Gladys Knight and The Pips

On This Day September 4

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On this Day June 6

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Celebrity Birthdays

1939 – Singer-songwriter Gary U.S. Bonds, born Gary Anderson (“New Orleans,” “Quarter to Three”)

1947 – Actor Robert Englund, best known for playing serial killer Freddy Krueger in the “A Nightmare on Elm Street” movies

1954 – Tony-winning actor-playwright Harvey Fierstein (“Torch Song Trilogy,” “Independence Day,” “Mrs. Doubtfire”)

1955 – Stand-up comedian, actress and singer Sandra Bernhard

1959 – Stand-up comedian and “Saturday Night Live” (“SNL”) alumnus Colin Quinn

1967 – Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actor Paul Giamatti (“Private Parts,” “American Splendor,” “Sideways,” “Cinderella Man,” “John Adams,” “Love & Mercy,” “Billions”)

History Highlights

1933 – The first drive-in movie theater opens in Camden, New Jersey. Admission is 25 cents per car.

1934 – President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs a law establishing the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

1944 – Allied forces cross the English Channel and land on the beaches of Normandy, France, beginning the liberation of Western Europe from Nazi control during World War II. D-Day becomes the largest naval, air and land operation in history. More than 150,000 troops, representing the United States, United Kingdom and Canada, come ashore in five designated landing zones.

1971 – The curtain comes down on a Sunday night institution, as “The Ed Sullivan Show” ends a 23-year run on CBS. The last pop act to appear on the program was Gladys Knight & the Pips.

1971 – The Soviets achieve another first in space with the launch of Soyuz-11. The vessel is the first ship to dock with an orbiting space station.

Musical Milestones

1962 – The Beatles, with Pete Best on drums, gather at EMI Studios in London for an audition that doubles as their first recording session. They record “Besame Mucho,” “Love Me Do,” “PS I Love You” and “Ask Me Why.”

1964 – The Dixie Cups give The Beatles’ “Love Me Do” the boot and begin three weeks on top of the Billboard singles chart with “Chapel of Love.”

1965 – The Rolling Stones release “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” in the U.S. (the track is released in the U.K. that August), and within four weeks, it becomes a No. 1 hit.

1972 – David Bowie releases what many still consider the definitive rock ‘n’ roll concept album: “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars.”

1982 – The “Peace Sunday, We Have A Dream” antinuclear concert draws 85,000 people to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California for a musical lineup featuring Tom Petty, Crosby Stills & Nash, Bob Dylan, Stevie Wonder, Stevie Nicks, Jackson Browne and more. Dylan and Joan Baez perform duets of “Blowin’ In The Wind” and “With God On Our Side.”

1987 – Kim Wilde’s cover of The Supremes’ 1966 hit, “You Keep Me Hangin’ On,” is the most popular single.

1992 – Hip hop duo Kris Kross maintain a hold on the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Jump.”

2006 – Grammy-winning singer-songwriter and keyboard player Billy Preston dies of kidney failure at age 59. Over the years, Preston collaborated with some of the greatest names in the music industry, including The Beatles and The Rolling Stones.

On this Day May 28

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Celebrity Birthdays

1892 – Football, baseball and Olympics star Jim Thorpe (d. 1953)

1908 – James Bond author Ian Fleming (d. 1964)

1944 – Former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, attorney for U.S. President Donald Trump

1944 – Grammy-winning R&B vocalist Gladys Knight, who, along with The Pips, had many Top 40 hits, including “I Heard It Through the Grapevine,” “Midnight Train to Georgia” and “Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me”

1945 – Grammy-winning singer-songwriter John Fogerty, former lead singer of Creedence Clearwater Revival (“Susie Q,” “Proud Mary,” “Have You Ever Seen the Rain?” “Centerfield,” “The Old Man Down the Road”)

1968 – Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Kylie Minogue (“Can’t Get You Out of My Head,” “Slow,” “2 Hearts”)

1977 – Conservative TV personality Elisabeth Hasselbeck, formerly a co-host of TV’s “The View”

1983 – YouTube star and prank video artist Roman Atwood

History Highlights

1892 – The Sierra Club is founded by naturalist John Muir. The organization promotes environmental conservation through public policy and has helped with the development of national parks across the United States.

1957 – National League owners vote unanimously to allow the New York Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers to move to San Francisco and Los Angeles, respectively.

1961 – Several internationally read newspapers publish British lawyer Peter Benenson’s article “The Forgotten Prisoners”, launching the Appeal for Amnesty campaign which calls for the release of all those imprisoned around the world for peacefully expressing their beliefs.

1987 – In a daring attempt to ease Cold War tensions, 19-year-old West German pilot Mathias Rust evades Soviet air defenses and lands a private plane in Moscow’s Red Square. He serves 18 months in a Soviet prison for his stunt.

1998 – Comedic actor Phil Hartman, best known for his work on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” (“SNL”) and “NewsRadio” and FOX’s “The Simpsons,” is shot to death in his sleep by his wife, Brynn, in a murder-suicide that horrifies fans and colleagues. Phil Hartman was just 49.

2014 – Author and poet Maya Angelou, who published more than 30 books, including 1969’s “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” — a best-selling memoir about the racism and abuse she experienced growing up — dies at the age of 86.

Musical Milestones

1966 – Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Percy Sledge begins two weeks with the most popular single on U.S. radio: “When a Man Loves a Woman.”

1966 – Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass reach No.1 on the Billboard album chart with “What Now My Love,” setting a new record with four albums in the Top 10. The other three are “South of the Border,” “Going Places” and “Whipped Cream and Other Delights.”

1976 – The Allman Brothers Band, considered one of the principal architects of Southern rock, breaks up.

1977 – Stevie Wonder is in the midst of a three-week domination of the pop chart with “Sir Duke,” from his Grammy-winning “Songs in the Key of Life” album.

1983 – Irene Cara commandeers the Billboard Hot 100 with “Flashdance…What a Feeling,” from the “Flashdance” movie soundtrack. The single remains at No. 1 for six weeks and goes on to capture an Academy Award for Best Original Song, a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song and a Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.

1983 – More than 750,000 fans attend the four-day US Festival ’83’ which opens in California, featuring The Clash, U2, David Bowie, The Pretenders, Van Halen, Stray Cats, Men At Work, Judas Priest, Stevie Nicks and Ozzy Osbourne.

1994 – “I Swear,” by All-4-One,” is the No. 1 single.

2005 – Gwen Stefani begins her fourth and final week as a chart-topping artist with “Hollaback Girl.”