On This Day: January 15

Musical Milestones

1966 – The Beatles are in their second and final week on top of the pop chart with “We Can Work It Out.”

1972 – Don McLean’s classic track, “American Pie,” conquers the Billboard Hot 100 and holds the top spot for four weeks. 

1977 – “You Make Me Feel Like Dancing,” by Leo Sayer, is the hottest song on the radio. 

1977 – “Hotel California,” by Eagles, is No. 1 on the Billboard album chart. The album spawns the hits “Hotel California,” which wins a Grammy for Record of the Year, “New Kid in Town,” which wins a Best Arrangement for Voices Grammy, and “Life in the Fast Lane.” 

1983 – “Down Under” puts Men At Work on top of the Billboard singles chart. It’s the second single from the Australian band’s “Business As Usual” album to reach No. 1.

1994 – Mariah Carey’s “Hero” marks its fourth and final week as a No. 1 single. The track receives a Best Female Pop Vocal Performance Grammy, but loses to Sheryl Crow’s “All I Wanna Do.”

2005 – “Let Me Love You,” by Mario, is in the middle of nine weeks on top of the Billboard Hot 100 and later garners a Grammy nomination for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance.

History Highlights

1943 – The world’s largest office building, The Pentagon, is dedicated in Arlington, Virginia, as the home of the U.S. Department of Defense, which was then known as the U.S. War Department.

1967 – The first Super Bowl is played in Los Angeles with the Green Bay Packers defeating the Kansas City Chiefs 35-10. 

1974 – Nostalgic sitcom “Happy Days,” starring Henry Winkler as super-cool biker Arthur “The Fonz” Fonzarelli, premieres. Ron Howard co-stars as Fonzie’s friend, Richie Cunningham. The show, created by Garry Marshall, runs for 11 seasons and was one of the highest-rated series of the 1970s.

1981 – The award-winning dramatic police series “Hill Street Blues” debuts on NBC.

2009 – In what comes to be called the “Miracle on the Hudson,” a US Airways passenger jet makes an emergency landing in the frigid Hudson River between Manhattan and New Jersey after a bird strike disables its engines during take-off from LaGuardia Airport. All 155 passengers and crew of the Airbus A-320 survive, and pilot Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger is hailed as a hero. In 2016, the story is made into a movie directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Tom Hanks as “Sully.”

Celebrity Birthdays

1913 – Actor Lloyd Bridges (“Sea Hunt,” “Airplane!” “East of Eden”) (d. 1998)

1929 – Nobel Peace Prize-winning civil rights leader and Baptist minister Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (d. 1968)

1937 – Oscar-winning actress Margaret O’Brien (“Jane Eyre,” “Meet Me in St. Louis”)

1951 – Singer, dancer, comedian and actress Charo, born María del Rosario Mercedes Pilar Martínez Molina Baez

1957 – Actor-director Mario Van Peebles (“21 Jump Street,” “New Jack City,” “Baadasssss!”)

1968 – Emmy-winning actor Chad Lowe (“ER,” “Melrose Place,” “Life Goes On,” “Pretty Little Liars”)

1981 – Grammy-winning rapper Pitbull, born Armando Christian Pérez (“I Know You Want Me,” “Give Me Everything,” “Timber”)

1988 – Grammy-winning DJ Skrillex, born Sonny John Moore

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Hotel California

Eagles

Business As Usual

Men At Work

The Pentagon: A History

Steve Vogel

Sully

Starring Tom Hanks, Aaron Eckhart and Laura Linney, and directed by Clint Eastwood

The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Clayborne Carson

New Jack City

Starring Wesley Snipes, Ice-T and Allen Payne, and directed by Mario Van Peebles

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On This Day: October 4

Musical Milestones

1969 – The Archies are mid-way through a four-week run on top of the Billboard Hot 100 with “Sugar, Sugar.”

1969 – Creedence Clearwater Revival’s third album, “Green River,” begins four weeks on top of the Billboard 200. The album contains the hits “Bad Moon Rising” and “Green River.”

1970 – Rock and roll legend Janis Joplin, known for her distinctive blues-inspired vocals, rebellious lifestyle, psychedelic Porsche and free-flowing fashion sense, dies of a heroin overdose at the age of 27.

1980 – “Another One Bites the Dust” puts Queen on top of the singles chart for three weeks.

1982 – Hall & Oates release the “H2O” album, which contains the hits “Maneater,” “One on One” and “Family Man.”

1986 – Lionel Richie begins his second and final week at the summit of the Billboard album chart with “Dancing on the Ceiling,” his third solo studio album.

1990 – “(Can’t Live Without Your) Love and Affection,” by Nelson, is the No. 1 single.

