Pop singer Taylor Dayne turns 50 today.  Between 1987 and 1993, Dayne’s first nine singles all hit the top 20, with the first seven of those going top 10 on Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart.  After that initial success, Dayne’s pop music success fell sharply, as she hasn’t scored another top 40 hit since.  However, she has routinely hit the top 10 on the dance charts over the past two decades, including most recently with “Floor on Fire” in the fall of 2011.

Among Taylor Dayne’s pop music successes, her biggest hit was “Love Will Lead You Back,” which topped the Hot 100 chart for one week on April 7, 1990 and is featured above.

Shaquille O’Neal turns 40 today, and while you most likely know him from his fame as a basketball player, you may also remember that he pursued a music career.  Between 1993 and 2001, Shaq released five albums, beginning with his debut offering, Shaq Diesel.  That album also produced a top 40 hit for O’Neal, with “(I Know I Got) Skillz,” which rose to number 35 on Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart and is featured above.

Today marks a milestone birthday for a couple of significant figures in the history of rock ‘n’ roll.  Lou Reed celebrates his 70th birthday today, while Jon Bon Jovi celebrates birthday number 50.

To commemorate the two birthdays, Tunesmate is looking for variations on sentunes that we might call “sentune duets.”  To form a sentune duet, use three song titles from one artist and two songs from another to form a complete, grammatically correct sentence.

To help out, here’s a list of Bon Jovi hit songs, and here is a list of Lou Reed hit songs.  Here’s also a sentune duet to get us started:  I believe these days women always walk on the wild side.

In the meantime, above check out something they have in common in addition to birthdays today. Both Reed and Bon Jovi performed in the Pavarotti & Friends concerts that were held in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

In hard rock circles, many folks knew of the supergroup Mr. Big in the late 1980s and early 1990s from their first album, Mr. Big, which was released in 1989.  The band consisted of Eric Martin, Paul Gilbert, Billy Sheehan, and Pat Torpey, all of whom had already built successful careers working with various artists and in various bands up until that point.  The pop music world caught on to Mr. Big with their album Lean Into It, which was released in 1991.  A few songs from the album were released as singles, and two them hit the top 20 on Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart:  “Just Take My Heart,” which peaked at number 16, and its predecessor and the band’s biggest hit, “To Be With You,” which hit number 1 exactly 20 years ago yesterday and spent a total of three weeks at the top.  The band would also collect one more top 40 hit in late 1993, when their version of Cat Stevens’ “Wild World” peaked at number 27.

The band eventually broke up in 2002, but they reunited in 2009, releasing What If … in 2010.  For more on Mr. Big, check out their official website.

Last year Tunesmate highlighted that The Monkees celebrated 45 years hitting one number with “I’m A Believer“. Today, Davey Jones, the electric frontman of The Monkees, has died at the age of 66. Let’s remember Davey with the great music that he gave the world.

CNN Story on Davey Jones

Al Green’s international hit Let’s Stay Together hit number one 40 years ago. In 2011 Seal did a worthy tribute of the tune on his Soul 2 effort, however Reverend Green’s version can’t be replicated. Al’s smooth vocals continue to serenade audiences, check out his tour schedule on his website.

In my opinion this song is one of the best R&B vocals ever, do you agree?

http://www.algreenmusic.com

For a while in the early 1980s, San Francisco-based rock band Journey was huge.  In fact, they were so popular that in 1982 Data Age video games released a video game for the Atari 2600 based on the band.  Yet, despite their popularity, the band never reached number one on Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart.

Journey’s highest-charting hit came up just short, when “Open Arms” peaked at number 2 for six weeks, starting exactly 30 years ago today.  For the first three of those weeks, the J. Geils Band’s “Centerfold” kept Journey out of the top spot.  Then, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts’ “I Love Rock ‘N Roll” leaped over “Open Arms” to take the number one spot for the final three weeks of Journey’s run in the runner-up spot.

Though “Open Arms” didn’t make it to number one, it still managed to become one of the 1980s’ more memorable tunes, and VH1 even named it the greatest power ballad of all time.

Chris Cornell, the lead singer of Sound Garden and Audio Slave, recently performed a tribute to the late great Whitey Houston. The rocker belts out his cover of “I Will Always Love You” the tune that Whitney made famous from her starring role in the Body Guard. The funny thing is Dolly Parton, the writer of the song, is reaping all the benefits from the increased airplay. Thanks to cia_mike for the forward.

What do you think of his tribute?

While Nelly Furtado became known first for her song “I’m Like A Bird,” which hit number 9 back in 2001, it would be a number of years later before she would top Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart.  In 2006, she teamed up with Timbaland to hit number one with “Promiscuous.”  Then, exactly five years ago today, Furtado hit number one a second time, when “Say It Right” rose to the pinnacle for a one-week stay.  While “Promiscuous” spent more weeks at number one in the United States, and both “Promiscuous” and “Say It Right” went double platinum in sales, based on chart performances around the world, “Say It Right” is arguably Furtado’s biggest hit internationally.

How much did the Spice Girls dominate popular music in the United Kingdom from 1996-1998?  Well, their first six singles all went to number one, their seventh single went to number two, and their next two singles both went to number one.  If you’re counting at home, that’s nine singles on the charts, with eight going to number one and one going to number two.  Pretty remarkable performance, eh?  (And, by the way, their tenth single, released in 2000, would also top the charts.)

While the five-woman vocal group would not reach those levels of success in the United States, the Spice Girls did hit the top 20 in the U.S. with seven of those nine singles.  The first three hit the top five, and only one — their very first single – went to number one.  That song, “Wannabe,” rose to the top spot on Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart exactly 15 years ago today, and it would stay there for a total of four weeks.

In addition to the song’s success in the U.K. and the U.S., “Wannabe” rose to the top of the pop charts in numerous countries and regions throughout the world.  As international megahit songs go, “Wannabe” clearly fits the bill, meaning that 15 years ago right now, it truly was, as the group’s film that would be released in late 1997/early 1998 declared, a “spice world.”