It’s December 13th and these are some of the things that happened on this day in pop music history:
- In 1989, Taylor Alison Swift was born in Reading, Pennsylvania. At an early age, she was inspired by Canada’s Shania Twain to become a singer. Swift later had a successful country music career before becoming one of the biggest pop stars around. She has released six studio albums with hits like “Shake It Off,” “Bad Blood” and “Look What You Made Me Do.”
- In 1985, an episode of Miami Vice aired in which Phil Collins played a drug dealer. Collins had contributed his song “In The Air Tonight” to the series’ 1984 pilot episode.
- In 2002, Canadian singer and musician Zal Yanovsky died of a heart attack in Kingston, Ont. only a week shy of his 58th birthday. As one half of the Lovin’ Spoonful, he had a big hit in 1966 with “Summer in the City.”
- In 2013, Beyoncé dropped her visual album Beyoncé with no notice or marketing. It debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 album chart.
- In 1986, Bruce Hornsby & The Range topped the Billboard Hot 100 with “The Way It Is.”
- In 1997, Hanson was the musical guest on Saturday Night Live. The brothers also appeared in a sketch in which they were held hostage and forced to listen to their hit “MMMBop.”
- In 2012, police in New Mexico announced that they uncovered a plot by an inmate named Dana Martin to castrate and murder Canadian pop star Justin Bieber. Martin’s 23-year-old nephew Tanner Ruane was going to receive $2,500 U.S. for each of Bieber’s testicles.
And that’s what popped on this day.