Beyonce – Time Rewind

On This Day October 4

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On This Day April 1

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Celebrity Birthdays

1929 – Actress Jane Powell (“A Date With Judy,” “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers”) (d. 2021)

1932 – Actress-singer Debbie Reynolds (“Singin’ in the Rain,” “The Unsinkable Molly Brown,” “Tammy and the Bachelor”) (d. 2016)

1939 – Golden Globe-winning actress Ali MacGraw (“Love Story,” “The Getaway,” “Convoy,” ” The Winds of War”)

1953 – Director Barry Sonnenfeld (“The Addams Family,” “Addams Family Values,” “Get Shorty,” the “Men in Black” trilogy)

1961 – Scottish singer Susan Boyle, who won international acclaim after performing “I Dreamed a Dream” from “Les Miserables” during a 2009 audition for “Britain’s Got Talent”

1973 – Emmy-winning MSNBC host, commentator and author Rachel Maddow

History Highlights

1582 – This date marks the first known celebration of April Fool’s Day, also known in some circles as All Fools’ Day. In 1700, English pranksters begin to popularize the annual tradition of April Fools’ Day by playing practical jokes on one other.

1918 – Britain’s Royal Air Force (RAF) is founded through a merger of the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS). It takes its place beside the British navy and army as a separate military branch with its own ministry.

1946 – An undersea earthquake off the coast of Alaska triggers a massive tsunami that kills 159 people in Hawaii.

1963 – Two daytime dramas with a medical theme are launched by competing networks. ABC’s longest-running soap, “General Hospital,” premieres as the brainchild of the husband and wife writing team of Frank and Doris Hursley. And NBC broadcasts the first episode of “The Doctors,” which enjoys a nearly 30-year run until the network pulls the plug in 1982.

1970 – President Richard Nixon signs legislation banning cigarette commercials on radio and TV. The ban takes effect in January 1971. However, Big Tobacco soon realizes that the move would free funds to advertise in other media.

1972 – The first strike in Major League Baseball (MLB) history is triggered by the expiration of the league’s three-year pension agreement. The strike lasts 12 days and causes the cancellation of 86 games, throwing the season into flux.

1976 – Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne form Apple Computer, That July, they begin to sell the Apple I personal computer kits that were hand-built by Wozniak. Apple is incorporated in January 1977, but without Wayne, who sells his share of the company back to Jobs and Wozniak for $800.

Musical Milestones

1966 – The Troggs record “Wild Thing” at Regent Sound Studio in London. The track, recorded in one complete take (Take 2), climbs to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 that July and holds there for two weeks.

1972 – The band America gallops to the top of Billboard’s Hot 100 chart with “A Horse with No Name,” the single that gave us such unique lyrics as “the heat was hot” and “there ain’t no one for to give you no pain.”

1978 – The Bee Gees hold at No. 1 on the singles chart with “Night Fever.”

1984 – One day before his 45th birthday, Marvin Gaye — considered one of Motown’s renaissance men — is fatally shot by his father after a violent argument. Gaye’s biggest hits include “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You),” “I Heard It Through the Grapevine,” “Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology),” “What’s Going On,” “Let’s Get It On” and “Sexual Healing.”

1989 – “Eternal Flame,” by The Bangles, is the No. 1 single. The track, off the girl group’s “Everything” album, also goes on to reach No. 1 on pop charts in eight other countries, including Australia and the U.K.

1995 – With the release of “Me Against the World,” Tupac Shakur becomes the first male solo artist to have a No. 1 album on the Billboard chart while in prison. The album goes on to become a hip-hop classic.

2000 – “Say My Name,’ by Destiny’s Child featuring Beyoncé, begins its third and final week as a No. 1 single.

2006 – Sean Paul grabs the top spot on the singles chart for a week with “Temperature.”

