Music History Events: Couplings
May 25, 2005 Garth Brooks proposes to Trisha Yearwood in front of 7,000 fans during a show at Buck Owens's Crystal Palace in Bakersfield, California. The pair marry in December.
March 16, 2000 Jay-Z and Beyoncé meet for the first time at MTV's Spring Break festival in Cancun, where both are performing (Bey with her group, Destiny's Child). They go on their first date two years later.
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.
May 25, 1996 Seventeen-year-old basketball phenom Kobe Bryant takes the singer Brandy, also 17, to his prom in Philadelphia. The pair met earlier that year at the Essence Awards. They never get romantically involved but remain friends.
February 16, 1996 With his band Bush on tour in New Orleans, Gavin Rossdale throws a party, hoping to connect with the frontwoman for their opening act, Gwen Stefani of No Doubt. His plan works perfectly: the couple share their first kiss amid the Mardi Gras revelry, and find they still like each other the next day. They get married in 2002, but split up in 2015.
November 5, 1989 The 44-year-old, thrice married and divorced Ritchie Blackmore meets the 18-year-old Candice Isralow on a football field in New York State. They form Blackmore's Night in 1997 and finally get married in 2008.
August 19, 1981 Chris Lowe and Neil Tennant meet at an electronics shop in London and start talking synthesizers. They form Pet Shop Boys, and five years later land their first hit with "West End Girls."
December 5, 1976 The journalist Phil Sutcliffe takes Stewart Copeland of the band Curved Air to see a Newcastle band called Last Exit. Sutcliffe introduces Copeland to Last Exit's bass player, Sting. A few months later, they form The Police.
May 12, 1975 Russell Hitchcock and Graham Russell, each performing in the Sydney production of Jesus Christ Superstar, meet on the first day of rehearsals. Later in the year, they form Air Supply.
June 17, 1967 Liberty Records runs an ad in the British music magazine New Musical Express that reads: "Liberty wants talent. Artists/composers/singers/musicians to form a new group." Among the thousands of applicants are lyricist Bernie Taupin and musician Elton John. The label teams them up, resulting in one of the greatest songwriting duos in rock history.
October 28, 1962 At the Pandora's Box coffee shop in Los Angeles, Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys meets his first wife, Marilyn Rovell, making an impression when he spills her hot chocolate. They are married from 1964 to 1979.
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