Grammy Awards – Time Rewind

On This Day April 23

Click each item below to learn more!

On This Day March 12

Click each item below to learn more!

Celebrity Birthdays

1922 – Beat Generation poet and novelist Jack Kerouac (d. 1969)

1940 – Grammy-winning jazz vocalist Al Jarreau (“We’re in This Love Together,” “Moonlighting” TV theme) (d. 2017)

1946 – Oscar, Emmy, Golden Globe and Grammy-winning singer-actress Liza Minnelli (“Cabaret,” “Lucky Lady,” “New York, New York,” “Arthur”)

1947 – Former Massachusetts Governor and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney

1948 – Grammy-winning singer-songwriter James Taylor (“Fire and Rain,” “You’ve Got a Friend,” “Shower the People”)

History Highlights

1912 – Juliette Gordon Low gathers 18 girls in her hometown of Savannah, Georgia, to share what she had learned abroad about a new outdoor and educational program for youth. She names the group the “Girl Guides” with a mission to embrace, together, their individuality, strength and intellect, and the Girl Scout Movement is born. Today, that group is known as the Girl Scouts of the U.S.A.

1933 – One week after his inauguration, President Franklin D. Roosevelt addresses the nation by radio from the White House in the first of his Sunday evening “fireside chats.” With nearly all U.S. banks temporarily closed in response to mass withdrawals by a panicked public, Roosevelt calms fears and outlines his plan to restore confidence in the banking system.

1947 – President Harry S. Truman establishes the “Truman Doctrine” to aid in the containment of Communism.

1989 – Computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee submits his first proposal for an “information management system” that leads to development of the “World Wide Web” and ultimately revolutionizes global communication and human interaction.

1993 – One day after her Senate confirmation, Janet Reno is sworn in as the first female U.S. Attorney General.

Musical Milestones

1955 – Grammy-winning jazz saxophonist Charlie “Bird” Parker dies of a heart attack in New York City at the age of 34. Cause of death is determined to be lobar pneumonia and the devastating effects of long-term substance abuse.

1966 – “Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down),” by Cher, premieres on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming her first solo Top 5 hit. It ultimately reaches No. 2.

1969 – The Temptations become the first Motown recording act to win a Grammy Award — Best Rhythm & Blues Group Performance for “Cloud Nine, which reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100.

1988 – “Anything For You,” the first of three No. 1 hits for Gloria Estefan, debuts on the singles charts.

1988 – Rick Astley kicks off two weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Never Gonna Give You Up.” It is the first of Astley’s two career chart-toppers.

1994 – “The Sign,” by Swedish pop group Ace of Base, tops the Billboard Hot 100 and holds there for four weeks.

2007 – Amy Winehouse makes her American television debut on “The Late Show with David Letterman,” performing “Rehab.” The song goes on to win three Grammy Awards, including Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.

On This Day March 2

Click each item below to learn more!

Celebrity Birthdays

1793 – American statesman Sam Houston, best known for his role in bringing Texas into the United States as a constituent state (d. 1863)

1904 – Children’s book author and illustrator Theodor “Dr. Seuss” Geisel (“If I Ran the Zoo,” “Horton Hears a Who!” “If I Ran the Circus,” “The Cat in the Hat,” “How the Grinch Stole Christmas!” “Green Eggs and Ham”) (d. 1991)

1917 – Actor Desi Arnaz, best known for playing Ricky Ricardo in the sitcom “I Love Lucy,” which starred his wife, Lucille Ball (d. 1986)

1931 – Former Soviet President and Nobel laureate Mikhail Gorbachev

1942 – Rock-punk singer-songwriter-guitarist Lou Reed, originally of the 60s band Velvet Underground and solo artist (“Walk on the Wild Side”) (d. 2013)

1950 – Pop sensation Karen Carpenter of the 70s sibling duo Carpenters (d. 1983)

1962 – Bon Jovi frontman Jon Bon Jovi (“Dead or Alive”, “Livin’ On A Prayer”, “You Give Love A Bad Name”, “Blaze Of Glory”), born John Francis Bongiovi, Jr.

