Paula Abdul – Time Rewind

On This Day February 24

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On This Day February 11

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Celebrity Birthdays

1847 – Inventor Thomas Edison (d. 1931)

1926 – Actor-comedian Leslie Nielsen (“Forbidden Planet,” “The Poseidon Adventure,” “Airplane,” “The Naked Gun”) (d. 2010)

1936 – Golden Globe-winning actor Burt Reynolds (“Deliverance,” “The Longest Yard,” “Smokey and the Bandit,” “Evening Shade,” “Boogie Nights”) (d. 2018)

1941 – Grammy-winning Brazilian musician Sérgio Mendes

1962 – Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Sheryl Crow (“If It Makes You Happy,” “Everyday Is a Winding Road”)

1969 – Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actress Jennifer Aniston, who has appeared in many movies, but is best known for playing Rachel in the NBC sitcom “Friends”

1971 – Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actor Damian Lewis (“Band of Brothers,” “Life,” “Homeland,” “Billions”)

1979 – Grammy-winning singer-actress Brandy, born Brandy Rayana Norwood (“The Boy is Mine,” “Moesha”)

History Highlights

1805 – Sacagawea, the Shoshone interpreter and guide to the Lewis and Clark expedition, gives birth to her first child, Jean Baptiste Charbonneau.

1932 – The Ford Motor Company introduces the flathead V8 engine, giving the world affordable, mass-produced V8 power. It becomes the darling of hot-rodders, road racers and stock car racers for more than two decades.

1945 – U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin wrap up the Yalta Conference following a week of intensive talks over the progress of World War II and the post-war world.

1963 – Chef Julia Child’s show, “The French Chef,” premieres on public television (NET, which later became PBS).

1968 – New York City’s 20,000-seat Madison Square Garden officially opens between 7th and 8th Avenues in Manhattan, becoming the fourth version of that arena. The showplace for sports and entertainment opens with a gala hosted by Bob Hope and Bing Crosby.

1970 – Japan’s first satellite (Ohsumi) is successfully launched into an orbit around Earth, making Japan the world’s fourth space power — after the Soviet Union in 1957, the United States in 1958, and France in 1965.

1990 – Anti-apartheid crusader Nelson Mandela, a political prisoner for more than 27 years, is released from Victor Verster Prison outside Cape Town, South Africa. Four years later, he is elected South Africa’s president.

Musical Milestones

1964 – The Beatles play their first U.S. concert at the Washington Coliseum. More than 350 police officers surround the stage to keep some 8,000 screaming fans under control. The set includes “I Saw Her Standing There,” “This Boy”, “All My Loving,” “I Wanna Be Your Man”,” Please Please Me”, “Till There Was You”, “She Loves You,” “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” “Twist and Shout” and much more.

1967 – The Monkees begin their seventh and final week on top of the pop chart with “I’m a Believer.”

1978 – The Bee Gees stay on top of the Billboard Hot 100 for a second week with “Stayin’ Alive,” from the “Saturday Night Fever” movie soundtrack. The single remains at No. 1 for a total of four weeks.

1984 – Culture Club is midway through a three-week ride on top of the Billboard Hot 100 with “Karma Chameleon.”

1989 – Paula Abdul starts a three-week run at No. 1 on the singles chart with “Straight Up.”

2012 – Six-time Grammy-winning pop sensation Whitney Houston is found dead in a Beverly Hills hotel at the age of 48. Cause of death is determined to be drowning, with complications from cocaine use and heart disease.

On This Day February 10

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Celebrity Birthdays

1883 – Actor Lon Chaney, Jr., who portrayed the legendary monsters of film, including the Mummy, Wolf Man, Frankenstein and Dracula (d. 1930)

1893 – Singer-comedian-actor Jimmy Durante (d. 1980)

1930 – Actor Robert Wagner (“It Takes a Thief,” “Hart to Hart,” “Austin Powers”)

1937 – Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Roberta Flack (“The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,” “Killing Me Softly With His Song,” “Feel Like Makin’ Love,” “Where is the Love”)

1950 – American Olympic gold medal swimmer Mark Spitz

1961 – ABC News’ “Good Morning America” co-host and former Clinton administration advisor George Stephanopoulos

1964 – Conservative talk show host Glenn Beck

1967 – Actress Laura Dern (“Mask,” “Blue Velvet,” “Wild at Heart,” “Jurassic Park,” “Rambling Rose,” “Enlightened,” “The Founder”)

1974 – Actress Elizabeth Banks (“Catch Me if You Can,” “Seabiscuit,” “The 40-Year-Old Virgin,” “The Hunger Games” movie series, “Pitch Perfect”)

History Highlights

1933 – The Postal Telegraph Company, based in New York City, introduces the first singing telegram.