1997 – “Butterfly,” by Mariah Carey, soars to the top of the album chart where it spends a week.

1997 – Boyz II Men rule the singles chart with “4 Seasons of Loneliness.”

2003 – “Baby Boy,” by Beyoncé featuring Sean Paul, kicks off nine weeks on top of the Billboard Hot 100.

History Highlights

1927 – Sculpting begins on the face of Mount Rushmore in South Dakota’s Black Hills National Forest. The 14-year project produces granite images of four of America’s most revered and beloved presidents — George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt.

1931 – The “Dick Tracy” comic strip by Chester Gould debuts in the Detroit Daily Mirror newspaper.

1957 – The Soviets trigger the “Space Race” between the Superpowers with the launch of Sputnik — a basketball-size satellite that becomes the first man-made object to orbit Earth.

1957 – “Leave It To Beaver” premieres on TV. The family sitcom was a stereotypical portrayal of American family life.

1976 – Barbara Walters joins Harry Reasoner on the “ABC Evening News,” becoming the first woman to anchor a network evening newscast.

1990 – “Beverly Hills, 90210,” a TV drama about a group of teenagers living in upscale Beverly Hills, California, debuts on Fox and goes on to become a prime-time ratings bonanza.

Celebrity Birthdays

1822 – 19th U.S. President Rutherford B. Hayes (d. 1893)

1861 – American West artist-sculptor Frederic Remington (d. 1909)

1880 – Journalist-writer Damon Runyon (d. 1946)

1895 – Silent film icon Buster Keaton (“The General”) (d. 1966)

1923 – Oscar-winning actor and three-time National Rifle Association (NRA) President Charlton Heston (“Antony and Cleopatra,” “Ben-Hur,” “The 10 Commandments,” “Planet of the Apes”) (d. 2008)

1941 – Gothic novelist Anne Rice (“The Vampire Chronicles”)

1946 – Oscar-winning actress and social activist Susan Sarandon (” The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” “Bull Durham,” “Thelma & Louise,” “Dead Man Walking,” “Anywhere But Here,” “Elizabethtown,” “Enchanted”)

1949 – Actor Armand Assante (“The Lords of Flatbush,” “I, The Jury,” “Q&A,” “Hoffa,” “The Mambo Kings,” “American Gangster”)

1956 – Oscar and Golden Globe-winning actor Christoph Waltz (“Inglourious Basterds,” “Carnage,” “Django Unchained,” “Horrible Bosses 2,” “Big Eyes,” “Spectre”)

1967 – Tony-winning actor Liev Schreiber (the “Scream” movie series, “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” “Hamlet,” “The Butler,” “Ray Donovan,” “Spotlight”)

1976 – Actress-producer and author Alicia Silverstone (“The Crush,” “Clueless,” “Batman & Robin”)

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Janis Joplin's Greatest Hits

Janis Joplin

H2O

Daryl Hall & John Oates

The Carving of Mount Rushmore

Rex Alan Smith

Red Moon Rising

Matthew Brzezinski

Complete Vampire Chronicles

Anne Rice

Bull Durham

Starring Tim Robbins, Susan Sarandon and Kevin Costner, and directed by Ron Shelton

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On This Day: February 29

Musical Milestones

1970 – “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” by Simon & Garfunkel, tops the singles chart and remains there for six weeks. It captures Record of the Year and Song of the Year Grammys in 1971 and goes on to sell over six million copies worldwide.

1976 – The No. 1 single comes from a prime time police drama on ABC-TV. It’s “Theme From S.W.A.T.” by Rhythm Heritage.

1976 – Paul Simon’s “Still Crazy After All These Years” captures an Album Of The Year Grammy. In his acceptance speech, Simon tells the audience, “I’d like to thank Stevie Wonder, who didn’t make an album this year.”

1981 – Eddie Rabbitt hops to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “I Love a Rainy Night.”

1983 – U2 release “War,” the Irish rock band’s third studio album, which gives us their earliest signature songs, “Sunday Bloody Sunday” and “New Year’s Day.”

1987 – Bon Jovi holds the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 with what becomes their signature song: “Livin’ on a Prayer”

1996 – At the 38th Annual Grammy Awards, Kiss shock the audience by appearing in full makeup. Introduced by rapper Tupac Shakur (2Pac), it marks the first time in more than 15 years that all four band members appeared together. Just a few weeks later, they announce a reunion tour.

1998 – Céline Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On”, the theme from the blockbuster movie “Titanic,” is captain of the pop chart.

History Highlights

1953 – Cambridge University scientists James Watson and Francis Crick announce that they have confirmed the double-helix structure of DNA, the molecule containing human genes. They are later honored with the Nobel Prize for their achievement.

