May 6, 2022 Bad Bunny releases Un Verano Sin Ti, which debuts at #1 in America and spends 10 (non-consecutive) weeks at the top of the US albums chart. It's only the second entirely Spanish-language album to top the chart, following his previous album, El Último Tour Del Mundo, in 2020.
April 30, 2022 Country music star Naomi Judd dies by suicide at 76, one day before she's inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame with The Judds, the duo she formed with her daughter Wynonna.
April 15, 2022 Edgar Winter releases Brother Johnny, a tribute album saluting his late brother, blues-rock legend Johnny Winter. The album features contributions from Ringo Starr, Joe Walsh, ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons and many other famous guest artists. It wins a Grammy Award in the Best Contemporary Blues Album category to earn Edgar his only Grammy Award.
April 11, 2022 At the CMT Awards, The Judds reunite for their first TV appearance in 20 years, performing their 1990 song "Love Can Build A Bridge." Earlier that day, the mother-daughter duo also announced a 10-date arena run across the US dubbed "The Final Tour," with Martina McBride as a supporting act.
April 3, 2022 Olivia Rodrigo is named Best New Artist at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards. The former Disney Channel star also wins Best Pop Vocal Album for her debut release, Sour, and Best Pop Solo Performance for "Drivers License."
March 27, 2022 Hans Zimmer wins the Academy Award for Best Original Score for his work on the 2021 film Dune. The composer crafted an experimental soundscape that eschewed the traditional orchestra in favor of electronic textures, choral chants, and bagpipes to reflect the movie's space-desert setting. Zimmer previously won an Oscar for scoring The Lion King (1994).
March 27, 2022 Summer Of Soul, directed by Questlove of The Roots, wins the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature. The film features never-before-seen footage from the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, including performances by Stevie Wonder, Mahalia Jackson and Sly & the Family Stone.
March 18, 2022 In a video that goes viral, Charlie Puth demonstrates his perfect pitch on Jimmy Kimmel Live by identifying the key of any sound Kimmel makes. He also demonstrates how he can simulate a phone vibration with his voice, a stupid human trick he used to annoy his teachers.
January 26, 2022 Spotify complies with Neil Young's request to remove his music from the service. Young's issue is with the Spotify podcast The Joe Rogan Experience, which he feels is spreading false information about vaccines. Joni Mitchell also removes her music, but Spotify stands tall for Rogan, whose subscriber count grows considerably in wake of the controversy. Young returns to Spotify two years later.
January 25, 2022 A jury awards Cardi B roughly $4 million in her defamation case against YouTube personality Tasha K, who then files bankruptcy. It's a rare case of an artist fighting back against an online critic broadly protected by free speech. Tasha posted dozens of videos alleging drug use, prostitution, infidelity and other misdeeds that were proven false.
January 13, 2022 Ronnie Spector of The Ronettes dies of cancer at 78. The group was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 2007 by Keith Richards, who said they "could sing their way right through a wall of sound," referring to the dense production in hits like "Be My Baby" and "Baby, I Love You."
December 6, 2021 Drake, a longtime critic of the Grammy Awards, turns down his two nominations, joining The Weeknd in boycotting the awards. Drake feels he's being pigeonholed into hip-hop categories when he's really a pop artist; The Weeknd has beef because he wasn't nominated the previous year for his album After Hours or song "Blinding Lights."
November 12, 2021 Silk Sonic, the retro-R&B duo of Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak, release their only album, An Evening With Silk Sonic. The single "Leave The Door Open" goes to #1 and snarfs up four Grammy Awards. After a Vegas residency, .Paak and Mars put the project to bed, making Silk Sonic the most successful one-off side project in music history.
November 8, 2021 Missy Elliott gets a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She shouts out "my female MCs in hip-hop," including her forebears Queen Latifah, Salt-N-Pepa, MC Lyte, Monie Love, Sha-Rock, Angie Stone, Roxanne Shanté, and Yo-Yo.
