February 16, 2011 Lady GaGa's "Born This Way" makes history, becoming the Billboard Hot 100 chart's 1000th number one. "It is a tremendous honor," GaGa tells Billboard. "To be the 1000th number one on Billboard. I would be silly not to say this is the greatest honor of my career."
February 15, 2011 A stunned Laura Marling accepts the Brit Award for Best British Female at the O2 Arena in London. In an interview later that year Marling says she was "terrified" at the awards ceremony, clarifying that she's "been around people for whom [winning a Brit] has changed things and it is uncomfortable to watch. I'm not built for that."
February 2, 2011 Leonard Cohen's first grandchild is born to proud parents Lorca Cohen, Rufus Wainwright and "deputy dad" Jorn Weisbrodt. Little Viva Katherine, named after Wainwright's mother, the folk singer Kate McGarrigle, is born only a year after Cohen reportedly remarked on childhood to both Lorca and Rufus: "You know, it's pretty much the only amazing thing there is."
October 23, 2010 Katy Perry and Russell Brand get married in Rajasthan, India.More
September 30, 2010 After 10 years, the first ever John Lennon museum closes. Located outside of Tokyo, it shuts down because Yoko Ono wants Lennon's spirit to remain in motion, saying, "If the Museum which houses his spirit never moved, it would be a grave, not a Museum."
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 31, 2010 Alicia Keys marries the producer Swizz Beatz (Kasseem Dean) at a ceremony on the island of Corsica. Keys is pregnant with their first child, Egypt.
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
March 20, 2010 Three days after their lead singer Alex Chilton died of a heart attack, Big Star play the SXSW festival in Austin, Texas, with a number of guests joining to pay tribute to Chilton.More
March 15, 2010 The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame class of 2010 - ABBA, Jimmy Cliff, Genesis, The Hollies, The Stooges - are inducted at the 25th Annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City.
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
December 23, 2009 Andre Kyles aka DJ Omega Supreme (of Organized Konfusion) dies of cancer.
November 23, 2009 Little Richard has hip replacement surgery, which does not go well. The rocker will never walk again and remains in constant pain.
September 13, 2009 When Taylor Swift wins for Best Female Video at the MTV Video Music Awards, Kanye West comes on stage and commandeers the microphone, explaining that Beyoncé deserved the award for her "Single Ladies" video. When Beyoncé does win for Video of the Year later that night, she brings Taylor on stage to finish her speech.More
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 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
June 7, 2009 After performing the Poison hit "Nothin' but a Good Time" at the Tony Awards, Bret Michaels has a run-in with the set, and the set wins. He cuts his lip and fractures his nose in the incident.More
May 22, 2009 Meg White marries guitarist Jackson Smith, son of Patti Smith and Fred "Sonic" Smith, in the backyard of her former husband (and White Stripes bandmate), Jack White, in Nashville. The ceremony is a double wedding, with the Raconteurs' Jack Lawrence marrying his photographer girlfriend Jo McCaughey.
April 14, 2009 Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne, Paul McCartney, Olivia Harrison and Dhani Harrison hit the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles to take part in the ceremony honoring George Harrison with his very own star in Hollywood.
April 10, 2009 Hannah Montana: The Movie, based on the Disney Channel TV series that made Miley Cyrus a star, premieres in US theaters. Her character Miley Stewart becomes too preoccupied with her famous alter-ego, Hannah Montana, and is forced to rediscover her roots in her Tennessee hometown. Taylor Swift, who performs the country ballad "Crazier" in the movie, wrote the song "You'll Always Find Your Way Back Home" for the soundtrack.
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
March 10, 2009 Ryan Adams marries the singer/actress Mandy Moore at a quiet ceremony in Savannah, Georgia. They split six years later; in 2019, Moore joins several other women in accusing Adams of mistreating them.
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 23, 2008 Fourteen years after Axl Rose started working on it, the Guns N' Roses album Chinese Democracy is released.More
October 18, 2008 R&B/soul singer Dee Dee Warwick dies after a long struggle with ill health in Essex County, New Jersey, at age 63. Known for the '60s hits "I Want to Be with You" and "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me."
August 24, 2008 Leona Lewis and Jimmy Page perform during the closing ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games at the National Stadium (also known as the Bird's Nest). The duo perform the Led Zeppelin classic "Whole Lotta Love."More
July 21, 2008 Yeah Yeah Yeahs frontwoman Karen O premieres her new side project, Native Korean Rock, at Union Pool in Brooklyn, New York.
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