23 MAY
In Music History
2024 Sean Kingston, known for his 2007 #1 hit "Beautiful Girls," is arrested, charged along with his mother with wire fraud in a scheme where they bought luxury goods like jewelry and a Cadillac Escalade but didn't actually pay for them, using Kingston's celebrity status to gain trust. On March 28, 2025 they're both found guilty of all charges.
2021 Chayce Beckham wins season 19 of American Idol. He's the first winner with a coronation song he wrote himself: "23," which details his battle with alcoholism.
2021 Drake wins Artist of the Decade at the Billboard Music Awards.
2015 Australia makes its inaugural entry in the Eurovision Song Contest, which is held in Vienna, Austria. The country is represented by singer and songwriter Guy Sebastian. Their invitation to compete follows a successful guest appearance from Jessica Mauboy in 2014. Sebastian finishes fifth, with the win going to Sweden's Måns Zelmerlöw.
2014 Malik Bendjelloul, who directed the Sixto Rodriguez documentary Searching For Sugar Man, commits suicide at age 36.
2012 Billboard reports that the albums of Donna Summer increase in sales by a factor of over 3000% in the week following her death on May 17 after a battle with cancer.
2011 Lady Gaga, a huge and still-rising star thanks to hits like "Poker Face" and "Bad Romance," releases another hit-packed album: Born This Way. The title track becomes an anthem of inclusivity and one of her signature songs.
2008 Veteran rapper Ricky "Slick Rick" Walters receives a full pardon from New York's Governor David Paterson for the attempted murders of two men in 1991, ending a long legal saga.
2008 Shirley Bassey suffers from abdominal pains in Monaco, necessitating emergency surgery and forcing her to cancel her upcoming appearance at Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday concert.
2006 Jordin Sparks wins Season 6 of American Idol.
2006 Clifford Antone, a blues club owner and independent record label founder who mentored the likes of Stevie Ray Vaughan and Gary Clark Jr., dies at age 56 of a possible heart attack.
2000 Coldplay shoot the video for "Yellow" on a beach in Studland Bay, Dorset, England. The 30 or so extras are sent home because it's too cold and wet to execute the "beach party" vibe envisioned, so lead singer Chris Martin just walks around singing the song in one take. It's basic, but very effective, becoming a classic video.
2000 Billy Corgan announces that The Smashing Pumpkins will break up at the end of the year, saying they are tired of "fighting the good fight against the Britneys of the world."
1998 Steve Lacy is born in Compton, California. The neo-soul singer begins his music career as a guitarist in the alternative R&B band the Internet before going solo with his debut EP, Steve Lacy's Demo, in 2017.More
1996 The video for Metallica's "Until It Sleeps" debuts, showing the band with short hair for the first time.More
