Pick a Day

12 JUNE

In Music History

2022 Jennifer Hudson goes EGOT with a Tony win for A Strange Loop. She's a producer on the show, which takes the award for Best New Musical. Hudson got her Oscar in 2007 (Best Supporting Actress for Dreamgirls), her Grammy in 2008 (Best R&B Album), and her Emmy in 2021 (Interactive Achievement for work on Baba Yaga).

2013 BTS release their debut album, 2 Cool 4 Skool. In later years, the date is celebrated with releases targeted to their fan club, ARMY.

2012 Rush release a concept album titled Clockwork Angels, their 20th (and last) studio effort. On the album Neil Peart uses a new method in which producer Nick Raskulinecz "conducts" Peart's drumming during recordings.

2011 Coasters lead singer Carl Gardner ("Charlie Brown," "Yakety Yak"), dies of heart failure at age 83.

2007 Canada issues postage stamps honoring Gordon Lightfoot, Joni Mitchell, Anne Murray and Paul Anka.

2004 Adrian Belew joins Primus on stage during their set at Bonnaroo 2004 for three songs: Primus' "Those Damned Blue-Collar Tweekers," Belew's own "The Lone Rhinoceros," and King Crimson's "Thela Hun Ginjeet."

2003 Little Richard, Van Morrison, Queen, and Phil Collins are inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

1994 Rapper Don Toliver is born Caleb Zackery Toliver in Houston, Texas. The son of rapper Bongo Toliver, known for singing the chorus on Archie Lee's "Swang Wide," he generates a buzz in the music industry after teaming up with Travis Scott on "Can't Say" in 2018. Before he can even release his debut album, Heaven Or Hell (2020), his popularity explodes on TikTok when "No Idea" and "After Party" go viral.

1994 Cab Calloway suffers a stroke that leads to his death a few months later.

1992 Jordan and Danny of New Kids on the Block are acquitted in copyright-infringement charges stemming from their song "I'll Be Your Everything," which the estate of Percy Sledge claimed borrowed heavily from Sledge's 1975 song of the same name.

1989 The Elvis Presley Autoland Museum, a section of Graceland devoted to twenty of the King's vintage cars, opens to the public.

1989 Italian American singer Lou Monte dies of emphysema at age 72.

1987 The Los Angeles Coroner's Office rules that blues legend Paul Butterfield died from a heart attack caused by decades of drug and alcohol abuse.

1984 Howard Jones' debut album, Human's Lib, is released in the US.

1981 John Gourley is born in Willow, Alaska. He's raised in nearby Wasilla, where he forms Portugal. The Man, who have a hit in 2017 with "Feel It Still." He honors his Alaskan heritage throughout his career - the band's 2025 album Shish is a reference to the Alaskan village of Shishmaref.