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Today in Music

February, 19

  • 1999 Marilyn Manson files a defamation countersuit against former Spin executive editor Craig Marks. Manson’s action is in response to a multimillion-dollar suit Marks filed the month before against defendants that included the singer, label Nothing/Interscope, and Manson’s bodyguard agency.
  • 1998 Country singer Lorrie Morgan issues a strongly worded denial over an article in the tabloid Star magazine that claims she had “a wild ride in the back seat of a limousine with President Bill Clinton.” Morgan’s retort? “The only accurate information in the article with regard to my relationship with President Clinton was that I joined him onstage for the Christmas tree lighting in Washington – I have never met with him in a private situation.”
  • 1998 Grandpa Jones, a country music favorite and regular on comedy show “Hee-Haw,” dies in Hermitage, Tenn., of complications from a series of strokes. He is 84. Born Louis Marshall Jones, he was known for his banjo playing, singing, and comedy.
  • 1995 “Baywatch’s” Pamela Anderson marries Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee on a Cancun beach. The bride wears a white bikini.
  • 1995 Roxette performs in Beijing celebrating the Chinese New Year. It’s the first time a western artist has performed a commercial concert in China since George Michael did in 1984.
  • 1991 Rap group Public Enemy joins Irish singer Sinead O’Connor in boycotting the 1991 Grammy Awards. The group says it is upset the rap award will not be presented during the live TV ceremony.
  • 1984 No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit: “Jump,” Van Halen. The song is the first top 10 single for the group, which has already placed 11 songs on the Hot 100.
  • 1977 Natalie Cole wins a Grammy for “Sophisticated Lady,” Best R&B Female Vocal Performance. Barry Manilow wins a Grammy for “I Write the Songs,” Song of the Year.
  • 1955 Actor and guitar player Jeff Daniels is born in Georgia. In 1989, Daniels plays guitar on fellow actor Don Jonson’s album, “Let It Roll.”
  • 1940 Smokey Robinson (William Robinson) is born in Detroit. He forms the Miracles, then called the Matadors, in 1955. The group hits No. 1 in 1970 with “The Tears of a Clown.” He leaves the group in 1972. He is inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987 and receives a Grammy Living Legends Award in 1989.