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1. In 2014, a glitch on Canadian iTunes resulted in a Taylor Swift "song" entitled "Track 3" getting released on the platform.
Fans assumed it was a new single from her album 1989, and it quickly "hit number one on the Canadian iTunes chart," despite the fact that "Track 3" wasn't a track at all, but eight seconds of white noise. It was soon taken down.
2. Bruno Mars told Vibe that he had a "full-time job at four" as his father's band's resident mini Elvis impersonator.
The band was called Love Notes, and Mars described it as a "1950s doo-wop review type of show," featuring impersonations of "Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis" and, of course, Elvis Presley. Mars would perform with Love Notes five nights a week.
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3. As of 2007, Rihanna's legs were insured for $1 million.
She told the Guardian, "Venus Breeze, the Gillette razor, they named me this year's Celebrity Legs of a Goddess, so along with the title comes an insurance for your legs of a million dollars." She added, "If it was my million dollars, I'd probably walk about in pants all day long."
4. Lady Gaga famously wore a dress made out of raw meat to the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards, and when the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame acquired it, they hired taxidermist Sergio Vigilato to preserve it.
It was frozen when Vigilato received it, but when he thawed it out to begin his work, he realized that it "had begun decomposing before it had been frozen." Such is the nature of the butcher shop gown, which the singer says she chose to show that she isn't "a piece of meat."
Vigilato told the Los Angeles Times that he was paid $6,000 up front for the job, and that it took about a month. He didn't reveal exactly how he did it, but the process involved "bleach, formaldehyde, and detergent to remove bacteria."
5. Katy Perry's parents were Pentecostal ministers and born-again Christians who didn't allow their children to say terms like "deviled eggs" and "Dirt Devil" (a brand of vacuum cleaner).
Perry's friends would smuggle CDs of nonreligious music into her home, since her parents banned it.
Perry's parents also misled her about the nature of Planned Parenthood, wrongly describing it as solely an abortion provider. Perry told Vanity Fair, "I was always scared I was going to get bombed when I was there...I didn't know it was more than that, that it was for women and their needs. I didn't have insurance, so I went there and I learned about birth control."
Perry said that she "didn't have a childhood," but added that as an adult, she is able to peacefully "coexist" with her parents, and that they're happy for her success. Her mother told Vanity Fair, "The Lord told us when I was pregnant with her that she would do this.”
6. During an appearance on The Carlos Watson Show, John Legend discussed winning an essay contest sponsored by McDonald's at the age of 15. The contest was themed around Black History Month, and the prompt was, "How do you intend to make Black history?"
Legend said he wrote something to the effect of, "I intend to become a successful artist, and use that success to help my community." His submission was the regional winner for the Dayton, Ohio area, and he received a "small scholarship" from the fast-food chain for it.
7. Nicki Minaj worked at multiple Red Lobster restaurants, and during an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, she revealed that she got fired from all of them.
On one occasion, Minaj was let go for following a couple into the parking lot after they walked out with her pen. She banged on their car window and flipped them off while she demanded the return of her pen from the pair (who, in addition to writing utensil theft, failed to tip Minaj).
She told Fallon, "My pet peeve is when people ask for extra biscuits. Please don't ask for more biscuits, because I will slap you."
Here's the full segment:
View this video on YouTube
8. Speaking of Red Lobster: When Beyoncé mentioned the chain in her 2014 song "Formation," in a lyric that "suggests using Red Lobster's food as a reward for sex," sales jumped 33%.
Red Lobster responded with this pun. Like most brands' attempts to join in on the online banter, it left something to be desired.
"Cheddar Bey Biscuits" has a nice ring to it, don't you think? #Formation @Beyonce
They then tried to win back some social media goodwill by reminding us all that they're responsible for producing cheddar biscuits so delicious, they used to ruin Nicki Minaj's waitressing shifts.
You try to bake Cheddar Bay Biscuits and tweet at the same time! #harderthanitlooks #Formation
9. David Bowie's iconic mismatched eyes were the result of a teenage fistfight with his friend George Underwood.
The pair were fighting over a girl, and Underwood punched Bowie in his left eye after Bowie "boast[ed] to my mate about what a Casanova" he was, according to what he told his biographer Mark Spitz. Underwood inadvertently scratched Bowie's eye, "paralyzing the muscles that contract the iris" and causing the pupil to be permanently dilated.
The resulting difference in the size of the pupils is known as anisocoria. In contrast, heterochromia is a difference in the color of the irises.
The fight didn't stop the pair from remaining friends, and Underwood ultimately designed the covers for two of Bowie's albums: Hunky Dory and The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars.
10. Dua Lipa's first name means "love" in Albanian, and it was suggested by her grandmother.
Lipa told the Guardian, "Now I’m proud of it. Now I am. But when I was growing up all I wanted was to be called Hannah, Sarah, Ella…anything normal. Because with Dua you had to explain: I’m from Kosovo.”
Lipa's parents, Anesa and Dukagjin, fled conflict in Kosovo and Bosnia by going to London in 1992. Lipa said that their decision to uproot their lives helped her understand that "no refugee leaves their country without having to."
11. The theme song for the Disney Channel animated series The Proud Family was recorded by Solange and Destiny's Child.
Solange was 15 at the time, and according to Billboard, "Girl group Destiny's Child was eager to lend a hand to one of their member's little sister's burgeoning singing career."
Here's the video of them recording it:
View this video on YouTube
12. Madonna and Jean-Michel Basquiat dated in the early 1980s, when "both were on the cusp of wider fame."
Madonna revealed during an interview on The Howard Stern Show that following their breakup, Basquiat took back the paintings he gifted to her over the course of their relationship, and "painted over them black."
