Seattle – Time Rewind

On This Day April 21

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On This Day April 5

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Celebrity Birthdays

1900 – Oscar-winning actor Spencer Tracy (“Boys Town,” “Inherit the Wind,” “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner”) (d. 1967)

1908 – Oscar-winning actress Bette Davis, known as “The First Lady of the American Screen” (“Jezebel,” “All About Eve,” “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?”) (d. 1989)

1916 – Oscar-winning actor Gregory Peck (“The Keys of the Kingdom,” “Gentleman’s Agreement,” “To Kill a Mockingbird”) (d. 2003)

1926 – Producer-director Roger Corman, known as “The Pope of Pop Cinema” (“The Little Shop of Horrors,” “The Raven,” “Piranha,” ” Rock ‘n’ Roll High School”)

1937 – Soldier-turned-statesman Colin Powell, a four-star U.S. general who became the first African American secretary of state in 2001

1941 – Emmy and Tony-winning actor Michael Moriarty (“Bang the Drum Slowly,” “Holocaust,” “Law & Order”)

1973 – Singer-rapper-music producer Pharrell Williams, best known for his 2014 smash “Happy,” from the movie “Despicable Me 2.”

History Highlights

1614 – Pocahontas, daughter of the chief of the Powhatan Indian confederacy, weds English tobacco planter John Rolfe in Jamestown, Virginia. The marriage ensures peace between the Jamestown settlers and the Powhatan Indians for several years.

1951 – A federal judge sentences Julius and Ethel Rosenberg to death for their roles in passing atomic secrets to the Soviets. The couple had been convicted of their crimes a week earlier. They are executed by electric chair in 1953, becoming the only two American civilians to be executed for Cold War espionage.

1965 – Movie musicals sweep the Oscars. At the 37th Academy Awards, “My Fair Lady” wins Best Picture, while its star, Rex Harrison, wins Best Actor. Singer/actress Julie Andrews wins Best Actress for her role in “Mary Poppins.”

1971 – Canadian Fran Phipps becomes the first woman to reach the North Pole.

1987 – The sitcom “Married…With Children” debuts on Fox and ultimately lasts 11 seasons, becoming the network’s longest-running live action series.

2000 – Lee Petty, an early star of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) and the patriarch of a racing dynasty that includes his son, NASCAR legend Richard Petty, dies at the age 86. Lee Petty won more than 50 races during his career.

Musical Milestones

1969 – Tommy Roe enjoys his fourth and final week on top of the pop chart with “Dizzy.”

1975 – “Lovin’ You,” by Minnie Riperton, tops the Billboard Hot 100. At the end of the track, you can hear her sing, “Maya, Maya” to her daughter, actress-comedian and “SNL” alum Maya Rudolph. Tragically, Riperton dies of breast cancer four years later at the age of 31.

1980 – “Another Brick in the Wall, Part II,” by Pink Floyd, is the No. 1 single.

1984 – The funeral service for Motown legend Marvin Gaye takes place at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Los Angeles. Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder, Quincy Jones, Berry Gordy and other Motown talent are on hand to pay their respects.

1985 – At 3:50 p.m. GMT, more than 5,000 radio stations around the world simultaneously broadcast the single “We Are the World,” produced as a charity to benefit Ethiopian famine relief. The single, written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie and produced by Quincy Jones, features the voices of some of the biggest musical acts of the day.

1994 – Grunge music icon Kurt Cobain, Nirvana founder and frontman, commits suicide at age 27. His body is discovered at his Seattle home three days later by an electrician who showed up to install a security system.

1997 – “Can’t Nobody Hold Me Down,” by Puff Daddy featuring Mase, is in the middle of a six-week ride atop the Billboard Hot 100.

2002 – Another grunge legend, singer-songwriter Layne Staley, co-founder and lead vocalist of alternative rock band Alice in Chains, is found dead in his Seattle home from a drug overdose at the age of 34.

2008 – Leona Lewis has the No. 1 single with “Bleeding Love.” The track holds the top spot for a week.

2014 – Pharrell Williams holds the top spot on the singles chart with “Happy,” which remains at No. 1 for 10 weeks.

On This Day February 20

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Celebrity Birthdays

1902 – Pioneering photographer and preservationist Ansel Adams (d. 1984)

1927 – Oscar-winning actor-director Sidney Poitier (“Lilies of the Field,” “In the Heat of the Night,” “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner,” “To Sir, With Love,” “Sneakers,” “The Jackal”)

1946 – Singer-songwriter and guitarist John Warren Geils, Jr., known professionally as J. Geils, frontman for the 80s rockers The J. Geils Band. (d. 2017)

1963 – Retired basketball star Charles Barkley, named one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History

1966 – Fashion icon, supermodel and entrepreneur Cindy Crawford

1967 – Legendary grunge music pioneer Kurt Cobain, lead singer-songwriter-guitarist of the band Nirvana (d. 1994)

1988 – Grammy-winning R&B singer-songwriter Rihanna, born Robyn Rihanna Fenty (“Umbrella,” “We Found Love,” “The Monster”)

History Highlights

1792 – President George Washington signs the Postal Act, creating the U.S. Postal Service (USPS).