1962 – American spy pilot Francis Gary Powers is released by the Soviets in exchange for Soviet Colonel Rudolf Abel, a senior KGB spy who was caught in the United States five years earlier.

1967 – The 25th Amendment to the Constitution is ratified. It clarifies procedures for presidential succession along with provisions for the continuity of power in the event of a disability or illness of the president.

1981 – A fire at the Las Vegas Hilton hotel-casino kills eight people and injures nearly 200 others. Investigators determine that the blaze was set by 23-year-old hotel employee Phillip Cline. He is convicted of eight counts of murder and sentenced to eight consecutive life terms without parole for the deaths, plus 15 years for first-degree arson.

1989 – Ron Brown is elected chairman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), becoming the first African American to lead a major American political party.

1996 – World chess champion Garry Kasparov loses the first game of a six-game match against Deep Blue, an IBM computer capable of evaluating 200 million moves per second. Man was ultimately victorious over machine, however, as Kasparov bested Deep Blue in the match with three wins and two ties and took home the $400,000 prize.

Musical Milestones

1958 – “Don’t,” by Elvis Presley & The Jordanaires, tops the singles chart and stays there for five weeks. The ballad, written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller — the duo behind “Hound Dog” and “Jailhouse Rock” — becomes Elvis’ eleventh No. 1 single.

1968 – The instrumental “Love Is Blue,” by one-hit wonder Paul Mauriat begins a five-week reign over the Billboard Hot 100.

1972 – A little-known rock musician named David Bowie appears at the Tolworth Toby Jug, a London pub, and assumes the persona of the now-legendary Ziggy Stardust before some 60 guests.

1979 – Rod Stewart has the hottest single in the U.S. with “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?” The song holds the No. 1 spot for four weeks.

1990 – “Opposites Attract,” by Paula Abdul with The Wild Pair, starts a three-week run as the No. 1 single.

1993 – On a special edition of the Oprah Winfrey show, Michael Jackson gives the first television interview in 14 years, live from his Neverland Ranch. Taking place before allegations about sexual abuse surfaced, the MJ interview draws a worldwide audience of 90 million people.

2001 – “It Wasn’t Me,” by Shaggy, begins its second and final week on top of the Billboard Hot 100.

2004 – Def Jam Recordings and Roc-A-Fella Records release “The College Dropout,” Kanye West’s debut album.

On This Day September 14

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Celebrity Birthdays

1936 – Actor Walter Koenig, best known for playing Chekov in the the “Star Trek” TV and movie series

1947 – Actor Sam Neill (“Dead Calm,” “The Piano,” “The Hunt for Red October,” “Jurassic Park,” “Event Horizon”)

1947 – Singer John “Bowzer” Bauman from the doo-wop band Sha Na Na

1960 – Oscar and Golden Globe-winning actress Melissa Leo (“Homicide: Life on the Street,” “All My Children,” “Frozen River,” “The Fighter”)

1964 – Actress Faith Ford (“thirtysomething,” “Murphy Brown,” “Hope & Faith”)

1983 – Five-time Grammy Award winner and soul-singing icon Amy Winehouse, who died of alcohol poisoning at the peak of her music career (d. 2011)

History Highlights

1814 – After witnessing the British bombardment of Fort McHenry in Maryland during the War of 1812, 35-year-old lawyer and poet Francis Scott Key writes a poem titled “Defence of Fort M’Henry,” which is later set to music, and in 1931, becomes America’s national anthem under its new title: “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Key was inspired by the sight of a lone U.S. flag still flying over the fort at daybreak.

