It’s April 17th and these are some of the things that happened on this day in pop music history:
- In 1974, Victoria Caroline Adams was born in England. After watching the 1980 movie Fame, she decided to pursue music and theatre at a school for the arts. She was in a group called Persuasion before she successfully auditioned for the Spice Girls, becoming Posh Spice. Their hits include “Wannabe,” “Say You’ll Be There,” “Stop” and “Viva Forever.”
- In 2009, Morrissey brought his set at the Coachella festival to a stop because he could “smell burning flesh” from the nearby BBQ concessions. The animal rights activist and vegetarian walked off the stage.
- In 1999, TLC’s “No Scrubs” topped the Billboard Hot 100 for the second of four weeks.
- In 1993, Susanna Hoffs of The Bangles married Jay Roach, who went on to direct movies, including those in the Austin Powers and Meet the Parents franchises.
- In 1993, “Informer” by Toronto’s Snow was No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the sixth of seven weeks. The track became a hit while Snow (aka Darrin O’Brien) was serving an eight-month sentence for assault. “Informer” is about a previous arrest in Toronto on two counts of attempted murder.
- In 1989, Avriel Benjamin Kaplan was born in California. He joined Pentatonix in 2011 and remained with the a cappella group until 2017.
- In 2010, Usher went to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 album chart with his sixth studio collection, Raymond vs. Raymond. The album spawned the hits “Hey Daddy (Daddy’s Home)” and “OMG” and went on to win Grammys for Best Contemporary R&B Album and Best Male R&B Vocal Performance.
And that’s what popped on this day.