November 5, 2021 Ten fans are killed and hundreds injured during Travis Scott's performance at his Astroworld Festival in Houston, Texas, when the crowd of 50,000 surges toward the stage, crushing the victims.More
October 30, 2021 Carole King, Tina Turner, Jay-Z, LL Cool J, Todd Rundgren, the Go-Go's and Foo Fighters are inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
October 30, 2021 Harry Styles, known to wear a dress on occasion, plays his Madison Square Garden show in costume as Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz, with his band dressed like characters from the movie. He calls it "Harryween"; the next night he takes the stage as a Pierrot clown.
October 15, 2021 After withdrawing from American Idol ("I didn't want to get locked into something I was unsure about"), Benson Boone signs with Night Street Records, an imprint of Warner Records run by Dan Reynolds of Imagine Dragons. His first single is "Ghost Town," released later that year, but it's his 2024 hit "Beautiful Things" that launches him to stardom.
September 30, 2021 Tony Bennett, 95, releases an album of standards with Lady Gaga called Love For Sale, making him (according to Guinness) the oldest person to release an album of new material.
September 29, 2021 Blink-182 singer/bassist Mark Hoppus announces he's cancer-free after receiving five rounds of chemotherapy to treat stage 4 diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, the same form of blood cancer his mother beat in 2019. Hoppus' health issues sparked a reconciliation between the bassist and blink drummer Travis Barker and their estranged bandmate Tom DeLonge. After Hoppus' successful treatment, they reunite on the 2023 album One More Time….
August 24, 2021 Thirty years after appearing as a baby grasping for a dollar bill on Nirvana's Nevermind album cover, Spencer Elden sues the band and others associated with the photo shoot, claiming it caused him "extreme and permanent emotional distress." He ends up losing the suit.
August 5, 2021 Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga play the second of two sold-out shows at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. It's Bennett's last performance; a week later the 95-year-old singer, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2016, announces he's retiring from performing.
August 4, 2021 Forbes declares Rihanna the richest female musician - by far. Her $1.7 billion fortune is roughly double that of Madonna, who is #2 on the list. Most of Rihanna's earnings are from her Fenty Beauty line. In 2024, Taylor Swift passes her on the list thanks to her highly lucrative Eras Tour.
July 30, 2021 Billie Eilish releases her second album, Happier Than Ever, again produced by her brother, Finneas. Much of it finds her taking stock of her sudden rise to fame. Explaining the title, she says, "When you're happier than ever, that doesn't mean you're the happiest that anyone's ever been. It means you're happier than you were before."
July 29, 2021 After postponing the previous year's festival due to the coronavirus outbreak, Lollapalooza returns in full force for a four-day music event in Chicago's Grant Park. But there's a catch: Festivalgoers must provide proof of vaccinations or negative COVID tests to gain entry. Those who have tested negative but are unvaccinated also have to wear a mask.More
July 27, 2021 Dusty Hill of ZZ Top dies at 72, ending a 51-year run where the band's lineup was always Hill, Billy Gibbons and Frank Beard.
June 23, 2021 Britney Spears asks a court to end her conservatorship, which is controlled by her father. "This conservatorship is doing me way more harm than good," she says. "I deserve to have a life." Despite her passionate plea, her request is denied, but she gets her wish five months later when her conservatorship is terminated.
June 11, 2021 Wolfgang Van Halen, Eddie's son and Van Halen's bass player from 2007 until their disbandment in 2020, releases his first album, Mammoth WVH. He plays all the instruments and does all the singing on the album, which is well reviewed and launches him as a solo artist.
May 4, 2021 Nick Kamen, known for the 1986 hit "Each Time You Break My Heart," dies of bone marrow cancer at his London home. He was 59.
March 27, 2021 Morgan Wallen's Dangerous: The Double Album, which debuted at #1 in America, logs its 10th week at the top, the most weeks for a debut chart-topper since Whitney Houston's self-titled album in 1987. In its fourth week at #1, Wallen was caught on camera using the N-word (addressed to his white friend) after a night of drinking, but instead of tanking the album when his music was pulled from radio stations, the controversy helped extend its run as fans bought and streamed it in support.
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