On this Day: August 14

On this Day August 14

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Celebrity Birthdays
Celebrity Birthdays

1940 – Singer Dash Crofts of the 70s pop duo Seals & Crofts

1941 – Singer-songwriter David Crosby, who co-founded the influential folk-rock groups the Byrds and Crosby, Stills & Nash (d. 2023)

1945 – Emmy and Grammy-winning comedian, actor, musician and “SNL” alum Steve Martin (“The Jerk,” “Three Amigos,” “Little Shop of Horrors,” “Roxanne,” “Planes, Trains and Automobiles,” “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels,” “Parenthood,” “Father of the Bride,” “It’s Complicated”)

1946 – Actress Susan St. James (“The Name of the Game,” “McMillan & Wife,” “Kate & Allie”)

1947 – Author Danielle Steel, who has written dozens of bestselling romantic novels

1959 – Oscar-winning actress Marcia Gay Harden (“Pollack,” “Mystic River,” “American Gun,” “The Mist,” “Into the Wild”)

1959 – NBA Hall of Famer-turned-entrepreneur Magic Johnson, born Earvin Johnson, Jr. 

1960 – Soprano singer Sarah Brightman, who played the role of Jemima in the musical “Cats” and Christine in “The Phantom of the Opera”

1961 – Actress Susan Olsen, best known for playing youngest child Cindy on TV’s “The Brady Bunch”

1966 – Oscar, Golden Globe and Emmy-winning actress Halle Berry (“Boomerang,” “Introducing Dorothy Dandridge,” “Monster’s Ball,” “The X-Men” movies, “Die Another Day,” “Cloud Atlas,” “The Call”)

1983 – Actress Mila Kunis (“That ’70s Show,” “Family Guy,” “Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” “Black Swan,” “Book of Eli,” “Friends with Benefits,” “Ted,” “Oz the Great and Powerful”)

History Highlights
History Highlights

1935 – President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Social Security Act into law. The measure guarantees an income for unemployed and retired Americans. 

1973 – The U.S. halts the bombing of Cambodia, ending 12 years of combat in Indochina. 

1974 – The U.S. Congress grants Americans the right to once again own gold, reversing a ban on private ownership imposed in the 1930s. 

1980 – President Jimmy Carter accepts the Democratic presidential nomination, but ultimately loses his re-election bid to Republican Ronald Reagan that November.

1988 – Race car driver and Ferrari auto founder Enzo Ferrari dies at the age of 90.

2003 – A massive power outage leaves 50 million people across the northeastern U.S. and parts of Canada in the dark for hours, some stranded in subways and elevators. The cause is determined to be tree branches interfering with power lines in Ohio, triggering an explosion that crippled an outdated power grid.

Musical Milestones
Musical Milestones

1965 – Sonny & Cher start a three-week run at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “I Got You Babe,” the first single off the pop duo’s debut album, “Look at Us.”

1971 – The Who release their fifth studio album, “Who’s next,” which contains the smash “Won’t Get Fooled Again.” The album peaks at No. 4. Decades later, many music critics regard it as the British rock band’s greatest work.

1976 – “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart,” by Elton John and Kiki Dee, holds the top spot on the pop chart, where it remains for four weeks.

1982 – Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger” is in the midst of a six-week domination of the singles chart. It is the theme from the movie “Rocky III.”

1985 – Michael Jackson outbids Yoko Ono and Paul McCartney to secure the ATV Music Publishing catalog. At $47.5 million, Jackson gains the rights to more than 250 songs written by McCartney and John Lennon as well as tracks by Bruce Springsteen, the Rolling Stones, Elvis Presley and others.

1993 – UB40’s cover of the 1961 Elvis Presley song “Can’t Help Falling in Love” is No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

1999 – Christina Aguilera rules the singles chart with “Genie in a Bottle.”

2004 – “Slow Motion,” by Juvenile featuring Soulja Slim, begins its second and final week on top of the pop chart.