On This Day March 4

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Celebrity Birthdays

1678 – Italian Baroque composer, virtuoso violinist, teacher and cleric Antonio Vivaldi (d. 1741)

1938 – Actress Paula Prentiss (“The Black Marble,” “The Stepford Wives,” “The Parallax View”)

1941 – Movie director Adrian Lyne (“Fatal Attraction,” “9½ Weeks,” “Flashdance,” “Indecent Proposal,” “Jacob’s Ladder,” “Unfaithful”)

1954 – Actress Catherine O’Hara (“SCTV,” “Beetlejuice,” the “Home Alone” movies, “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” “Waiting for Guffman,” “Best in Show”)

1958 – Emmy-winning actress Patricia Heaton, best known for playing Debra Barone in the sitcom “Everybody Loves Raymond”

1961 – Actor Steven Weber (“The Kennedys of Massachusetts,” “Wings,” “The Shining,” “Once and Again,” “NCIS: New Orleans”)

History Highlights

1925 – The second inauguration of U.S. President Calvin Coolidge is the first to be nationally broadcast. More than 20 radio stations carry the event to an estimated 23 million listeners, including many children whose school auditoriums were specially equipped with speakers.

1933 – During the height of the Great Depression, an estimated 150,000 spectators gather on the east grounds of the U.S. Capitol as Franklin D. Roosevelt is inaugurated as the 32nd U.S. president. FDR tells Americans, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

1933 – Newly inaugurated President Franklin D. Roosevelt appoints Frances Perkins Secretary of Labor, making her the first female member of the U.S. cabinet.

1960 – Actress Lucille Ball divorces her husband and collaborator, Desi Arnaz, after 20 tumultuous years of marriage. The breakup of the couple, stars of the hit sitcom “I Love Lucy” and owners of Desilu Studios, becomes one of the highest-profile divorces in American history at that time.

1974 – People magazine makes its debut on American newsstands, featuring actress Mia Farrow on the cover.

1989 – Time, Inc. and Warner Communications announce plans to merge into the world’s largest media and entertainment conglomerate.

1994 – Comedic actor John Candy (“Splash,” “Planes, Trains and Automobiles,” “Uncle Buck,” “Home Alone”) dies of a heart attack at 43 while filming a movie in Mexico.

2005 – Billionaire mogul Martha Stewart is released from a federal prison in West Virginia after serving five months and paying a $30,000 fine for lying and obstructing justice in a 2001 stock sale. Stewart serves five months of home confinement at her Bedford, New York estate and then faces two years probation.

Musical Milestones

1963 – The Beach Boys release “Surfin’ U.S.A.,” which climbs as high as No. 3 on the Billboard pop chart. The The song features Brian Wilson’s lyrics set to the music of Chuck Berry’s “Sweet Little Sixteen.”

1966 – During an interview with the British newspaper London Evening Standard, John Lennon says of The Beatles: “We’re more popular than Jesus now.” The remark sets off an international furor when reprinted a few months later in an American teen magazine, with some radio stations refusing to play Beatles records and others burning them.

1967 – “Beggin’,” the 33rd hit single for Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons, lands on the Billboard pop chart, eventually climbing to No. 16.

1967 – “Ruby Tuesday,” by The Rolling Stones, begins a week as the No. 1 single. Brian Jones plays recorder on the track while the double bass is played jointly by bassist Bill Wyman pressing the strings against the fingerboard and Keith Richards bowing the strings.

1978 – Andy Gibb sails to the top of the singles chart with “(Love Is) Thicker Than Water.” The song remains at No. 1 for two weeks.

1989 – Debbie Gibson starts a three-week run at No. 1 on the singles chart with “Lost in Your Eyes.”

1995 – Madonna is in the midst of a seven-week ride at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Take a Bow,” off her “Bedtime Stories” album.

2000 – Nashville-based country music band Lonestar claims the top spot on the pop chart with “Amazed.” The single holds at No. 1 for two weeks.

2006 – “Check on It,” by Beyoncé featuring Slim Thug, begins its fifth and final week as a No. 1 single.