1968 – Actor Daniel Craig, best known for playing British spy James Bond

1980 – Actress-comedian Rebel Wilson (“Bridesmaids,” “Pitch Perfect,” “Pitch Perfect 2,” “How To Be Single”)

History Highlights

1836 – The Republic of Texas declares its independence from Mexico. A convention of American Texans meets at Washington-on-the-Brazos (today commonly referred to as “the birthplace of Texas”) and confirms Sam Houston as the commander in chief of all Texan forces.

1925 – State and federal highway officials create the United States’ first system of numbered interstate highways.

1933 – The horror film “King Kong,” about the giant ape that runs loose across Manhattan, opens at New York’s Radio City Music Hall. Screenings sell out for the first four days.

1949 – The first automatic street light is installed in New Milford, Connecticut.

1955 – Nine months before Rosa Parks’ famous act of civil disobedience, 15-year-old Claudette Colvin is arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a segregated Montgomery, Alabama bus. Colvin was traveling home from school when the driver ordered her and three fellow Black students to give up their row of seats to a White passenger.

1962 – Wilt Chamberlain sets the single-game scoring record in the NBA by scoring 100 points for the Philadelphia Warriors in a match against the New York Knicks.

1965 – “The Sound of Music,” starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer, based on the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical about the Von Trapp family, opens in New York. The movie goes on to capture five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director (Robert Wise).

1972 – NASA launches Pioneer 10 — the first spacecraft to pass through the asteroid belt and the first to make direct observations and capture close-up images of Jupiter, the largest planet in the solar system.

1978 – Three months after his death, grave robbers steal the corpse of silent film legend Charlie Chaplin from a Swiss cemetery and demand $600,000 for its safe return.

Musical Milestones

1963 – “Walk Like a Man,” by Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, starts a three-week run at No. 1 on the Billboard singles chart. It is the band’s third chart-topping hit.

1967 – The Beatles win three Grammys for records issued the previous year: Best Song for “Michelle,” Best Vocal Performance for “Eleanor Rigby” and Best Cover Artwork for the album design of “Revolver” by Klaus Voormann.

1974 – “Seasons in the Sun,” by one-hit wonder Terry Jacks, claims the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 and stays there for three weeks.

1974 – At the 16th Annual Grammy Awards, Stevie Wonder captures five honors: Album of the Year and Best Engineered Recording for “Innervisions,” Best R&B Song and Best Vocal for “Superstition,” and Pop Vocal Performance for “You Are The Sunshine Of My Life.”

1974 – Roberta Flack wins Record of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance Grammys for “Killing Me Softly with His Song.” The track also garners a Song of the Year Grammy for its writers, Norman Gimbel and Charles Fox.

1985 – “Careless Whisper,” by Wham! featuring George Michael, begins its third and final week at No. 1 on the singles chart.

1985 – Sheena Easton becomes the first musical artist ever to land Top 10 hits on the pop, R&B, country, dance and adult contemporary charts when “Sugar Walls,” written by Prince, reaches No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100. That is the song that sparked the Parental Advisory music labeling system (listen carefully to the lyrics and you’ll know why).

1999 – Acclaimed British pop vocalist Dusty Springield (“I Only Want To Be With You,” “You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me”) dies at the age of 59 following a five-year battle with breast cancer.

2002 – “Always on Time,” by Ja Rule featuring Ashanti, enters its second and final week as a No. 1 single.

On This Day February 25

Click each item below to learn more!