1958 – A school bus in Prestonsburg, Kentucky hits a tow truck and plunges down an embankment into the rain-swollen Big Sandy River. The driver and 26 children die in what remains the worst school bus accident in U.S. history. 

1983 – After 11 seasons, CBS broadcasts the finale of the popular sitcom “M*A*S*H” as a special two and a half-hour episode (“Goodbye, Farewell and Amen”) watched by 77 percent of the viewing audience. It’s the largest viewership ever for a single TV show up to that time.

1993 – Four federal agents are killed in Waco, Texas after attempting to serve an arrest warrant for weapons charges on Branch Davidian sect leader David Koresh, triggering a 51-day standoff.

Celebrity Birthdays

1923 – Actor Charles Durning (“The Front Page,” “North Dallas Forty,” “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas”)  (d. 2012)

1931 – Actor Gavin MacLeod, best known for his TV roles as Murray, the news writer in “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” and as Captain Stubing in “The Love Boat” 

1939 – Tony Award-winning actor, dancer, singer, theatre director, producer and choreographer Tommy Tune

1940 – Auto racing legend Mario Andretti 

1948 – Tony Award-winning actress Bernadette Peters (“Dames at Sea,” “The Jerk,” “Pennies from Heaven,” “Silent Movie”)

1957 – Actor-producer John Turturro (“Do The Right Thing,” “Barton Fink,” “The Quiz Show,” “The Big Lebowski,” “Brother, Where Art Thou?,” the “Transformers” movie series) 

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Bridge Over Troubled Water

Simon & Garfunkel

Slippery When Wet

Bon Jovi

M*A*S*H: Goodbye, Farewell and Amen

Starring Alan Alda, Mike Farrell, Loretta Swit, Harry Morgan, David Ogden Stiers, Jamie Farr, William Christopher and others

A Journey to Waco: Autobiography of a Branch Davidian

Clive Doyle, Catherine Wessinger and Matthew D. Wittmer

The Mary Tyler Moore Show - The Complete First Season

Starring Mary Tyler Moore, Edward Asner, Gavin MacLeod, Ted Knight, Valerie Harper and Betty White

Quiz Show

Starring John Turturro, Rob Morrow and Ralph Fiennes, and directed by Robert Redford

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On This Day: April 16

Musical Milestones

1964 – The Beatles film chase scenes for their movie, “A Hard Day’s Night,” with actors dressed as policemen (“Bobbies”) in the Notting Hill Gate area of London. That evening, the Fab Four record the title track at Abbey Road Studios.

1973 – Paul McCartney’s first television special, “James Paul McCartney,” airs on ABC-TV. The show, which includes performances by McCartney and Wings, is broadcast in the U.K. about a month later.

1977 – The hottest song on the radio is “Don’t Give Up on Us,” by David Soul, best known as the star of the 1970s TV police drama, “Starsky & Hutch.”

1983 – “Billie Jean,” from Michael Jackson’s Grammy-winning “Thriller” album, wraps up seven weeks as a No. 1 single.

1994 – R. Kelly is midway through a four-week ride at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Bump ‘N Grind.”

2005 – “Candy Shop,” by 50 Cent featuring Olivia, is in the midst of a nine-week domination of the U.S. pop chart.

History Highlights

1947 – A powerful explosion aboard a chemical-laden freighter docked at Texas City, near Houston, touches off fires that destroy much of the city. Nearly 600 people are killed in what is still considered one of the worst industrial accidents in U.S. history.  

1968 – The longest night game in Major League Baseball ends in the Houston Astrodome in the wee hours of the morning with the Astros shutting out the New York Mets 1-0 in 24 innings. 

1972 – The Chinese government sends President Richard Nixon two giant pandas as a sign of friendship. The gesture becomes known as “Panda Diplomacy.”

2007 – In one of the deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history, 32 people are gunned down on the campus of Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia, by a student at the college who would later take his own life.

Celebrity Birthdays

1867 – Wilbur Wright, who along with his brother Orville, is considered a pioneer of flight (d. 1912)

1889 – Silent film icon Charlie Chaplin (d. 1977)

1935 – Pop vocalist Bobby Vinton (“Roses Are Red,” “Blue Velvet,” “Mr. Lonely“) 

1939 – Pop singer Dusty Springfield {“Wishin’ and Hopin’,” “The Look of Love”)   (d. 1999)

1947 – Retired NBA legend and Basketball Hall of Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, born Ferdinand Lewis (Lew) Alcindor, Jr. 

