On This Day: April 27

On This Day April 27

Click each item below to learn more!

Celebrity Birthdays
Celebrity Birthdays

1791 – Inventor and painter Samuel Morse, most famous for creating the telegraph  (d. 1872)

1822 – 18th U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant, who helped lead the Union forces to victory during the Civil War (d. 1885)

1922 – Actor Jack Klugman (“The Odd Couple,” “Quincy, M.E.”) (d. 2012)

1927 – Civil rights leader Coretta Scott King, wife of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  (d. 2006)

1932 – Radio personality Casey Kasem, co-founder and former host of “American Top 40” and the voice of Shaggy from “Scooby-Doo” (d. 2014)

1951 – Guitarist and Kiss co-founder Ace Frehley 

1959 – Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Sheena Easton (“Morning Train,” “For Your Eyes Only,” “Sugar Walls”)  

1986 – Actress Jenna Coleman (“Doctor Who,” “Victoria,” “The Cry”)

1988 – Grammy-winning pop superstar Lizzo, born Melissa Viviane Jefferson

History Highlights
History Highlights

1865 – After surviving the horrors of the Civil War, some Union soldiers — many former prisoners of war — are crammed aboard the steamboat Sultana, heading home along the Mississippi River, when the ship’s boilers explode. More than 1,800 passengers die as the ship burns and sinks, resulting in the worst maritime disaster in American history — with more lives lost than in the 1912 Titanic sinking. 

1936 – The United Auto Workers (UAW) gains autonomy from the American Federation of Labor (AFL). 

1956 – Rocky Marciano retires from boxing at age 31, ending his career as the only undefeated world heavyweight champion: 49 wins in 49 professional bouts, with 43 knockouts. 

1974 – Some 10,000 demonstrators march in Washington, D.C. calling for the impeachment of President Richard Nixon. 

1982 – Jury selection begins in the trial of John Hinckley, Jr., charged with the attempted assassination of U.S. President Ronald Reagan. 

1993 – Authorities in North Carolina determine that film crew negligence is to blame for the death of actor Brandon Lee, who was accidentally shot and killed a month earlier on the set of the action-adventure movie “The Crow.” Brandon was the son of legendary martial arts star Bruce Lee.

2009 – General Motors (GM) announces plans to discontinue production of its 80-year-old Pontiac line of cars in 2010.

Musical Milestones
Musical Milestones

1963 – High school freshman Little Peggy March (born Margaret Annemarie Battavio) marches to the top of the Billboard singles chart with “I Will Follow Him.” The song remains at No. 1 for three weeks and makes March, at age 15, the youngest female singer to ever have a chart-topping hit.

1967 – Motown Records releases the Marvin Gaye-Tammi Terrell duet, “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” which becomes a Top 20 hit. Diana Ross’ 1970 version rockets to the top of the pop chart, becoming her first No. 1 since leaving The Supremes. 

1974 – “TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia),” by MFSB and The Three Degrees, is the No. 1 single. 

1981 – Singer-songwriter and legendary Beatles drummer Ringo Starr weds actress Barbara Bach, best known for her roles in the James Bond movie “The Spy Who Loved Me” and “Force 10 from Navarone.”

1985 – “We Are The World,” the musical collaboration produced under the baton of Quincy Jones as a fundraiser for African famine relief, is in the middle of a four-week reign over the Billboard Hot 100.

1991 – Amy Grant’s “Baby Baby begins two weeks as the most popular single in the U.S.

1999 – British rockers The Verve, best known for their Grammy-nominated hit “Bitter Sweet Symphony” and the chart-topping singles “The Drugs Don’t Work” and “Lucky Man,” announce their second breakup. The band re-forms in 2007, but by 2009, the musicians truly go their separate ways.

2002 – “Foolish,” off Ashanti’s self-titled debut album, tops the Billboard Hot 100 and remains at No. 1 for 10 weeks. The accompanying music video features actor Terrence Howard.

READ MORE
On This Day: January 6

On This Day January 6

Click each item below to learn more!

