Chancellor of Liverpool's John Moores University.

2007 Kevin DuBrow (lead vocalist for Quiet Riot) dies of a presumed accidental cocaine overdose at age 52. He is found in his Las Vegas home six days later.

2007 At Caroline Kennedy's 50th birthday party, guest performer Neil Diamond reveals that his 1970 hit "Sweet Caroline" was actually written about her.

2006 The ill-fated Bob Dylan musical tribute The Times They Are A-Changin' closes on Broadway after a scant 28 showings.

2004 Record producer Terry Melcher, who co-wrote The Beach Boys' "Kokomo," dies after a long battle with melanoma at age 62. He was the only child of actress Doris Day.

2004 Craig Nicholls (The Vines' frontman) reveals that he has Asperger Syndrome, a neurobiologcal disorder that causes autistic-like episodes and severe communication difficulties.

2003 An arrest warrant is issued in Los Angeles for Michael Jackson, due to recent charges of child molestation. The singer, phoning from Vegas where he is filming a video, convinces authorities to wait for his return to stand trial.

2003 Rock bassist Greg Ridley (of Humble Pie, Spooky Tooth) dies of pneumonia in Alicante, Spain, at age 56.

2002 The game show Weakest Link welcomes a diverse group of "Music Makers" to compete on tonight's episode, including "I'll Be" singer Edwin McCain, Sheila E., Deborah Gibson, Beach Boy Bruce Johnston, Lila McCann, Coolio, Skid Row's Sebastian Bach, and Motley Crue frontman Vince Neil.

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Milli Vanilli Have To Give Back Their Grammy

1990

The National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences strips the 1989 Best New Artist Grammy from Milli Vanilli because Rob Pilatus and Fabrice Morvan didn't actually sing on their debut album, "Girl You Know It's True." It is the first time a Grammy has ever been revoked.

Milli Vanilli had a #1 Hot 100 hit in 1989 with "Baby Don't Forget My Number," but got caught lip-synching at a concert in Connecticut a short time later when their tape skipped and they had to run off stage. The incident didn't stop their hit parade: "Blame It On The Rain" and "Girl I'm Gonna Miss You" each hit #1, and "All Or Nothing" came in at #4. Milli Vanilli is the brainchild of Frank Farian, a German producer whose group Boney M was wildly successful in Europe during the disco era. German dance music is not based on authenticity, so when Farian put Milli Vanilli together, he wasn't worried about the frontmen singing - they just had to project the right image. He found what he was looking for in Pilatus and Morvan, German clubgoers who dabbled in modelling and dance. Farian used studio musicians on the Girl You Know It's True album and credited the vocals to "Rob & Fab (Brothers Of Soul)," even though he used session singers on the record. The Grammy win shined a spotlight on the group that revealed their dirty secret. It came to a head when Pilatus and Morvan insisted on doing their own vocals for the follow-up album, and Farian refused. Eager to end the controversy himself, Farian announced on November 15, 1990, that the duo didn't sing a note on the recording. This is apparently against Grammy rules, so their win is rescinded, and there is officially no winner that year (the other nominees were Indigo Girls, Neneh Cherry, Soul II Soul and Tone Loc). In the aftermath, a flurry of lawsuits results in everyone who purchased the album being offered a $3 refund. Pilatus and Morvan release their own album in 1993 called Rob & Fab, which fails miserably. They reunite with Farian in 1998 and record a new album where they actually sing, but Pilatus dies of a drug overdose and the album is never released.

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