Minnelli's concert with Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. was considered 'The Ultimate Event'

'Frank Sinatra Has a Cold' is one of the seminal works of New Journalism

The profile broke with convention by focusing on the story of pursuing the story rather than one that celebrated the subject. Vanity Fair called it "the greatest literary-nonfiction story of the 20th century." (Some users may experience a paywall.)

Liza Minnelli was a regular at Studio 54, one of the trendiest nightclubs in the world

In the 1970s, some of the world's biggest stars would flock to the New York City club to dance and socialize during the disco era. See photos of Liza Minnelli accompanied by other celebrities like Andy Warhol, Bianca Jagger, Robert De Niro, and James Spader.

James Brown was considered one of rock's greatest performers

"The T.A.M.I. Show" is a 1964 film featuring live performances from the biggest names in rock 'n' roll: Chuck Berry, the Beach Boys, and the Supremes. The most memorable performance from James Brown and his band the Famous Flames, is regarded as one of the greatest performances in pop music.

Minnelli's acting career began as a toddler

Her first film appearance was at age three in 1949's "In the Good Old Summertime," which starred her mother, Judy Garland. Minnelli's stage debut came not long after, at the age of 10. At age 19, she'd made her Broadway debut in "Flora, the Red Menace," and landed a Tony Award for the performance.

Liza Minnelli's 'New York, New York' used to play after the Yankees lost

For a time, Minnelli's version of the song was played following defeats. After each Yankees victory, it was Frank Sinatra's version. Ultimately, the team stopped using Minnelli's version, though Sinatra's is still played after every Yankees win.

Watch Billie Holiday perform in 'The Sound of Jazz'

The 1957 CBS special, part of its series "The Seven Lively Arts," was a landmark broadcast that brought some of jazz's biggest names—including Holiday, Thelonious Monk, and Count Basie—to a national audience. Watch Holiday offer a stirring rendition of "Fine and Mellow" below.

Parton recorded two albums with Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris

The musicians were fans of one another and performed together on Parton’s variety show “Dolly” in 1976. Eleven years later, they released an album together, fittingly called “Trio.” A follow-up, “Trio II,” arrived in 1999.

The 20-year feud between Elton John and Madonna

The two superstars feuded from roughly 2002 until 2025. After playing shows together in the 1990s, John took issue with Madonna's James Bond theme song "Die Another Day," calling it the worst of the film series. He kept up a stream of criticisms, and the feud peaked at the 2012 Golden Globes when Madonna beat out John for best original song. The pair reportedly reconciled backstage at "Saturday Night Live" in 2025.

Live Aid featured 16 hours of live music across two continents

The 1985 benefit concerts took place in London and Philadelphia, and performances from both locations were televised simultaneously.

The surgeon who tried to save John Lennon says he can’t forget that night

Frank Veteran was a resident in 1980 on the night John Lennon was shot in New York. For years afterward, he tried to process the sight of seeing the Beatle dying in the hospital, including through art, but he says that the memories from the experience are still vivid.

Watch Salvador Dalí's surreal appearance on 'The Dick Cavett Show'

During this 1971 talk show episode, Dalí enters the stage with his pet anteater, flinging it onto an actress' lap. He proceeds to talk strangely about the significance of anteaters and his mustache. Many argue such public appearances were examples of Dalí's performance art, where he made real interactions surreal.

The legendary jazz beef of Miles Davis and Wynton Marsalis

Miles Davis might be the most recognizable name in jazz history, renowned for his landmark albums "Kind of Blue" and "Bitches Brew," and his unceasing artistic experimentation. By the 1980s, however, Davis was a pariah in jazz circles, causing him to set his sights on the poster child for the genre's purists: the much younger Wynton Marsalis. This overview of the rivalry by journalist James Kaplan details the origins—and the apex—of this now legendary beef.

The Italian music contest that inspired Eurovision

Italy's Sanremo Festival began in 1951 as a way to boost tourism in the Italian Riviera during the offseason, with three acts performing original songs on a national radio broadcast. The format would be replicated five years later by Eurovision, though Sanremo is still around.

When Magic Johnson and Larry Bird faced off in the 1979 NCAA final

Michigan State's Magic Johnson topped Indiana State's Larry Bird 75-64 in the 1979 NCAA final with a record 35.1 million watching. Aired on NBC, the duel of future NBA icons ignited college basketball's TV boom. This article revisits the rivalry's roots, the Sycamores' Cinderella run, and a prime-time leap that turned March Madness into a national frenzy.

A 1962 concert at Carnegie Hall introduced the American press to bossa nova

Bossa nova was still largely under the radar when João Gilberto, Luiz Bonfa, Sergio Mendes, and others performed at the storied Carnegie Hall in New York. Brazilian musician Gilberto Gil noted that the showcase's success was surprising to both the musicians and Brazilians, who began taking the music more seriously as a cultural export.

Mort Sahl released the first stand-up album

There were comedy records that came before “The Future Lies Ahead,” but Sahl’s 1958 album, released by jazz imprint Verve, was the first official recording that captured a complete stand-up set.

Francis Ford Coppola's first musical led him to bankruptcy

The ambitious (and expensive) 1981 movie musical had a budget of $26M, but earned under $1M at the box office. The flop led to a financially difficult period for the renowned director, who declared bankruptcy three times in the decade following the movie's release.

Bob Dylan's 'Never Ending Tour' has racked up close to 3,000 dates

Since 1987, Bob Dylan and his band (featuring a range of rotating members) have toured venues of various sizes on what fans have come to call "The Never Ending Tour." This is thanks to the legendary artist's abundance of dates and lack of demarcation between one tour and the next.