Celebrity Birthdays

1913 – Actor Jim Backus, best known for playing stranded millionaire Thurston Howell III in the comedy “Gilligan’s Island” and providing the voice for the cartoon character “Mr. Magoo” (d. 1989)

1935 – Retired syndicated TV talk show host Sally Jessy Raphael

1937 – Retired Emmy-winning CBS News anchor-commentator and author Bob Schieffer

1943 – Singer-songwriter-guitarist and former Beatle George Harrison (d. 2001)

1965 – Comedian Carrot Top, born Scott Thompson

1966 – Actress Tea Leoni, born Elizabeth Téa Pantaleoni (“Bad Boys,” “Deep Impact,” “The Family Man,” “Tower Heist,” “Madam Secretary”)

1971 – Actor Sean Aston (“The Goonies,” “Rudy,” the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy)

1976 – Actress Rashida Jones (“The Office,” “Parks and Recreation,” “The Social Network,” “Our Idiot Brother,” “Angie Tribeca”)

1997 – Actress Isabelle Fuhrman, best known for playing a demonic child in “Orphan” and Clove in “The Hunger Games”

History Highlights

1870 – Hiram Rhodes Revels, a Republican from Natchez, Mississippi, is sworn into the U.S. Senate, becoming the first African American ever to sit in Congress. He is assigned to serve on the Committee on Education and Labor and the Committee on the District of Columbia.

1916 – German troops seize Fort Douaumont, the most formidable of the forts guarding the walled city of Verdun, France, four days after launching their initial attack. The Battle of Verdun becomes the longest and bloodiest conflict of World War I, lasting 10 months and resulting in over 700,000 casualties.

1950 – The TV comedy “Your Show of Shows,” hosted by Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca, premieres, eventually helping launch the successful entertainment careers of Carl Reiner, Mel Brooks, Neil Simon, Woody Allen and others.

1964 – Twenty-two-year-old Cassius Clay (who later changes his name to Muhammad Ali) stuns odds-makers by dethroning world heavyweight boxing champ Sonny Liston in a seventh-round technical knockout in Miami Beach.

1984 – A massive explosion, triggered when gasoline from a ruptured pipeline ignited, levels a shantytown outside Sao Paulo, Brazil, killing at least 500 people — mostly young children. However, investigators speculate that the actual death toll may have been closer to 700 since many bodies were incinerated in the intense blaze.

1986 – President Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines flees the nation after 20 years of rule. Corazon Aquino becomes that nation’s first woman president.

2004 – “The Passion of the Christ,” Mel Gibson’s controversial film about the final hours of Jesus of Nazareth’s life, opens in U.S. theaters, starring Jim Caviezel as Jesus. It receives three Oscar nominations.

Musical Milestones

1956 – Elvis Presley scores his first hit when “I Forgot to Remember to Forget” reaches No. 1 on the Billboard Country & Western chart. The Beatles cover the song in 1964 on the BBC radio show “From Us to You,” with George Harrison on lead vocals.

1956 – “Lisbon Antigua,” by Nelson Riddle, begins a four-week run as a No. 1 single.

1967 – The No. 1 single on the Billboard Hot 100 for a second and final week belongs to The Buckinghams: “Kind of a Drag”

1978 – The Bee Gees are in their fourth and final week at No. 1 on the singles chart with “Stayin’ Alive,” from the “Saturday Night Fever” soundtrack.

1981 – Christopher Cross, then a little-known musician from Texas, cleans up at the Grammy Awards with five statuettes, including Best New Artist, Album of the Year (“Christopher Cross”) and Song of the Year (“Sailing”).

1984 – “Jump,” by Van Halen, kicks off five weeks atop the U.S. singles chart. The track, off the band’s “1984” album, is ranked among the “500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll” by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

1995 – Madonna begins seven weeks on top of the Billboard Hot 100 with “Take a Bow,” off her “Bedtime Stories” album. The single becomes her eleventh chart-topper. With it, Madonna replaces Carole King as the female who had written the most No. 1 songs.

On This Day February 21

Click each item below to learn more!

