Sly & the Family Stone

On This Day March 8

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On This Day February 15

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Celebrity Birthdays

1564 – Scientist Galileo Galilei (generally referred to as Galileo), a major figure in the scientific revolution, who made pioneering discoveries that advanced the study of astronomy, physics and philosophy (d. 1642)

1820 – Suffragette reformer and women’s rights activist Susan B. Anthony (d. 1906)

1927 – Emmy-winning comedian Harvey Korman (“The Carol Burnett Show,” “Blazing Saddles”) (d. 2008)

1951 – Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter Melissa Manchester (“Midnight Blue,” “Don’t Cry Out Loud, “Through the Eyes of Love”)

1951 – Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actress Jane Seymour (“Somewhere in Time,” “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman,” “Wedding Crashers”)

1954 – Cartoonist Matt Groening, best known for creating “The Simpsons”

1964 – Actor-comedian Chris Farley (“Saturday Night Live,” “Wayne’s World,” “Tommy Boy,” “Black Sheep,” “Beverly Hills Ninja”) (d. 1997)

History Highlights

1879 – President Rutherford B. Hayes signs a bill allowing female attorneys to argue cases before the U.S. Supreme Court.

1898 – The battleship USS Maine explodes and sinks in Havana (Cuba) Harbor, killing more than 260 crewmen. The incident prompts the U.S. to declare war on Spain.

1903 – The first teddy bear, named for U.S. President Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt, goes on sale. Toy store owner and inventor Morris Michtom places two stuffed bears in his shop window after personally getting Roosevelt’s permission to name them after him.

1933 – Two weeks before his inauguration, President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt is fired upon by a would-be assassin after giving a speech in Miami. FDR is unharmed, but a bullet strikes Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak, who dies three weeks later.

1965 – A new red-and-white maple leaf design is adopted as the flag of Canada, replacing the old Canadian Red Ensign banner.

1978 – Leon Spinks takes the heavyweight boxing champion title away from defending champ Muhammad Ali in a split decision in Las Vegas.

1985 – “The Breakfast Club” opens in U.S. theaters. Directed by John Hughes and starring Molly Ringwald, Emilio Estevez, Judd Nelson, Anthony Michael Hall and Ally Sheedy — members of the so-called “Brat Pack” — it becomes an ’80s movie classic. In 2016, the film is selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by The Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”

1998 – Racing great Dale Earnhardt, Sr. wins his first Daytona 500, the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) season opener and an event dubbed the “Super Bowl of stock car racing.”

Musical Milestones

1964 – “Meet The Beatles!” reaches No. 1 on the Billboard album chart, becoming The Beatles’ first chart-topping album in the U.S. It holds the top spot for eleven weeks and sells more than four million copies by the end of that year.

1965 – The Beatles record “Another Girl” and “Ticket to Ride” for the “Help!” album. Earlier that day, John Lennon earns a personal ticket to ride by passing his driving test.

1965 – Entertainer Nat King Cole (“Unforgettable,” “Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days of Summer,” “The Christmas Song,” “Mona Lisa”), who earned early acclaim as a jazz pianist and became the first African American performer to host a network TV variety show, dies of lung cancer at the age of 45.

1969 – Sly & the Family Stone rule the Billboard singles chart with “Everyday People,” which remains at No. 1 for four weeks.

1975 – “You’re No Good,” by Linda Ronstadt, is the No. 1 single.

1984 – Beloved actress-singer Ethel Merman, best known for her rendition of “There’s No Business Like Show Business,” from the musical “Annie Get Your Gun,” dies at the age of 75.

1986 – “How Will I Know,” by Whitney Houston, becomes the most popular single in the U.S. for two weeks.

1992 – One-hit-wonder Right Said Fred is in the middle of three weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 with “I’m Too Sexy.”

2003 – “All I Have,” by Jennifer Lopez featuring LL Cool J, is midway through a four-week run at No. 1 on the singles chart.

On This Day December 4

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Celebrity Birthdays

1934 – Game show host Wink Martindale (“Tic Tac Dough,” “Gambit,” “Dedt”)

1949 – Oscar-winning actor Jeff Bridges (“The Last Picture Show,” “Jagged Edge,” “The Fabulous Baker Boys,” “The Fisher King,” “Fearless,” “The Big Lebowski,” “Seabiscuit,” “Iron Man,” “Crazy Heart,” “Tron: Legacy,” “The Giver”)

1964 – Oscar-winning actress Marisa Tomei (“My Cousin Vinny,” “In the Bedroom,” “The Wrestler”)

1966 – Comedian Fred Armisen (“Saturday Night Live,” “Portlandia”)

1969 – Grammy-winning rapper-record producer Jay Z, born Shawn Corey Carter

1973 – Supermodel-turned-actress and TV host Tyra Banks

History Highlights

1945 – The Senate overwhelmingly approves full U.S. participation in the United Nations just weeks after the U.N. is established.

1969 – Black Panther Party members Fred Hampton and Mark Clark are shot and killed in their sleep during a raid by Chicago police.

1991 – Islamic militants in Beirut release American journalist Terry Anderson after more than six years as a hostage.

1991 – Commercial aviation pioneer Pan American World Airways, more commonly known as Pan Am — the airline that first transported The Beatles to the U.S. in 1964 — shuts down after nearly 65 years of service.

1992 – President George H.W. Bush orders 28,000 American troops to Somalia, a war-torn East African nation where rival warlords were preventing the distribution of humanitarian aid to thousands of starving Somalis.

1998 – NASA launches Space Shuttle Endeavour (STS-88) on the first mission to assemble the International Space Station (ISS).

2009 – In a sensational case dubbed “the trial of the decade,” 22-year-old American exchange student Amanda Knox is convicted of murdering her British roommate, Meredith Kercher, in 2007 in Perugia, Italy.

Musical Milestones

1954 – The Chordettes settle in at No. 1 on the singles chart for seven weeks with “Mr. Sandman.”

1964 – The Beatles release their fourth album, “Beatles For Sale.” It contains “No Reply,” “I’m a Loser,” “Rock and Roll Music,” “Eight Days a Week” and other now-classic tunes.

1965 – The Byrds kick off three weeks on top of the Billboard Hot 100 with “Turn! Turn! Turn!”

1971 – The most popular single is “Family Affair” by Sly & the Family Stone. It remains at No. on the Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks.

1988 – Roy Orbison plays his final concert at the Front Row Theater in Cleveland, Ohio, performing classics like “In Dreams,” “Only the Lonely,” “Ooby Dooby,” “Crying” and his signature song, “Oh, Pretty Woman.” Two days later, the 52-year-old rock ‘n roll legend suffers a fatal heart attack.

1993 – Cancer claims the life of rock composer-guitarist Frank Zappa at the age of 52.

2004 – The Usher-Alicia Keys duet, “My Boo,” enters its sixth and final week as a No. 1 single.