19 MAY
Featured Events
2009 The first episode of the TV series Glee airs, featuring a Glee Club performance of Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" that brings the song back to the charts. The Glee version lands at #4 - five spots higher than Journey's original.
1998 Sonny and Cher get a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. For Sonny, who died January 5, 1998, it's a posthumous honor.
1993 Depeche Mode begin their Devotional tour in Lille, France. They reach new levels of excess on the trek, culminating with lead singer Dave Gahan having a heart attack during a show.More
1992 Billy Ray Cyrus releases his debut album, Some Gave All, featuring his signature song "Achy Breaky Heart." The album dominates the Billboard 200 chart for 17 consecutive weeks, and the single's music video spawns a line-dancing trend across the US, where a new breed of country music is already becoming a phenomenon. More
1962 Less than three months before her death, Marilyn Monroe makes one of her last public appearances at President John F. Kennedy's 45th birthday celebration, where she famously sings "Happy Birthday, Mr. President" in his honor.More
1951 Jeffrey Ross Hyman is born in Queens, New York. He forms the Ramones and takes the stage name Joey Ramone. At first, he's the drummer, but he becomes the lead singer when Dee Dee struggles to sing and play bass at the same time.
1945 Pete Townshend of The Who is born in Chiswick, United Kingdom.
19 MAY
In Music History
2025 "Pretty Little Baby," an obscure 1962 B-side by Connie Francis, goes to #1 on TikTok's Viral 50 and Top 50 charts after millions of creators use it in videos, including celebs like Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jenner. When told by her publicist that she has a viral hit, the 87-year-old Francis replies, "What's that?"
2022 Ciara lands on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, which is starting to feature singers in addition to athletes and models. Megan Thee Stallion made the cover the previous year.
2017 Linkin Park release the album One More Light, which ends up being their last album with lead singer Chester Bennington, who dies by suicide on July 20. The lead single, "Heavy," reflects his troubled state of mind.
2010 David Guetta's "Gettin' Over You" becomes the billionth track to be Shazamed.
2007 At Porter Wagoner's 50th anniversary celebration at the Grand Ole Opry, Dolly Parton sings "I Will Always Love You" to Wagoner, whom she wrote the song about in 1974.
2007 Frank Guida, a Sicilian-American songwriter and music producer whose first hit was Tommy Facenda's "High School U.S.A.," dies in Norfolk, Virginia, at age 84.
2006 Freddie Garrity (frontman of Freddie & the Dreamers) dies at age 69 while on holiday in North Wales.
2004 Blues singer Arnold "Gatemouth" Moore dies in Yazoo City, Mississippi, at age 90.
2003 JoJo Siwa is born Joelle Siwa in Omaha, Nebraska. After starring in reality dance shows, she launches her music career at 13 and becomes a social media star, huge with tweens and teenagers. In 2024 she moves away from G-rated music with saucier songs for her now-older audience.
2000 Folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary celebrate their 40th year together with a US tour that kicks off with a three-night stand in Las Vegas.
2000 The Allman Brothers Band announce that founding guitarist Dickey Betts will not be a part of their summer tour. Reason given: "sadly, there are creative differences."
1998 Jewel releases a book of poetry, A Night Without Armor.
1998 Godzilla: The Album, the soundtrack to the blockbuster movie, is released. It contains both "Come With Me" (Puff Daddy's rap reworking of Led Zeppelin's "Kashmir") and Rage Against The Machine's "No Shelter," a song about media manipulation that mocks the film with the line, "Godzilla, pure mothaf--n' filler to keep ya eyes off the real killer."
1998 DMX releases his debut album, It's Dark And Hell Is Hot, featuring "Ruff Ryders' Anthem," produced by the up-and-coming Swizz Beatz. It debuts at #1 in America.
Moby Licenses His Way To Fame With Play
1999Moby releases Play, a downtempo collection of electronic tunes built on samples of field recordings and old blues numbers. Thanks to music licensing, the songs reach lots of ears and the album becomes a global hit.
The bald-headed, vegan, techno phenom who broke through with the Twin Peaks-inspired "Go" in 1991 watched the bottom fall out of his music career after the release of his maligned punk-rock effort, Animal Rights, in 1996. Before heading back home to Connecticut and a different career path, he decided to release what was supposed to be his swan song: Play. For the album, he mines Alan Lomax's archive of field recordings and old blues and gospel records for samples to pair with ambient beats. He crafts tunes built around snippets of Bessie Jones ("Honey"), Bill Landford ("Run On"), The Banks Brothers ("Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?"), Boy Blue ("Find My Baby"), and Vera Hall ("Natural Blues"). For the hip-hop-influenced "Bodyrock," he samples Spoonie Gee and the Treacherous Three. The eclectic mix is on its way to being hailed as a downtempo masterpiece. The problem is, nobody wants to listen it. Music journalists aren't interested in a has-been and neither are radio stations, so Moby turns to licensing to get his songs heard. Among several placements in movies, TV shows, and commercials, "Porcelain" shows up in the Leo DiCaprio thriller The Beach, "Find My Baby" promotes American Express, and "Bodyrock" sells Rolling Rock beer. As a result, the singles start taking off in the UK, where Play hits #1 on the albums chart. Back in the US, it peaks in the Top 40 and sells over two million copies. The single "South Side," featuring Gwen Stefani, also appears on the Hot 100 at #14, and remains his sole entry on the chart. Instead of packing it up and going back home, he starts work on his next album, 18.
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