On This Day: November 28

On This Day November 28

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Celebrity Birthdays
Celebrity Birthdays

1929 – Motown Records founder Berry Gordy, Jr.

1943 – Oscar, Emmy and Grammy-winning singer-songwriter and composer Randy Newman, best known for his 1977 hit “Short People” and movie soundtracks including the animated blockbuster “Toy Story” series and “Monsters, Inc.”

1949 – Singer, actor and multi-instrumentalist Paul Shaffer, best known as the bandleader for David Letterman’s late-night TV shows

1950 – Golden Globe-winning actor Ed Harris (“The Right Stuff,” “The Abyss,” “Pollack,” “Apollo 13,” “The Rock,” “The Truman Show,” “A Beautiful Mind,” “Man on a Ledge,” “Westworld”)

1959 – Actor-producer Judd Nelson (“The Breakfast Club,” “St. Elmo’s Fire,” “New Jack City,” “Suddenly Susan”)

1962 – Comedian, director and former “The Daily Show” host Jon Stewart

History Highlights
History Highlights

1520 – Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan leads a fleet of three ships through treacherous waters below South America to become the first European explorer to reach the Pacific Ocean from the Atlantic.

1895 – Driving a gas-powered horseless carriage known as the Duryea Motor Wagon at an average speed of 5 miles per hour in the Chicago snow, J. Frank Duryea wins America’s first auto race. Frank and his brother, Charles, designed and manufactured the vehicle.

1942 – The deadliest nightclub fire in U.S. history strikes the Cocoanut Grove in Boston, killing 492 people and injuring hundreds more. Investigators never determined what sparked the inferno. The disaster led to sweeping changes in fire codes

1964 – The U.S. scores one in the Space Race as NASA launches Mariner 4 on a successful fly-by mission to Mars.

1975 – “As The World Turns” and “The Edge of Night” become the last American soaps to switch from live broadcasts to videotape.

1994 – Serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer is beaten to death in a Wisconsin prison while serving 15 consecutive life terms for the rape, murder and dismemberment of 17 men and boys.

Musical Milestones
Musical Milestones

1925 – The Grand Ole Opry, one of the longest-lived and most popular showcases for country music, begins broadcasting live from Nashville, Tennessee. At the time, it is known as the WSM Barn Dance.

1960 – Elvis Presley scores his 15th chart-topping single when “Are You Lonesome Tonight?” reaches No. 1 on the pop chart. It holds the top spot for six weeks.

1970 – Ex-Beatle George Harrison makes his solo Billboard chart debut with “My Sweet Lord,” a song he is later found guilty of having “subconsciously plagiarized” from Ronnie Mack’s “He’s So Fine,” which was a smash for The Chiffons.

1974 – John Lennon joins Elton John on stage at New York’s Madison Square Garden for what becomes Lennon’s last concert appearance. He performs three songs: “Whatever Gets You Thru The Night,” “I Saw Her Standing There,” and “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds.”

1987 – The Bill Medley-Jennifer Warnes duet, “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life,” from the movie “Dirty Dancing,” is No. 1 on the singles chart.

1998 – “Lately,” by one-hit-wonder Divine, tops the Billboard Hot 100 for a week.

2001 – Aretha Franklin sues the supermarket tabloid “Star” for $50 million dollars claiming that her reputation was damaged by a December 2000 article that alleged she had alcohol problems.

2007 – Kanye West and stuntman Evel Knievel settle a copyright dispute over West’s use of the name “Evel Kanyevel” in a music video. The 69-year-old daredevil claimed his image was harmed by the video’s “vulgar, sexual nature.” The clip for “Touch The Sky” shows the rap star attempting to cross a canyon on a rocket-powered motorcycle.

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On This Day: November 1

On This Day November 1

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Celebrity Birthdays
Celebrity Birthdays

1942 – Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt (d. 2021)

1949 – Grammy-winning record producer David Foster, who has worked with some of the biggest names in the music industry, including Alice Cooper, Céline Dion, Whitney Houston, Jennifer Lopez, Rod Stewart and Barbra Streisand

1957 – Grammy-winning Texas singer-songwriter and actor Lyle Lovett, born Lyle Pearce

1972 – Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actress Toni Collette (“Muriel’s Wedding,” “The Sixth Sense,” “Little Miss Sunshine,” “Hereditary,” “United States of Tara”)

1972 – Playboy model-turned-actress-TV host Jenny McCarthy (“The Jenny McCarthy Show,” “Love in the Wild,” “The View”)

History Highlights
History Highlights

1512 – The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome, one of Italian artist Michelangelo’s finest works, is exhibited to the public for the first time.

1952 – The U.S. detonates the world’s first thermonuclear weapon, the hydrogen bomb, on an island in the Pacific. The test is code-named “Mike.” The blast generates a three-mile-wide fireball, destroys the island and kills wildlife on nearby islands.

1971 – The U.S. Mint produces the first Eisenhower dollar coins.

1979 – First Lady Mamie Eisenhower dies just a couple of weeks shy of her 83rd birthday.

1982 – Honda becomes the first Asian automaker to produce cars in the United States when it opens a factory in Marysville, Ohio. Honda’s flagship vehilce, the Accord, is the first model to roll off the assembly line.