1954 – Emmy and Tony-winning actress Ellen Barkin (“Buckaroo Banzai,” “The Big Easy,” “Sea of Love,” “Switch”)

1965 – Actor-comedian Martin Lawrence (“Bad Boys,” “Blue Streak,” “Big Momma’s House”)

1971 – Grammy-winning Tejano superstar Selena Quintanilla (d. 1995)

1993 – Grammy-winning singer-songwriter and record producer Chance The Rapper, born Chancelor Bennett (“Confident,” “Coloring Book”)

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A Hard Day's Night

Starring The Beatles (John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr)

Thriller

Michael Jackson

The Texas City Disaster, 1947

Hugh W. Stephens

Lifting Our Eyes: Finding God's Grace Through the Virginia Tech Tragedy - The Lauren McCain Story

Beth J. Lueders

City Lights

Starring Charlie Chaplin, Virginia Cherrill, Florence Lee and Harry Myers, and directed by Charlie Chaplin

Selena

Starring Jennifer Lopez, Edward James Olmos and Jon Seda, and directed by Gregory Nava

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On This Day: April 17

Musical Milestones

1970 – At the invitation of President Richard Nixon, country music legend Johnny Cash performs for an invited audience in the East Room of the White House. He opens with a track that Nixon personally requested: “A Boy Named Sue.”

1971 – ”Joy to the World” launches Three Dog Night on a six-week ride atop the singles chart. 

1973 – Pink Floyd’s “The Dark Side of the Moon,” which delivers classics like “Money” and “Us and Them,” begins a week at No. 1 on the Billboard album chart, but remains on the chart for 15 years — the longest stretch of any rock album. 

1982 – Vangelis rules the album chart with the soundtrack to “Chariots Of Fire,” for which he later wins a Best Original Score Oscar.

1998 – Linda McCartney dies at the age of 56 following a long battle with cancer. She was married to Paul McCartney for nearly 30 years, was a member of his band Wings, and was an accomplished photographer and animal rights advocate.

1999 – “No Scrubs” becomes TLC’s third No. 1 single and holds the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 for four weeks. The track also garners the girl group a Grammy nomination for Record of the Year.

History Highlights

1961 – The Bay of Pigs Invasion sees 1,400 CIA-trained and financed Cuban exiles invade Cuba in a failed attempt to overthrow Fidel Castro. 

1964 – Jerrie Mock becomes the first woman pilot to fly solo around the world and later receives the Gold Medal Award from President Lyndon Johnson on behalf of what is now the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

1964 – The Ford Mustang is officially unveiled at the World’s Fair in New York. That same day, the the so-called “pony car” debuts in Ford showrooms across the U.S. with buyers immediately snapping up almost 22,000 vehicles. Price tag for the base model is $2,372, half the cost of a Corvette.

1964 – Shea Stadium opens as the new home of the New York Mets in Flushing Queens, just a short distance from the World’s Fair.

1969 – A jury convicts Sirhan Sirhan for the assassination of Senator Robert Kennedy a year earlier. 

1970 – The Apollo 13 astronauts return safely to earth after an oxygen tank explosion robs them of a moon landing and nearly costs them their lives. 

Celebrity Birthdays

1837 – Financier J. P. Morgan (d. 1913)

1918 – Actor William Holden (“Stalag 17,” “Sunset Boulevard,” “The Bridge on the River Kwai,” “Network”)  (d. 1981)

1923 – Network television anchor-reporter Harry Reasoner (d. 1991)

1959 – Actor Sean Bean (“The Field,” “Patriot Games,” “Ronin,” “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy, “GoldenEye,” “National Treasure,” “Flightplan,” “The Island,” “The Martian”)

1972 – Golden Globe-winning actress Jennifer Garner (“Alias,” “13 Going on 30,” “Juno,” “The Odd Life of Timothy Green,” “Dallas Buyers Club,” “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day,” “Miracles from Heaven,” “Daredevil,” “Love, Simon”)

1974 – Singer-actress and fashion designer Victoria Beckham, known as Posh Spice when she performed with The Spice Girls

1985 – Actress Rooney Mara (“The Social Network,” “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,” ” Side Effects,” “Carol”)

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The Dark Side of the Moon

Pink Floyd

Linda McCartney Conversations

Ronald Ritter

The Brilliant Disaster: JFK, Castro, and America's Doomed Invasion of Cuba's Bay of Pigs

Jim Rasenberger

Ford Mustang (First Gear)

Brad Bowling

Stalag 17

Starring William Holden, Donald Taylor and Otto Preminger, and directed by Billy Wilder

Dallas Buyers Club

Starring Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Garner and Jared Leto, and directed by Jean-Marc Vallée

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On This Day: April 18

Musical Milestones

1960 – The movie tune “Theme From a Summer Place, by Percy Faith, begins its ninth and final week on top of the pop chart. 

