On This Day: April 25

Musical Milestones

1956 – Rock and Roll King Elvis Presley signs a seven-year movie contract with Paramount Pictures.

1960 – Elvis Presley gets stuck on top of the Billboard Hot 100 for four weeks with “Stuck On You.” It’s his first hit single following his two-year stint in the U.S. Army.

1970 – The Jackson 5 give The Beatles’ “Let It Be” the boot and claim the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for two weeks with “ABC.”

1981 – Daryl Hall and John Oates begin their third and final week as chart-toppers with “Kiss On My List.”

1987 – U2 begin a nine-week run at No. 1 on the Billboard album chart with “The Joshua Tree,” which packs chart-topping tracks including “With or Without You,” “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” and “Where the Streets Have No Name.” It goes on to capture Grammys for Album of the Year and Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal.

1990 – The Fender Stratocaster that rock guitar legend Jimi Hendrix played at the Woodstock festival is auctioned off for a record $330,000. His two-hour set at the 1969 rock festival included a rendition of the “Star Spangled Banner.”

1992 – “Jump,” by hip hop duo Kris Kross, grabs the top spot on the singles chart and remains there for eight weeks.

1998 – Next has the No. 1 single with “Too Close.”

2007 – Leukemia claims the life of 69-year-old Bobby “Boris” Pickett, best known for his hit novelty song “Monster Mash,” which still gets radio airplay every Halloween.

History Highlights

1901 – The first license plate is affixed to an automobile, as New York becomes the first state to require tags. 

1945 – A milestone in the approaching end of World War II in Europe is achieved when U.S. and Russian troops meet in Torgau along the River Elbe, cutting Nazi Germany in two. 

1980 – President Jimmy Carter informs the nation that eight U.S. servicemen were killed in the collision of two military aircraft to be used to rescue 52 Americans held hostage in Iran. Those hostages are finally freed the following January, on the day Ronald Reagan is inaugurated president.

1983 – Soviet leader Yuri Andropov invites American fifth-grader Samantha Smith of Maine to visit his country after reading her letter in which she expressed fears about nuclear war. She makes the trip that summer and becomes an honorary ambassador for peace at a time when U.S.-Soviet relations were strained during the Cold War. Sadly, Smith dies in a plane crash two years later.

1990 – The crew of Space Shuttle Discovery places the Hubble Space Telescope, a long-term space-based observatory, into a low orbit around Earth. Hubble — named after astronomer Edwin Hubble — continues to provide astronomers with an unparalleled view of the solar system, the galaxy and the universe. 

1995 – Oscar-winning entertainer Ginger Rogers, best known for her films with dance partner Fred Astaire, dies at the age of 83.

Celebrity Birthdays

1874 – Nobel Prize-winning radio inventor Guglielmo Marconi (d. 1937)

1908 – Pioneering broadcast journalist and longtime CBS correspondent Edward R. Murrow (d. 1965)

1917 – Legendary Grammy-winning jazz vocalist Ella Fitzgerald, affectionately known as “The First Lady of Song” (d. 1996)

1932 – Basketball Hall of Famer and former Harlem Globetrotter Meadowlark Lemon 

1940 – Oscar-winning actor Al Pacino (“The Godfather” movie series, “Serpico,” “Dog Day Afternoon,” ” …And Justice for All,” “Scarface,” “Scent of a Woman,” “Carlito’s Way,” “The Devil’s Advocate,” “Danny Collins”)

1964 – Actor-producer-comedian Hank Azaria (“The Simpsons,” “The Birdcage,” “Mystery Men,” “Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian,” “The Smurfs,” “Brockmire”)

1969 – Oscar and Golden Globe-winning actress Renée Zellweger (“Jerry McGuire,” “Bridget Jones’s Diary,” “Me Myself and Irene,” “Chicago,” “Cold Mountain,” “Cinderella Man”) 

