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On this Day May 17

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Celebrity Birthdays

1936 – Actor Dennis Hopper (“Easy Rider,” “Blue Velvet,” “Speed,” “Waterworld”) (d. 2010)

1955 – Actor-director Bill Paxton (“Apollo 13,” “Twister,” “Titanic,” “Big Love,” “Hatfields & McCoys”) (d. 2017)

1956 – Retired Olympic boxing champion and Boxing Hall of Famer Sugar Ray Leonard

1956 – Actor and TV host Bob Saget (“Full House,” “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” “How I Met Your Mother,” “Fuller House”) (d. 2022)

1960 – “American Idol” creator Simon Fuller

1961 – Grammy-winning Irish vocalist Enya, born Eithne Pádraigín Ní Bhraonáin (“Orinoco Flow,” “Caribbean Blue”)

1962 – Peabody-winning comedian and former “Late Late Show” and “Celebrity Name Game” host Craig Ferguson

1965 – Nine Inch Nails founder-turned-Oscar and Golden Globe-winning film composer Trent Reznor, whose soundtrack credits include “Natural Born Killers” and “The Social Network”

History Highlights

1769 – George Washington brings a series of resolutions before the Virginia House of Burgesses protesting the British policy of “taxation without representation.”

1792 – Two dozen merchants and brokers get together to establish what is now the New York Stock Exchange. They begin by meeting under a buttonwood tree on Wall Street and eventually rent a room in a nearby building.

1875 – The first running of the Kentucky Derby takes place at Churchill Downs in Louisville. Before a crowd of some 10,000 spectators, jockey Oliver Lewis rides Aristides to victory in a time of 2:37.75.

1954 – In a major civil rights victory, the U.S. Supreme Court rules unanimously in the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case that racial segregation in public schools is unconstitutional.

1973 – Watergate hearings open in the U.S. Senate and are broadcast on national television.

2004 – Marcia Kadish, 56, and Tanya McCloskey, 52, marry at Cambridge City Hall in Massachusetts, becoming the first legally married same-sex partners in the United States. Over the course of the day, 77 other same-sex couples tie the knot across the state. 

Musical Milestones

1969 – “Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In,” by The 5th Dimension, marks its sixth and final week as a No. 1 single. The recording goes on to win both Record of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Group Grammy Awards in 1970.

1975 – “He Don’t Love You (Like I Love You),” by Tony Orlando & Dawn, enters its third and final week as the hottest single in the U.S.

1980 – “Call Me,” by Blondie, is in the middle of a six-week run at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

1986 – “The Greatest Love of All,” by Whitney Houston, begins three weeks as the most popular single.

1997 – The Notorious B.I.G.’s “Hypnotize” wraps up three weeks as a Billboard Hot 100 chart-topper.

2003 – Sean Paul grabs the top spot on the pop chart with his reggae-infused “Get Busy.”

2012 –  Five-time Grammy winner Donna Summer, who rose to fame during the 1970s and early 80s with disco anthems like “Love to Love You Baby,” “I Feel Love,” and “Hot Stuff,” loses her battle with lung cancer at the age of 63.

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