1964 – The Beatles enjoy their third consecutive No. 1 hit with “Can’t Buy Me Love,” which holds the top spot for five weeks.

1970 – The Beatles’ “Let It Be” begins its second and final week as a No. 1 single. It is the last single released by the Fab Four while still officially considered an active group. 

1984 – Michael Jackson undergoes surgery at an L.A. hospital for injuries sustained two months earlier when his hair caught fire during the filming of a Pepsi commercial. 

1987 – “I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me),” by Aretha Franklin and George Michael, tops the Billboard Hot 100 and remains there for two weeks.

1992 – Def Leppard begins five weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard album chart with “Adrenalize.”

1992 – Vanessa Williams kicks off her fifth and final week as a chart-topper with “Save the Best for Last.”

2012 –  An original and extremely rare 1963 mono copy of The Beatles’ “Please Please Me” album, signed by all four musicians, sells in an eBay auction for nearly $25,000. 

History Highlights

1906 – A powerful earthquake destroys large sections of San Francisco and sparks fires that burn for days. The death toll exceeds 3,000. 

1923 – More than 74,000 fans attend opening day at the New York Yankees’ new home in the Bronx. Babe Ruth slams the door on the Boston Red Sox with a game-winning three-run homer and Yankee Stadium becomes known as “The House that Ruth Built.”

1955 – Legendary physicist Albert Einstein, who won the Nobel Prize for his General Theory of Relativity (E=mc2), dies at the age of 76.

1983 – A suicide bomber crashes a truck into the front of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, setting off a massive blast that kills 63 people.

2012 – Entertainment icon Dick Clark, best known for hosting “American Bandstand” — an influential music-and-dance show that aired nationally for more than three decades and helped bring rock and roll into the mainstream in the late 1950s — dies of a heart attack at 82. Affectionately called “America’s Oldest Teenager,” Clark also hosted ABC’s “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve,” ringing in each new year from New York’s Times Square.

2014 – Sixteen Nepali mountaineering guides, most of them ethnic Sherpas, are killed by an avalanche on Mt. Everest, the Earth’s highest mountain. It is the single deadliest accident in the history of the Himalayan peak that lies between Nepal and China.

Celebrity Birthdays

1946 – Oscar and Golden Globe-winning actress Hayley Mills (“Tiger Bay,” “Pollyanna,” “The Parent Trap,” “Whistle Down the Wind,” “Saved by the Bell”)

1947 – Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actor James Woods (“The Onion Field,” “Once Upon a Time in America,” “Salvador,” “My Name is Bill W”) 

1954 – Actor-comedian Rick Moranis (“Ghostbusters,” “Little Shop of Horrors,” “Honey I Shrunk the Kids”) 

1956 – Actor Eric Roberts (“King of the Gypsies,” “Star 80,” “Runaway Train,” “The Dark Knight,” “The Expendables”) 

1963 – TV host and comedian Conan O’Brien  

1984 – Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actress America Ferrera (“Ugly Betty,” “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants,” “How to Train Your Dragon”)

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Let It Be

The Beatles

I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)

Aretha Franklin and George Michael

Images of America: 1906 San Francisco Earthquake

Richard Hansen and Gladys Hansen 

American Bandstand: Dick Clark and the Making of a Rock 'n' Roll Empire

John A. Jackson

Once Upon a Time in America

Starring Robert De Niro, James Woods and Joe Pesci, and directed by Sergio Leone

Conan O’Brien Believes

Conan O’Brien

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On This Day: April 19

Musical Milestones

1969 – The 5th Dimension have the No. 1 song on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In (The Flesh Failures).”

1975 – Elton John kicks off the second and final week of his pop chart domination with “Philadelphia Freedom.”

1980 – For the first time ever, the top five artists on the country music chart are all female: Crystal Gayle is No. 1, with Dottie West, Debby Boone, Emmylou Harris and Tammy Wynette making up the rest of the top five. 

1980 – “Call Me” by Blondie claims the top spot on the singles chart and holds there for six weeks. The track is from the band’s “Autoamerican” album and is featured in the movie “American Gigolo,” starring Richard Gere.

1986 – “Kiss,” by Prince and The Revolution from the “Parade” album (the “Under the Cherry Moon” soundtrack) is the No. 1 single. Following Prince’s April 2016 death, the song re-charted on the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 28, and jumped to No. 23 a week later.

1997 – Michael Jackson attends the unveiling of a wax statue of himself at the Grevin Museum of Wax in Paris. The King of Pop had provided one of his own outfits to dress the figure.

