April 21, 2016 Prince dies at age 57 after overdosing on fentanyl, a highly addictive opioid.More
April 15, 2016 J. Cole, Alicia Keys, Chance the Rapper, Ludacris, Nicki Minaj and Wale attend a White House sit down with President Obama to discuss criminal justice reform and the My Brother's Keeper Initiative.
April 14, 2016 In an interview with the Mormon Stories podcast, Neon Trees lead singer Tyler Glenn reveals that he is leaving the Mormon church in response to its ruling that gay marriage is apostasy. Glenn came out as gay in 2014.
April 8, 2016 Steve Miller, notoriously averse to awards ceremonies, goes on a backstage rant when he is inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He says the Hall is like "a private boys club," and lets loose on the organizers. "It's a bunch of jackasses and jerks and f--king gangsters and crooks."More
April 8, 2016 The Guns N' Roses reunion tour gets underway in Las Vegas. Axl Rose, who fractured his foot at a warm-up show, performs from the throne Dave Grohl used to play Foo Fighters shows when he was hobbled.More
April 8, 2016 Bruce Springsteen cancels an upcoming show in Greensboro, North Carolina, in protest of a state law limiting the rights of transgender people. "Some things are more important than a rock show and this fight against prejudice and bigotry - which is happening as I write - is one of them," he writes. Pearl Jam follows suit, bowing out of a show in Raleigh.
April 8, 2016 The Baltimore Orioles play the Woody Guthrie song "This Land Is Your Land" during the seventh inning stretch in their game against the Rays, starting a tradition of playing the song at every Friday home game. It's part of their "Community Heroes" program to honor local citizens and an effort to diversify their musical selections to reflect progressive ideals. On Saturday nights they play "America The Beautiful," and on Sundays it's "God Bless America."
April 7, 2016 After 15 years of memorable performances, cringeworthy auditions, and shocking eliminations, the American Idol stage finally goes dark, but not before one more winner is crowned: Trent Harmon.More
April 6, 2016 Hello Billboard, my old friend. Simon & Garfunkel's 1966 chart-topper "The Sound of Silence" peaks at #6 on the Hot Rock Songs chart thanks to its appearance in a meme involving Ben Affleck and his botched blockbuster Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice.More
April 1, 2016 Actor-turned-singer Kiefer Sutherland releases his debut single, "Not Enough Whiskey."
March 31, 2016 Michael Stipe, Cyndi Lauper, Ann Wilson and Perry Farrell are among the performers at a Carnegie Hall concert honoring David Bowie.More
March 25, 2016 Two weeks after Major Lazer made history as the first US act to perform in Cuba since democratic relations eased between the two countries, The Rolling Stones play their first-ever Cuba gig, performing a free show for 1.2 million fans at Havana's Cuidad Deportiva. The Stones spend around $7 million to finance the trip, which follows President Obama's historic visit to the island.
March 19, 2016 I Like It When You Sleep, for You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware of It by The 1975 goes to #1 in the US, becoming the album with the longest title to hit the top spot.
March 17, 2016 Prince's ex-wife Mayte Garcia puts a collection of his memorabilia up for auction.More
March 16, 2016 First Lady Michelle Obama delivers the keynote address at the South by Southwest Music Festival in Austin, Texas, promoting her "Let Girls Learn" initiative and launching the star-studded Diane Warren-penned anthem "This Is For My Girls."More
March 14, 2016 Sony pays $750 million to Michael Jackson's estate for the King of Pop's half of Sony/ATV Music, a publishing company that owns the rights to some 4,000 pop songs, including 250 Lennon-McCartney tunes from the Beatles catalog. Jackson bought ATV Music in 1985 for $47.5 million and merged with Sony a decade later. Jackson's estate retains the rights to songs written by Jackson.
March 12, 2016 Ariana Grande hosts Saturday Night Live, where she meets her future fiancé, cast member Pete Davidson. They don't go through with the wedding, but he gets a mention in her 2018 song "Thank U, Next."More
March 11, 2016 Keith Emerson, the keyboard player and primary music composer in Emerson, Lake & Palmer, dies of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at age 71.
March 6, 2016 Diplo and his electronic dancehall project Major Lazer land a historic Havana gig, becoming the first US musical act to perform in Cuba in the new era of diplomatic relations between the island and the US, precipitating a visit from President Obama later in the month.More
March 5, 2016 Visiting a music-production class at N.Y.U., Pharrell Williams is blown away by a song called "Alaska" by Maggie Rogers, a senior at the university. "It's singular... your whole story I can hear it in the music," he tells her.More
March 4, 2016 Shakira makes her feature-film debut, voicing the pop star Gazelle in the Disney animated movie Zootopia. She also contributes the song "Try Everything" to the soundtrack.
February 28, 2016 At the Oscars, Lady Gaga is introduced by Vice President Joe Biden and performs "Til It Happens To You" joined by a group of sexual assault survivors. A few minutes later, it loses the Best Song award to Sam Smith's "Writing's On The Wall."More
February 18, 2016 The #FreeKesha campaign heats up after pop singer Kesha loses a preliminary injunction during an 18-month legal battle with producer Dr. Luke (Lukasz Gottwald).More
February 15, 2016 In her Grammy acceptance speech for Album of the Year, Taylor Swift warns of "people along the way who will try to undercut your success or take credit for your accomplishments or your fame." This is in response to Kanye West, who rapped about Swift, "I made that bitch famous" in his song "Famous."More
February 15, 2016 Prince protégé Vanity dies at age 57 after years of health problems.More
February 13, 2016 Justin Bieber's "Love Yourself" replaces his song "Sorry" at #1 on the Hot 100. It's the third consecutive #1 single from his Purpose album ("What Do You Mean?" was the first), making it the first album by a male artist with three straight chart-toppers since Justin Timberlake's FutureSex / LoveSounds.
February 13, 2016 All four members of the promising English group Viola Beach are killed, along with their manager, when their car crashes on a bridge near Stockholm. Coldplay pay tribute by covering their song "Boys That Sing" at the Glastonbury Festival.
February 12, 2016 Kanye West drops "Famous," with the lyric: I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex Why? I made that bitch famous West claims that he got Taylor Swift's blessing before releasing the song, but she clearly doesn't expect it. Her spokesperson says she was never told the actual lyric, and takes issue with it.
February 7, 2016 Coldplay and football (the American kind) come together when the band headlines the halftime show of Super Bowl 50 between the Denver Broncos and Carolina Panthers. It is an odd pairing, but after a set that includes "Viva La Vida" and "Paradise," Bruno Mars appears, followed by halftime show savior Beyoncé, who blasts out her new song, "Formation."
January 31, 2016 Fox airs a live version of Grease, the hit Broadway musical-turned-movie, starring Julianne Hough.More
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