On This Day March 10 Click each item below to learn more! Celebrity Birthdays 1940 – Actor and martial artist Chuck Norris (“Way of the Dragon,” “Walker, Texas Ranger”) 1958 – Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actress Sharon Stone (“Total Recall,” “Basic Instinct,” “Casino,” “The Mighty”) 1971 – Golden Globe-winning actor Jon Hamm, best known as ad executive Don Draper in the TV series “Mad Men” 1983 – Grammy-winning country music singer-songwriter Carrie Underwood, whose career was launched after winning Season 4 of “American Idol” 1984 – Actress Olivia Wilde (“House,” “Tron: Legacy,” “Cowboys and Aliens,” “In Time”) History Highlights 1862 – Paper money, known as Legal Tender Notes or United States Notes, is issued for the first time in the U.S. The denominations are $5 (Hamilton), $10 (Lincoln) and $20 (Liberty). 1876 – Alexander Graham Bell places the world’s first telephone call at his Boston laboratory. He summons his assistant, Thomas Watson, who was in the next room, by saying, “Mr. Watson, come here — I want to see you.” Bell had secured a patent for his groundbreaking communication device just three days earlier. 1959 – Some 300,000 Tibetans band together in revolt, surrounding the summer palace of the Dalai Lama in defiance of Chinese occupation forces that moved in almost 10 years earlier. The anniversary of the failed rebellion is observed by Tibetan exiles as the “Tibetan Uprising Day.” 1969 – James Earl Ray pleads guilty to assassinating Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and is sentenced to 99 years in Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary in Tennessee. Ray later retracts his guilty plea. 1993 – An anti-abortion protester shoots and kills Dr. David Gunn outside the Pensacola (Florida) Women’s Medical Services clinic, where Gunn performed abortions. Although the gunman immediately turns himself in to authorities, the murder sets off a wave of deadly anti-abortion violence across the U.S. Musical Milestones 1956 – RCA Victor takes out a half-page ad in Billboard magazine proclaiming that Elvis Presley is “the new singing rage.” 1962 – “Hey! Baby,” by Bruce Channel, begins a three-week run at No. 1 on the singles chart. 1964 – Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel record an acoustic version of “The Sound of Silence” for their debut album, “Wednesday Morning, 3AM.” Later, without the duo’s knowledge, Columbia Records producers overdub electric guitar, bass and drums for another version of the track that becomes the chart-topping hit in January 1966. 1979 – Gloria Gaynor reaches the top of the singles chart with the disco anthem “I Will Survive.” 1984 – Madonna charts for the first time in her career with “Borderline.” The single climbs as high as No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100. 1988 – Pop sensation Andy Gibb, the younger brother of the Bee Gees, dies of an inflammatory heart virus at the age of 30. 1990 – “Escapade,” by Janet Jackson, is in the midst of a three-week ride atop the Billboard Hot 100. 2003 – During a concert in London, Dixie Chicks lead singer Natalie Maines declares that the band is “ashamed the President of the United States is from Texas,” referring to President George W. Bush. The remark sparks outrage among many Americans, and some radio stations stop playing their music. 2010 – “Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You),” by Kelly Clarkson, is the No. 1 single for a week. READ MORE
On This Day January 5 Click each item below to learn more! Celebrity Birthdays 1928 – Former U.S. Vice President Walter “Fritz” Mondale, who served under President Jimmy Carter 1931 – Oscar, Golden Globe and Emmy-winning actor Robert Duvall (“To Kill a Mockingbird,” “Apocalypse Now,” “The Godfather,” “The Godfather Part II,” “Tender Mercies,” “Lonesome Dove,” “The Judge”) 1946 – Oscar-winning actress Diane Keaton (“The Godfather” series, “Annie Hall,” “The First Wives Club,” “Something’s Gotta Give”) 1969 – Shock rocker Marilyn Manson, born Brian Hugh Warner (“Sweet Dreams are Made of These,” “The Dope Show,” “The Beautiful People”) 1975 – Actor-director Bradley Cooper (“Wedding Crashers,” “Yes Man,” “He’s Just Not That Into You,” “The Hangover” trilogy, “Silver Linings Playbook,” “American Hustle,” “American Sniper,” “A Star is Born”) 1978 – Actress January Jones, best known for her role as Betty Draper in the “Mad Men” television series History Highlights 1914 – The Ford Motor Company introduces an eight-hour workday and minimum wage of $5 for a day’s labor. 1933 – Construction begins on California’s iconic Golden Gate Bridge, spanning San Francisco Bay. Crews complete the engineering marvel ahead of schedule and $1.3 million under budget when it opens four years later, on May 27, 1937. 1970 – The ABC soap “All My Children” premieres and runs for 41 seasons. 1972 – President Richard Nixon orders the development of a new space transportation system that relies on a reusable vehicle, and NASA’s space shuttle program is born. 1998 – Entertainer-turned-congressman Sonny Bono is killed in a California skiing accident at the age of 62. Musical Milestones 1959 – Coral Records releases Buddy Holly’s “It Doesn’t Matter Anymore.” It is Holly’s last single before his tragic death in a February 1959 plane crash that also killed popular singers Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper. 1963 – “Telstar,” by the British instrumental band The Tornados, marks its third and final week as a No. 1 single. 1973 – Bruce Springsteen releases his debut album, “Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J.,” on Columbia Records. 1979 – Jazz musician and bandleader Charles Mingus dies at the age of 56. 1980 – KC and the Sunshine Band claims the top spot on the singles chart with “Please Don’t Go,” the band’s fifth and final Billboard No. 1. 1991 – Madonna scores the first No. 1 single of 1991 with “Justify My Love,” off her album, “The Immaculate Collection.” It remains a chart-topper for two weeks. 2002 – Nickelback enters its third week on top of the singles chart with “How You Remind Me.” READ MORE
On this Day May 3 Click each item below to learn more! 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 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 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. READ MORE