Celebrity Birthdays

1946 – Emmy and Tony-winning actress Tyne Daly (“Cagney & Lacey,” “Judging Amy,” “Gypsy”)

1946 – Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actor Alan Rickman (“Die Hard,” “Galaxy Quest,” the “Harry Potter” series, “Something the Lord Made,” “Eye in the Sky”) (d. 2016)

1955 – Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actor-producer Kelsey Grammer (“Cheers,” “Frasier,” “Toy Story 2,” “X-Men: Last Stand”)

1963 – Actor William Baldwin (“Flatliners,” “Backdraft,” “Sliver,” “The Squid and the Whale,” “Forgetting Sarah Marshall”)

1979 – Actress Jennifer Love Hewitt (“Party of Five,” “I Know What You Did Last Summer”)

1987 – Actress Ellen Page (“Juno,” “Whip It,” “Inception”, “X-Men” Series)

History Highlights

1885 – The newly completed Washington Monument is dedicated. The monument, built in the shape of an Egyptian obelisk, underwent two phases of construction: one private (1848-1854) and one public (1876-1884). When completed, it was the tallest structure in the world at 555 feet, 5-1/8 inches.

1925 – The New Yorker magazine publishes its first edition.

1948 – The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) is officially incorporated and goes on to become one of America’s most popular spectator sports as well as a multi-billion-dollar industry.

1965 – Malcolm X, an African American nationalist and religious leader, is assassinated by rival Black Muslims while addressing his Organization of Afro-American Unity in New York City.

1972 – Richard Nixon makes the first presidential visit to the People’s Republic of China in an effort to normalize Sino-American relations.

1995 – National Aviation Hall of Famer Steve Fossett lands safely in Leader, Saskatchewan, Canada, completing the first ever solo flight across the Pacific Ocean in a balloon. Sadly, Fossett is declared dead in 2008 after a plane he was piloting vanished over the Nevada desert in September 2007. He was 63.

Musical Milestones

1970 – Sly & the Family Stone begin the second and final week as chart-toppers with “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin).”

1976 – Paul Simon begins his third and final week on top of the Billboard Hot 100 with “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover.” The track, off his Grammy-winning “Still Crazy After All These Years” album, is the only No. 1 Simon has ever achieved as a solo act.

1976 – The Willie Nelson-Waylon Jennings album “Outlaws” becomes the first country music album to go platinum.

1981 – Dolly Parton rules the singles chart with the title track from the motion picture “9 to 5.” Parton co-stars in the movie with Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin and Dabney Coleman.

1987 – “Livin’ on a Prayer,” by Bon Jovi, is in the midst of a four-week run at No. 1 on the singles chart.

1990 – “Let the River Run,” by Carly Simon, wins Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture at the 32nd annual Grammy Awards. The track, which had previously been honored with an Oscar and Golden Globe for Best Original Song, is from the movie “Working Girl,” starring Melanie Griffith, Sigourney Weaver and Harrison Ford.

1998 – Usher wraps up two weeks as a Billboard chart-topper with “Nice & Slow.”

2004 – “Slow Jamz,” by Twista featuring Kanye West and Jamie Foxx, begins a week on top of the Billboard Hot 100.

On This Day February 19

Click each item below to learn more!

Celebrity Birthdays

1940 – “King of Motown,” Grammy-winning singer-songwriter and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Smokey Robinson (“You’ve Really Got a Hold on Me,” “I Second That Emotion,” “The Tears of a Clown,” “Cruisin’,” “Being With You”)

1952 – Novelist Amy Tan, best known for The New York Times bestseller, “The Joy Luck Club.”

1955 – Emmy-winning actor Jeff Daniels (“Something Wild,” “Dumb and Dumber,” “Fly Away Home,” “Pleasantville,” “The Newsroom,” “Steve Jobs,” “The Martian”)

1963 – Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Seal, born Olusegun Olumide Adeola Samuel (“Crazy,” “Prayer for the Dying,” “Kiss from a Rose”)

1966 – Actress Justine Bateman (“Family Ties,” “Satisfaction,” “Men Behaving Badly”)

1967 – Oscar and Golden Globe-winning actor-producer Benicio Del Toro (“The Usual Suspects,” Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,” “Traffic,” “Sin City,” “Che”, Guardians of the Galaxy franchise)

1993 – Actress and singer Victoria Justice (“Zoey 101,” “iCarly,” “Victorious,” “The Penguins of Madagascar,” “Eye Candy”)

History Highlights

1847 – The first rescuers reach surviving members of the Donner Party, a group of California-bound emigrants stranded by snow in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

1878 – Thomas Edison receives a patent for a pioneering invention—the phonograph, the first device to both record sound and play it back. U.S. Patent No. 200,521 is just one of the more than one thousand issued to Edison for his inventions.

