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On this Day July 19

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Celebrity Birthdays

1941 – Grammy-winning singer Vikki Carr, best known for her 1967 hit “It Must Be Him” 

1947 – Singer-songwriter Brian May, best known as lead guitarist for the rock band Queen

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

1961 – Actor Campbell Scott (“Longtime Companion,” “Dying Young,” “Big Night,” “The Amazing Spider-Man,” “The Amazing Spider-Man 2”)

1962 – Golden Globe and Emmy-winning actor Anthony Edwards (“Fast Times at Ridgemont High,” “Revenge of the Nerds,” “Top Gun,” “Zodiac,” “Miracle Mile,” “ER”)

1976 – Emmy-winning actor Benedict Cumberbatch (“War Horse,” “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy,” “Star Trek: Into the Darkness,” “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug,” “12 Years a Slave,” “The Fifth Estate,” “The Imitation Game”)

History Highlights

1848 – The first women’s rights convention called by abolitionists Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott takes place in Seneca Falls, New York. More than 300 men and women gather for the two-day event to “discuss the social, civil and religious rights and condition of woman.”

1879 – Dentist-turned-gunslinger Doc Holliday kills for the first time, shooting a man who started randomly firing his gun outside the Las Vegas, New Mexico saloon that Holliday owned.

1956 – Secretary of State John Foster Dulles announces that the U.S. will not help Egypt fund construction of the Aswan High Dam on the Nile River. The move leads to bumpy U.S.-Middle East relations for years to come.

1984 – New York Congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro officially wins the Democratic nomination for vice president during the party’s convention in San Francisco. She becomes the first woman to run on a major party ticket.

1989 – It’s a tragic day for commercial air travel as 112 people are killed when United Airlines Flight 232, a DC-10 en route to Chicago from Denver, crashes during an emergency landing at Sioux City, Iowa. 

Musical Milestones

1966 – Wedding bells ring as legendary entertainer Frank Sinatra marries actress Mia Farrow. He’s 50, she’s 21. The marriage lasts just two years.

1969 – Zager and Evans are No. 1 on the pop chart with “In the Year 2525.”

1974 – The three-day Ozark Music Festival opens at the Missouri State Fairgrounds in Sedalia, Missouri, and draws a crowd estimated at 350,000 — bigger than the more famous Woodstock Festival. Acts include Bachman-Turner Overdrive, Blue Öyster Cult, Eagles, Aerosmith, America, Jefferson Starship, the Marshall Tucker Band, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Joe Walsh.

1975 – Paul McCartney and Wings reach the top of the Billboard Hot 100 with “Listen To What The Man Said” off the “Venus and Mars” album.

1980 – Billy Joel holds the top position of both the album and singles charts. His album, “Glass Houses,” contains his first and biggest No. 1 hit, “It’s Still Rock ’n’ Roll to Me.”

1986 – “Invisible Touch,” off the Genesis album of the same name, grabs hold of the top spot on the Billboard singles chart for a week. It is the band’s first and only U.S. No. 1.

1988 – A year before the fall of the Berlin Wall, Bruce Springsteen performs for more than 300,000 fans in East Berlin, saying “I’m not here for any government. I’ve come to play rock ‘n’ roll for you in the hope that one day all the barriers will be torn down.”

1997 – “I’ll Be Missing You,” by Puff Daddy and Faith Evans featuring 112, is midway through an 11-week domination of the pop chart.

2003 – No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for a second straight week: “Crazy in Love,” by Beyoncé featuring Jay-Z. 

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