It’s December 5th and these are some of the things that happened on this day in pop music history:
- In 1987, former Go-Go’s singer Belinda Carlisle went to No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Heaven Is a Place on Earth.” The song, which went to No. 3 in Canada, featured Thomas Dolby on keyboards and Michelle Phillips of the Mamas and the Papas on backing vocals.
- In 2008, the movie Cadillac Records opened in cinemas, starring Beyoncé as Etta James. Her version of “At Last” in the film went on to win a Grammy for Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance.
- In 1965, John Joseph Theodore Rzeznik was born in Buffalo, New York. At 20, he formed the Goo Goo Dolls, which had hits like “Iris,” “Better Days” and “Home.”
- In 2002, Elton John played himself in an episode of Will & Grace titled “The Honeymoon’s Over.” In real life, John’s husband David Furnish was a classmate of the show’s star, Eric McCormack, at Sir John A. Macdonald Collegiate Institute in Toronto.
- In 1993, Doug Hopkins, a founding member of Gin Blossoms, died by suicide at 32. Fired from the band in early 1992 due to an alcohol problem, he wrote its hits “Hey Jealousy” and “Found Out About You.”
- In 2009, The Guardian published an interview with George Michael in which he admitted he cut his marijuana intake from 25 to “seven or eight” spliffs a day.
- In 1946, Andrew Youakim was born in Montreal. He went on to co-write the No. 1 hit “Sugar, Sugar” for the animated TV group The Archies. As Andy Kim, he also wrote and recorded “Rock Me Gently,” which also went to No. 1.
- In 2003, Coldplay frontman Chris Martin quietly married actress Gwyneth Paltrow in Santa Barbara, five months before the birth of their daughter Apple.
And that’s what popped on this day.