It’s February 14th and these are some of the things that happened on this day in pop music history:
- In 1996, Prince married Mayte Garcia in Minneapolis when he was 37 and she was 22. The singer met Garcia when she was 16 and made her one of his backing dancers when she graduated from high school. They had a child who died a week after birth. Prince and Garcia split in 2000.
- In 1992, a new generation was introduced to Queen’s 1975 song “Bohemian Rhapsody” when Wayne’s World opened in cinemas. The movie included a scene in which Canada’s Mike Myers and his friends blast the song while driving.
- In 1987, Bon Jovi started a four-week run at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Livin’ On A Prayer.”
- In 2015, Lady Gaga got engaged to Chicago Fire star Taylor Kinney. “He gave me his heart on Valentine’s Day, and I said YES!,” she captioned a photo of a heart-shaped diamond ring on Instagram two days later. They split up in 2016.
- In 1999, Elton John did a version of “Your Song” on an episode of The Simpsons titled “I’m With Cupid.”
- In 1984, Elton John – who, at the time, labelled himself bisexual – married Renata Blauel in Australia. They divorced in 1988.
- In 1977 - The B52s's performed together for the first time at a party for their friends in Athens, Georgia. A year later they recorded their first song and the band went on to have hits like “Rock Lobster,” “Love Shack” and “Roam.”
- In 1972, Robert Kelly Thomas was born in Germany. As a child in Florida, he learned how to play guitar and keyboard and by the time he was in high school he was writing songs. As Rob Thomas, he became frontman for Matchbox Twenty, which had hits like “Bent.” As a solo artist, he provided the vocals on Santana’s smash “Smooth.”
And that’s what popped on this day.