Tag: george michael

queer for april 20


April 20, 1939
The first civil rights song, “Strange Fruit,” an Abel Meeropol poem originally titled “Bitter Fruit” and later set to music, was recorded by Billie Holiday. It became Holliday’s biggest record success


1959
The first single by 13-year-old Dolly Parton was released on Gold Band Records. It was called “Puppy Love.” and it would become a hit record in the 1970s for the anti-lgbtq2 mormon Donny Osmond.


1968

Aretha Franklin enjoyed a third straight week at #1 on the R&B chart with “(Sweet Sweet Baby) Since You’ve Been Gone”. and was on the pop chart at #5


1971
Barbra Streisand recorded “We’ve Only Just Begun.”


1974“Bennie And The Jets” fell to #2 for Elton John,


1985
single charts: Madonna #2 with “Crazy For You”
LP Charts: Madonna with Like a Virgin at 6, Wham’s #7 album Make It Big


1986
Vladimir Horowitz returned to Russia to perform after being away for almost 60 years. Horowitz, who denied being homosexual, once joked, “[t]here are three kinds of pianists: Jewish pianists, homosexual pianists, and bad pianists.”

1992
Madonna signed a deal with Time Warner to set up a multimedia company. The reported $60 million deal made her the highest-paid woman in pop music.


The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert was held at London’s Wembley Stadium. Def Leppard, Lisa Stansfield, Elton John, David Bowie, Robert Plant, Annie Lennox, Guns N’ Roses, Roger Daltrey, George Michael, Metallica, Liza Minnelli, Spinal Tap, and the three remaining members of Queen performed Freddie’s major hits. Elizabeth Taylor also appeared. The concert was televised to more than 1 billion viewers worldwide and is listed in The Guinness Book of World Records as “The largest rock star benefit concert.”

April 20, 1994
At Wembley Stadium, Barbra Streisand gave her first London concert in 28 years.

1996

Celine Dion was #1 for the fifth week out of six eventually with “Because You Loved Me”. Mariah Carey could not top her with the #2 “Always Be My Baby”.

queer for april 19


April 19, 1824
Poet George Gordon Byron, known as Lord Byron, died of fever at 36.


1969
Smile (later to be known as Queen ) appeared at the Revolution Club in London, England.


1974

While in New York, David Bowie sees Todd Rundgren’s band Utopia at Carnegie Hall, and attends the aftershow party.


1975

Elton John fired bassist Dee Murray and drummer Nigel Olsson, but, brought them both back in 1980.


Elton John ruled the charts with “Philadelphia Freedom”,


1978
Patti Smith released the single “Because the Night.”


1986

Whitney Houston dominated the Album chart, spending a ninth week (out of 14) at #1 with her self-titled debut.


George Michael was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘A Different Corner’, the singers second solo No.1. Michael became the first solo act in the history of the UK chart to reach No.1 with his first two releases. The song was also credited with being the second No.1 (after ‘I Just Called To Say I Love You’ by Stevie Wonder), which was written, sung, played, arranged and produced by the same person.


2000

Britain’s Daily Express won the right from the Court of Appeal to keep their source a secret. Elton John had sued for the name of the source that had leaked information about his forthcoming action against Price Waterhouse Coopers.


2014
The White House refused to comment on a campaign to deport Justin Bieber from the US. Around 275,000 people had signed a petition on its website calling for the Canadian singer to be removed from the country. The campaign had been set up in January of this year when the 20-year-old was arrested on suspicion of drink and drug-driving and illegal drag racing.
Bieber has suggest he is bisexual, but is probably queerbaiting. Which shows how the qmunity is a market niche less marginalized than previous century/decades.

queer for april 18

queer for april 18
1965
Little Richard performed at New York’s famed Paramount Theater. A member of his backup group at the time was a young guitarist named Jimi Hendrix.
1985

Liberace grossed more than $2,000,000 for his engagement at New York City’s Radio City Music Hall. He broke his own record of $1.6 million.


Wham! Became the first-ever Western pop act to have an album released in China. (Blogger nina notes: Elvis)
1987

Aretha Franklin and George Michael started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘I Knew You Were Waiting’ also a No.1 in the UK. Aretha Franklin set a record for the artist with the longest gap between US No.1 singles, it had been 19 years, 10 months from her last hit ‘Respect’ in June 1967.


2006
A sale of clothes belonging to Sir Elton John raised more than $700,000 (£395,000) for the singer’s Aids charity. Over 10,000 pieces were sold during a five-day sale in New York City at the specially-created shop, Elton’s Closet, at New York’s Rockefeller Centre.

2011
Lady Gaga had song #5 “Born This Way”.


Elton John announced that he’ll return to The Coliseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas with his “Million Dollar Piano” show starting in September. His first stay at Caesars Palace ended in April 2009, but was extended to a five-year run because of audience demand.

queer (and allies) for april 7

1967
Sonny & Cher‘s movie “Good Times” debuted in Chicago, IL.

1979
#1 “I Will Survive” by Gloria Gaynor,

1984
#2 “Somebody’s Watching Me” by Rockwell

#4 “Here Comes The Rain Again” by the Eurythmics

1985

Wham! became the first western pop group to perform live in China, when they played at the workers gymnasium in Beijing. Several solo performers had played China before.

