On This Day: February 26

On This Day February 26

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Celebrity Birthdays
Celebrity Birthdays

1802 – French Romantic poet-author Victor Hugo (“Les Misérables,” “The Hunchback of Notre Dame”) (d. 1885)

1829 – Entrepreneur Levi Strauss, best known for his blue jeans manufacturing company (d. 1902)

1916 – Actor-comedian Jackie Gleason (“Cavalcade of Stars,” “The Jackie Gleason Show,” “The Honeymooners,” “The Hustler,” “Smokey and the Bandit,” “Nothing in Common”) (d. 1987)

1920 – Emmy-winning actor Tony Randall, born Aryeh Leonard Rosenberg, best known for playing fussy Felix Unger in the sitcom “The Odd Couple” (d. 2004)

1928 – Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Fats Domino, born Antoine Domino, Jr., who sold more records than any 1950s-era rocker except Elvis Presley (d. 2017)

1932 – Legendary country singer Johnny Cash, known as “The Man in Black” (d. 2003)

1953 – Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Michael Bolton (“Fool’s Game”, “When a Man Loves a Woman,” “How Am I Supposed to Live Without You”)

1971 – Grammy-winning R&B singer-songwriter and actress Erykah Badu (“On & On,” “The Cider House Rules”) 

History Highlights
History Highlights

1919 – The U.S. Congress passes an act establishing the Grand Canyon as a National Park in Arizona. 

1929 – The U.S. Congress establishes Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.

1934 – President Franklin Roosevelt orders the creation of a Communications Commission, which would become the FCC later that year by an act of Congress.

1972 – A mining dam collapses, sending millions of gallons of black coal wastewater across a wide area of Logan County, West Virginia. The Buffalo Creek Disaster claims 125 lives and leaves 4,000 people homeless.

1993 – Six people are killed and more than 1,000 others are injured when a bomb, planted inside a parked van, explodes in the garage of the World Trade Center in New York City. The blast leaves a crater 150 feet wide and causes the collapse of several steel-reinforced concrete floors. Six terrorists are eventually captured, tried and convicted for the attack.

1998 – A jury finds Oprah Winfrey not guilty in a $10 million defamation lawsuit brought by Texas cattle ranchers. The plaintiffs had accused the talk show host of harming the U.S. beef industry with a 1996 broadcast about mad cow disease. Exiting the courtroom, Winfrey exclaims, “Free speech not only lives, it rocks!”

2012 – Trayvon Martin, an African-American teen, is fatally shot by a neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman while walking home from a Sanford, Florida convenience store. The killing sparks a national outcry over race relations and self-defense gun laws, as Martin was unarmed when he was shot.

Musical Milestones
Musical Milestones

1966 – “These Boots Are Made for Walkin’,” by Nancy Sinatra, marches to the top of the Billboard singles chart where it spends a week.

1977 – The most popular single on the radio is “New Kid in Town,” off the Eagles’ “Hotel California” album. 

1983 – “Baby Come to Me,” by Patti Austin and James Ingram, enters its second and final week at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

1983 – Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” is No. 1 on the Billboard album chart and holds the top spot for 37 weeks. The blockbuster album gives us hits including “Thriller,” “Beat It” and “Billie Jean.” It goes on to capture a record-breaking eight Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year.

1994 – Céline Dion is midway through a four-week domination of the singles chart with “The Power of Love,” her first Billboard No. 1.

2004 – Mario wraps up nine weeks on top of the Billboard Hot 100 with his Grammy-nominated “Let Me Love You.”

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On this Day: May 20

On this Day May 20

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Celebrity Birthdays
Celebrity Birthdays

1908 – Oscar-winning actor Jimmy Stewart (“Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” “It’s A Wonderful Life,” “The Philadelphia Story,” “Vertigo”) (d. 1997)

1944 – Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Joe Cocker (“With a Little Help From My Friends,” “You Are So Beautiful,” “Up Where We Belong”) (d. 2014)

1946 – Grammy, Oscar and Golden Globe-winning singer-actress Cher, born Cherilyn Sarkisian LaPiere and nicknamed the “Goddess of Pop”

1965 – Emmy-winning TV host, “Iron Chef America” and “Top Chef” judge and author Ted Allen (“Queer Eye,” “Chopped”)

1966 – Actress Mindy Cohn, best remembered for playing Natalie in the sitcom “The Facts of Life”

1971 – NASCAR champion Tony Stewart, nicknamed “Smoke”

1972 – Rapper-producer Busta Rhymes, born Trevor George Smith, Jr. (“Woo Hah!! Got You All in Check,” “Dangerous”)

History Highlights
History Highlights

1873 – Blue jeans enter the fashion world as San Francisco businessman Levi Strauss and Reno, Nevada tailor Jacob Davis receive a patent to produce work pants reinforced with metal rivets.

1927 – Charles Lindbergh begins the first solo nonstop transatlantic flight, departing from Long Island, New York aboard the Spirit of Saint Louis and touching down in Paris late the next day.

1932 – Amelia Earhart takes off from Newfoundland to begin the world’s first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean by a female pilot, landing in Ireland the next day.

1956 – The arms race heats up as the United States proves it can deliver a hydrogen bomb from the air by dropping one from a B-52 bomber on the small Pacific Ocean island group known as the Bikini Atoll. At approximately 15 megatons, this bomb was more powerful than those previously tested.

1989 – Chinese authorities declare martial law and send troops into Beijing in an unsuccessful bid to stop pro-democracy demonstrators.

1996 – In a victory for the gay and lesbian civil rights movement, the U.S. Supreme Court (Romer v. Evans) votes 6 to 3 to strike down an amendment to Colorado’s state constitution that would have prevented any city, town, or county in the state from taking any legislative, executive, or judicial action to protect the rights of gays and lesbians.

Musical Milestones
Musical Milestones

1967 – “Groovin’,” by The Young Rascals, begins four non-consecutive weeks as the most popular single in the U.S. The track is on the album of the same name.

1970 – The Beatles film “Let It Be,” originally entitled “Get Back,” premieres in the U.K., one week after premiering in New York.

1978 – “With a Little Luck,” by Wings featuring Paul McCartney, is No. 1 on the Billboard singles chart and holds there for two weeks. The track is from the band’s “London Town” album.

1989 – Paula Abdul tops the Billboard Hot 100 with “Forever Your Girl,” the second of four No. 1 hits off her album of the same title.

1995 – For the sixth week in a row, Montell Jordan holds the top spot on the pop chart with “This Is How We Do It.”

1998 – Some 400 celebrities pay their final respects to entertainer Frank Sinatra during funeral services at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Beverly Hills, California.

2000 – “Maria Maria,” by Santana featuring The Product G&B, is midway through a 10-week domination of the Billboard Hot 100. The track is off the “Supernatural” album, which sweeps the 2000 Grammy Awards with eight trophies, tying Michael Jackson for most Grammys in a single ceremony.

2006 – Rihanna rules the pop chart with “SOS,” which holds the top spot for three weeks. The dance track samples Soft Cell’s 1981 recording of “Tainted Love.”

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