February 16, 2015 Red Hot Chili Peppers bass player Flea breaks his arm in five places in a gnarly snowboarding accident.More
February 3, 2015 Former Death Row Records CEO Suge Knight is rushed to the hospital after pleading not guilty in his connection with a fatal hit-and-run just days before. His friend Terry Carter was killed in the incident and actor Cle Denyale Sloan was injured during an altercation over the N.W.A. biopic Straight Outta Compton. Knight faces charges of murder and attempted murder, along with two counts of hit-and-run.
February 1, 2015 Katy Perry headlines a bonkers Super Bowl halftime show with a giant lion (for "Roar"), backup dancers in shark and beachball costumes, and performances by Lenny Kravitz and Missy Elliott.
January 31, 2015 Neo soul singer D'Angelo makes his debut appearance on SNL, performing "Really Love" and "The Charade" from his latest album, Black Messiah. His band, the Vanguard, wear T-shirts with the slogans "Black Lives Matter" and "I Can't Breathe" in reference to the controversial deaths of unarmed black men Michael Brown and Eric Garner at the hands of white policemen in 2014. The singer also dons a hooded sweatshirt as a nod to Trayvon Martin, who suffered a similar fate in 2012.
January 30, 2015 Record producer Suge Knight is arrested in Los Angeles on suspicion of murder the day after he was involved in a hit-and-run that killed his friend Terry Carter and injured actor Cle Denyale Sloan. Knight was on the set of the N.W.A. biopic Straight Outta Compton when he allegedly argued with the two men, then followed them to a burger joint where he ran them down in the parking lot. Witnesses claim he even backed over the victims with his truck before leaving the scene, but Knight's lawyer insists he was fleeing for his own safety.
January 29, 2015 Suge Knight, former bodyguard-turned-record producer, is the alleged perpetrator in a hit-and-run which leaves his friend Terry Carter dead and actor Cle Denyale Sloan injured. Knight was filming the upcoming N.W.A. biopic Straight Outta Compton when he reportedly fled the scene after an argument and plowed into the victims. Knight's lawyer confirms the incident, but refuses to say more as he's "waiting for a preliminary investigation for more information."
January 27, 2015 Taylor Swift's Twitter and Instagram accounts are hacked, resulting in bogus tweets to her 51 million followers (the fourth-largest Twitter account). Swift takes to Tumblr, where she posts: "Hackers gonna hack hack hack hack hack." She also assures fans that no nude photos exist.
January 26, 2015 Chris Brown postpones his Between the Sheets tour on judge's orders to stay put in California due to a probation violation earlier in the month. The rapper tells Twitter followers that he must complete his last 100 hours of community service before he can embark on the 26-city tour of the US with Kendrick Lamar.
January 26, 2015 Blink-182 announce Tom DeLonge's resignation, the same day that bandmates Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker slam DeLonge in a tell-all Rolling Stone interview. They claim the vocalist/guitarist will only communicate with them via email or through his manager, and his constant flakiness has kept them from recording new music. Barker adds: "It's hard to cover for someone who's disrespectful and ungrateful."
January 26, 2015 Nick Jonas lands a recurring role on Scream Queens, a horror anthology series from Glee creators Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuck. The cast also includes Ariana Grande as a recurring guest star.
January 23, 2015 Pop singer Mandy Moore and alt rocker Ryan Adams announce their split after nearly six years of marriage, with Moore filing the divorce proceedings. She later accuses him of psychologically abusive behavior that derailed her music career.
January 18, 2015 John Legend and Common perform "Glory" (from the movie Selma) at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, to celebrate Martin Luther King Day and honor the march King led from the bridge to Montgomery, Alabama, in 1965.
January 17, 2015 Smoother than a fresh jar of Skippy: "Uptown Funk" by Mark Ronson (with vocals by Bruno Mars) goes to #1 and stays for an amazing 14 weeks, making it the biggest hit of 2015. Hanging around the chart at #36 is "Riptide" by Vance Joy, which also mentions the actress Michelle Pfeiffer in the lyric.