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ABC

Jackson 5

The Joshua Tree

U2

A Full Life: Reflections at Ninety

Jimmy Carter

Shall We Dance

Starring Ginger Rogers, Fred Astaire and Edward Everett Horton, and directed by Mark Sandrich

Edward R. Murrow and the Birth of Broadcast Journalism

Bob Edwards

Dog Day Afternoon

Starring Al Pacino, John Cazale, James Broderick and Charles Durning, and directed by Sidney Lumet

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On This Day: March 24

Musical Milestones

1958 – Elvis Presley swaps his blue suede shoes for military boots as he is inducted into the U.S. Army as a private. The King achieves the rank of sergeant in February 1960, and a month later, is honorably discharged from active duty at the age of 25.

1962 – Bruce Channel wraps up his three-week run at No. 1 on the pop chart with “Hey! baby.”

1973 – “Love Train” by the O’Jays steams its way to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

1979 – The Bee Gees have the No. 1 single on the radio with “Tragedy,” off their “Spirits Having Flown” album.

1986 – Howard Jones releases “No One Is To Blame” in the U.S. It goes on to become his biggest-selling single.

1992 – A class-action lawsuit against Milli Vanilli’s record label is resolved when a judge approves a plan to refund up to $3 to everyone who bought the pop duo’s music before November 27, 1990 — the date they admitted to not actually singing their songs. Fans who bought tickets to a Milli Vanilli concert could claim a rebate of up to $2.50.

2001 – One-hit-wonder Crazy Town has the No. 1 single for a week with “Butterfly,” which features a sample of “Pretty Little Ditty” from the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

History Highlights

1965 – NASA’s Ranger 9 spacecraft beams the first video images of the moon down to Earth before making a planned crash-landing on the lunar surface.

1977 – For the first time since severing diplomatic relations in 1961, Cuba and the U.S. enter into direct negotiations when the two nations discuss fishing rights.

1989 – The tanker Exxon Valdez runs aground in Prince William Sound off Alaska and spills 11 million gallons of crude oil into one of nature’s richest habitats, eventually contaminating 1,300 miles of coastline. This was the largest oil spill in U.S. waters until the 2010 Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico caused a 168-million-gallon spill.

1996 – Astronaut Shannon Lucid begins the first full day of a five-month stay aboard the Russian space station Mir. She transfers from the space shuttle Atlantis, becoming the first female American astronaut to live in a space station.

2002 – Halle Berry becomes the first African-American performer to win a Best Actress Oscar (for “Monster’s Ball”) and only the second African-American actress ever to be honored by the Academy (the first was Hattie McDaniel, who won for her supporting role in 1939’s “Gone With the Wind”). 

Celebrity Birthdays

1874 – Magician and escape artist Harry Houdini, born Ehrich Weisz (d. 1926)

1930 – Actor and auto racer Steve McQueen, nicknamed the “King of Cool” (“The Magnificent Seven,” “The Great Escape,” “The Sand Pebbles,” “Bullitt,” “The Getaway,” “The Towering Inferno”) (d. 1980)

1951 – Fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger  

1970 – Actress Lara Flynn Boyle (“Twin Peaks,” “The Practice,” “Men In Black II”) 

1973 – Emmy-winning actor Jim Parsons (“Garden State,” “The Big Bang Theory,” “Hidden Figures”)

1974 – Actress Alyson Hannigan (“American Pie,” “Buffy The Vampire Slayer,” “How I Met Your Mother”) 

1976 – Retired star NFL quarterback and actor Peyton Manning, who set records for most career passing yards and most career passing touchdowns while playing for the Indianapolis Colts and Denver Broncos

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The Best Of The O'Jays: Love Train

The O’Jays

The Ultimate Bee Gees

Bee Gees

Lunar Impact: The NASA History of Project Ranger

R. Cargill Hall

Red Light to Starboard: Recalling the "Exxon Valdez" Disaster

Angela Day

Bullitt

Starring Steve McQueen, Robert Vaughn and Jacqueline Bisset, and directed by Peter Yates

DK Biography: Harry Houdini: A Photographic Story of a Life

Vicki Cobb

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On This Day: February 18

Musical Milestones

1956 – The Platters serve up the No. 1 single in America: “The Great Pretender.”