1901 – Six months into his second term as U.S. president, William McKinley dies after being shot by a deranged anarchist during the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York.

1959 – The Soviet’s Luna 2 rocket reaches the surface of the moon, becoming the first man-made object sent from Earth to the lunar surface. The event gives the Soviets a short-lived lead in the Space Race, and prompts the U.S. to speed up efforts to develop its own space program.

1964 – President Lyndon Johnson awards entertainment pioneer Walt Disney the Presidential Medal of Freedom, saying “in the course of entertaining an age, he has created an American folklore.”

1964 – President Lyndon Johnson awards the Presidential Medal of Freedom to author John Steinbeck, who had already received numerous other honors for his literary work, including the 1962 Nobel Prize and 1939 Pulitzer Prize for “The Grapes of Wrath.”

1965 – Marching onto TV screens for the first time are the military farce “F Troop” and the short-lived sitcom “My Mother the Car.”

1972 – Americans meet the Walton family and witness its trials and tribulations for nine years on CBS. “The Waltons” airs for the last time on this day in 1981, the same day that “Entertainment Tonight” premieres.

1982 – Princess Grace of Monaco (Grace Kelly), who was an Oscar and Golden Globe-winning American actress before marrying into royalty, dies in a car crash at the age of 52.

1999 – Millions evacuate their homes along the southeastern coast of the U.S. as Hurricane Floyd advances. The storm weakens from Category 4 to Category 2 by the time it makes landfall at Cape Fear, North Carolina on September 16. Floyd is blamed for nearly 60 deaths across eight U.S. states and The Bahamas.

2015 – A 14-year-old Muslim boy is arrested at his Irving, Texas high school after a digital clock he had reassembled at home using a pencil case was mistaken by his teacher to be a bomb. Ahmed Mohamed’s arrest triggers a media frenzy, as many saw the incident as a case of racial profiling.

Musical Milestones

1963 – “My Boyfriend’s Back,” by the New Jersey-based girl group The Angels, enters its third and final week on top of the pop chart.

1969 – The Rascals begin their fifth and final week with the No. 1 single, “People Got to Be Free.”

1974 – Written and released by reggae sensation Bob Marley a year earlier, Eric Clapton’s version of “I Shot the Sheriff” is No. 1 on the singles chart.

1974 – Stevie Wonder begins two weeks at No.1 on the album chart with “Fulfillingness First Finale,” his second chart-topper. The album goes on to capture three Grammys, including Album of the Year.

1985 – John Parr’s “St. Elmo’s Fire,” from the movie of the same name, is the No. 1 single for a second straight week.

1991 – “The Promise of a New Day,” by Paula Abdul, tops the Billboard Hot 100 for a week.

1996 – “Macarena,” by Los del Rio, is in the middle of 14 weeks on top of the Billboard singles chart.

2002 – “Dilemma,” by Nelly featuring Kelly Rowland, is the No. 1 single.

On This Day September 2

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Celebrity Birthdays

1946 – Grammy-winning singer-keyboardist Billy Preston, who collaborated with the Beatles and Rolling Stones and had big hits of his own, including “Outa-Space,” “Nothing From Nothing,” “Will It Go Round in Circles” (d. 2006)

1948 – Legendary NFL quarterback and sportscaster Terry Bradshaw

1948 – Schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe, who died in the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion (d. 1986)

1951 – Actor Mark Harmon (“St. Elsewhere,” “The Presidio,” “Wyatt Earp,” “Chicago Hope,” “The West Wing,” “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,” “Freaky Friday,” “Weather Girl,” “NCIS”)

1952 – Tennis great Jimmy Connors

1964 – Actor-director and bass player Keanu Reeves (“Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure,” “Speed,” “The Matrix” trilogy, “A Walk in the Clouds,” “Devil’s Advocate,” “John Wick”)

1966 – Emmy-winning actress Salma Hayek (“Desperado,” “The Faculty,” “Wild Wild West,” “Fools Rush In,” “Frida,” the “Grown Ups” movies, “Puss in Boots,” “Tale of Tales”)

History Highlights

1789 – Congress establishes the U.S. Treasury Department to maintain the day-to-day activities of the federal government.