January 16, 2015 Puddle of Mudd frontman Wesley Scantlin is arrested at the Denver International Airport after he takes a baggage carousel for a joyride into a restricted area. A local fan bails him out, but the band is still hours late for their performance, and an angry promoter tells the audience he will never book the act again.
January 15, 2015 Kim Fowley dies of bladder cancer in Hollywood, California. The self-styled "Lord of Garbage" and founder of The Runaways was an infamous eccentric and was often sighted in his later days walking the Las Vegas strip with a cane, and his hair dyed green.
December 18, 2014 Larry Henley (lead singer of the '60s pop group The Newbeats) dies at age 77 after suffering with Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease. Co-wrote the 1989 hit "The Wind Beneath My Wings."
December 15, 2014 After a 14-year hiatus, D'Angelo releases his third studio album, Black Messiah. It ends up being his last, as pancreatic cancer claims his life in 2025.
December 4, 2014 The day after a fake MSNBC story reports the death of Axl Rose, the very much alive Guns N' Roses frontman tweets: "if I'm dead do I still have to pay taxes?"
December 2, 2014 Bobby Keys, whose saxophone can be heard on Rolling Stones tracks "Can't You Hear Me Knocking?" and "Tumbling Dice," dies at age 70.
December 1, 2014 Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts quotes lyrics from Eminem's song "'97 Bonnie & Clyde" in making the case that a man threatening his estranged wife by writing violent rap lyrics and posting them on Facebook was protected by free speech. Roberts, who mentions lines like "Dada make a nice bed for mommy at the bottom of the lake," points out that Eminem made these kind of threats very often, and he and others should be allowed to do so if it is presented as art.
November 8, 2014 As artists realize they can get paid to go on cruises, many take advantage of the opportunity, including the country duo Florida Georgia Line, who conveniently have a hit song called "Cruise."More
November 6, 2014 John Fogerty, Common, Mary J. Blige and Willie Nelson are among the performers at a concert that takes place on the South Lawn of the White House hosted by President and Mrs. Obama. Later broadcast as A Salute to the Troops: In Performance at the White House, a highlight is Fogerty's performance of "Fortunate Son" - an antiwar song, but one that resonates with those who served.
November 5, 2014 It's a big day in Las Vegas, as Kiss begin their first residency with a show at the Hard Rock, while Britney Spears is honored with a key to the strip in celebration of her successful concert production at Planet Hollywood, which began in December 2013.
November 2, 2014 English clarinetist Acker Bilk, known for the 1962 instrumental hit "Stranger On The Shore," dies at age 85 after years of health issues that included throat cancer, bladder cancer, and a stroke.
October 29, 2014 NPR posts T-Pain's Tiny Desk concert, where he sings three songs without Auto-Tune. Listeners are shocked to hear he can sing really well, and the video goes viral, becoming the most popular Tiny Desk concert in the history of the series.
October 27, 2014 Taylor Swift issues 1989, her biggest-selling album. The first two singles are monster hits: "Shake It Off" and "Blank Space."More
October 15, 2014 At the St. Louis club Blueberry Hill, Chuck Berry performs for the last time. The rocker, who dies in 2017, played monthly gigs at the venue starting in 1996.
October 14, 2014 Kesha files a civil lawsuit against her longtime producer, Dr. Luke (Lukasz Gottwald), in a bid to be released from her contract. She cites years of physical, verbal, emotional, and sexual abuse at the hands of the producer, who denies all charges.More
October 7, 2014 Weezer release their ninth studio album, Everything Will Be Alright in the End. The band's first album on Republic Records, it marks the return of producer Ric Ocasek, who produced the band's 1994 debut album, The Blue Album, and their 2001 Green Album.
October 7, 2014 The TV series The Wonder Years, which went off the air in 1993, is finally released on DVD. What took so long? The distributor spent years clearing most of the 285 songs that were used on the show, including the theme, Joe Cocker's version of "With A Little Help From My Friends."
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