Roosevelt resigned from a prominent women's organization after it barred a Black singer from performing

When the Daughters of the American Revolution refused to allow Marian Anderson to perform at their Washington hall in 1939 because she was Black, Roosevelt publicly cut ties with the group. She worked to arrange an alternative outdoor concert for Anderson at the Lincoln Memorial, which drew a crowd of 75,000.

Whitman led a Lincoln lecture late in life

Whitman toured several cities with “The Death of Lincoln,” a lecture series about the slain president that sought to establish him as a crucial figured in American history. The talks attracted famous figures, including Mark Twain and General William Tecumseh Sherman.

Broadway's superfans unite at BroadwayCon

Like ComicCon for theater lovers, BroadwayCon convenes annually in New York and offers panels, meet-and-greets, and, of course, singalongs. (Some readers may experience a paywall.)

In 1945, Surrealist artist Salvador Dalí and legendary animator Walt Disney began collaborating on a short film that was not completed until 2003, years after both men had died.

In preparation for this weekend's Eurovision finale, which is something like the World Cup of pop music, here's a young Céline Dion performing (for Switzerland?) at the 1988 competition.

Watch a 1934 short film starring jazz legend Cab Calloway, a major figure in the Harlem Renaissance's music scene

A researcher recently discovered an interview from 1967 between groundbreaking journalist Joan Didion and the Grateful Dead, years before the band became an institution.

Eddie Murphy saved ‘SNL’ from getting canceled in the early '80s

A young Eddie Murphy kept "Saturday Night Live" afloat during the years Lorne Michaels left the show by turning even the most pedestrian material into something revelatory. Eventually, he pursued a wildly successful acting and stand-up career.

An 'EGOT' is one of the most sought-after achievements in entertainment

EGOT stands for "Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony," an informal title for the performers who've won all four awards. Liza Minnelli, Elton John, and others have earned the title, though other superstars, like Bruce Springsteen, are just one award away from joining the exclusive club.

In the week after his death, 5 Prince albums appeared in the Billboard top 10

After his death in 2016, the public revisited Prince's catalog in a big way. For the first time in modern Billboard history, half of the magazine's Billboard 200 was concurrently occupied by a single artist. Three of those titles were compilations ("The Very Best of Prince," "The Hits/The B-Sides," and "Ultimate"), with the remaining two taken by studio albums ("Purple Rain" and "1999").

Steve Martin and Robin Williams once starred in 'Waiting for Godot'

The duo starred as Vladimir and Estragon, respectively, in a 1988 production of Samuel Beckett's play. Since then, the show has become an opportunity for other famous duos to engage with the theater of the absurd, including Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen (in 2009, and then again from 2013 to 2014) and Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves (from 2025 to 2026). The only complete recording of a Williams and Martin production is available for researchers at The New York Public Library, though you can watch a few scenes below.

'Saturday Night Fever,' the 1977 film that introduced disco to the mainstream, was based on a fabricated magazine story.

In 1939, baseball star Lou Gehrig delivered his inspirational 'Luckiest Man' speech after retiring due to the health condition that now bears his name.

Quincy Jones' 'Big Band Bossa Nova' helped introduce bossa nova—a jazz-influenced Brazilian genre—to the US

70 years ago today, city officials in Santa Cruz, California, banned rock 'n' roll to protect its youth from corruption after witnessing a 'provocative' concert the night before.

American dance legend Martha Graham, sometimes called 'the Picasso of dance,' refused to perform at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin and conceived the piece 'Chronicle' in response to the experience.

Brian Wilson wrote the Beach Boys' 'Don't Worry Baby' for the Ronettes, but the legendary girl group rejected it.

See 33 images that became central to huge scandals, including a young Charles and Camilla, Michael Jackson's baby on a hotel balcony, and Hugh Grant's mugshot.

A small portion of The Winstons' 'Amen, Brother,' an obscure '60s gospel record, is the basis for thousands of hip-hop tracks, making it one of the most sampled records ever that's informally known as 'the Amen break.'

Exploring the Larry Bird punch that almost changed March Madness

The Mona Lisa's celebrity status and repeated restorations have obscured what made the painting so revolutionary for its time

The 1987 Nintendo video game 'Stadium Events' isn't known for being particularly fun, but its scarcity has made it a highly sought-after item that has sold for up to $35K at auction.

A 2019 Facebook event called on attendees to "Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All of Us," resulting in countless memes, the creation of a music festival, and eventually the arrests of those who did try to approach the area.

For centuries, Niagara Falls has been a magnet for daredevils seeking to conquer one of nature's most powerful wonders, with its 200-foot drop and water rushing at 32 feet per second with 280 tons of force.

Domino's Pizza's 30-minute delivery guarantee was responsible for the chain's 1980s surge, but it was discontinued after the company was found liable for delivery driver accidents.

Abraham Lincoln was almost assassinated weeks before his inauguration as he traveled from Illinois to DC through Baltimore in 1861; it took two independent claims for Lincoln to be convinced the threat was real

When a Paris department store hesitated to sell Estée Lauder's perfume, she 'accidentally' broke a bottle, causing the smell to spread throughout the store and shoppers to start asking to buy the scent.

Against his wishes, Albert Einstein's brain was removed before his cremation, and the pathologist responsible stored it for decades in mason jars within a beer cooler.

After NASA's Voyager 1 captured Earth as a single pixel as it left the solar system in 1990, astronomer Carl Sagan used the image to reflect on humanity's fragility and the responsibility to protect 'the only world we've ever known.'

View the ten deadliest tornadoes in US history.

Watch contemporary footage covering the US-backed Shah of Iran fleeing the country in the face of the 1979 Iranian Revolution

Legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright designed the SC Johnson headquarters in Wisconsin, aiming to make a cathedral-like workplace