1993 – The European Union (EU) officially takes effect, made up of 12 nations: Great Britain, France, Germany, the Irish Republic, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, Denmark, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands. Austria, Finland and Sweden become EU members in 1995.

Musical Milestones
Musical Milestones

1956 – Elvis Presley buys a new Harley-Davidson motorcycle and takes actress Natalie Wood on a nearly three-hour ride around Memphis on it.

1968 – The first solo recording by a Beatle is released. It’s George Harrison’s “Wonderwall Music” — the first Apple Records production. The album is the soundtrack to Joe Massot’s movie “Wonderwall,” and consists primarily of Indian-influenced instrumentals, featuring Eric Clapton and Ringo Starr.

1969 – Elvis Presley makes a brief comeback with “Suspicious Minds,” the most popular song in the U.S. on this day and The King’s last No. 1 hit.

1975 – Elton John rules the Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks with “Island Girl,” off his “Rock of the Westies” album. Coincidentally, the single bumps Neil Sedaka’s “Bad Blood,” a song in which EJ provides backup vocals.

1980 – “The River” becomes Bruce Springsteen’s first No. 1 album. Containing the hit “Hungry Heart,” it remains on top of the Billboard album chart for four weeks. 

1986 – Cyndi Lauper begins her second and final week at No. 1 with “True Colors.”

1997 – Elton John’s rewritten and re-recorded version of his 1973 single “Candle in The Wind” is No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was released on September 13, 1997 as a tribute to Princess Diana, who died two weeks earlier in a Paris car crash.

2003 – “Baby Boy,” by Beyoncé featuring Sean Paul, is in the middle of nine weeks as a No. 1 single.

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On this Day: July 30

On this Day July 30

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Celebrity Birthdays
Celebrity Birthdays

1863 – Industrialist and Ford Motor Company founder Henry Ford

1890 – Baseball Hall of Famer Casey Stengel

1941 – Singer-songwriter Paul Anka 

1947 – Actor and former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger

1961 – Emmy and Tony-winning actor Laurence Fishburne (“Boyz n the Hood,” “What’s Love Got to Do With It,” “The Matrix” trilogy, “Mission: Impossible III”)

1963 – Actress-comedian Lisa Kudrow, best known for her role as Phoebe in the popular sitcom “Friends”

1964 – Actress Vivica Fox (“Days of Our Lives,” “Independence Day,” “Batman & Robin,” “Alias”)  

1969 – Actor Simon Baker (“L.A. Confidential,” “Land of the Dead,” “The Devil Wears Prada,” “The Mentalist”)

1970 – Director Christopher Nolan (“Memento,” “Inception,” “Batman Begins,” “The Dark Knight Rises,” “Interstellar”) 

1974 – Oscar and Golden Globe-winning actress Hilary Swank (“Million Dollar Baby,” “Boys Don’t Cry,” “Amelia”) 

History Highlights
History Highlights

1935 – Literature’s first paperback is introduced by Penguin Books in London. It’s “Ariel” by André Maurois, who traces the life of the poet Shelley. 

1945 – A Japanese submarine torpedoes the U.S. Navy cruiser U.S.S. Indianapolis in Pacific waters after it delivers the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima. The ship sinks in just 12 minutes. Of the approximately 1,200 crewmen, 300 go down with the ship. The rest face exposure, dehydration, saltwater poisoning and shark attacks while floating with few lifeboats and almost no food or water. 

1956 – Two years after pushing to have the phrase “under God” inserted into the United States’ pledge of allegiance, President Dwight Eisenhower signs a law declaring “In God We Trust”  the nation’s official motto. 

1965 – President Lyndon Johnson signs the Medicare bill into law, granting seniors access to affordable healthcare. The bill-signing ceremony takes place at the Truman Library in Independence, Missouri, where former President Harry S. Truman is enrolled as Medicare’s first beneficiary and receives the first Medicare card.

2003 – The last of over 21 million Volkswagen Beetles, known as the “Volkswagen Type 1,” rolls off an assembly line in Puebla, Mexico, ending nearly 70 years of production. The baby blue car is sent to a museum in Wolfsburg, Germany, where VW is headquartered.

Musical Milestones
Musical Milestones

1966 – The Beatles own the No. 1 position on the Billboard album chart with “Yesterday…And Today.” The album, released in the U.S. and Canada only, holds the top spot for five weeks. It contains such fan favorites as “Drive My Car,” “Yesterday,” “We Can Work It Out,” “Nowhere Man” and “Day Tripper.” 

1966 –  The Troggs claim the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Wild Thing.” The track was originally recorded by the American rock band, The Wild Ones, in 1965, but never charted. The Troggs’ version holds at No. 1 for two weeks and reaches No. 2 on the pop chart in their native U.K.

1977 – Andy Gibb kicks off three weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard singles chart with “I Just Want to Be Your Everything.” 

1988 – “Roll With It” by Steve Winwood begins four weeks as a No. 1 single.

1994 – All-4-One wraps up an 11-week domination of the singles chart with “I Swear.”

2003 – Record producer Sam Phillips, who founded the legendary Sun Record Company and Sun Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, dies of respiratory failure. He discovered Elvis Presley and worked with other musical greats, including Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, B.B. King and Jerry Lee Lewis.

2005 – Mariah Carey owns the top spot on the singles chart with “We Belong Together,” which holds at No. 1 for 14 non-consecutive weeks.

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