1895 – American journalist, author, orator and abolitionist Frederick Douglass dies at the age of 78. Douglass conferred with President Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War and recruited northern Black officers for the Union Army. After the War, he fought for the rights of women and African Americans alike.

1962 – John Glenn launches into space from Cape Canaveral, Florida aboard NASA’s Mercury capsule, named Friendship 7, on the first orbital flight by an American astronaut. He completes three Earth orbits in just under five hours, ushering in a new era of spaceflight for the United States.

1965 – Ranger 8 crashes into the moon after a successful mission to photograph possible landing sites for the Apollo program.

1986 – The Soviet Union launches the first components of the Mir space station, which orbits Earth more than 86,000 times before falling harmlessly into the South Pacific near Fiji in March 2001.

1998 – American Tara Lipinski is 15 when she wins the Gold medal in women’s figure skating at the Olympic Winter Games in Nagano, Japan, becoming the youngest gold medalist in her sport.

2003 – One hundred people are killed, 230 others are injured when pyrotechnics during a Great White concert at The Station nightclub in Warwick, Rhode Island ignite flammable foam installed as soundproofing. The club burns to the ground in less than three minutes.

Musical Milestones

1959 – Legendary rock guitarist Jimi Hendrix is 16 years old when he makes his stage debut during a performance at Temple De Hirsch Sinai synagogue in Seattle. He is fired before the second set begins.

1965 – “This Diamond Ring,” by Gary Lewis & the Playboys, begins a two-week ride atop the Billboard singles chart.

1970 – The single “Instant Karma! (We All Shine On),” by John Lennon and the Plastic Ono Band, is released in the U.S. Lennon wrote, recorded and mixed the track all in one day, on January 27, 1970, with producer Phil Spector, at the Abbey Road Studios in London.

1982 – The J. Geils Band’s “Centerfold” is midway through a six-week domination of the Billboard Hot 100. It is the first single from the band’s “Freeze Frame” album. The music video becomes an early staple of MTV programming.

1988 – “Seasons Change,” by one-hit wonder Exposé, tops the Billboard Hot 100 for a week.

1991 – Actor Jack Nicholson presents Bob Dylan with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 34th Annual Grammys.

1993 – “I Will Always Love You,” by Whitney Houston, enters its 13th week as a No. 1 single. Written by Dolly Parton, the song is from the soundtrack to the movie, “The Bodyguard,” starring Houston and Kevin Costner.

1999 – Monica is in the middle of a four-week run at No. 1 on the pop chart with “Angel of Mine.”

2010 – Kesha dominates the pop chart with “Tik Tok,” which enters its eighth week at No. 1.

On This Day November 24

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Celebrity Birthdays

1784 – Zachary Taylor, 12th U.S. president (d. 1850)

1868 – Ragtime composer and pianist Scott Joplin (“The Maple Leaf Rag,” “The Entertainer”) (d. 1917)

1925 – Conservative author-commentator William F. Buckley, Jr. (d. 2008)

1938 – Basketball Hall of Famer Oscar “Big O” Robertson

1941 – Original Beatles drummer Pete Best

1978 – Emmy-winning actress Katherine Heigl (“Grey’s Anatomy,” “Knocked Up,” “State of Affairs”)

1990 – Actress Sarah Hyland (“Private Parts,” “Modern Family,” “Vampire Academy: Blood Sisters”)

History Highlights

1859 – “On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection,” a groundbreaking scientific work by British naturalist Charles Darwin, is published in England, and every copy sells the first day. Darwin concluded that organisms gradually evolve through a process he called “natural selection.”

1960 – Philadelphia Warrior Wilt Chamberlain snags 55 rebounds in a game against the Boston Celtics, setting an NBA record for the most rebounds in a single game.

1963 – Dallas nightclub owner Jack Ruby shoots and kills accused JFK assassin Lee Harvey Oswald in the garage of Dallas police headquarters. The incident is captured on live television as media outlets cover Oswald’s transfer from the police station to a county jail.

1971 – A hijacker identifying himself as D.B. Cooper takes $200,000 in ransom money and parachutes from a Seattle-bound passenger jet flying through a thunderstorm at 10,000 feet. Cooper’s fate remains a mystery to this day.

1978 – David Letterman makes his first guest appearance on “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.”

Musical Milestones

1950 – The musical comedy “Guys and Dolls” premieres on Broadway at the 46th Street Theatre. Two years later, it spawns a film adaptation starring Marlon Brando and Frank Sinatra.

1962 – The Four Seasons, featuring Frankie Valli, are in the second week of a five-week run as Billboard chart-toppers with “Big Girls Don’t Cry.”

1966 – The Beatles gather in a studio for the first time since wrapping up their U.S. summer concert tour and spend the entire day recording John Lennon’s “Strawberry Fields Forever.”

1972 – Don Kirshner’s “Rock Concert” TV show debuts, featuring Chuck Berry, Blood, Sweat & Tears and Alice Cooper.

