March 9, 1997 Beloved New York rapper Biggie Smalls (The Notorious B.I.G.) is gunned down in Los Angeles streets just six months after his rival Tupac Shakur met the same fate.More
March 2, 1997 Mexican-American singer/rapper Becky G is born in Inglewood, California. She becomes famous for her 2014 pop hit "Shower" before pivoting her music toward the Latin market with Spanish-language tunes like "Sola," "Mayores," and "Sin Pijama."
February 26, 1997 At 14, LeAnn Rimes becomes the youngest person to win a Grammy Award when she takes the trophies for Best New Artist and Best Female Country Vocal Performance for her debut single, "Blue."
February 26, 1997 Bluegrass newcomer Gillian Welch's debut album, Revival, is nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album but loses to Bruce Springsteen's The Ghost of Tom Joad.
February 26, 1997 Perhaps trying to make amends for giving them just four awards when they were still together, The Grammys give The Beatles three awards: two for "Free As A Bird" and another for their Anthology video.More
February 25, 1997 At Clive Davis' annual pre-Grammy party, DMC of Run-DMC meets Sarah McLachlan, whose music he credits with keeping him alive as he fights off depression. Years later, after DMC learns he was adopted, he collaborates with McLachlan on the song "Just Like Me" and learns that she was also adopted.
February 24, 1997 Spice Girls win Brit Awards for Best Single ("Wannabe") and Best Video ("Say You'll Be There"). Geri Halliwell wears a skin-tight Union Jack dress when they perform at the ceremony, introducing her signature look.
February 22, 1997 The Spice Girls conquer America as their debut single, "Wannabe," hits #1.More
February 17, 1997 ABC airs Hey, Hey, It's the Monkees, a one-hour comedy special written and directed by original Monkee Mike Nesmith. From their '60s pad, the group recalls their old shenanigans and sings a medley of their classic hits: "Last Train To Clarksville," "Daydream Believer," "(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone," "I'm A Believer" and "Pleasant Valley Sunday."
February 12, 1997 Snoop Doggy Dogg and Sean "Puffy" Combs hold a press conference where they call for an end to the East Coast-West Coast rap rivalry that has claimed the life of Tupac Shakur. "Kids around the world are watching," Long Beach rapper Snoop says. "By calling for a truce we're giving them something to live for." The detente fails to quell the violence: Less than a month later, The Notorious B.I.G. is killed in a shooting.
February 10, 1997 Blur's eponymous fifth album is released. Although the band is huge in Europe, American success has proven elusive. The single "Song 2" becomes the band's biggest US hit, topping out at #55 on the Hot 100.
February 4, 1997 The Offspring return with their fourth studio album, Ixnay on the Hombre - the follow-up to their 1994 breakthrough album Smash and the band's first after signing to Columbia Records in 1996.
January 28, 1997 Pat Boone releases the album In a Metal Mood: No More Mr. Nice Guy, where he covers various hard rock classics, including "Stairway To Heaven," "Enter Sandman" and "Crazy Train."More
January 28, 1997 A day before his 16th birthday, Jonny Lang's major-label debut album, Lie To Me, is released.
January 23, 1997 Tori Amos performs at a benefit concert for RAINN (The Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network) at Madison Square Garden in New York City. As a rape survivor, the cause is close to Tori's heart (she wrote her debut single, "Me And A Gun," about her rape experience).
January 14, 1997 The Beach Boys guest star on the "Karate Kid Returns" episode of the ABC sitcom Home Improvement.
January 7, 1997 David Bowie's 50th birthday bash takes place at New York City's Madison Square Garden in the form of a charity concert benefiting Save the Children. Bowie's famous pals - including Sonic Youth, Lou Reed, Robert Smith, Billy Corgan, and Foo Fighters, among others - pay tribute with renditions of the singer's tunes. Bowie closes out the event with his 1969 hit "Space Oddity."
January 3, 1997 Researchers at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm publish an article called "Nitric Oxide And Inflammation: The Answer Is Blowing In The Wind" in the journal Nature Medicine. The article deals with the detection of mucosal inflammation, and while we can't speak to its medical efficacy, it does reveal a trend of biomedical researchers using Bob Dylan song titles and lyrics in their articles. The Swedish scientists had a friendly bet going to see how many Dylan references they could inject into their published work; a later study reveals hundreds of medical articles that had borrowed from Dylan, with the most popular song being "The Times They Are A-Changin'."
January 2, 1997 Randy California, the guitarist for Spirit and composer of the song "Taurus" that Led Zeppelin borrowed for the intro of "Stairway To Heaven," drowns at age 45 while rescuing his 12-year-old son from a rip current in Molokai, Hawaii.
December 23, 1996 Two weeks after his divorce from Playboy Playmate Brandi Brandt is finalized, Mötley Crüe bass player Nikki Sixx marries Baywatch star Donna D'Errico.
December 11, 1996 Hailee Steinfeld is born in Los Angeles. She starts as an actress, with a breakout role at 13 in the 2010 movie True Grit. In 2015 she moves into music with her debut single, "Love Myself." She has hits with "Starving" in 2016 and "Most Girls" in 2017, but her acting outpaces her music as she lands roles in Bumblebee, The Marvels and the Spider-Man: Spider-Verse franchise.
November 30, 1996 "Tiptoe Through The Tulips" singer Tiny Tim (real name: Herbert B. Khaury) dies of a heart attack at age 64.
November 16, 1996 Country singer Lorrie Morgan marries her fourth husband, songwriter Jon Randall ("Whiskey Lullaby"). They divorce in 1999.
November 7, 1996 On the Seinfeld episode "The Checks," Elaine is frustrated by her new boyfriend's obsession with the Eagles' song "Desperado." The actor, James Patrick Stuart, has a real-life musical connection: His dad is Chad Stuart, half of the '60s pop duo Chad & Jeremy.
November 5, 1996 Johnny Cash releases Unchained, his second album produced by Rick Rubin. He's backed by Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers and covers their song "Southern Accents."
November 2, 1996 Eva Cassidy dies of cancer at age 33. Over the next few years, her music is discovered in the UK and becomes wildly popular, with her album Songbird reaching #1 in 2001.
October 29, 1996 Axl Rose announces that Slash is no longer a member of Guns N' Roses. Slash forms Slash's Snakepit and Velvet Revolver, while Axl keeps GnR going with a variety of new faces.More
October 26, 1996 Tragedy strikes at Ozzfest in Devore, California, when police officer Ruben Rios is struck and killed by a motorist while directing traffic.
October 25, 1996 The first Ozzfest is held as a two-day festival in Phoenix, Arizona, and Devore, California, with Ozzy Osbourne headlining and a metal-packed lineup that includes Slayer, Sepultura and Fear Factory. The festival returns every year until 2008, helping to launch bands like Slipknot, System Of A Down and Disturbed.
October 22, 1996 Journey return to action with Trial By Fire, their first album of new music in 10 years. It's their last with lead singer Steve Perry, whose hip condition keeps him from touring. He leaves the band in 1998, replaced by the similar-sounding Steve Augeri.
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