1942 – Amid World War II hysteria following the Pearl Harbor attack, President Franklin Roosevelt signs Executive Order 9066, which sends 117,000 Japanese-Americans living along the Pacific coast to internment camps in remote areas around the U.S. A smaller number of Americans of Italian and German descent are also detained.

1963 – The publication of Betty Friedan’s “The Feminine Mystique” revitalizes America’s feminist movement.

2010 – Golf superstar Tiger Woods holds a televised news conference in which he apologizes for marital infidelities and admits to “selfish” and “foolish” behavior. Woods’ statement comes three months after he crashed his car near his Florida home in the middle of the night.

Musical Milestones

1966 – Lou Christie zaps his way to the top of the singles chart with “Lightnin’ Strikes.”

1972 – Harry Nilsson’s “Without You” begins a four-week run at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. The ballad, which was first recorded by Badfinger in 1970, garners Nilsson a Grammy for Best Male Pop Vocal.

1977 – “Blinded by the Light,” by Manfred Mann’s Earth Band, is the No. 1 single. The song was written and originally performed by Bruce Springsteen.

1977 – At the 19th Annual Grammy Awards, Stevie Wonder captures top honors for Best Album for “Songs in the Key of Life” as well as Best Male Pop Vocalist and Best Producer. Most music critics still consider the double-album Wonder’s finest work.

1983 – “Baby, Come to Me,” by Patti Austin and James Ingram, begins two weeks on top of the Billboard pop chart.

1994 – Céline Dion is in the midst of a four-week reign over the Billboard Hot 100 with “The Power of Love.”

2005 – “Let Me Love You,” by Mario, is the No. 1 single.

On This Day December 30

Click each item below to learn more!

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 November 9

Click each item below to learn more!

Celebrity Birthdays

1922 – Oscar and Golden Globe-nominated actress-singer-dancer Dorothy Dandridge, who performed regularly at the legendary Cotton Club and Apollo Theater in New York’s Harlem (d. 1965)

1934 – Astronomer-author Carl Sagan (“Cosmos: A Personal Voyage”) (d. 1996)

1935 – Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Gibson

1941 – Creedence Clearwater Revival (CCR) rhythm guitarist and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Tom Fogerty (d. 1990)

1951 – Actor-bodybuilder Lou Ferrigno, best known for playing the big green guy in TV’s “The Incredible Hulk”

1970 – Grammy-winning blues singer-songwriter Susan Tedeschi of Tedeschi Trucks Band

1972 – Actor Eric Dane, best known for playing Dr. Mark “McSteamy” Sloan on ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy”

History Highlights

1906 – On the first foreign trip by a U.S. president, Theodore Roosevelt departs for Panama from Chesapeake Bay aboard the recently commissioned battleship Louisiana.

1938 – Violent anti-Jewish demonstrations erupt across Germany, Austria and parts of Czechoslovakia. The Nazi-led attacks are part of what is called “Kristallnacht” (“Night of Broken Glass”) after the countless smashed windows of Jewish-owned establishments. Nearly a hundred Jews are killed, 7,500 Jewish businesses are damaged and hundreds of synagogues, homes, schools and graveyards are vandalized.

1965 – A massive power failure in the middle of the evening rush hour leaves New Yorkers and millions of others in the Northeast and parts of Canada in the dark, with many people stranded in subways and elevators for up to 13 hours.

1967 – The first edition of Rolling Stone magazine hits newsstands featuring John Lennon on the cover.

1982 – Sugar Ray Leonard retires from boxing, but climbs back into the ring two years later.

1989 – A Cold War icon begins to literally crumble as East German officials open the Berlin Wall and allow citizens to travel from East to West Berlin. Built in 1961 by East German officials allied with the Soviets, the wall was designed to prevent those in East Germany from going to the West and came to represent the ideological differences between the Eastern Bloc and western countries at the time.