On This Day February 18

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Celebrity Birthdays

1898 – Race car driver and Ferrari Motor founder Enzo Ferrari (d. 1988)

1931 – Nobel and Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Toni Morrison (“The Bluest Eye,” “Song of Solomon,” “Beloved”) (d. 2019)

1950 – Golden Globe-winning actress Cybill Shepherd (“The Last Picture Show,” “Taxi Driver,” “Moonlighting,” “Cybill”)

1954 – Golden Globe-winning actor John Travolta (“Welcome Back, Kotter,” “Saturday Night Fever,” “Grease,” “Pulp Fiction,” “Get Shorty,” “Broken Arrow,” “Face/Off,” “Hairspray”)

1964 – Actor-director Matt Dillon (“Rumble Fish,” “The Outsiders,” “The Flamingo Kid,” “Drugstore Cowboy,” “In & Out,” “There’s Something About Mary,” “Crash,” “You, Me and Dupree”)

1965 – Grammy-winning hip-hop pioneer Dr. Dre, born Andre Young

1968 – Actress Molly Ringwald (“Sixteen Candles,” “The Breakfast Club,” “Pretty in Pink,” “Something to Live for: The Alison Gertz Story,” “The Stand”)

History Highlights

1885 – Writing under the pen name Mark Twain, author Samuel Clemens publishes “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.” At the surface of Twain’s novel is the journey of a boy named Huck and his friend Jim, a runaway slave, who travel down the Mississippi River on a raft. However, at its core, the literary classic is a satirical look at racism, religion and other social attitudes of the time. It remains one of the most beloved, and most banned, books in American history.

1929 – The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announces the winners of the first Academy Awards to the press. Emil Jannings is the first Best Actor and Janet Gaynor the first Best Actress. Three months later, a black-tie banquet honoring the winners is held at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, with 270 guests paying $5 apiece to attend.

1930 – Peering through a powerful telescope at the Lowell Observatory in Arizona, astronomer Clyde Tombaugh discovers Pluto, formerly the ninth planet in our solar system.

1967 – J. Robert Oppenheimer, known as the “father of the atomic bomb,” dies of throat cancer at the age of 62.

1970 – Five members of The Chicago Seven are found guilty of conspiring to incite riots at the 1968 Democratic National Convention.

1977 – The space shuttle Enterprise test vehicle is carried on its maiden “flight,” sitting on top of a Boeing 747 to determine how well the two vehicles flew together.

Musical Milestones

1956 – The Platters serve up the No. 1 single in America: “The Great Pretender.”

1956 – “Rock Around the Clock,” by Bill Haley and His Comets, becomes the first rock and roll LP to make the U.S. pop album charts.

1959 – At the Atlantic Records studio in New York, Ray Charles records “What’d I Say,” considered one of the greatest soul/R&B records ever produced. The track paves the way for Charles to break into mainstream pop music.

1967 – “Kind of a Drag,” by The Buckinghams, begins two weeks on top of the Billboard Hot 100.

1982 – Cher makes her Broadway acting debut in “Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean.”

1995 – TLC marks its fourth and final week on top of the pop chart with “Creep.”

2006 – “Check On It,” by Beyoncé featuring Bun B and Slim Thug, is in the midst of a five-week domination of the Billboard Hot 100.

On This Day February 4

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Celebrity Birthdays

1913 – Civil rights crusader Rosa Parks, who helped pave the way for desegregation in the U.S. when she refused to give up her seat aboard a city bus in Montgomery, Alabama (d. 2005)

1936 – Standup comedian David Brenner (d. 2014)

1940 – Horror film director-screenwriter George A. Romero, the master behind the cult classic “Night of the Living Dead” as well as “Dawn of the Dead,” “Land of the Dead” and “Creepshow” (d. 2017)

1948 – Rock And Roll Hall of Fame singer-songwriter Alice Cooper, considered “The Godfather of Shock Rock” (“Schools Out,” “Eighteen”, “Poison”, “No More Mr Nice Guy”)

