On This Day: February 19

On This Day February 19

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Celebrity Birthdays
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
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
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.

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On This Day: December 17

On This Day December 17

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Celebrity Birthdays
Celebrity Birthdays

1939 – Singer-songwriter (The Temptations co-founder) Eddie Kendricks (d. 1992)

1945 – Actor Ernie Hudson (“Ghostbusters,” “The Crow,” “Oz”)

1945 – Political commentator and MSNBC host Chris Matthews

1946 – Actor Eugene Levy (“A Mighty Wind, “Best in Show,” “Waiting for Guffman.” “American Pie,” “Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonians,” “Cheaper by the Dozen 2”)

1953 – Actor Bill Pullman (“Spaceballs,” “While You Were Sleeping,” “Independence Day,” “The Sinner”)

1974 – Actor Giovanni Rabisi (“Saving Private Ryan,” “Public Enemies,” “The Boiler Room,” “Gone in 60 Seconds,” “Lost in Translation,” “Avatar,” “Ted”)

1975 – Actress-model Milla Jovovich (The Fifth Element,” “Dazed and Confused,” “The Three Musketeers,” the “Resident Evil” series)

1978 – International boxing champion and Philippines lawmaker Manny Pacquiao

History Highlights
History Highlights

1903 – The Wright Brothers make their first powered and heavier-than-air flight in the Wright Flyer at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina and revolutionize aviation.

1944 – The U.S. approves ending the internment of Japanese-American “evacuees” from the West coast.

1963 – Congress passes the Clean Air Act, a sweeping set of laws designed to protect the environment from air pollution. During the six decades since its enactment, the measure led to huge reductions in airborne lead, sulfur compounds, chlorofluorocarbons as well as concentrations of carbon monoxide, particulate matter and ozone.

1975 – A federal jury in California sentences Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme to life in prison for her attempted assassination of President Gerald Ford.

1979 – Hollywood stuntman Stan Barrett tears across the dry lakebed at California’s Edwards Air Force Base in a rocket- and missile-powered car, becoming the first person to travel faster than the speed of sound on land. However, he does not set an official record.

1989 – Doh! FOX TV’s Emmy-winning animated comedy series “The Simpsons,” created by Matt Groening, premieres. The first episode is called “Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire.” In 2018, the show surpasses the classic Western TV series “Gunsmoke’s” record 635 episodes to become America’s longest-running series.

Musical Milestones
Musical Milestones

1966 – Two weeks after its first trip to No. 1, “Winchester Cathedral,” by The New Vaudeville Band, returns to the top of the Billboard Hot 100.

1969 – Singer Tiny Tim (real name Herbert Butros Khaury) marries his sweetheart, “Miss Vickie” (real name Victoria Budinger), on NBC’s “The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.”

1977 – Debby Boone’s “You Light Up My Life” begins its tenth and final week at No. 1 on the pop chart.

1983 – The Paul McCartney-Michael Jackson duet, “Say Say Say,” is in the midst of a six-week domination of the Billboard Hot 100. It is the last No. 1 song of 1983 and first of 1984.

1995 – The Mariah Carey-Boys II Men collaboration, “One Sweet Day,” is into an unprecedented 16-week ride atop the Billboard singles chart.

2005 – Chris Brown’s debut single, “Run It!”, featuring Juelz Santana, rules the Billboard Hot 100.

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