Musical Milestones

1961 – Record store manager Brian Epstein goes to a Liverpool, England nightclub to hear and meet The Beatles. Two months later, he becomes their manager and helps secure their first record deal, setting them on a path to global fame and fortune. Sometimes referred to as “the fifth Beatle,” Epstein dies in 1967 from an apparent accidental drug overdose at the age of 32.

1969 – Simon and Garfunkel record what becomes one of their signature songs — “Bridge Over Troubled Water.” The track captures five awards at the 13th Annual Grammy Awards, including Record of the Year and Song of the Year.

1974 – Bachman Turner Overdrive’s “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet” tops the Billboard Hot 100.

1985 – Jan Hammer tops the singles chart with the theme from the TV series “Miami Vice,” which starred Don Johnson and Phillip Michael Thomas.

1991 – “Cream,” by Prince and the New Power Generation, kicks off two weeks as a No. 1 single.

1996 – Blackstreet featuring Dr. Dre rule the Billboard Hot 100 with “No Diggity,” which remains at No. 1 for four weeks.

On This Day September 3

Click each item below to learn more!

Celebrity Birthdays

1913 – Actor Alan Ladd (“This Gun For Hire,” “Shane”) (d. 1964)

1932 – Actress Eileen Brennan (“The Last Picture Show,” “Private Benjamin,” “Will & Grace”) (d. 2013)

1942 – Guitarist-singer-songwriter and Beach Boys founding member Al Jardine

1955 – Guitarist Steve Jones of The Sex Pistols

1965 – Actor Charlie Sheen (“Platoon,” “Wall Street,” “Young Guns,” “Eight Men Out,” “Major League,” “The Three Musketeers,” “Spin City,” “Two and a Half Men”)

1973 – Singer Jennifer Paige, best known for her 1998 hit “Crush”

1976 – Actress Ashley Jones (“The Young and the Restless,” “True Blood”)

1986 – Two-time Olympic Gold medal snowboarder Shaun White

History Highlights

1777 – The American flag flies in battle for the first time, during a Revolutionary War clash between a Patriot force of infantry and cavalry and British and Hessian troops at Cooch’s Bridge, Delaware. Known as the “Stars and Stripes,” it consists of 13 alternating red and white stripes and 13 white stars in a circular configuration over a blue field.

1783 – Representatives of the United States and Great Britain sign the Treaty of Paris, ending the American Revolution. The signing signified America’s status as a free nation, as Britain formally recognized the independence of its 13 former American colonies.

1939 – Britain and France declare war on Germany in response to Hitler’s invasion of Poland two days earlier.

1967 – Viewers bid farewell to the longest-running game show in the history of prime-time TV. “What’s My Line” was an entertainment staple on CBS for 18 seasons.

1976 – The unmanned U.S. spacecraft Viking 2 lands on Mars and takes the first pictures of the Red Planet’s surface.

1991 – Director Frank Capra, whose movies include the classic “You Can’t Take It With You,” “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” and “It’s a Wonderful Life,” dies at the age of 94.

2004 – A three-day hostage crisis at a Russian school comes to a bloody end after a gun battle erupts between the hostage-takers and Russian security forces. In the end, more than 300 people are killed, many of them children, while some 700 others are injured.

Musical Milestones

1955 – Bandleader Mitch Miller has a No. 1 hit with a song that was originally written in 1853: “The Yellow Rose of Texas.” It remains on top of the pop chart for six weeks and goes on to sell more than a million copies.

1966 – “Sunshine Superman,” by Donovan, soars to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 and remains there for a week.

1968 – Ringo Starr rejoins The Beatles two weeks after storming out on his bandmates in frustration. He returns to find his drum kit covered with flowers to welcome him back.

1977 – The Emotions are in the middle of four weeks atop the singles chart with “Best of My Love.”

1983 – Eurythmics top the singles chart for a week with “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This),” which establishes the British duo as a formidable force in the 80s new wave music scene. The accompanying video is considered a classic from the early MTV era.

1994 – “I’ll Make Love to You,” by Boyz II Men, is the No. 1 single. The song holds the top spot for 14 weeks.