1962 – Country music singer-songwriter Clint Black (“A Better Man,” “Nothing’s News,” “Walking Away,” “Nobody’s Home,” “Killin’ Time”)

1973 – Retired professional boxer and Olympic gold medalist Oscar De La Hoya

1977 – Singer-songwriter Gavin DeGraw (“I Don’t Want to Be,” “Chariot,” “Follow Through”)

History Highlights

1789 – George Washington — commander of the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War — is unanimously elected the first president of the United States, garnering all 69 electoral votes. No other American president since has come into office with a universal mandate to lead.

1922 – The Ford Motor Company acquires the bankrupt Lincoln Motor Company for $8 million, giving Ford a luxury division to compete against Cadillac, Packard and Auburn.

1938 – Disney releases “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” the first full-length animated feature (83 minutes in length) in color and with sound, and a pioneering classic tale in film history.

1945 – President Franklin Roosevelt, Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin meet at the Yalta Conference to discuss the Allied war effort against Germany and Japan.

1957 – Smith Corona Manufacturing of New York begins selling portable electric typewriters. The first machine, known as the model 5TE, weighs 19 pounds.

1974 – The radical group Symbionese Liberation Army kidnaps Patty Hearst, the 19-year-old daughter of newspaper publisher Randolph Hearst, from her California apartment.

2004 – Nineteen-year-old Harvard University sophomore Mark Zuckerberg launches “TheFacebook.com,” an online directory designed to connect fellow Harvard students with one another. By the next day, more than a thousand people had registered. The service sparks a social media revolution, with billions now using Facebook each day.

Musical Milestones

1967 – The Monkees maintain their grip on the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 with “I’m a Believer.” In all, the track remains a chart-topper for seven weeks.

1968 – The Beatles record “Across The Universe” at London’s Abbey Road Studios with backup vocals from two teenage fans who were among the groupies (“Apple scruffs”) that routinely gathered outside the facility on recording days.

1975 – Known as “The King of the Jukebox,” American jazz, blues and rhythm & blues musician, songwriter and bandleader Louis Jordan dies at the age of 66.

1977 – Fleetwood Mac’s 11th studio album, “Rumours,” is released, introducing fans to the Top 10 hits “Go Your Own Way,” “Dreams,” “Don’t Stop,” and “You Make Loving Fun.”

1978 – The Bee Gees have a No. 1 single with “Stayin’ Alive,” while another single of theirs, “Night Fever,” debuts on the pop chart, later staking its own claim to the top spot for eight weeks. Both songs are from the Grammy-winning “Saturday Night Fever” soundtrack.

1982 – “Centerfold,” by the J. Geils Band, reaches No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and remains there for six weeks.

1983 – Heart failure caused by chronic anorexia nervosa claims the life of 32-year-old singer Karen Carpenter of the acclaimed 1970s brother-sister pop duet, Carpenters.

1984 – Culture Club begins a three-week run at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Karma Chameleon,” the band’s fifth Top 10 hit.

1995 – “Creep,” by TLC, is midway through a four-week run at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. It is the trio’s first chart-topper.

2006 – “Check On It,” by Beyoncé, featuring Bun B and Slim Thug, kicks off five weeks on top of the singles chart.

On This Day February 3

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Celebrity Birthdays

1874 – Author-poet and art collector Gertrude Stein (“How to Write,” “The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas”) (d. 1946)

1894 – Artist Norman Rockwell, famous for his “Saturday Evening Post” cover illustrations of everyday American life (d. 1978)

1918 – Entertainer and “Rat Pack” member Joey Bishop (d. 2007)

1940 – Legendary Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Fran Tarkenton, who spent 18 seasons with the Minnesota Vikings and New York Giants

1943 – Emmy and Tony-winning actress Blythe Danner (“Butterflies are Free,” “Will & Grace,” “Meet the Parents”)

1950 – Actress Morgan Fairchild (“Dallas,” “Falcon Crest,” “Murphy Brown”)

1956 – Tony-winning actor-comedian Nathan Lane (“The Producers,” “Guys and Dolls,” “The Birdcage”)

History Highlights

1913 – The 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is ratified, authorizing the federal government to impose and collect a nationwide income tax.