Prince ended his 32-city tour in Miami, FL, and said that he was withdrawing from live performances for “an indeterminate number of years.” He later returned to live performing.

1990
Elton John sang “Candle in the Wind” for Ryan White, a boy with AIDS who died a day later.

1998

George Michael was arrested at The Will Rogers Memorial Park for committing a sex act in a public toilet. He was arrested by undercover Beverly Hills police officer Marcelo Rodriguez. Michael later said; “I was followed into the restroom and this cop – well, I didn’t know he was a cop at the time obviously started playing this game. I think it’s called – I’ll show you mine, you show me yours, and then when you show me yours, I’m gonna nick you!” The singer was later fined $810 (£500) after being convicted of a “lewd act.”

1999

Shania Twain became the first female to sell 10 million copies of back-to-back albums (The Woman in Me and Come On Over). (Note: some websites state that this occurred on April 11. The RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) certified Come On Over at 10 million on April 7.)

2002
Celine Dion had a huge #1 album with A New Day Has Come .

2008

Olivia Newton-John began a 21-day, 141-mile walk along the entire length of the Great Wall of China to raise funds for breast cancer research.

2010

Singer Whitney Houston was released from a Paris hospital after suffering a respiratory infection. She called media reports that she was using drugs again “ridiculous.”

2016
The final episode of the final season of “American Idol” was aired. the show would have had many lgbtq2 contestants with Adam Lampert being the most famous.

queer for march 29

1978
David Bowie kicked off his Low / Heroes 77-date World Tour at San Diego Sports Arena in San Diego, California.

1985

The Singing Nun, whose given name was Jeanine Deckers, committed suicide after the center for autistic children in Belgium that she helped to found had closed due to lack of funds. Her 1963 hit “Dominique” went to number one in the US and sold over 1.5 million copies, winning a Grammy Award for the year’s best Gospel song. Even sadder is the fact that she was unaware that on the day of her suicide, the Belgian association that collects royalties for songwriters awarded her $300,000. At the time of her death, she was 52 years old.

1986
Whitney Houston had the top album for the fourth straight week, as the album passed the 52-week mark of release.

1988

Madonna debuted on Broadway in “Speed The Plow.”

1999

The David Bowie Internet Radio Network broadcast its first show for Rolling Stone Radio. The show was Bowie’s favourite songs with Bowie introducing each track.

2012

A TV ad for Madonna’s new perfume, Truth or Dare, was deemed too racy for ABC network television. Dressed in leotards, fishnets and harnesses, the Material Girl was shown licking her lips while wearing black lingerie and a mask, rolling around on the floor.

2017
After a three month delay, George Michael of Wham! was finally laid to rest in a small, private ceremony, attended only by friends and family. Michael died of natural causes at his home in Goring-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, on Christmas Day, 2016.

Elton John / Queer Culture March 23

1991

Elton John joined George Michael on stage at London’s Wembley Arena for a duet on the 1974 hit “Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me”. The ‘live’ version will be released as a single and would top the charts on both sides of the Atlantic next December. Michael will donate $500,000 from the royalties to various charities.

2000
Sir Elton John’s musical Aida opened on Broadway.

2009

Elton John and Tim Rice’s “Aida,” an album of songs for the Broadway production of “Aida” was released. Performers contributing tracks to the album included Sting, LeAnn Rimes, the Spice Girls, Tina Turner, Janet Jackson, Boyz II Men, Shania Twain, Lenny Kravitz, James Taylor, and Lulu.

2016
Gloria Gaynor’s hit ‘I Will Survive’ was selected to enter the US National Recording Registry. It joined Metallica’s Master of Puppets and Mahler’s Symphony No 9 on the list of culturally significant recordings.

queer culture march 21

March 21, 1925

After easily passing through the Tennessee House and Senate, the Butler Act was signed into law by Governor Austin Peay, making it a crime for a teacher in a state-supported public school to teach any theory that contradicts the Bible’s account of man’s creation. Six weeks later in Dayton, Tennessee, John T. Scopes was arrested for teaching evolution at Rhea County High School.

March 21, 1965

In Alabama, more than 3,000 civil rights demonstrators led by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. began a successful march from Selma to Montgomery, the third of three such attempts that month.

March 21, 1976
After a David Bowie concert at the Community War Memorial arena in Rochester, New York, Iggy Pop and David Bowie were involved in a drug bust at their hotel room where the police found 182 grams (a little over 6.4 ounces) of marijuana. The pair spent the rest of the night in the Monroe County Jail and were released at about 7 a.m. on $2,000 bond each; charges later were dropped.

1981
Barbra Streisand & Barry Gibb combined for the week’s #10 song–“What Kind Of Fool”.

1985

Boy George said in “Women’s World” magazine that he would never marry, settle down, or become a father.