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On this Day: August 13

On this Day August 13

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Celebrity Birthdays
Celebrity Birthdays

1860 – Markswoman and Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show star Annie Oakley (d. 1926)

1899 – Legendary director Alfred Hitchcock, nicknamed the “Master of Suspense” (“Psycho,” “Rear Window,” “North by Northwest,” “Vertigo,” “Dial M for Murder,” “The Birds”) (d. 1980)

1926 – Former Cuban President Fidel Castro (d. 2016)

1929 – Actor Pat Harrington, Jr., most recognized as building superintendent Dwayne Schneider on the CBS sitcom “One Day at a Time” (d. 2016)

1930 – Internationally acclaimed Hawaiian entertainer Don Ho, most remembered for his 1966 hit single “Tiny Bubbles” (d. 2007)

1949 – French high wire artist Philippe Petit, famous for his 1974 World Trade Center high-wire walk 

1951- Singer-songwriter Dan Fogelberg (“The Power of Gold,” “Longer”) (d. 2007)

1959 – Former “Partridge Family” co-star and talk show host Danny Bonaduce

1962 – Actor John Slattery, best known for his portrayal of Roger Sterling in the “Mad Men” TV series

History Highlights
History Highlights

1907 – The first taxicab hits the streets of New York City. 

1942 – Walt Disney’s classic animated film “Bambi” premieres at New York’s Radio City Music Hall. It becomes Disney’s fifth animated feature.

1948 – Responding to heightened Soviet pressure on western Berlin, U.S. and British planes airlift a record amount of supplies into sections of the city under American and British control. Pilots had to navigate weather so bad that the day became known as “Black Friday.”

1961 – Berlin, Germany becomes a divided city, as East German soldiers lay barbed wire and bricks to prevent residents of the Soviet-controlled eastern part of the city from fleeing to the democratically controlled western section. The Berlin Wall becomes one of the most iconic symbols of the Cold War.

1981 – President Ronald Reagan signs the Economic Recovery Tax Act (ERTA), an historic package of tax and budget reductions that sets the tone for his administration’s overall economic policy, often referred to as “Reaganomics.”

1995 – Former New York Yankees slugger and Baseball Hall of Famer Mickey Mantle dies of liver cancer at the age of 63.

Musical Milestones
Musical Milestones

1964 – The Supremes record “Baby Love,” which climbs to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 that fall, becoming the Motown sensation’s second chart-topper.

1965 – The Beatles touch down at New York’s Kennedy International Airport for their second North American tour, which includes their now-legendary performance before nearly 56,000 fans at Shea Stadium.

1966 – “Summer in the City,” by The Lovin’ Spoonful, begins three weeks as a No. 1 single. It is the first song ever produced that features a jack-hammer sound effect.

1975 – Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band begin their “Born to Run” tour at New York’s Bottom Line night club.

1977 – Bachman-Turner Overdrive (BTO), the band that gave us “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet” and “Let It Ride,” breaks up. 

1977 – Andy Gibb begins his third and final week on top of the Billboard Hot 100 with “I Just Want to Be Your Everything.”

1980 – Devo releases the new wave/synth-pop single “Whip It,” which climbs as high as No. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song continues to get heavy airplay today on 80s and new wave-format radio stations.

1982 – Soul singer Joe Tex dies at his home in Navasota, Texas, following a heart attack at the age of 49. He had nine Top 40 hits during his music career, including the 1972 No. 2 single. “I Gotcha.”

1983 – The Police are in the midst of an eight-week domination of the pop chart with “Every Breath You Take,” off their Grammy-winning “Synchronicity” album.

1994 – “Stay (I Missed You),” by Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories, is in the middle of a three-week run on top of the Billboard Hot 100. The single earns Loeb the distinction of being the first artist to have a No. 1 hit before even being signed to a record label.

2005 – Mariah Carey rules the pop chart with “We Belong Together,” off her “The Emancipation of Mimi” album.

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