1966 – The Soviets achieve the first controlled rocket-assisted landing on the moon with Luna 9. After touching down, the circular capsule opens like a flower and begins transmitting photographs and television images back to Earth.

1971 – New York City police officer Frank Serpico is shot during a Brooklyn drug bust and survives to expose corruption in the NYPD. Many believe the shooting was fellow officers trying to kill him. His experience is immortalized in the 1973 movie “Serpico,” starring Al Pacino.

1994 – President Bill Clinton lifts the 19-year-old U.S. trade embargo on Vietnam that was first imposed during the Vietnam War when North Vietnamese forces captured Saigon in South Vietnam.

2002 – The New England Patriots shock football fans everywhere by defeating the heavily favored St. Louis Rams, 20-17, to clinch their first Super Bowl victory. Super Bowl XXXVI was played at the Superdome in New Orleans before a crowd of nearly 73,000 people.

2005 – Alberto Gonzales wins U.S. Senate confirmation as the nation’s first Hispanic attorney general despite protests over his record on torture.

Musical Milestones

1959 – Rock and Roll greats Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. ‘The Big Bopper’ Richardson are killed when their single-engine plane crashes in an Iowa cornfield during their Winter Dance Party tour. The tragedy is remembered as “The Day the Music Died.”

1968 – One-hit wonder The Lemon Pipers shake their way up to No. 1 on the singles chart with “Green Tambourine.”

1973 – Elton John scores his first No. 1 single in the U.S. with “Crocodile Rock,” from his “Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only the Piano Player” album. The song holds the top spot for three weeks.

1979 – The Blues Brothers (Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi) land on top of the Billboard album chart with “Briefcase Full of Blues.” The album contains their cover of “Soul Man,” which reaches No. 14 on the singles chart, and “Rubber Biscuit,” which climbs as high as No. 37.

1990 – Michael Bolton begins his third and final week atop the Billboard Hot 100 with “How Am I Supposed to Live Without You.”

2007 – Beyoncé rules the singles chart with “Irreplaceable,” which holds at No. 1 for 10 weeks.

On This Day January 20

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Celebrity Birthdays

1896 – Oscar-winning comedian-actor-singer and writer George Burns, born Nathan Birnbaum (“The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show,” “The Sunshine Boys,” “Oh, God!”) (d. 1996)

1920 – Actor DeForest Kelley, who played Dr. “Bones” McCoy in the “Star Trek” TV and movie series (d. 1999)

1920 – Italian film director Federico Fellini (La strada,” “Le notti di Cabiria,” “8 1/2,” “Amarcord”) (d. 1993)

1930 – Former astronaut Buzz Aldrin, the second man to set foot on the moon

1946 – Director David Lynch (“Eraserhead,” “The Elephant Man,” “Blue Velvet,” “Twin Peaks,” “Wild at Heart,” “Lost Highway,” “Mulholland Drive”)

1952 – Singer-songwriter and guitarist Paul Stanley, born Stanley Bert Eisen, of the rock band Kiss

1966 – Actor Rainn Wilson, best known for his role as Dwight Schrute in the TV comedy, “The Office.”

History Highlights

1841 – During the First Opium War, China cedes the island of Hong Kong to the British with the signing of the Chuenpi Convention — an agreement seeking an end to the first Anglo-Chinese conflict.

1937 – Franklin D. Roosevelt is inaugurated as U.S. president for the second time. His first inauguration, in 1933, was held in March, but the 20th Amendment, passed later that year, made January 20 the official inauguration date for all future presidents.

1961 – President John F. Kennedy is sworn into office and delivers his inaugural address outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. The speech concludes with his now-famous line: “Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.”