1989

Madonna released her fourth studio album, “Like A Prayer.”

1993

Anne Murray was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame.

2004

George Michael scored his fifth UK #1 album with “Patience”. After a slow start in the US, the LP would eventually climb to #12.

2011

A lost David Bowie album called “Toy”, which went unreleased since 2001, mysteriously appeared on several file-sharing websites. The collection of mostly re-recorded tracks from Bowie’s early years had been locked in a dispute with Virgin Records.

queer culture for march 18

1979

Sister Sledge released the single “We Are Family”.

1986

Whitney Houston released the single “Greatest Love Of All”.

1995

Madonna ruled for a fourth week with “Take A Bow”. Soul for Real held down #2 with “Candy Rain” with the former #1 smash “Creep” by TLC third. “Baby” from Brandy followed that trio with another TLC smash–“Red Light Special” leaping from 18 to 5.

In New York, Madonna celebrated the premiere of her “Bedtime Story” video with a pajama party. The gathering was for 1,500 guests that were in pajamas and had teddy bears.

1998
Elton John told a British TV interviewer that tributes to Princess Diana, killed in a car crash the previous August, should stop. He said it was “time to give it a rest.” John’s recording of “Candle in the Wind ’97,” which he performed at the princess’s funeral, became the best-selling single in history and raised millions for the Diana Princess of Wales Memorial Fund.

2002
George Michael‘s single “Freeek!” was released in Britain.

2013
David Bowie’s first album in a decade become the fastest-selling of the year, hitting the No.1 spot in the UK in its first week of release. The Next Day was the 66-year-old’s first No.1 since 1993’s ‘Black Tie White Noise’ and sold 94,000 copies in the first week.

Queer Culture March 12

March 12, 1958
Jazz singer Billie Holiday, who had pled guilty to a narcotics-possession charge in 1956, is given a year’s probation by a Philadelphia court.

Openly bisexual, Holiday had several affairs with men and women

1985

first memorial to the Nazi’s gay victims unveiled: a pink granite stone monument at the former Neuengamme concentration camp, inscribed “Dedicated to the Homosexual Victims of National Socialism.”

1986, (in response to the above, not occurring on this day:)

I was the only student in my Canadian history class at Princess Margaret Secondary School, Surrey BC, who was allowed to know about gays and lesbians in the camps. I was not allowed to tell the others because we were not supposed to know that LGBTQ2 existed in 1986.

History students from many lower mainland of BC high schools were bussed to the University of BC for a holocaust conference.

1988

Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna’ Give You Up” unseated “Father Figure” by George Michael for #1

from wikipedia

Released in the United Kingdom in December 1987, “Father Figure” reached number eleven on the UK Singles Chart – the first time Michael had failed to reach the top ten in his home country. The song remained a live favourite at Michael’s concerts for many years and is also one of his most frequently aired songs on the radio in the United Kingdom.

In the United States, “Father Figure” became George Michael‘s sixth number one single (including three number one singles garnered as half of Wham!). “Father Figure” debuted at number 49 on 16 January 1988, while “Faith” was still prominent (at number nine) in the top ten of the chart. In the subsequent weeks, “Father Figure” was a surefire hit, reaching number one by its seventh week, 27 February 1988, staying at the top for two weeks. Altogether, the single spent six

Chart (1988–2016)Peak
position

weeks in the top ten, nine weeks in the top twenty, and 14 weeks in the top forty.

Queer Culture March 10

1922

Variety magazine greeted readers with the front-page headline that read, “Radio Sweeping Country – 1,000,000 Sets in Use.

March 10, 1959
The Tennessee Williams play, “Sweet Bird of Youth,” starring Paul Newman, Geraldine Page, Sidney Blackmer, Bruce Dern, Diana Hyland, Ron Harper, Madeleine Sherwood, and Rip Torn, opened at New York’s Martin Beck Theatre for 375 performances.

1962

Two days after an emotional public prayer service in Nashville attended by about 25,000 people, Patsy Cline was buried quietly at Shenandoah Memorial Park in her hometown of Winchester, Virginia.

March 10, 1967

Sonny & Cher appeared on the television show Man From U.N.C.L.E. on NBC.

 1987 – 

ACT UP first formed, at NYC’s Lesbian and Gay Community Services Center.

1990
According to Billboard magazine, New Kids On The Block receive 125,000 calls a day to their 1-900 number.

1994 –

Germany’s Paragraph 175 (adopted in 1871) is finally revoked.

1997

The television series “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, began its seven-season run on the WB Network. It switched to UPN in 2001.

2004

George Michael announced he was retiring from the music business following his album Patience. He would only release songs on the Internet to raise money for charity.

2010

An anti-abortion activist was arrested after allegedly making threats on Elton John’s life. The man was upset because the singer had suggested that Jesus Christ was gay in a Parade magazine interview.

2017
Joni Sledge, a part of the trio known as Sister Sledge, died of natural causes at the age of 60. The group is most often remembered for their 1979 Disco hit, “We Are Family”.

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