1945 – Japan officially surrenders to the Allies aboard the battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, marking the end of World War II (V-J Day).

1959 – Ford introduces the 90-horsepower, 30 mile-per-gallon Falcon during the first nationwide closed-circuit TV news conference. Marketed as “the small car with the big car feel,” the Falcon becomes an overnight success.

1969 – Personal banking is revolutionized as America’s first automatic teller machine (ATM) goes into service, dispensing cash to customers at Chemical Bank in Rockville Centre (Long Island), New York.

2013 – Endurance swimmer Diana Nyad becomes the first person to swim from Cuba to Florida without the use of a protective shark cage. The 64-year-old Nyad completes the 110-mile swim from Havana to Key West, through the jellyfish-and shark-infested waters of the Straits of Florida, in approximately 53 hours.

Musical Milestones

1957 – Elvis Presley’s first soundtrack album, “Loving You,” tops the Billboard 200 and spawns the chart-topping hit, “(Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear.”

1967 – Bobbie Gentry is mid-way through a four-week ride on top of the Billboard singles chart with “Ode to Billie Joe.” Gentry was among the first female country music artists to write and produce her own material.

1972 – Gilbert O’Sullivan’s “Alone Again (Naturally)” returns to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 after spending four weeks there in July and August.

1986 – Sixteen-year-old Debbie Gibson signs with Atlantic Records, launching a string of 11 chart singles.

1989 – Paula Abdul has the No. 1 single with “Cold Hearted.”

1995 – The Rock And Roll Hall of Fame opens in downtown Cleveland, Ohio. Most of the celebration actually takes place at nearby Cleveland Municipal Stadium with a marathon concert featuring a slew of legendary musicians and vocalists.

1995 – Michael Jackson’s “You Are Not Alone,” off his “HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I” album, becomes the first single in Billboard history to debut at No. 1. It is also Jackson’s 13th and final chart-topper.

2000 – Janet Jackson rules the Billboard Hot 100 with “Doesn’t Really Matter.”

2006 – Fergie begins her third and final week at No. 1 on the pop chart with “London Bridge.”

On this Day July 13

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Celebrity Birthdays

1928 – Actor Bob Crane (Hogan in TV’s “Hogan’s Heroes”) (d. 1978)

1940 – Actor Patrick Stewart, best known for playing Capt. Jean-Luc Picard in TV’s “Star Trek: The Next Generation” and Prof. Charles Xavier from the “X-Men” movies

1942 – Actor Harrison Ford (“American Graffiti,” “Star Wars,” “Witness,” the “Indiana Jones” movie series, “Blade Runner,” “Working Girl,” “Presumed Innocent,” “The Fugitive,” “Air Force One,” “Six Days and Seven Nights”)

1944 – Rubik’s Cube inventor Erno Rubik

1946 – Comedian-actor Cheech Marin of the comedy duo Cheech & Chong

1957 – Oscar-winning director Cameron Crowe (“Say Anything…,” “Jerry Maguire,” “Almost Famous”)

1962 – Actor Tom Kenny, best known as the voice of SpongeBob SquarePants

1969 – Actor-comedian Ken Jeong (“The Hangover” film trilogy, “Community,” “Dr. Ken”)

History Highlights

1923 – The iconic Hollywood sign is officially dedicated on Mount Lee, overlooking Los Angeles, as “Hollywoodland.” The last four letters are removed during a 1949 renovation. Meant to be a temporary advertisement for a new housing tract, it evolves into one of the most recognizable landmarks in the world.

1930 – The first World Cup soccer competition is held in Montevideo, Uruguay, with 13 teams participating.

1960 – Massachusetts Senator John F. Kennedy is nominated for the presidency at the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles, defeating Senator Lyndon B. Johnson of Texas. The next day, Johnson is named Kennedy’s running mate by a unanimous vote of the convention.

1977 – On a sweltering summer’s evening, a massive power outage caused by a lightning strike at an electrical substation, plunges New York City into darkness for 25 hours. During the blackout, looters raid 1,600 stores, 50 vehicles are stolen from a Bronx car dealership, and more than a thousand fires are set across the five boroughs. Police arrest some 3,700 looters — the largest mass arrest in NYPD history.