1980 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter calls for the 1980 Summer Olympics to be moved from the planned host city, Moscow, or canceled altogether if the Soviet Union fails to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan within a month.

1981 – Minutes after Ronald Reagan’s inauguration as the 40th U.S. president, 52 American captives held at the American embassy in Teheran, Iran, are released, ending the 444-day Iran Hostage Crisis.

1984 – Hungarian-born Olympic gold medal swimmer and actor Johnny Weissmuller, who played Tarzan in the movies, dies at the age of 79.

1993 – Actress, fashion icon and philanthropist Audrey Hepburn (“Roman Holiday,” “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” “My Fair Lady”) dies of colon cancer at the age of 63. Hepburn remains among just a handful of performers who have won Oscar, Emmy, Grammy and Tony Awards.

2009 – On a freezing day in Washington, D.C., Barack Obama is sworn in as the 44th U.S. president. The son of a black father from Kenya and a white mother from Kansas, Obama was the first African-American to win election to the nation’s highest office.

Musical Milestones

1964 – The British Invasion is on as Capitol Records releases “Meet the Beatles!,” the band’s second album in the U.S.

1965 – American disc jockey Alan Freed is 43 years old when he dies from cirrhosis brought on by alcoholism. Freed, a 1986 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee, is credited with coining the term “rock ‘n’ roll.” His career was destroyed by the payola scandal that shook up the American broadcasting industry in the early 1960s.

1968 – “Judy in Disguise (with Glasses),” a parody of The Beatles’ “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,” puts John Fred and his Playboy Band at No. 1 on the singles chart for two weeks.

1971 – “What’s Going On,” by Marvin Gaye, is released and introduces fans to a different, more personal side of the Motown star in this anthem about social injustice. The song spends five weeks on top of the Hot Soul Singles chart before crossing over to the Billboard Hot 100, where it climbs to No. 2.

1973 – Carly Simon begins her third and final week on top of the singles chart with “You’re So Vain.” After years of speculation, Simon eventually admits that the song refers to actor Warren Beatty.

1988 – Mick Jagger presides as The Beatles are inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Paul McCartney decides not to attend, issuing a statement citing ongoing business differences among The Beatles.

1990 – Michael Bolton rules the Billboard Hot 100 with “How Am I Supposed to Live Without You.” The single holds the No. 1 spot for three weeks.

1996 – The Mariah Carey-Boyz II Men collaboration, “One Sweet Day,” is midway through a 16-week ride on top of the Billboard singles chart –the longest-running No. 1 song in the chart’s history at that time.

2007 – “Irreplaceable,” Beyoncé, is in its sixth week on top of the Billboard Hot 100. The track remains there for another four weeks and clinches a Record of the Year Grammy nomination.

On This Day January 13

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Celebrity Birthdays

1919 – Actor Robert Stack (“The Untouchables,” “Unsolved Mysteries”) (d. 2013)

1931 – Actor and “The Match Game” panelist Charles Nelson Reilly (d. 2007)

1961 – Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus, best known for her role as Elaine in the NBC sitcom “Seinfeld”

1964 – Actress Penelope Ann Miller (“Biloxi Blues,” “Kindergarten Cop”)

1966 – Actor and race car driver Patrick Dempsey, best known as “McDreamy” from the hit TV medical drama “Grey’s Anatomy”

1977 – Actor and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Orlando Bloom (“The Lord of the Rings” trilogy, the “Pirates of the Caribbean” series, “Troy”)

History Highlights

1910 – Radio pioneer and electron tube inventor Lee de Forest demonstrates the world’s first radio broadcast to the public in New York City. He successfully broadcasts a live performance of Enrico Caruso from The Metropolitan Opera.

1942 – Henry Ford patents a plastic-bodied automobile that is 30 percent lighter than ordinary cars.

1966 – Robert C. Weaver becomes the first African American U.S. cabinet member, as President Lyndon Johnson appoints him secretary of the newly created Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the agency that develops and implements national housing policy and enforces fair housing laws.

