On this Day: May 17

On this Day May 17

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Celebrity Birthdays
Celebrity Birthdays

1936 – Actor Dennis Hopper (“Easy Rider,” “Blue Velvet,” “Speed,” “Waterworld”) (d. 2010)

1955 – Actor-director Bill Paxton (“Apollo 13,” “Twister,” “Titanic,” “Big Love,” “Hatfields & McCoys”) (d. 2017)

1956 – Retired Olympic boxing champion and Boxing Hall of Famer Sugar Ray Leonard

1956 – Actor and TV host Bob Saget (“Full House,” “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” “How I Met Your Mother,” “Fuller House”) (d. 2022)

1960 – “American Idol” creator Simon Fuller

1961 – Grammy-winning Irish vocalist Enya, born Eithne Pádraigín Ní Bhraonáin (“Orinoco Flow,” “Caribbean Blue”)

1962 – Peabody-winning comedian and former “Late Late Show” and “Celebrity Name Game” host Craig Ferguson

1965 – Nine Inch Nails founder-turned-Oscar and Golden Globe-winning film composer Trent Reznor, whose soundtrack credits include “Natural Born Killers” and “The Social Network”

History Highlights
History Highlights

1769 – George Washington brings a series of resolutions before the Virginia House of Burgesses protesting the British policy of “taxation without representation.”

1792 – Two dozen merchants and brokers get together to establish what is now the New York Stock Exchange. They begin by meeting under a buttonwood tree on Wall Street and eventually rent a room in a nearby building.

1875 – The first running of the Kentucky Derby takes place at Churchill Downs in Louisville. Before a crowd of some 10,000 spectators, jockey Oliver Lewis rides Aristides to victory in a time of 2:37.75.

1954 – In a major civil rights victory, the U.S. Supreme Court rules unanimously in the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case that racial segregation in public schools is unconstitutional.

1973 – Watergate hearings open in the U.S. Senate and are broadcast on national television.

2004 – Marcia Kadish, 56, and Tanya McCloskey, 52, marry at Cambridge City Hall in Massachusetts, becoming the first legally married same-sex partners in the United States. Over the course of the day, 77 other same-sex couples tie the knot across the state. 

Musical Milestones
Musical Milestones

1969 – “Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In,” by The 5th Dimension, marks its sixth and final week as a No. 1 single. The recording goes on to win both Record of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Group Grammy Awards in 1970.

1975 – “He Don’t Love You (Like I Love You),” by Tony Orlando & Dawn, enters its third and final week as the hottest single in the U.S.

1980 – “Call Me,” by Blondie, is in the middle of a six-week run at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

1986 – “The Greatest Love of All,” by Whitney Houston, begins three weeks as the most popular single.

1997 – The Notorious B.I.G.’s “Hypnotize” wraps up three weeks as a Billboard Hot 100 chart-topper.

2003 – Sean Paul grabs the top spot on the pop chart with his reggae-infused “Get Busy.”

2012 –  Five-time Grammy winner Donna Summer, who rose to fame during the 1970s and early 80s with disco anthems like “Love to Love You Baby,” “I Feel Love,” and “Hot Stuff,” loses her battle with lung cancer at the age of 63.

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On this Day: May 3

On this Day May 3

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Celebrity Birthdays
Celebrity Birthdays

1469 – Italian philosopher and writer Niccolo Machiavelli (d. 1527)

1903 – Oscar, Grammy and Golden Globe-winning singer and actor Bing Crosby (“White Christmas,” “Going My Way,” “High Society”) (d. 1977)

1906 – Oscar-winning actress Mary Astor (“Beau Brummel,” “The Great Lie,” “The Maltese Falcon”) (d. 1987)

1919 – Grammy-winning folk singer-songwriter and activist Pete Seeger (d. 2014)

1921 – Boxing legend Sugar Ray Robinson (d. 1989)

1932 –  Actor, film historian, television host and author Robert Osborne, best known for more than 20 years as the marquee host of the Turner Classic Movies (TCM) cable channel (d. 2017) 

1933 – “The Godfather of Soul,” Grammy-winning singer James Brown (“Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag,” “I Got You (I Feel Good)” (d. 2006)

1934 – Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Frankie Valli, born Francesco Stephen Castelluccio, lead singer of The Four Seasons (“Big Girls Don’t Cry,” “Sherry,” “Grease”)

1951 – Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Christopher Cross (“Sailing,” “Ride Like the Wind,” “Arthur’s Theme-Best That You Can Do”)

1975 – Actress Christina Hendricks, best known for her role as Joan Harris in the “Mad Men” TV series

1975 – Actor and tap dancer Dulé Hill (“She’s All That,” “The West Wing,” “Psych”)

History Highlights
History Highlights

1937 – Margaret Mitchell’s “Gone With the Wind” captures the Pulitzer Prize for fiction and becomes one of the best-selling novels of all time.

1948 – The “CBS Evening News” premieres as a 15-minute telecast anchored by Douglas Edwards. He is succeeded in 1962 by Walter Cronkite and the show is expanded to 30 minutes. Subsequent anchors have included Dan Rather, Bob Schieffer, Katie Couric and Scott Pelley.

1952 – The Kentucky Derby is televised for the first time, and the winner of the 78th Run for the Roses is Hill Gail.

1971 – National Public Radio (NPR) presents its first broadcast, “All Things Considered,” hosted by Robert Conley.

1973 – Chicago’s Sears Tower (now Willis Tower) is topped out as the world’s tallest building. It loses that distinction in 1997 when the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur are completed.

1980 – Thirteen-year-old Cari Lightner of Fair Oaks, California, is killed by a drunk driver while walking to a church carnival. Her tragic death compels her mother, Candy Lightner, to found Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), a non-profit organization committed to raising awareness about driving while intoxicated (DWI) and to promote tough legislation against the crime.

1986 – Fifty-four-year-old Bill Shoemaker, riding 18/1 shot Ferdinand, becomes the oldest jockey ever to win the Kentucky Derby. The victory becomes one of Shoemaker’s 8,833 wins — a record that stands until 1999, when broken by Laffit Pincay, Jr. 

Musical Milestones
Musical Milestones

1969 – The 5th Dimension own the top spot on the singles chart with “Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In (The Flesh Failures).” The medley was written for the 1967 musical “Hair” and goes on to win both Record of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Group Grammy Awards in 1970.

1975 – Tony Orlando and Dawn start a three-week run at No.1 on the singles chart with “He Don’t Love You, (Like I Love You),” the group’s third chart-topper.

1976 –  Paul McCartney & Wings kick off the “Wings Over America” tour at the Tarrant County Convention Hall in Fort Worth, Texas. It is McCartney’s first U.S. concert appearance since The Beatles’ farewell show at Candlestick Park in 1966. 

1980 – “Call Me,” by Blondie, is midway through a six-week domination of the Billboard Hot 100. The song is from the soundtrack to “American Gigolo,” starring Richard Gere.

1980 – Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band begin a six-week run at No. 1 on the Billboard album chart with “Against The Wind.”

1986 – Robert Palmer has a No. 1 single with “Addicted to Love.” The music video features Palmer singing in front of a band of beautiful women dressed and made up to look alike as they “play” their instruments. It becomes one of the most iconic videos of the 1980s.

1997 – “Hypnotize,” by The Notorious B.I.G., begins three weeks as a Billboard No. 1. However, the hip-hop legend isn’t alive to enjoy the success. He was killed in a Los Angeles drive-by shooting two months earlier. 

2008 – “Lollipop,” by Lil Wayne featuring Static Major, negins a week at No. 1 on the singles chart.

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