2008 – Mariah Carey begins her second and final week at No. 1 on the pop chart with “Touch My Body.”

History Highlights

1775 – The “shot heard round the world” is fired in Lexington, Massachusetts, triggering the American Revolution.

1897 – The first Boston Marathon is run, and John McDermott of New York is crowned the winner of the all-male event with a completion time of 2:55:10. 

1943 – Nazi forces attempting to clear out the Jewish ghetto in Warsaw, Poland are met by gunfire from Jewish resistance fighters, marking the beginning of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. 

1956 – American film star Grace Kelly marries Prince Rainier of Monaco in a spectacular ceremony. 

1971 – The Soviet Union launches Salyut, the first manned orbiting space lab that goes on to be replaced by Mir in 1986. 

1993 – A 51-day standoff between federal agents and Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas comes to a fiery end. The cult compound burns to the ground and 80 Davidians, including their leader, David Koresh and 22 children, are dead.

1995 – A massive explosion at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma kills 168 people and injures hundreds more. The bomb, contained in a rented truck parked outside the building, goes off at 9:02 a.m. as people prepare for the workday.

Celebrity Birthdays

1903 – Federal Agent Eliot Ness, head of “The Untouchables,” which helped bring down gangster Al Capone  (d. 1957)

1933 – Actress-singer Jayne Mansfield (“The Girl Can’t Help It,” “Too Hot to Handle,” “Kiss Them for Me”) (d. 1967)

1935 – Actor-comedian-musician-composer Dudley Moore (“Bedazzled,” “10,” “Arthur”)  (d. 2002)

1946 – Actor Tim Curry (“The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” “It,” “The Three Musketeers,” “Home Alone 2: Lost in New York”)

1968 – Actress Ashley Judd (“Kiss the Girls,” “High Crimes,” “Divergent,” “Dolphin Tale,” “Dolphin Tale 2,” “Missing”) 

1978 – Golden Globe-winning actor James Franco (“Freaks and Geeks,” “James Dean,” “Pineapple Express,” the “Spider-Man” trilogy, “127 Hours,” “11.22.63,” “Sausage Party”,”The Disaster Artist”)

1979 – Golden Globe-winning actress Kate Hudson (“Almost Famous,” You, Me and Dupree,” “Fool’s Gold,” “Bride Wars,” “Deepwater Horizon”)

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Autoamerican

Blondie

Parade: Music from the Motion Picture "Under the Cherry Moon"

Prince and The Revolution

The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution, 1763-1789

Robert Middlekauff

American Experience: Oklahoma City

Starring Bill Morlin and Mark Potok and directed by Barak Goodman

The Rocky Horror Picture Show

Starring Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon and Barry Bostwick, and directed by Jim Sharman

127 Hours

Starring James Franco, Amber Tabmblyn, Kate Mara and Amber Tamblyn, and directed by Danny Boyle

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On This Day: April 20

Musical Milestones

1963 – The Chiffons wrap up a four-week domination of the pop chart with “He’s So Fine.”

1970 – The New York Times reports that Catholic and Protestant youth groups have adopted The Beatles’ Yellow Submarine as a religious symbol and have formed so called “submarine churches.” 

1974 – “TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia),” by MFSB featuring the Three Degrees, claims the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks. 

1991 – Wilson Phillips’ “You’re in Love” is No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. 

1996 – Céline Dion’s Grammy-winning “Because You Loved Me” continues a six-week ride atop the U.S. singles chart. The track is from the 1996 movie “Up Close and Personal,” starring Robert Redford and Michelle Pfeiffer.

2002 – Ashanti launches a 10-week run on top of the pop chart with “Foolish,” off her self-titled debut album.

History Highlights

1912 – With 27,000 people in the stands, the Boston Red Sox play their first game at Fenway Park and defeat the New York Highlanders (later renamed the Yankees) by a score of 7-6 in 11 innings. 

1916 – The first National League game played at Chicago’s Wrigley Field (then Weeghman Park) sees the Cubs beat the Cincinnati Reds 7-6 in 11 innings. A bear cub is in attendance at the ballpark, which becomes known as Cubs Park in 1920 after the Wrigley family purchases the team from Weeghman. It is named Wrigley Field in 1926 in honor of William Wrigley Jr., the club’s owner.

1971 – The U.S. Supreme Court upholds the practice of busing to desegregate schools, ruling in the case of Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education. Two years later, the high court makes a second ruling restricting the use of busing, concluding that students could only be bused across district lines if there was evidence that multiple districts had implemented deliberately discriminatory policies.

1977 – The comedy “Annie Hall” opens, starring director Woody Allen and Diane Keaton. The film goes on to win Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress and Best Original Screenplay.

