Huey Lewis and the News

On This Day March 14

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On This Day September 27

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Celebrity Birthdays

1920 – Actor William Conrad (“Cannon,” “Jake and the Fatman”) (d. 1994)

1933 – Actor Greg Morris, best known as electronics expert Barney Collier in the TV spy series “Mission: Impossible” (d. 1996)

1934 – Actor Wilford Brimley (“The China Syndrome,” “Cocoon,” “The Firm”)

1943 – Musician Randy Bachman of Bachman-Turner Overdrive (BTO)

1947 – Grammy-winning rock singer-actor Meat Loaf, born Marvin Lee Aday, best known for his “Bat Out of Hell” album series.

1958 – Teen idol Shaun Cassidy (“Da Do Ron Ron,” “The Hardy Boys Mysteries”)

1972 – Oscar-winning actress Gwyneth Paltrow (“Seven,” “Emma,” “Great Expectations,” “Shakespeare in Love,” the “Iron Man” and “The Avengers” movies)

1982 – Grammy-winning rap artist Lil Wayne, born Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr. (“A Milli” and “Lollipop”)

1984 – Pop-punk singer-songwriter Avril Lavigne (“Complicated,” “Sk8er Boi”)

History Highlights

1779 – The Continental Congress appoints John Adams to travel to France to negotiate treaties of peace and commerce with Great Britain during the Revolutionary War.

1938 – U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt writes to German Chancellor Adolf Hitler about the threat of war in Europe. The German chancellor had been threatening to invade the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia and, in the letter, Roosevelt reiterates the need to find a peaceful resolution.

1954 – The “Tonight” show premieres on NBC with comedian-pianist Steve Allen hosting through 1957 before handing off to Jack Paar and later Johnny Carson, who hosted through 1992. Subsequent hosts have been Jay Leno, Conan O’Brien and, currently, Jimmy Fallon.

1964 – The Warren Commission Report on the JFK assassination is released. It concludes there was no conspiracy and that gunman Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in the presidential shooting on November 12, 1963.

1973 – Two Soviet cosmonauts blast off aboard Soyuz 12 donning pressurized suits which were developed after the Soyuz 11 crew was asphyxiated while re-entering Earth’s atmosphere.

Musical Milestones

1964 – The Beach Boys make their TV debut on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” performing “I Get Around” and “Wendy.”

1975 – “I’m Sorry” lands atop the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the final No. 1 single of John Denver’s career.

1983 – “A Chorus Line” achieves the status of longest-running Broadway musical to date.

1986 – “Stuck With You,” by Huey Lewis and the News, lands on top of the Hot 100 chart and sticks for three weeks.

1992 – “End of the Road,” by Boyz II Men, is mid-way through a 13-week reign over the Billboard singles chart.

1994 – The soundtrack to the Quentin Tarantino cult classic “Pulp Fiction,” starring John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson and Uma Thurman, is released. It consists of rock and roll, pop, surf and soul music along with snippets of dialogue from the movie.

2003 – “Shake Ya Tailfeather,” by Nelly featuring P. Diddy and Murphy Lee, is in its fourth and final week as a No. 1 single. It wins the Grammy for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group at the 2004 Grammy Awards.

2011 – Tony Bennett becomes the oldest artist to top the Billboard album chart when the 85-year-old’s “Duets II” reaches No. 1. Featuring collaborations with Amy Winehouse, Lady Gaga, Aretha Franklin, Queen Latifah, Michael Buble and other star vocalists, the album is also Bennett’s first chart-topper in a six-decade career.

On This Day September 20

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Celebrity Birthdays

1878 – Pulitzer Prize-winning author Upton Sinclair (“The Jungle,” “Boston,” “Dragon’s Teeth”) (d. 1968)

1929 – Actress-comedian Anne Meara, half of the famous [Jerry] Stiller-Meara comedy duo (d. 2015)

1934 – Oscar, Grammy and Golden Globe-winning actress Sophia Loren, born Sofia Villani Scicolone (“Two Women,” “Marriage Italian Style,” “A Countess from Hong Kong,” “Sunflower,” “More Than a Miracle”)

1948 – Game of Thrones author George R. R. Martin

1956 – Actor Gary Cole (“Fatal Vision,” “Midnight Caller,” “American Gothic,” “The Brady Bunch Movie” and sequel, “Office Space,” “One Hour Photo,” “Kim Possible,” “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby,” “The West Wing,” “Veep”)

1967 – Actress Kristen Johnston (“3rd Rock from the Sun,” “Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me,” “The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas,” “The Exes”)

History Highlights

1881 – Chester Arthur is inaugurated, becoming the third person to serve as United States president that year.

1963 – Addressing the United Nations General Assembly, President John F. Kennedy proposes that the United States and the Soviet Union collaborate on a mission to the moon, catching many from both countries off guard.

1973 – Tennis legend Billie Jean King wins the “Battle of the Sexes,” defeating Bobby Riggs in three straight sets during an internationally broadcast match at the Houston Astrodome.

1977 – A spin-off of “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” premieres. It’s CBS’ hour-long dramatic series “Lou Grant,” starring Ed Asner as an LA newspaper editor.

