October 23, 2010 Katy Perry and Russell Brand get married in Rajasthan, India.More
September 23, 2010 Katy Perry's appearance on Sesame Street is edited out after viewers complain about her revealing dress.More
September 20, 2010 Leonard Skinner, the namesake of the band Lynyrd Skynyrd, dies of Alzheimer's disease at age 77. As a gym teacher at Robert E. Lee High School in Jacksonville, Florida, he sent Ronnie Van Zant to the principal's office because his hair was too long.More
September 16, 2010 Country singer Justin Townes Earle is arrested in Indianapolis after storming offstage and trashing a green room. Reports say Earle was also intoxicated and he allegedly punched a woman backstage. Earle is forced to pay $200 in damages to the venue but is released from jail on a $150 bond.
September 15, 2010 In Toronto, Roger Waters begins his The Wall Live tour, a new production of the show he made famous with Pink Floyd in 1980.More
July 25, 2010 John Fogerty performs "Centerfield" at the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremonies, where he donates a guitar shaped like a baseball bat.More
June 21, 2010 Tam White, the Scottish singer and actor who was the first person to sing live on Top of the Pops in 1975 with a rendition of "What in the World's Come Over You," dies of a heart attack at age 67.
June 16, 2010 Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer and Anthrax play on the same bill, marking the first time the "Big Four" of thrash metal do a show together.More
February 10, 2010 John Mayer describes his ex-girlfriend Jessica Simpson as "sexual napalm" in a Playboy interview.More
February 4, 2010 A judge rules that the flute riff of the Men at Work song "Down Under" plagiarizes another Australian classic: the 1932 song "Kookaburra."More
January 31, 2010 Taylor Swift and Beyoncé sweep the Grammy Awards with record-breaking wins. Earning Album of the Year for Fearless at age 19, Swift is the youngest artist to ever win the award. Beyoncé wins six out of ten nominations - including Song of the Year for "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It) " - giving her the most wins in one night of any female artist.More
November 22, 2009 At the American Music Awards, Adam Lambert makes a statement with a lascivious performance of his debut single, "For Your Entertainment," where he drops a smooch on his (male) keyboard player.More
October 12, 2009 Michael Jackson's from-the-vaults track "This Is It" is released as a promotional single to accompany the concert documentary of the same name. It's the first release since his death in June.More
September 2, 2009 Shinedown lead singer Brent Smith is fat shamed on the Today show by host Kathy Lee Gifford, who says, "I thought he was Meat Loaf." He gets through their performance of "Second Chance" but is hurt by the comment. A few years later Smith uses it as motivation to quit drinking and start an intense fitness regimen that gets him in excellent health.
August 28, 2009 After the latest in a series of incidents between feuding brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher, Oasis finally split, with Noel walking out for good. "It is with some sadness and great relief... I quit Oasis tonight," he says. "People will write and say what they like, but I simply could not go on working with Liam a day longer."More
August 20, 2009 Keyboardist/bassist Larry Knechtel (of Bread) dies of a heart attack in Yakima, Washington, at age 69.
July 22, 2009 At Trae Day, an event commemorating the second anniversary of the day Houston rapper Trae was presented with a proclamation by the city of Houston, and featuring performances by Rick Ross, Trae, Rich Boy, Rocko, GS Boyson, six people get shot on the campus of Texas Southern University as a gang-related shooting starts raining in the parking lot, leading to a stampede of people who are mostly running for safety.
July 21, 2009 Brad Paisley performs at the White House, where he plays his new song "Welcome to the Future," which was inspired by Barack Obama's election. Paisley returns in 2012 to play a 4th of July concert at the White House, and in 2013 he plays an inauguration concert after Obama is re-elected.
July 7, 2009 After a private ceremony at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Hollywood Hills, Michael Jackson's public funeral is held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Most TV networks cover the event, where Kobe Bryant, Mariah Carey, Andrae Crouch Choir, Motown founder Berry Gordy, Jennifer Hudson, Magic Johnson, John Mayer, Lionel Richie, Smokey Robinson, Brooke Shields, Usher and Stevie Wonder all participate.More
June 27, 2009 Canadian blues musician Jackie Washington dies at age 89.
June 25, 2009 Fifty-year-old Michael Jackson is found dead in the Los Angeles mansion he is renting. The shocking news spreads quickly through social media outlets, and Jackson is the subject of numerous tributes over the next few weeks.More
June 18, 2009 Jammie Thomas-Rasset, a 32-year-old woman from Minnesota, is found guilty of illegal sharing of music files via the Internet and is ordered to pay $1.92 million, $80,000 per song.More
April 18, 2009 Sable Starr dies of brain cancer in Reno, Nevada, at the age of 51. In the 1970s she was a famous groupie, following rock stars around the venues of LA from the age of 14. At the time of her death she has retired from the rock and roll lifestyle and is working in a casino.
April 9, 2009 Following a contentious interview where he insults Canadian audiences, Billy Bob Thornton's music career hits a roadblock when he and his band the Boxmasters are booed at their show in Toronto opening for Willie Nelson. The Boxmasters cancel their remaining Canadian dates the next day.More
February 8, 2009 Chris Brown and his girlfriend Rihanna miss the Grammy Awards, where they are scheduled to perform, after he assaults her.More
January 20, 2009 Beyoncé serenades Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, at the Neighborhood Ball as the couple shares their first dance together as president and first lady of the United States. The choice of song, Etta James' signature hit "At Last," throws the blues singer into a fit of rage aimed at Beyoncé.More
January 18, 2009 A wide range of top musicians including Mary J. Blige, U2, Beyoncé, Bruce Springsteen, Garth Brooks, Sheryl Crow, will.i.am, James Taylor, John Legend, John Mellencamp, Pete Seeger, Shakira, Usher and Stevie Wonder, perform at a concert in Washington, DC, to celebrate the upcoming inauguration of Barack Obama as President of the United States of America.More
December 5, 2008 The musical biopic Cadillac Records premieres in US theaters, with Beyoncé in a starring role as soul legend Etta James.More
November 1, 2008 R&B singer Nathaniel Mayer, whose first hit was 1962's "Village Of Love," dies at age 64 in Detroit, Michigan, after suffering a series of strokes.
November 1, 2008 Yma Sumac, a Peruvian soprano who rose to fame in the '50s, dies of colon cancer at age 86. The spotlight shone on her again when her song "Ataypura" was featured in the 1998 comedy The Big Lebowski.
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