1980 – The Castro regime announces that all Cubans wishing to emigrate to the U.S. are free to board boats at the port of Mariel west of Havana, launching the Mariel Boatlift.

1999 – The school day at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado is shattered by a massacre. Two seniors shoot 12 students and a teacher to death before taking their own lives. 

Celebrity Birthdays

1909 – Legendary jazz vibraphonist Lionel Hampton (d. 2002)

1937 – Actor and LGBTQ rights advocate George Takei, best known as Lieutenant Sulu from the “Star Trek” TV and movie series

1941 – Actor Ryan O’Neal (“Love Story,” “What’s Up Doc,” “Paper Moon,” “The Main Event”)  

1949 – Oscar, Emmy, Tony and Golden Globe-winning actress Jessica Lange (“King Kong,” “Tootsie,” “Frances,” “Country,” “Grey Gardens,” “American Horror Story,” “Feud”)  

1951 – Grammy-winning R&B singer-songwriter Luther Vandross (“Never Too Much,” “Here and Now,” “Any Love,” “Power of Love/Love Power,” “Dance with My Father”) (d. 2005)

1964 – Actor Andy Serkis, who played Gollum in “The Lord of the Rings” movie trilogy and Caesar in “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” and “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes”. He also had roles in “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”,”Star Wars: The Last Jedi”, “Avengers: Age of Ultron” and “Black Panther”

1964 – Actor Crispin Glover, best known for playing George McFly in the “Back to the Future” movie franchise 

1972 – Model-turned-actress and reality TV star Carmen Electra (“Baywatch,” “Meet the Spartans,” “Epic Movie,” “Cheaper by the Dozen 2”)

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Absolutely The Best!

The Chiffons

Yellow Submarine

Starring John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, and directed by George Dunning

Images of America: Fenway Park

David Hickey, Raymond Sinibaldi and Kerry Keene

Why Busing Failed: Race, Media, and the National Resistance to School Desegregation

Matthew F. Delmont

Hamp: The Legendary Decca Recordings

Lionel Hampton

Star Trek (The Original TV Series)

Starring William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley and George Takei, and produced by Desilu Productions

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On This Day: April 21

Musical Milestones

1956 – Elvis Presley scores his first No. 1 single with “Heartbreak Hotel.” The song remains on top of Billboard’s Best Sellers in Stores chart for eight weeks.

1962 – Elvis returns to the top of the singles chart with “Good Luck Charm.”

1973 – Tony Orlando and Dawn begin a four-week run on top of the singles chart with “Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round The Old Oak Tree,” which becomes the hottest-selling single of the year.  

1984 – Phil Collins has the most popular single on the radio with the title track from the movie “Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now).” The song spends three weeks at No. 1. 

1990 – Paul McCartney sets a new world record for the largest concert audience for a solo artist. A total of 184,000 people attend the final show of his tour at the Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

1990 – “Nothing Compares 2 U” lands Sinéad O’Connor on top of the Billboard Hot 100 for four weeks. The song was written by Prince.

2008 – Soul singer-songwriter Al Wilson (“The Snake,” “Show and Tell”) dies of kidney failure at the age of 68. 

2016 – Prince dies of an accidental opioid overdose at his Paisley Park compound in suburban Minneapolis. He is just 57 years old, and news of his death sends shockwaves among millions of his fans around the world.

History Highlights

1836 – Republic of Texas forces (the Texians), led by General Sam Houston, defeat Mexican troops under the command of General Antonio López de Santa Anna during the Battle of San Jacinto, waged just south of present-day Houston. It takes only 18 minutes for the Texians to seize control of the Mexican camp.

1918 – Manfred von Richthofen, the notorious German World War I flying ace known as “The Red Baron,” is taken out in a hail of Allied gunfire.

1952 – The first Secretary’s Day is celebrated in the U.S. Decades later, it is renamed Administrative Professionals’ Day. 

1962 – The Seattle World’s Fair (Century 21 Exposition) opens, featuring the iconic Space Needle as its centerpiece. The event is the nation’s first World’s Fair since World War II. 

1965 – The New York World’s Fair opens for its second and final season.

1980 – Twenty-six-year-old Rosie Ruiz is crowned the winner in the women’s division of the 84th Boston Marathon only to be stripped of the honor days later when officials determine that she cheated by entering the race a mile from the finish line.