13. In 2013, Justin Bieber broke the record for the "most wishes granted by a musical artist" for the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
At that point, Bieber had granted 200 wishes for the organization, which "create[s] life-changing wishes for children with critical illnesses."
14. In 2015, Ed Sheeran charged $99 for all tickets to his Australian tour, no matter the seats. He told News.com.au that he chose this one-price-fits-all approach due to concerns over elitism.
Sheeran said, "What I was really trying not to do was have elitist tickets...the moment you allow a kid with a rich father to have more things than a kid with a poor father, I think that’s shit."
He also revealed that his team keeps the tickets for the front row until the day of the concert, and then gives them out to fans waiting outside or sitting in the "nosebleed seats up the top." Sheeran "got the idea from the Justin Bieber documentary."
15. Alicia Keys was the valedictorian of her high school, and she graduated when she was only 16 years old. Her musical and academic talents led to her being offered two major opportunities right out of high school: a scholarship to Columbia University and a contract with Columbia Records.
Keys said in an Oprah.com video that the most difficult part of choosing music over college was breaking the news to her mother. Luckily, her mother "wasn't as angry" as Keys thought she was going to be. She reflected, "She's an artist, and she could understand my passion and my love for wanting to do it."
16. In 1992, Britney Spears and Natalie Portman understudied for the same role in an off-Broadway musical called Ruthless.
Spears understudied for Laura Bell Bundy for about eight months before deciding to move on. Natalie Portman took her place shortly afterwards.
Ruthless lyricist Joel Paley told the New York Post that when they realized they needed an understudy for Bundy, they were worried about discovering someone as talented as her, but Spears more than exceeded their expectations with her "singing, dancing, acting, confidence, and great mom."
17. Whitney Houston founded a production company called BrownHouse, and it produced some absolute hits.
Houston was a producer on The Princess Diaries...
...and The Cheetah Girls....
...and Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, in which she also starred as the Fairy Godmother.
18. The 8-year-old Ariana Grande got early encouragement for her musical career from Gloria Estefan.
Estefan told New York Daily News that she was a passenger on a cruise ship where the young Grande was performing. She recalled, "I literally went up to her and told her and her mom, 'I don't know if you plan on doing this, but this is what you need to be doing because you are an amazing singer.'"
Apparently, Grande was singing the "theme song from Titanic" at the time.
19. Billie Eilish told Harper's Bazaar that she wrote her first song at 11, and that "it was about the zombie apocalypse, actually."
It was called "Fingers Crossed," and it was heavily influenced by The Walking Dead. Eilish said, "Just watch all of The Walking Dead and you'll find some things that are in my song and some episode titles that are in my song."
20. Kim Nam-joon, better known by his stage name RM (formerly Rap Monster), is the frontman of the mega-popular South Korean pop group BTS, and he told the Chicago Tribune that he taught himself to speak English by watching CNN, the BBC, and Friends.
He revealed in an interview with Yahoo that his favorite Friends character is Chandler, while his favorite storyline is the will-they-won't-they romance of Rachel and Ross.
21. Kesha was an academic superstar in high school, receiving a near-perfect score on her SATs and studying in the international baccalaureate program.
As a high school student, Kesha attended lectures about the Cold War at Belmont College "for fun." She told Billboard, "I'm not trying to say I'm an expert on the Cold War...but I was interested. The point being, I'm not just a little pop moron."
22. Lorde counts a lot of authors amongst her most important musical influences.
In 2013, she told Glamour that her work is influenced by the likes of Raymond Carver...
...Sylvia Plath...
...and Walt Whitman, among others.
23. Dolly Parton is Miley Cyrus's godmother.
Parton told Marie Claire that she always knew her goddaughter was special, but that Hannah Montana really showed her what a talent Cyrus was.
Parton said, "When she was on that little show, I saw what great timing she had, what a great little comedian she was."
24. Prince was a huge fan of New Girl, so much so that he asked the show for the chance to guest star. Obviously, they said "yes!"
In the episode, Prince (starring as himself, naturally) hosts a party. Originally, the Kardashians were also going to make cameo appearances as guests.
When Prince got wind of this, he supposedly replied, "They would never be invited to a Prince party." Their appearances were swiftly cut.
Zooey Deschanel recalled in an appearance on Conan that the scripts and call sheets featuring the Kardashian name were literally burned by a P.A.
25. Jennifer Lopez and the iconic green Versace gown that she wore to the 2000 Grammy Awards are the reason that Google Image Search exists.
According to an essay by Eric Schmidt, the executive chairman of Google, published on Project Syndicate, "At the time, it was the most popular search query we had ever seen. But we had no surefire way of getting users exactly what they wanted: J.Lo wearing that dress. Google Image Search was born."
Lopez joked to E! News that she wanted "just a small part" of the profits, and suggested somewhere in the ballpark of "a truck full of money."
26. Sam Smith told NPR that they and their collaborator Jimmy Napes wrote the Bond theme "Writing's on the Wall" for Spectre in under a half hour.
The first demo Smith recorded was so strong that the vocals actually ended up in the final version of the track.
Smith said, "I tried to put myself in the shoes of Bond. My music is a diary and it's a recap of my life, and I wanted to bring that kind of honesty."
"Writing's on the Wall" ultimately won the Oscar for Best Original Song.
27. And finally: Adele also wrote one of her hits in record time, though she churned "Hometown Glory" out in 10 minutes, as opposed to Sam Smith's 30. (Not that it's a competition.)
Adele told the Observer Music Monthly that she was inspired to write the song because her mother wanted her to leave London to go to university.
Adele recalled, "I played it to her as a protest song, and said, 'This is why I'm staying.'"
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