Today's birthdays:
Bonnie Raitt, 74.
Bonnie Lynn Raitt is an American songwriter, blues singer and guitarist. In 1971, Raitt released her self-titled debut album. Following this, she released a series of critically acclaimed roots-influenced albums that incorporated elements of blues, rock, folk, and country. She was also a frequent session player and collaborator with other artists, including Warren Zevon, Little Feat, Jackson Browne, the Pointer Sisters, John Prine, and Leon Russell.
In 1989, after several years of limited commercial success, she had a major hit with her tenth studio album Nick of Time, which included the song of the same name. The album reached number one on the Billboard 200 chart, and won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year. It has since been selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Recording Registry. Her following two albums, Luck of the Draw (1991) and Longing in Their Hearts (1994), were multimillion sellers, generating several hit singles, including "Something to Talk About", "Love Sneakin' Up On You", and the ballad "I Can't Make You Love Me" (with Bruce Hornsby on piano). Her 2022 single "Just Like That" won the Grammy Award for Song of the Year.
As of 2023, Raitt has received 13 competitive Grammy Awards, from 30 nominations, as well as a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. She ranked No. 50 on Rolling Stone's list of the "100 Greatest Singers of All Time", and ranked No. 89 on the magazine's list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time". Australian country music artist Graeme Connors has said "Bonnie Raitt does something with a lyric no one else can do; she bends it and twists it right into your heart." In 2000, Raitt was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. She has also received the Icon Award from the Billboard Women in Music Awards, and the MusiCares Person of the Year from The Recording Academy.
SZA, 34.
Solana Imani Rowe, known professionally by her stage name SZA, is an American singer-songwriter. She first gained recognition through her self-released extended plays (EPs), See.SZA.Run (2012) and S (2013), which helped her become the first female artist to sign with Top Dawg Entertainment. Her third EP, Z (2014), was her first project to be released to digital retailers and reached the top-ten on the US Independent Albums chart.
After signing a joint recording contract with RCA Records, SZA released her debut studio album, Ctrl (2017). It was met with critical and commercial success, earning four Grammy Award nominations and becoming the second longest-charting R&B album by a female artist on the Billboard 200. The following year, SZA was nominated for the Golden Globe and Academy Awards for Best Original Song via her collaboration with Kendrick Lamar on the US and UK top-ten single "All the Stars". Her featured appearance on Doja Cat's "Kiss Me More" broke the record for the longest-running all-female collaboration within the US top-ten, and won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance.
SZA's second album, SOS (2022), spent ten non-consecutive weeks atop the Billboard 200 and broke the record for the largest streaming week for an R&B album in the US. Supported by six singles, including the top-ten songs "Good Days", "I Hate U", "Nobody Gets Me" and "Snooze", SZA earned her first number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100 with "Kill Bill" in 2023. She later earned her second chart-topping single of the year with her guest appearance on Drake's "Slime You Out".
SZA has received several accolades in her career, including an American Music Award, a Guild of Music Supervisors Award, two Billboard Women in Music awards (including Woman of the Year), and a nomination for a Brit Award. As a songwriter, she co-wrote Nicki Minaj and Beyonce's song "Feeling Myself".
On this day today:
1946 - Roy Wood of The Move, Electric Light Orchestra and Wizzard is born in Kitts Green, Birmingham, England.
1947 - Soul singer Minnie Riperton is born in Bronzeville, Chicago, Illinois.
1961 - The Beach Boys release their first single, "Surfin'."
1964 - Judy Garland and daughter Liza Minnelli perform together at the London Palladium, a performance recorded for American television and the LP Live At The London Palladium.
1967 - Nilsson records "Everybody's Talkin'."
1969 - "Wedding Bell Blues" by The 5th Dimension hits #1 in America. The song was written and originally recorded by Laura Nyro.
1970 - Jim Morrison of The Doors makes the spoken-word recordings which would later become the basis of the group's album An American Prayer.
1971 - Led Zeppelin IV - the one with "Stairway To Heaven" - is released.
1971 - Paul McCartney throws a party at London's Empire Ballroom to officially launch his new group, Wings.
1975 - Elton John's album Rock Of The Westies hits #1 in America. It's his third #1 album of 1975, following Elton John's Greatest Hits and Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy.
1975 - David Bowie makes his US television debut on the CBS variety show Cher, performing "Fame." Bowie also sings a medley of tracks with Cher.
1977 - At the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco, Elvis Costello performs his debut album, My Aim Is True, with the band Clover, which backed him on the album. Members of Clover go on to form Huey Lewis & the News.
1977 - Suzi Quatro makes her first of seven appearances on the TV series Happy Days, playing tough-yet-adorable Leather Tuscadero, the little sister of Fonzie's ex-girlfriend Pinky. Quatro was raised in Michigan but little known in America; in the UK, she's a star, with two #1 hits: "Devil Gate Drive" and "Can The Can."
1986 - It doesn't have a music video, but "Amanda" by Boston still gets to #1 in America, giving the band their only chart-topper.
1986 - At the Country Club in Los Angeles, California, Metallica play their first show with bassist Jason Newsted, the replacement for Cliff Burton, who was killed in a tour bus accident in September.
1987 - Generating footage for their Rattle and Hum documentary, U2 play a free "Save the Yuppie" concert at Justin Herman Plaza in San Francisco. An arrest warrant is issued for Bono after he spray paints "Rock n Roll Stops Traffic" on a fountain sculpture.
1994 - A&M Records releases Woodstock 1994, an album documenting the Woodstock '94 festival that took place in Saugerties, New York, three months earlier. The two-disc set includes live performances from 27 artists, including Joe Cocker ("Feelin' Alright"), The Cranberries ("Dreams"), Green Day ("When I Come Around") and Bob Dylan ("Highway 61 Revisited").
1995 - Sony gets control of the publishing rights to many Beatles songs when Michael Jackson merges his ATV Music Publishing with Sony Music Publishing in a deal estimated at $600 million. Jackson purchased the Beatles catalog in 1985 for $47.5 million.
2001 - Limp Bizkit are the big winners at the MTV Europe Music Awards, winning Best Album for Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water.
2002 - 8 Mile, a semi-biographical look at Eminem's early days as a struggling rapper in Detroit, opens in theaters. The film is a critical and commercial success, and Eminem's "Lose Yourself" becomes the first rap song to win the Oscar for Best Original Song.
2008 - AC/DC start a two-week run at #1 in the US with Black Ice, the band's 15th studio album. It goes to #1 in 29 countries, including Australia, Canada and England.
2014 - As artists realize they can get paid to go on cruises, many take advantage of the opportunity, including the country duo Florida Georgia Line, who conveniently have a hit song called "Cruise.
2016 - Despite strident support from a passel of stars, including Katy Perry, Barbra Streisand and Bruce Springsteen, Hillary Clinton loses the US presidential election to Donald Trump, whose supporters include Ted Nugent, Loretta Lynn and Wayne Newton. Miley Cyrus, who said she would move if Trump was elected, decides to stay in the country.
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 Shante, and Yo-Yo.