1982 – Air Florida Flight 90 — a Boeing 737 jet — takes off from Washington National Airport and suddenly plummets into the 14th Street Bridge, plowing through cars and sliding into the icy waters of the Potomac River. The crash kills 78 people, including four motorists.

1982 – At nearly the same time as the Air Florida disaster, on the other side of D.C., a Metro Rail commuter train derails, killing three people.

1999 – After 13 seasons, NBA superstar Michael Jordan of the Chicago Bulls announces his retirement from professional basketball, for the second time, in front of a crowd at Chicago’s United Center.

Musical Milestones

1962 – Chubby Checker returns to the top of the singles chart with “The Twist.” The song first reached No. 1 in September 1960, becoming the only record in American chart history to top the singles survey on two separate occasions.

1968 – Country music legend Johnny Cash goes to California’s Folsom Prison to bring his unique style of music to inmates. The concert is recorded and later released as a live album, propelling the Man in Black into musical stardom.

1969 – Elvis Presley begins a 10-day recording session that would produce his final No. 1 single, “Suspicious Minds.” The tracks are recorded at American Sound Studios in Memphis, marking Presley’s first hometown recording since his Sun Records days in 1956.

1973 – Carly Simon starts a five-week run at No. 1 on the album chart with “No Secrets,” which contains her smash single “You’re So Vain.”

1996 – The Mariah Carey/Boyz II Men collaboration “One Sweet Day” is mid-way through an unprecedented 16-week ride atop the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

2001 – Destiny’s Child, featuring Beyonce, has the No. 1 single with “Independent Women, Part I.”

On This Day December 30

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Celebrity Birthdays

1935 – Baseball Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax

1942 – Singer-songwriter Michael Nesmith of The Monkees

1945 – Singer-songwriter and The Monkees band member Davy Jones (d. 2012)

1946 – Singer-songwriter Patti Smith, known as the “Godmother of Punk”

1953 – Emmy-winning journalist and TV host Meredith Vieira (“The View,” “The Today Show,” “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire”)

1957 – Former TV journalist and NBC “Today” co-host Matt Lauer, who was fired from his network job in November 2017 for inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace

1975 – Pro golf champion Tiger Woods, born Eldrick Tont Woods

1984 – NBA superstar LeBron James, who played for the Miami Heat and Cleveland Cavaliers before signing with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2018

1986 – Pop star Ellie Goulding (“Starry Eyed,” “Your Song,” “Anything Could Happen,” “On My Mind,” “Love Me like You Do”)

History Highlights

1922 – The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) is established as a new communist state following the era of the Russian Empire. It becomes the first country in the world to be based on Marxist socialism.

1936 – Known as “the strike heard round the world,” auto workers at General Motors’ Fisher Body Plant No. 1 in Flint, Michigan stage one of the first sit-down strikes in U.S. history. The workers were seeking safer assembly line conditions, better pay and recognition of the United Auto Workers (UAW) as the sole bargaining agent for GM employees. The strike lasts 44 days.

1940 – California opens its first freeway — the Arroyo Seco Parkway, one of only three “federal scenic byways” in California, and designated by the American Society of Civil Engineers as a historical engineering landmark.

1963 – The game show “Let’s Make a Deal” debuts, hosted by Monty Hall.

1972 – President Richard Nixon orders a halt to the heavy bombing of North Vietnam.

Musical Milestones

1967 – The Beatles say “hello” to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 with “Hello, Goodbye,” the band’s 15th chart topper.

1968 – Peter Tork quits the pop-rock band The Monkees.

1978 – Chic rules the singles chart with disco anthem “Le Freak.”

1978 – Rock and Roll supergroup Emerson, Lake & Palmer (ELP) officially announce their break-up.

1989 – “Another Day in Paradise,” Phil Collins’ song about homelessness, becomes the last No. 1 single of the 80s and first No. 1 single of the 90s. It goes on to capture Record of the Year honors at the 33rd Annual Grammy Awards.

