On This Day: April 26

On This Day April 26

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Celebrity Birthdays
Celebrity Birthdays

1933 – Emmy, Tony and Golden Globe-winning comedian-actress Carol Burnett

1936 – Guitarist and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Duane Eddy

1958 – Actor Giancarlo Esposito (“Do The Right Thing,” “School Days,” “The Usual Suspects,” “Malcolm X,” “Breaking Bad”) 

1963 – Martial artist-actor Jet Li (“The War Lords,” “Lethal Weapon 4,” “Romeo Must Die,” “Kiss of the Dragon,” “The Forbidden Kingdom”)

1965 – Actor-comedian Kevin James (“Everybody Loves Raymond,” “The King of Queens,” “Paul Blart: Mall Cop,” “Grown Ups,” “Zookeeper,” “Pixels”) 

1980 – Actor Channing Tatum (“Coach Carter,” “21 Jump Street,” “22 Jump Street,” “She’s the Man,” “The Dilemma,” “White House Down,” “Foxcatcher,” “The Hateful Eight,” “Hail, Caesar!”, “Smallfoot”)

History Highlights
History Highlights

1865 – Presidential assassin John Wilkes Booth is killed by Union soldiers that track him to a Virginia farm 12 days after Booth fatally shot Abraham Lincoln at Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C.

1954 – More than 1.8 million American children (“Polio Pioneers”) participate in the Salk polio vaccine field trials. Dr. Jonas Salk developed the vaccine in an effort to wipe out polio — an infectious disease occurring primarily in children that can result in paralysis. A year later, researchers declare that the vaccine is safe and effective, and it becomes a standard part of childhood immunizations across the U.S.

1984 – President Ronald Reagan visits China — the first such mission by a U.S. president since the historic Nixon trip in 1972. 

1986 – An explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine sets off fires that release deadly radioactive material into the air, becoming the world’s worst nuclear disaster. 

1986 – Almost a decade after meeting at a celebrity tennis tournament,  TV news reporter Maria Shriver weds movie actor and former bodybuilder Arnold Schwarzenegger. The marriage lasts 25 years.

1989 – An American entertainment icon, comedian Lucille Ball (“I Love Lucy”) dies at the age of 78.

1994 – South Africa’s 18 million blacks vote in multi-party elections for the first time ever and anti-Apartheid crusader Nelson Mandela is elected president.

Musical Milestones
Musical Milestones

1969 – The Edwin Hawkins Singers hit the singles chart with “Oh Happy Day,” which eventually soars to No. 4 and million-selling status. It becomes the first gospel track to cross over to the pop chart. 

1975 – B.J. Thomas owns the hottest single in America with “(Hey Won’t You Play), Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song.” 

1980 – Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” begins its 15th and final week on top of the Billboard album chart. It becomes the best-selling album of 1980.

1986 – “Kiss,” by Prince and The Revolution, holds at No. 1 on the singles chart for a second week. The song clinches Prince a Grammy for Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group.

1988 – A jury in White Plains, New York finds Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger not guilty of copyright infringement. Reggae singer Patrick Alley had sued Jagger for $7 million over the song “Just Another Night,” claiming the chorus’s lyrics were similar to his version. Jagger provided jurors with a rare glimpse into his work habits by playing homemade and studio tapes demonstrating the development of his song.

1997 – “Can’t Nobody Hold Me Down,” by Puff Daddy featuring Mase, wraps up a six-week run as a Billboard chart-topper.

2008 – Leona Lewis kicks off a week at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with “Bleeding Love.”

2013 – George Jones, known as “the greatest voice in country music,”  dies in Nashville at the age of 81. 

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On this Day: August 6

On this Day August 6

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Celebrity Birthdays
Celebrity Birthdays

1911 – Actress-comedienne Lucille Ball, who was immortalized in the popular 1950s TV sitcom “I Love Lucy” (d. 1989)

1917 – Actor Robert Mitchum (“The Story of G.I. Joe,” “Crossfire,” “Out of the Past,”, “The Night of the Hunter,” “The Enemy Below,” “Cape Fear,” “El Dorado”) (d. 1997)

1928 – American pop artist and cultural icon Andy Warhol (d. 1987)

1962 – Actress Michelle Yeoh (“Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” “Tomorrow Never Dies”)

1970 – Director M. Night Shyamalan (“The Sixth Sense,” “Unbreakable,” “Signs,” “Lady in the Water.” “The Last Airbender,” “After Earth”)

1972 – Singer Geri Halliwell, a.k.a. “Ginger Spice” of the British pop group Spice Girls

History Highlights
History Highlights

1890 – The first execution by electric chair takes place at Auburn Prison in New York with William Kemmler facing the death penalty for the hatchet murder of his girlfriend, Tillie Ziegler. 

1945 – An American B-29 bomber, the Enola Gay, drops the world’s first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, leveling most of the city under a massive mushroom cloud. Some 70,000 people are killed in a matter of seconds.

1959 – Chevrolet unveils plans to produce the Corvair, a revolutionary rear-engine compact car that goes on to ignite controversy and debate over its safety. 

1965 – President Lyndon Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act, guaranteeing African Americans the right to vote. The bill makes it illegal to impose restrictions on federal, state and local elections that were designed to deny the vote to blacks.

2009 – John Hughes, the influential writer-director who captured the humor and angst of the teen experience, 1980s style, in hit movies such as “Sixteen Candles,” “The Breakfast Club” and “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” dies at 59.

Musical Milestones
Musical Milestones

1960 – Chubby Checker appears on TV’s “American Bandstand” and performs “The Twist,” which goes on to become a national sensation and No. 1 single. 

1973 – A traffic accident leaves Motown sensation Stevie Wonder in a coma for four days and permanently robs him of his sense of smell. Amazingly, he’s back in the recording studio eight weeks later. 

1981 – Stevie Nicks releases her first solo album, “Bella Donna,” featuring “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around,” a duet with Tom Petty that reaches No. 3 on the Billboard singles chart. 

1982 – “Pink Floyd The Wall” opens in movie theaters, based on the British rock band’s 1979 album of the same name.

1988 – Almost a year to the day after debuting at No. 182 on the Billboard  album chart, “Appetite for Destruction,” by Guns N’ Roses, reaches No. 1, fueled by the band’s tour and widespread airplay for the hit singles “Welcome to the Jungle,” “Paradise City” and “Sweet Child o’ Mine.”

1994 – Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories begins a three-week run at No. 1 on the pop chart with “Stay (I Missed You).”

2004 – After years of cocaine use, funk legend Rick James is found dead of a heart attack at his Hollywood home at the age of 56. James was best known for his 1981 smash, “Super Freak.” 

2005 – “We Belong Together,” by Mariah Carey, is midway through a 10-week run on top of the Billboard Hot 100.

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