It’s February 17th and these are some of the things that happened on this day in pop music history:
- In 1991, Edward Christopher Sheeran was born in England. At the age of four, he started singing in a church choir and later learned to play guitar. He went on to become a successful singer-songwriter with hits like “Thinking Out Loud,” “Photograph” and “Shape of You.”
- In 2002, it was reported that George Michael's home in Hampstead, England had been burglarized while he was in Los Angeles. Thieves made off with paintings, jewelry, clothing and the singer’s Aston Martin.
- In 1998, Destiny Child's released their self-titled debut studio album. The original line-up of Beyoncé Knowles, Kelly Rowland, LaTavia Roberson and LeToya Luckett had only moderate success with the album, which peaked at No. 67 on the Billboard 200 chart.
- In 1972, Billie Joe Armstrong was born in Oakland, California. He showed an early interest in music and eventually became frontman for the success band Green Day.
- In 2014, Bob Casale of Devo died of heart failure at the age of 61. He was cremated and his ashes were put inside a 3D-printed urn shaped like a Devo “energy dome.”
- In 2015, Afroman (aka Joseph Foreman) was arrested after punching a female fan who tried to dance with him on stage during a show in Mississippi. The “Because I Got High” rapper apologized on Facebook and said he thought he was punching a man who had heckled him earlier.
And that’s what popped on this day.