It’s June 19th and these are some of the things that happened on this day in pop music history:
- In 1983, Benjamin Hammond Haggerty was born in Seattle. He took a very early interest in music, particularly hip hop, and started writing lyrics in his teens. In 2000, he recorded a mixtape under the name Professor Macklemore. His big breakthrough came with the 2012 debut album from Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, The Heist, which included hits like “Thrift Shop” and “Same Love.”
- In 1971, Carole King’s album Tapestry went to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart for the first of 15 weeks. It featured songs like “I Feel the Earth Move,” “So Far Away” and “You’ve Got a Friend.”
- In 1963, Paula Julie Abdul was born in California. After working as a cheerleader and choreographer, she launched a pop music career that spawned hits like “Straight Up,” “Forever Your Girl” and “Opposites Attract.”
- In 1988, several thousand people in East Germany gathered to listen to a concert by Michael Jackson, who was performing on the other side of the Berlin Wall. The show was part of Jackson’s Bad World Tour.
- In 2010, “California Gurls” by Katy Perry ft. Snoop Dogg was No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the first of six weeks. It was the first of five tracks on her album Teenage Dream to make the chart.
And that’s what popped on this day.