The Strokes admitted to purloining Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers' "American Girl" for their hit "Last Nite."
Justin Timberlake originally wrote "Gone" for Michael Jackson, but his team turned it down, so 'N Sync cut it instead.
Before launching his career as a singer, Bruno Mars was a writer/producer. He and his co-writers pitched "Just The Way You Are" to Cee-Lo Green; when he turned it down, Bruno recorded it himself and released it in 2010 as his first single as a lead artist.
When "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)" climbed to #1 on the Hot 100, Katy Perry became the first woman to send five songs from one album to the top of the charts. The four previous chart-toppers from her Teenage Dream set were "California Gurls," "Teenage Dream," "Firework" and "E.T."
The title of Al Stewart's "Year Of The Cat" comes from Vietnamese astrology. The Year of the Cat comes every 12 Years: 1975, 1987, 1999, 2011, 2023...
Props to Aretha Franklin: her song "Respect" introduced the term "propers" as a sign of proper respect.
Dean wrote the screenplay and lyrics to all the songs in Footloose. His other hits include "Fame" and "All The Man That I Need."
Richard explains how Joe Walsh kickstarted his career, and why he chose Hazard, Nebraska for a hit.
John Lennon, Paul Simon and Lynyrd Skynyrd are some of the artists who have written revenge songs. Do you know who they wrote them about?
How the American gangsta rappers made history by getting banned in the UK.
When you have a song called "Fire," it's tempting to set one - these guys did.
A look at the good (Diana Ross, Eminem), the bad (Madonna, Bob Dylan) and the peculiar (David Bowie, Michael Jackson) film debuts of superstar singers.