1995 – Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men are in the middle of a 16-week ride atop the Billboard Hot 100 with “One Sweet Day” — the longest-running No. 1 song in the chart’s history at that time.

1999 – George Harrison suffers stab wounds to the chest and a punctured lung when a 33-year-old man breaks into his home in Oxfordshire, England and attacks the former Beatle and his wife, Olivia.

2000 – Destiny’s Child (featuring Beyoncé) is in the midst of an 11-week ride at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Independent Women Part 1,” from the “Charlie’s Angels” movie soundtrack.

On This Day December 23

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Celebrity Birthdays

1943 – Emmy-winning actor Harry Shearer, the voice talent behind several characters on “The Simpsons”

1946 – Emmy-winning actress Susan Lucci, best known as Erica Kane on the ABC soap “All My Children”

1949 – Guitarist and singer-songwriter Adrian Belew

1964 – Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder

1971 – Actor and 1980s teen idol Corey Haim (“Lucas,” “Silver Bullet,” “Murphy’s Romance,” “The Lost Boys,” “License to Drive,” “Dream a Little Dream”) (d. 2010)

History Highlights

1783 – Following the signing of the Treaty of Paris, General George Washington resigns as commander in chief of the Continental Army and retires to his home at Mount Vernon, Virginia.

1888 – Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh, suffering from severe depression, uses a razor to sever part of his left ear. He later documents the event in a painting titled “Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear.” Over years, however, a variety of new theories have emerged about this incident.

1913 – U.S. President Woodrow Wilson signs the Federal Reserve Act into law establishing the Federal Reserve (The Fed), which continues to serve as the nation’s central banking system today and is responsible for executing monetary policy.

1947 – John Bardeen, Walter Brattain and William Shockley with Bell Laboratories unveil their invention of the transistor, which revolutionizes communications and electronics.

1968 – The crew and captain of the American intelligence gathering ship USS Pueblo are released after 11 months imprisonment by the North Korean government.

1986 – Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager complete the first non-stop flight around the world without refueling. They set a new world record of 216 hours of continuous flying in the experimental aircraft Voyager.

1993 – The movie “Philadelphia,” starring Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington, and directed by Jonathan Demme, opens in U.S. theaters. It is the first major Hollywood film to address the HIV/AIDS crisis and garners Hanks a Best Actor Oscar and Bruce Springsteen a Best Original Song Oscar for his track, “Streets of Philadelphia.”

Musical Milestones

1957 – “You Send Me” sends Sam Cooke to the top of the Billboard Top 100 (what the singles chart was called before becoming the Hot 100) for two weeks.

1967 – “Magical Mystery Tour,” by The Beatles, hits the U.S. album chart, introducing fans to such classic tracks as “Hello, Goodbye,” “All You Need is Love” and “Penny Lane.”

1967 – The Monkees begin their fourth and final week as chart-toppers with “Daydream Believer,” their last No. 1 hit in the U.S.

1977 – Folk singer-songwriter Cat Stevens, known for hits like “Wild World,” “Moonshadow,” “Peace Train” and “Morning Has Broken,” formally changes his name to Yusef Islam.

1989 – “Another Day in Paradise” by Phil Collins reaches the top of the Billboard Hot 100 and holds there for four weeks, becoming the last No. 1 single of the 80s and first of the 90s. The track also goes on to capture a Record of the Year Grammy Award.

1995 – The Mariah Carey-Boyz II Men duet “One Sweet Day” begins its fourth week on top of the Billboard Hot 100. It remains a chart-topper for 16 weeks.

2000 – Destiny’s Child holds at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Independent Women Part I,” from the soundtrack to the 2000 “Charlie’s Angels” movie starring Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore and Luci Liu.

2006 – “Irreplaceable,” by Beyoncé, is in the second of its 10-week ride atop the singles chart, making it the final hit of 2006 and the first of 2007.