1990 – The supernatural-romantic-thriller “Ghost,” starring Demi Moore, Patrick Swayze and Whoopi Goldberg, opens in theaters. Goldberg goes on to win an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, becoming only the second African-American actress to do so after Hattie McDaniel in 1939 for her performance in “Gone With The Wind.”

Musical Milestones

1959 – Paul Anka has the second No. 1 single of his career when “Lonely Boy,” from the movie “Girls Town,” hits the top of the pop chart.

1968 – “This Guy’s in Love with You,” by Herb Alpert, wraps up four weeks as a No. 1 single.

1974 – The hottest single is George McCrae’s “Rock Your Baby,” one of the earliest disco tracks to get airplay on Top 40 radio.

1974 – Elton John is on top of the Billboard album chart with “Caribou,” the LP that spawns the hit “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me.”

1985 – Duran Duran’s “A View to a Kill,” from the James Bond movie of the same name, kicks off two weeks at No. 1 on the U.S. pop chart. Coincidentally, the band performs the song the same day at Live Aid in Philadelphia.

1985 – Live Aid features simultaneous concerts in London and Philadelphia to raise funds for African famine relief. Organized by activist/musician Bob Geldof, the global event draws one of the largest audiences in television history — nearly two billion viewers.

1989 – Milli Vanilli release “Blame It On The Rain,” which climbs to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 that November.

1991 – Paula Abdul begins her fifth and final week on top of the pop chart with “Rush Rush.”

2002 – Nelly commandeers the Billboard Hot 100 with “Hot in Herre.”

On this Day June 22

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Celebrity Birthdays

1936 – Golden Globe-winning singer-songwriter and actor Kris Kristofferson ( “Me and Bobby McGee” and “For the Good Times,” “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore,” “A Star Is Born”)

1949 – Emmy-winning actress Lindsay Wagner of TV’s “The Bionic Woman”

1949 – Oscar-winning actress Meryl Streep (“Kramer vs. Kramer,” “Sophie’s Choice,” “Silkwood,” “Out of Africa,” “The Devil Wears Prada,” “The Iron Lady”)

1953 – Grammy, Emmy and Tony-winning singer-songwriter Cyndi Lauper, born Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper (“Girls Just Want to Have Fun,” “Time After Time,” “She Bop,” “True Colors”)

1954 – Comedian Freddie Prinze, best known for starring in the TV series “Chico and the Man” (d. 1977)

1971 – Actress Mary Lynn Rajskub, best known for her role as Chloe in the FOX-TV action series “24”

History Highlights

1944 – President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the GI Bill to provide financial aid to veterans returning from World War II.

1950 – Prominent figures in the music industry, including Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland, Lena Horne, Pete Seeger and Artie Shaw, are named publicly as suspected Communist sympathizers as part of America’s infamous Red Scare.T Their names appear in Red Channels: The Report of Communist Influence in Radio and Television.

1966 – Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton grace the big screen with the release of “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” It’s the first movie to contain certain four-letter words and adult content, but still receive the production code seal of approval.

1969 – Award-winning actress-singer Judy Garland, best known for playing Dorothy in the classic film “The Wizard of Oz,” is found dead of a drug overdose in her London home just days after her 47th birthday.

1981 – Mark David Chapman pleads guilty to the murder of music legend and former Beatle John Lennon.

2001 – There’s plenty of burning rubber on the screen as the action movie “The Fast and the Furious,” starring Paul Walker, Vin Diesel and Michelle Rodriguez, debuts in U.S. theaters. The film becomes a blockbuster — grossing $200 million worldwide — and spawns several sequels.

2011 – After 16 years on the run from law enforcement, James “Whitey” Bulger, a violent Boston mob boss wanted for 19 murders, is arrested in California. Bulger was among the FBI’s “Ten Most Wanted” fugitives. He dies in prison in 2018 at the age of 89.

Musical Milestones

1963 – “Fingertips, Part 2,” by 13-year-old singing sensation ‘Little’ Stevie Wonder, becomes the now-legendary Motown artist’s first of 61 chart records through 1988.