Celebrity Birthdays

1816 – Novelist and poet Charlotte Brontë, the eldest of the three sisters who survived into adulthood and whose novels, including “Jane Eyre,” became classics of English literature (d. 1855)

1828 – Naturalist-conservationist John Muir (d. 1914)

1915 – Oscar-winning actor Anthony Quinn (“Viva Zapata!,” “Lust for Life,” “Zorba the Greek”)  (d. 2001)

1926 – Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II, one of the longest reigning monarchs in British history

1935 – Actor-comedian Charles Grodin (“The Heartbreak Kid,” “Beethoven,” “Dave,” “Midnight Run”) 

1947 – Punk rock pioneer Iggy Pop, born James Newell Osterberg, Jr.

1951 – Professional boxer-turned-actor Tony Danza (“Taxi,” “Who’s The Boss?”) 

1958 – Actress-model Andie MacDowell (“Sex, Lies, and Videotape,” “Groundhog Day,” “Four Weddings and a Funeral,” “Michael,” “Multiplicity,” “Cedar Cove”) 

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Elv1s 30 #1 Hits

Elvis Presley

The Very Best of Prince

Prince

Eighteen Minutes: The Battle of San Jacinto and the Texas Independence Campaign

Stephen L. Moore

Images of Modern America: The 1964-1965 New York World's Fair

Bill Cotter and Bill Young

Jane Eyre

Charlotte Brontë

Zorba the Greek

Starring Anthony Quinn, Alan Bates and Irene Papas, and directed by Michael Cacoyannis

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On This Day: April 22

Musical Milestones

1967 – Nancy Sinatra and her father, Frank, are midway through a four-week ride atop the singles chart with “Somethin’ Stupid.”

1978 – John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd debut as The Blues Brothers on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live (SNL).” The duo go on to earn three Top 40 hits (“Soul Man,” “Rubber Biscuit” and “Gimme Some Lovin'”), a No. 1 pop album (“Briefcase Full of Blues”) and a piece of screen immortality with their 1980 film, “The Blues Brothers.”

1978 – The Bee Gees maintain a grip on the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Night Fever,” from the “Saturday Night Fever” movie soundtrack.

1989 – “Like a Prayer,” by Madonna, is No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and stays there for three weeks.

1995 – Montell Jordan dominates the singles chart with “This Is How We Do It.” The track has a lock on the top spot for seven weeks.

2000 – Santana featuring The Product G&B are midway through a 10-week  hold on the No. 1 spot on the singles chart with “Maria Maria”

History Highlights

1864 – By an act of Congress, the words “In God We Trust” are inscribed on all coins minted as U.S. currency beginning with the two-cent piece.

1969 – British yachtsman Sir Robin Knox-Johnston completes the first solo non-stop circumnavigation of the world. 

1970 – The modern environmental movement is born as millions across America observe the first Earth Day, an effort to increase public awareness of global environmental problems.

1976 – ABC announces that Barbara Walters will co-anchor “ABC Evening News” with Harry Reasoner that October. The move makes Walters the first woman co-anchor of a network evening news program as well as television’s highest paid journalist ($1 million a year).

1994 – 37th U.S. President Richard Nixon, who helped forge improved relations with China and the Soviet Union before resigning in 1974 amid the Watergate scandal, dies of a stroke at age 81.

Celebrity Birthdays

1906 – Actor Eddie Albert (“Roman Holiday,” “Green Acres,” “The Heartbreak Kid”) (d. 2005)

1922 – Jazz double-bassist Charles Mingus (d. 1979)

1923 – Producer-screenwriter Aaron Spelling (“The Mod Squad,” “The Rookies,” “Charlie’s Angels,” “Beverly Hills 90210,” “Melrose Place”) (d. 2006)

1926 – Actress Charlotte Rae, best known for her role as Mrs. Garrett on TV’s “Diff’rent Strokes” and “The Facts of Life” (d. 2018) 

1936 – Grammy-winning country music singer Glen Campbell (“Wichita Lineman,” “Gentle on My Mind,” “Galveston,” “Rhinestone Cowboy”) (d. 2017)

1937 – Oscar-winning actor Jack Nicholson (“Five Easy Pieces,” “Chinatown,” “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” “The Shining,” “Terms of Endearment,” “A Few Good Men,” “As Good as It Gets,” “The Departed,” “Batman”)  

1950 – Rock singer-songwriter Peter Frampton (“Show Me the Way”, “Baby, I Love Your Way”, “Do You Feel Like We Do,” “I’m in You”)

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Briefcase Full of Blues

The Blues Brothers

Supernatural

Santana

The Genius of Earth Day: How a 1970 Teach-In Unexpectedly Made the First Green Generation

Adam Rome

Audition: A Memoir

Barbara Walters

Glen Campbell: Greatest Hits

Glen Campbell

Five Easy Pieces

Starring Jack Nicholson, Fannie Flagg and Karen Black, and directed by Bob Rafelson

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