1984 – Americans begin eavesdropping on the Huxtable family, as “The Cosby Show” debuts on NBC.

Musical Milestones

1969 – “Sugar, Sugar,” by The Archies, begins a four-week run on top of the pop chart and becomes Billboard’s No. 1 song of 1969. The track — part of the so-called “bubblegum pop” genre of the late 60s and early 70s — ran in the animated “The Archie Comedy Hour” on CBS Television.

1973 – A plane crash claims the life of 30-year-old singer-songwriter Jim Croce at the peak of his career. The accident occurs right before the release of his “I Got a Name” album, which spawns three posthumous hits including the title track.

1975 – David Bowie achieves fame with his first U.S. No. 1 single, “Fame,” a song co-written by John Lennon. However, the track only manages to get as high as No. 17 on the U.K. singles chart.

1986 – “Stuck With You,” by Huey Lewis and the News, is No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and sticks there for three weeks.

1997 – Mariah Carey is in the middle of a three-week hold on the top spot on the singles chart with “Honey.”

On This Day September 15

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Celebrity Birthdays

1254 – Venetian merchant and explorer Marco Polo (d. 1324)

1890 – Mystery author and playwright Agatha Christie (d. 1976)

1907 – Actress Fay Wray, most remembered for playing the lead in the original “King Kong” movie (d. 2004)

1922 – Jackie Cooper, the first child actor to be nominated for an Oscar (“Our Gang,” “Little rascals,” “The Champ’) (d. 2011)

1946 – Oscar-winning screenwriter-director Oliver Stone (“Platoon,” “Scarface,” “Born on the Fourth of July,” “JFK,” “Natural Born Killers”)

1946 – Oscar-winning actor Tommy Lee Jones (“Coal Miner’s Daughter,” “Men in Black,” “The Fugitive,” “No Country for Old Men,” “Lincoln,” “Jason Bourne”)

1977 – Actor Tom Hardy (“Black Hawk Down,” “Star Trek: Nemesis,” “Inception,” “The Dark Knight Rises,” “Mad Max: Fury Road,” “Dunkirk,” “Venom”)

1984 – Prince Harry of Wales

History Highlights

1916 – The tank makes its debut as a battlefield weapon, attacking German troops as part of a British assault near Bois d’Elville, or Delville Wood, on the Western Front, during the Battle of the Somme in World War I.

1942 – Three Japanese torpedoes slam into the American aircraft carrier USS Wasp off Guadalcanal in the South Pacific during World War II. The attack claims the lives of nearly 200 of the ship’s 2,000 crewmen. The wreckage of the Wasp was discovered at the bottom of the Coral Sea in January 2019.

1954 – The iconic scene of Marilyn Monroe laughing as her skirt is blown up by the blast of air from a Manhattan subway vent is shot during the filming of “The Seven Year Itch,” directed by Billy Wilder.

1959 – Nikita Khrushchev becomes the first Soviet leader to visit the United States. During the next two weeks, Khrushchev’s visit dominates the headlines and provides some dramatic and humorous moments in the history of the Cold War.

1963 – Four young black girls are killed in a bombing at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, that investigators determine to be a racially motivated terrorist attack. The bombing, which shocks the nation, is Birmingham’s third in 11 days following a federal order to integrate the Alabama schools.

1978 – Muhammad Ali defeats Leon Spinks to win the world heavyweight boxing title for the third time in his career, becoming the first fighter ever to do so.

1981 – The Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously approves Sandra Day O’Connor as the first female Supreme Court justice.

1982 – Gannett publishes the first edition of a new national daily newspaper called USA Today.

2008 – The venerable Wall Street brokerage firm Lehman Brothers seeks Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, becoming the largest victim of the subprime mortgage crisis that would devastate financial markets and contribute to the biggest economic downturn since the Great Depression.

Musical Milestones

1956 – Elvis Presley is king of the pop chart with “Don’t Be Cruel,” which becomes his biggest-selling single and, in 2002, is inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. The B-side of the disc contains “Hound Dog,” which climbs to No. 2 a few weeks later.

1962 – “Sherry,” by The Four Seasons, is the No. 1 single and remains on top of the pop chart for five weeks.

1965 – Ford Motor Company is the first automaker to introduce factory-installed 8-track tape players in a car — the 1966 Mustang and Thunderbird — a year before 8-track equipment is available for home use.

1973 – Originally a Top-10 country hit for Tanya Tucker, Helen Reddy takes “Delta Dawn” to No. 1 on the Billboard pop chart.

1983 – Huey Lewis and the News release “Sports,” which goes on to top the Billboard album chart the following summer and spawns four Top-10 hits, including “The Heart of Rock & Roll” and “I Want a New Drug.”

1984 – Tina Turner’s “What’s Love Got to Do with It” begins its third and final week as a No. 1 single. The track goes on to capture Song of the Year and Record of the Year Grammys.

1990 – “Release Me,” by Wilson Phillips, claims the top spot on the singles chart and holds there for two weeks.

2001 – “I’m Real,” by Jennifer Lopez featuring Ja Rule, is No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.