Celebrity Birthdays
Celebrity Birthdays

1912 – Comedian-philanthropist Danny Thomas (“Make Room for Daddy”) (d. 1991)

1944 – Actress Bonnie Franklin, best known for her role in the 70s sitcom “One Day at a Time” (d. 2013)

1953 – Malcolm Young, guitarist-vocalist and co-founder of the hard rock band AC/DC (d. 2017)

1955 – Comedian, actor and writer Rowan Atkinson (“Black Adder,” “Mr. Bean,” “Johnny English”) 

1957 – Three-time LPGA champion Nancy Lopez

1967 – Director John Singleton (“Boyz n the Hood,” “Poetic Justice,” “Shaft,” “Four Brothers,” “2 Fast 2 Furious”)

1969 – Actor Norman Reedus (“The Boondock Saints,” “American Gangster,” “The Walking Dead”)

1982 – Oscar and Golden Globe-winning actor Eddie Redmayne (“My Week with Marilyn,” “Les Misérables,” “The Theory of Everything,” “The Danish Girl”)

History Highlights
History Highlights

1838 – Samuel Morse publicly demonstrates the telegraph system he invented and which would go on to revolutionize long-distance communication.

1919 – Ten years after the end of his term as the 26th U.S. president, Theodore Roosevelt dies in his sleep at his Long Island, New York estate at the age of 60. The cause is a coronary embolism. 

1942 – Pan American World Airways completes the first around-the-world commercial flight with the Pacific Clipper, a Boeing 314 “flying boat” piloted by Capt. Robert Ford. The journey ends with a safe water landing at New York’s LaGuardia Airport.

1973 – The animated Saturday morning TV series “Schoolhouse Rock!” premieres on ABC, featuring “Multiplication Rock.” Educational topics include grammar, science, economics, history, math and civics.

1974 – In response to the U.S. energy crisis, President Richard Nixon signs emergency legislation imposing daylight saving time for almost 16 months — until April 27, 1975.

2001 – Congress certifies George W. Bush as the winner of the 2000 presidential election over Vice President Al Gore after the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 to halt a five-week-long manual recount of ballots in Florida. This marked the fourth election in U.S. history in which the winner failed to get a plurality of the popular vote.

2021 – Supporters of President Donald Trump storm the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. in an effort to halt the certification of electoral votes from the 2020 presidential election, which was won by Democrat Joe Biden. After violently clashing with Capitol police, the rioters ransacked the complex, destroyed property and sent members of Congress and their staff into hiding in offices and bunkers. The attack is often referred to as the “January 6 insurrection.”

Musical Milestones
Musical Milestones

1954 – Working as a truck driver, Elvis Presley enters the Memphis Recording Service in Tennessee and records “It Wouldn’t Be The Same Without You” and “I’ll Never Stand In Your Way” as a demo for Sun Records. Impressed with his sound, Sun Records head Sam Phillips calls Presley back to record more, and the rest is rock and roll history.

1958 – Danny & the Juniors bop to the top of Billboard’s Best Sellers in Stores chart with “At the Hop,” which holds at No. 1 for five weeks.

1968 – The Beatles commandeer the top spot on the Billboard album chart for eight weeks with “Magical Mystery Tour,” which contains such classics as “Hello, Goodbye,” “Strawberry Fields Forever,” “Penny Lane,” “All You Need is Love” and, of course, the title track.

1973 – “You’re So Vain,” by Carly Simon, begins a three-week reign over the Billboard singles chart. Through the years, speculation swirled about the subject of the song, with Simon eventually admitting that it refers to three men, only one of whom she named publicly: actor Warren Beatty.

1979 – The Bee Gees own the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 with  “Too Much Heaven.”

1990 – Phil Collins has the first No. 1 album of the 90s as “…But Seriously” claims the top spot on the Billboard 200. The album contains his Grammy-winning smash “Another Day in Paradise.”

1993 – Legendary jazz trumpeter and composer Dizzy Gillespie dies of cancer at the age of 75. Gillespie developed his own signature style called “bebop,” and worked with musical greats like Cab Calloway, Ella Fitzgerald, Earl Hines, Charlie Parker and Duke Ellington. 

2001 – Destiny’s Child is in the midst of an 11-week domination of the Billboard Hot 100 with “Independent Women Part I,” from the “Charlie’s Angels” movie soundtrack and the group’s third album, “Survivor.” 

READ MORE