1973 – Ringo Starr’s “Photograph” begins a week as the No. 1 single.

1979 – The Barbra Streisand-Donna Summer duet “No More Tears (Enough is Enough)” kicks off two weeks as a No. 1 single.

1984 – “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go,” by Wham!, rules the Billboard Hot 100.

1991 – Queen frontman Freddie Mercury dies of complications from AIDS exactly one day after publicly disclosing that he is HIV positive. He was 45 years old.

1997 – Johnny Rotten of The Sex Pistols is the defendant in an episode of TV’s “Judge Judy.” The case is a wrongful termination suit brought on by his former drummer, which Rotten wins.

2007 – Jay-Z climbs to the top of the Billboard album chart with “American Gangster,” his 10th chart-topping album. This ties the rapper to 2nd place with Elvis Presley for the most No. 1 albums. Only The Beatles have had more, with 19.

On This Day October 1

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Celebrity Birthdays

1910 – Outlaw Bonnie Parker (Bonnie & Clyde) (d. 1934)

1920 – Actor Walter Matthau (“The Odd Couple,” “The Fortune Cookie,” “Grumpy Old Men,” “Dennis the Menace”) (d. 2000)

1921 – Tony and Emmy-winning actor James Whitmore (“The Asphalt Jungle,” “Them!,” “Kiss Me Kate,” “Battle Cry,” “Oklahoma!,” “Planet of the Apes,” “Tora! Tora! Tora!,” “The Serpent’s Egg,” “Nuts,” “The Shawshank Redemption,” “The Majestic.” (d. 2009)

1924 – 39th U.S. President Jimmy Carter

1927 – Actor Tom Bosley (“Happy Days,” “The Father Dowling Mysteries,” “Murder, She Wrote”) (d. 2010)

1928 – Actor George Peppard (“Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” “The Blue Max,” “The A-Team”) (d. 1994)

1930 – Actor Richard Harris, best known for his performances as King Arthur in Broadway’s “Camelot” and Albus Dumbledore in the first two “Harry Potter” films (d. 2002)

1935 – Oscar and Tony-winning actress-singer Julie Andrews, born Julia Elizabeth Wells (“Mary Poppins,” “The Sound of Music,” “Camelot,” “My Fair Lady,” “Victor, Victoria,” “The Princess Diaries”)

1950 – Actor and “Saturday Night Live” alum Randy Quaid (“National Lampoon’s Vacation” and its sequels, “Independence Day”)

1969 – Comedian-actor Zach Galifianakis (“The Hangover” movie series, “Due Date,” “The Campaign,” “Are You Here,” “Birdman,” “Keeping Up with the Joneses”)

History Highlights

1890 – Yosemite National Park, located in the Sierra Nevada mountains of central California and home to such natural wonders as El Capitan and Half Dome as well as the giant sequoia trees, is established by an act of Congress. The sprawling 760,000-acre park typically draws about four million visitors a year.

1961 – Americans meet a talking horse with the premiere of the TV comedy “Mister Ed.”

1961 – New York Yankee Roger Maris becomes the first Major League baseball player to hit more than 60 home runs in a single season. He hits his 61st homer on the final day of the season against the Boston Red Sox.

1962 – Johnny Carson begins hosting “The Tonight Show” on NBC. He succeeds Jack Paar, who took over from the original host, Steve Allen. Carson remains host until turning his seat and microphone over to Jay Leno in May 1992.

1971 – Ten thousand visitors converge near Orlando, Florida as Disney opens its second theme park — Walt Disney World. Admission to the Magic Kingdom costs $3.50 for adults and $1 for children.

Musical Milestones

1966 – “Cherish,” by The Association, parks itself at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

1970 – Funeral services are held for Seattle native Jimi Hendrix. The legendary rock guitarist and singer-songwriter died in London two weeks earlier at the age of 27.

1977 – Meco’s disco interpretation of composer John Williams’ theme from the motion picture “Star Wars” (later retitled “Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope”) kicks off two weeks as the No. 1 single.

1982 – A revolution in the way we listen to music takes place, as the first compact disc (CD) player goes on sale in Japan for about $1,000. It’s the Sony CDP-101, and it lands in stores around the world six months later. The first CD to officially hit the market is Billy Joel’s “52nd Street.”

1988 – “Don’t Worry, Be Happy,” by Bobby McFerrin, marks its second and final week as a Billboard No. 1 single.

1994 – Boyz II Men own the top spot on the pop chart with “I’ll Make Love to You,” which remains at No. 1 for 14 weeks and captures a Grammy for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals.

2005 – “Gold Digger,” by Kanye West featuring Jamie Foxx, is in the middle of a 10-week run atop the Billboard Hot 100. The track, which samples Ray Charles’ “I Got a Woman,” is the second chart-topper for West and Foxx. It goes on to capture a Best Rap Solo Performance Grammy.

2011 – “Moves Like Jagger,” by Maroon 5 featuring Christina Aguilera, is the No. 1 single.