14 APRIL
In Music History
1997 Creed release their debut album, My Own Prison, on their own label, Blue Collar Records. When a local radio station in Tallahassee puts the title track in rotation, they earn a deal with Wind-Up Records, which re-issues the album in August.
1995 Singer and actor Burl Ives dies at age 85 of oral cancer.
1990 Rock and roll singer Thurston Harris, known for his hit 1957 cover of Bobby Day's "Little Bitty Pretty One," dies at age 58 of a heart attack.
1990 Tommy Page's "I'll Be Your Everything" hits #1 in America.
1989 Cameron Crowe's teen drama Say Anything…, starring John Cusack and Ione Skye, opens in theaters. The movie is famous for an iconic scene featuring Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes."More
1986 LL Cool J becomes the first solo rapper with a Gold album when his debut, Radio, is certified for sales of 500,000 in America. He becomes the first Platinum solo rapper a year later when his second album, Bigger And Deffer, sells a million.
1983 Rock bassist Pete Farndon (of The Pretenders) overdoses on heroin and drowns in his bathtub at age 30.
1980 A New Jersey State assemblyman introduces a resolution to make Bruce Springsteen's "Born To Run" the official state song of New Jersey.
1980 Win Butler (lead vocalist, songwriter for Arcade Fire) is born Edwin Farnham Butler III in Truckee, California.
1980 Iron Maiden release their self-titled debut album, with a twin-guitar attack and lyrics that pull from the worlds of mythology and horror. The song "Iron Maiden," which refers to the medieval torture device that band is named after, becomes a live stalwart, played before the encore at most of their concerts throughout their career.
1979 The Doobie Brothers land their second #1 US hit with "What A Fool Believes." The song goes on to win Grammys for Record Of The Year and Song Of The Year, while the album, Minute By Minute, wins Album Of The Year.
1975 Former Faces guitarist Ronnie Wood is announced as the replacement for Rolling Stones' Mick Taylor on their upcoming tour. By the end of the year, Wood is their permanent guitarist.
1974 On Easter Sunday, the concert documentary Ladies and Gentlemen: The Rolling Stones, premieres at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York. It's the first of its kind with quadraphonic sound, requiring a special system. It's a grand event, but Mick Jagger declares the film "boring."
1974 Rapper Shawntae "Da Brat" Harris is born in Chicago, Illinois.
1970 Stephen Stills breaks his wrist when he drives into a parked car. He heads to Hawaii to heal, furthering divisions within his band, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.
VH1 Airs First Divas Special
1998The very first VH1 Divas special debuts on the music channel as a benefit concert for VH1's Save The Music Foundation. Headliners are Aretha Franklin, Mariah Carey, Celine Dion, Gloria Estefan, and Shania Twain, with a guest appearance by Carole King.
Read more14 APRIL
Featured Events
2025 Katy Perry does some space tourism, joining five other women (including journalist Gayle King) on a 10-minute suborbital flight aboard a Blue Origin rocket. "Space is going to finally be glam," she says before liftoff. "We are going to put the 'ass' in astronaut."More
2018 Beyoncé, who had to cancel the previous year because of her pregnancy, headlines Coachella in lavish fashion, with over 70 performers and a reunion of Destiny's Child. She becomes the first black woman to headline the festival.More
2016 At the Fox Theatre in Atlanta, Prince plays his last concert, as he dies a week later. His last song is "Purple Rain."
2012 Red Hot Chili Peppers, Beastie Boys, Guns N' Roses and Faces are inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.More
1988 Public Enemy's sophomore album, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, is released. Often cited as one of the greatest hip-hop albums of all-time, the album spawns such PE classics as "Don't Believe the Hype," "Night of the Living Baseheads," and "Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos," as well as the original version of "Bring the Noise."
1980 Judas Priest release British Steel, a metal landmark containing the tracks "Living After Midnight" and "Breaking the Law."
1935 Loretta Lynn, a coal miner's daughter, is born in Butcher Hollow, Kentucky. She overcomes poverty to become one of the most beloved and influential women in country music. "She blazed so many trails for all of us girls in country music," Miranda Lambert says.
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