1968 – Trumpeter Herb Alpert finds success as a vocalist when he starts four weeks on top of the singles chart with “This Guy’s In Love With You” — his first No. 1 hit. The track is a Burt Bacharach-Hal David composition.

1974 – “Billy Don’t Be a Hero,” by Bo Donaldson and The Heywoods,” enters its second and final week on top of the Billboard Hot 100.

1985 – The soundtrack from the Eddie Murphy action comedy “Beverly Hills Cop” tops the Billboard album chart. It spawns the hits “Axel F” by Harold Faltermeyer and “The Heat is On” by Glenn Frey.

1985 – Bryan Adams scores his first chart-topping single with “Heaven,” which holds at No. 1 for two weeks.

1991 – Paula Abdul conquers the pop chart with “Rush Rush,” which remains at No. 1 for five weeks.

1996 – “Tha Crossroads,” by Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, tops the Billboard singles chart.

2002 – Ashanti wraps up a 10-week domination of the pop chart with “Foolish.”

2013 – “Blurred Lines,” by Robin Thicke featuring T.I. and Pharrell, begins a 12-week reign over the Billboard Hot 100. The track samples Marvin Gaye’s 1977 smash, “Got to Give It Up.”

On this Day June 19

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Celebrity Birthdays

1930 – Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actress Gena Rowlands (“Gloria,” “A Woman Under the Influence”)

1947 – Novelist and essayist Salman Rushdie (“Grimus,” “Midnight’s Children,” “Shame,” “The Satanic Verses,” “East, West”)

1948 – Tony-winning actress Phylicia Rashad, best known for playing Clair Huxtable on “The Cosby Show”

1950 – Ann Wilson of the rock duo Heart

1954 – Actress Kathleen Turner (“Peggy Sue Got Married,” “Romancing The Stone,” “The War of the Roses”)

1962 – Grammy and Emmy-winning singer, dancer, choreographer and former “American Idol” judge Paula Abdul

1972 – Actress Robin Tunney (“The Craft,” “Vertical Limit,” “The Mentalist”)

History Highlights

1865 – Union soldiers land in Galveston, Texas with news that the Civil War has ended and that enslaved African Americans were now free. The announcement comes two and a half years after President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, which took effect on January 1, 1863. Some historians blame the delay on poor communication of that era while others believe Texan slave owners intentionally withheld the information. June 19 is observed around the U.S. as Juneteenth. On June 17, 2021, it became a federal holiday.

1905 – The world’s first nickelodeon opens in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and draws some 450 guests. The storefront theater boasted 96 seats and charged each patron a nickel.

1934 – Congress establishes the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to regulate broadcasting in the United States.

1953 – Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who were convicted of conspiring to pass U.S. atomic secrets to the Soviets, die in the electric chair at Sing Sing Prison in New York. Both deny wrongdoing and proclaim their innocence right up to the time of their execution. The Rosenbergs were the first American civilians executed for espionage during the Cold War.

1973 – In separate games, Pete Rose of the Cincinnati Reds and Willie Davis of the L.A. Dodgers achieve their 2,000th career hits.

1978 – Cartoonist Jim Davis introduces readers of 41 newspapers around the U.S. to a pleasantly plump, lazy, lasagna-loving cat named Garfield.

1981 – A caped superhero returns to U.S. movie theaters with the release of “Superman II,” starring Christopher Reeve as “The Man of Steel.”

2013 – Actor James Gandolfini, best known for his role as crime boss Tony Soprano in the HBO series “The Sopranos,” dies of a heart attack at age 51 while vacationing in Italy.

Musical Milestones

1961 – Pat Boone tops the pop chart for a week with “Moody River.”

1965 – “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch),” by the Four Tops, is No. 1 on both the singles and R&B charts. Rolling Stone magazine has ranked the song #415 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

1971 – Carole King’s “It’s Too Late” begins a five-week run on top of the Billboard Hot 100. The song, from her now-classic “Tapestry” album, captures a Grammy Award for Record of the Year in 1972.

