Friday, February 12, 2021

Music History Today: February 13, 2021

February 13, 1993: RuPaul became the first drag queen to make Billboard's Hot 100 when "Supermodel (You Better Work)" entered the chart at Number 91. It peaked at 45.

"Supermodel," went on to sell over 500,000 copies, while its music video finessed Ru onto MTV.
RuPaul landscape photo from the shoulders up wearing a red dress and jewels
RuPaul

(sign up to follow by email)

By the fall of 1993, Kurt Cobain gave the cut a shout-out as one of his faves of the year, and he and Ru were photographed later at the Video Music Awards (back when that really meant something). 
Read more: Entertainment Weekly

February 13, 1965: Gary Lewis recorded "Count Me In," which will climb to Number 2 on the Billboard chart by next May.

"Count Me In" is a song written by Glen Hardin and performed by Gary Lewis & the Playboys. The song was produced by Snuff Garrett and arranged by Leon Russell, and reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, behind Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Daughter by Herman's Hermits. Outside the US, "Count Me In" went to No. 6 in Canada, and No. 49 in Australia in 1965.  
Read more: Wikipedia

 

February 13, 1971: Cat Stevens first appeared on the US music chart with his debut single, "Wild World."

Chris Cornell made a surprise appearance during Yusuf‘s Los Angeles concert Thursday as the Soundgarden singer joined the singer formerly known as Cat Stevens to perform “Wild World.”

Cover from Cat Steven's Wild World A-side Sad Lisa B-side single record

After Yusuf tackled the opening lines, Cornell lent his own trademark vocals to the lyric, “But if you want to leave, take good care/ Hope you have a lot of nice things to wear/ But then a lot of nice things turn bad out there.” Cornell also contributed background vocals to the performance. 

Read more: Rolling Stone

February 13, 1978: Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway teamed up to release the single "The Closer I Get To You."

“The Closer I Get to You” wasn’t supposed to be a duet. The song was written by Reggie Lucas and James Mtume, both of whom were members of Flack’s touring band.
Donnie Hathaway and Roberta Flack
Donnie Hathaway & Roberta Flack

They offered it to producer Joe Ferla, who produced the track along with Flack and Gene McDaniel, for inclusion on Flack’s album Blue Lights in the Basement. David Franklin was Flack’s manager and it was his idea to re-write the song to include Hathaway. 
Read more: Medium

February 13, 1982: "We Got The Beat" moved from Number 64 to 31 for the Go-Gos.

"We Got the Beat" evolved in part out of the Go-Gos covering the Smokey Robinson song that served as the group's namesake: the Miracles' "Going to a Go Go" (1965). 

The Go-Gos new wave punk rock band group
The Go-Gos

Taking inspiration from that, lead guitarist Charlotte Caffey wrote "We Got the Beat" and offered it to the band with hesitation, afraid that it would not be punk enough for the other members' tastes. 
Read more: Wikipedia 

 

Supermodel
RuPaul

No comments:

Post a Comment