2005 – Considered her “comeback song,” Mariah Carey’s “We Belong Together” holds the top spot on the Hot 100, goes on to win two Grammy Awards and is ultimately labeled “song of the decade” by Billboard magazine.

On This Day September 1

Click each item below to learn more!

Celebrity Birthdays

1922- Actress Yvonne DeCarlo (“The Ten Commandments,” “The Munsters”) (d. 2007)

1923- Former world heavyweight boxing champion Rocky Marciano, born Rocco Francis Marchegiano (d. 1969)

1933 – Country Music Hall of Famer and Rockabilly Hall of Famer Conway Twitty, born Harold Lloyd Jenkins (d. 1993)

1938 – Attorney and Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz

1939 – Tony, Emmy and Grammy-winning actress-comedian Lily Tomlin (“Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In,” “9 to 5,” “All of Me,” “The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe,” “Flirting with Disaster,” “Tea with Mussolini,” “I Heart Huckabees,” “A Prairie Home Companion”)

1946 – Singer-songwriter and Bee Gees founder Barry Gibb

1950 – TV psychologist Dr. Phil McGraw

1957 – Grammy-winning musician Gloria Estefan, born Gloria Fajardo, lead singer of the 80s band Miami Sound Machine

History Highlights

1807 – Former U.S. Vice President Aaron Burr is acquitted of plotting to annex parts of Louisiana and Spanish territory in Mexico to be used toward the establishment of an independent republic.

1964 – Pitcher Masanori Murakami becomes the first Japanese man to play in U.S. Major League Baseball. He pitches a scoreless 8th inning for the San Francisco Giants in a 4-1 loss to the New York Mets at Shea Stadium.

1972 – In what is billed as the “Match of the Century,” American chess grandmaster Bobby Fischer defeats Russian Boris Spassky during the World Chess Championship in Reykjavik, Iceland. Fischer, from Brooklyn, NY, became the first American to win the competition since its inception in 1866. The victory also marked the first win for a non-Russian in 24 years.

1983 – A Soviet fighter jet shoots down Korean Air Lines Flight 007 after the New York to Seoul flight enters Soviet airspace. All 269 aboard the 747 jumbo jet are killed, including U.S. Congressman Lawrence McDonald. President Ronald Reagan condemns the incident as a “massacre.”

1985 – An expedition led by oceanographer Dr. Robert Ballard locates the wreck of the RMS Titanic 73 years after the luxury liner sank to the bottom of the North Atlantic.

1989 – The first Lexus is sold, marking the beginning of Toyota’s new luxury line of automobiles.

1998 – A federal law takes effect requiring that all cars and light trucks sold in the United States have air bags installed in the front seats as standard equipment. Seat belts had been required since the 1960s, and some auto manufacturers had begun voluntarily providing air bags before 1998.

Musical Milestones

1962 – Tommy Roe is on top of the singles chart with “Sheila.” It’s the re-recorded version of a track first released in 1960 when Roe was part of a band called The Satins.

1973 – “Brother Louie,” by one-hit-wonder Stories, enters its second and final week as a No. 1 single. The track, about an interracial love affair, was originally recorded by British soul band Hot Chocolate, which just a few months earlier took it to No. 7 on the U.K. singles chart.

1977 – Blondie, featuring former Playboy Bunny Debbie Harry, signs its first major record company contract with Chrysalis Records.

1980 – Fleetwood Mac ends a nine-month world tour with a performance at the Hollywood Bowl. Lindsay Buckingham tells the audience, “This is our last show. For a long time.”

1984 – “What’s Love Got to Do with It,” by Queen of Rock and Roll Tina Turner, begins three weeks on top of the U.S. singles chart. The track, off Turner’s “Private Dancer” album, goes on to capture three Grammy Awards: Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. In 2012, it is inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

1990 – “If Wishes Came True,” by Sweet Sensation, bumps Mariah Carey’s “Vision of Love” to become the No. 1 single on the Billboard Hot 100.

2001 – Alicia Keys enters a third week atop the singles chart with her Grammy-winning debut single “Fallin’.