1976 – Paul McCartney & Wings have a No. 1 single with “Silly Love Songs.”

1982 – Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson are in the middle of a seven-week reign over the singles chart with “Ebony and Ivory.”

1999 – “If You Had My Love,” by Jennifer Lopez, holds the top spot on the pop chart.

2004 – Usher maintains a firm grip on the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Burn.” The single remains a chart-topper for seven weeks.

2010 – “California Gurls,” by Katy Perry featuring Snoop Dogg, kicks off six weeks on top of the Billboard Hot 100.

On this Day May 27

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Celebrity Birthdays

1894 – Detective novelist Dashiell Hammett (“The Maltese Falcon,” “The Glass Key,” “The Thin Man”) (d. 1961)

1911 – Actor Vincent Price, who specialized in the horror genre and provided the monologue and evil laugh in Michael Jackson’s hit single/music video “Thriller” (d. 1993)

1922 – Actor Christopher Lee (“Horror of Dracula,” “The Man With the Golden Gun,” “The Lord of the Rings,”) (d. 2015)

1923 – Former U.S. Secretary of State and Nobel laureate Henry Kissinger

1935 – Grammy-winning jazz composer-pianist Ramsey Lewis

1936 – Oscar and Emmy-winning actor Louis Gossett, Jr. (“Roots,” “An Officer And a Gentleman,” “Enemy Mine”)

1955 – Actor Richard Schiff (“The Lost World: Jurassic Park,” “The West Wing,” “Deep Impact,” “I Am Sam,” “The Good Doctor”)

1970 – Actor Joseph Fiennes (“Shakespeare in Love,” “Elizabeth,” ” Enemy at the Gates,” “American Horror Story”)

History Highlights

1930 – New York City’s iconic Chrysler Building opens to the public and stands as the world’s tallest building until surpassed by the Empire State Building in 1931.

1936 – The ocean liner RMS Queen Mary leaves Southampton on her maiden voyage to New York with more than 1,800 passengers aboard. The ship arrives safely five days later.

1937 – The majestic Golden Gate Bridge opens, creating a vital link between San Francisco and Marin County, California. San Franciscans throw a “fiesta” in honor of the new span. Schools, offices and stores either close or reduce staffing. By 6 that morning, 18,000 people are waiting to cross the span from both the sides.

1939 – A ship carrying more than 900 Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi persecution is turned away from Havana, Cuba. Only 28 immigrants are admitted into the country. After appeals to the U.S. and Canada for entry are rejected, the rest are forced to return to Europe, where they are divided among several countries, including Great Britain and France.

1941 – The revered German battleship Bismarck is cornered and sunk in the North Atlantic by ships and planes from the British Royal Navy, ending one of the most intensive naval manhunts in history. An estimated 2,100 crewmen are killed in the attack.

1962 – A mine fire that still burns to this day breaks out beneath the borough of Centralia, Pennsylvania.

1994 – Two decades after being expelled from the Soviet Union, Nobel laureate Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn returns to Russia in an emotional homecoming.

Musical Milestones

1957 – The Crickets, featuring Buddy Holly, release their first record, “That’ll Be The Day,” on the Brunswick label — a subsidiary of Decca Records. The single soars to the top of the pop charts in both the U.S. and U.K. and propels the band into rock and roll stardom.

1963 – The second album is the charm for 22-year-old Bob Dylan, who releases “The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan,” which proves to be his breakthrough work. Among its original compositions (and first track on the album) is the classic “Blowin’ in the Wind.”

1972 – The Chi-Lites reach No. 1 on the singles chart for their first and only time with “Oh Girl.” The track, off the band’s “A Lonely Man” album, stays on top for a week.

1978 – “With a Little Luck,” by Paul McCartney & Wings, enjoys its second and final week as the hottest single in the U.S.

1989 – Paula Abdul begins her second and final week on top of the Billboard singles survey with “Forever Your Girl.”

1995 – “This Is How We Do It,” by Montell Jordan, wraps up seven weeks as a Billboard chart-topper.

2000 – Santana, featuring The Product G&B, holds steady at No. 1 on the pop chart with “Maria Maria.”

On this Day May 20

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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

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

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.”