1956 – “Rock Around the Clock,” by Bill Haley and His Comets, becomes the first rock and roll LP to make the U.S. pop album charts.

1959 – At the Atlantic Records studio in New York, Ray Charles records “What’d I Say,” considered one of the greatest soul/R&B records ever produced. The track paves the way for Charles to break into mainstream pop music.

1967 – “Kind of a Drag,” by The Buckinghams, begins two weeks on top of the Billboard Hot 100.

1982 – Cher makes her Broadway acting debut in “Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean.”

1995 – TLC marks its fourth and final week on top of the pop chart with “Creep.”

2006 – “Check On It,” by Beyoncé featuring Bun B and Slim Thug, is in the midst of a five-week domination of the Billboard Hot 100.

History Highlights

1885 – Author Samuel Clemens, writing under the pen name of Mark Twain, publishes “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.”

1929 – The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announces the winners of the first Academy Awards to the press. Emil Jannings is the first Best Actor and Janet Gaynor Best Actress. A black-tie banquet takes place three months later at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, with 270 guests paying $5 apiece to attend.

1930 – Peering through a powerful telescope at the Lowell Observatory in Arizona, astronomer Clyde Tombaugh discovers Pluto, formerly the ninth planet in our solar system.

1967 – J. Robert Oppenheimer, known as the “father of the atomic bomb,” dies at the age of 62.

1970 – Five members of The Chicago Seven are found guilty of conspiring to incite riots at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. 

1977 – The space shuttle Enterprise test vehicle is carried on its maiden “flight,” sitting on top of a Boeing 747. 

Celebrity Birthdays

1898 – Race car driver and Ferrari Motor founder Enzo Ferrari (d. 1988)

1931 – Nobel and Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Toni Morrison (“The Bluest Eye,” “Song of Solomon,” “Beloved”) (d. 2019)

1950 – Golden Globe-winning actress Cybill Shepherd (“The Last Picture Show,” “Taxi Driver,” “Moonlighting,” “Cybill”)

1954 – Golden Globe-winning actor John Travolta (“Welcome Back, Kotter,” “Saturday Night Fever,” “Grease,” “Pulp Fiction,” “Get Shorty,” “Broken Arrow,” “Face/Off,” “Hairspray”)

1964 – Actor-director Matt Dillon (“Rumble Fish,” “The Outsiders,” “The Flamingo Kid,” “Drugstore Cowboy,” “In & Out,” “There’s Something About Mary,” “Crash,” “You, Me and Dupree”)

1965 – Grammy-winning hip-hop pioneer Dr. Dre, born Andre Young 

1968 – Actress Molly Ringwald (“Sixteen Candles,” “The Breakfast Club,” “Pretty in Pink,” “Something to Live for: The Alison Gertz Story,” “The Stand”)

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Rock Around The Clock

Bill Haley

What'd I Say

Ray Charles

Academy Awards®: The Complete Unofficial History

Gail Kinn & Jim Piazza

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Mark Twain

Pulp Fiction

Starring John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson and Uma Thurman, and directed by Quentin Tarantino

Sixteen Candles

Starring Molly Ringwald and Anthony Michael Hall, and directed by John Hughes

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On This Day: January 28

Musical Milestones

1967 – The Monkees are in the middle of a seven-week ride atop the Billboard Hot 100 with “I’m a Believer.”

1978 – Fleetwood Mac’s “Rumours” — which contains the hits “Dreams,” “Don’t Stop” and “Go Your Own Way, among other now-classic tracks — is No.1 on the U.S. album chart. It goes on to capture a Grammy for Album of the Year.

1978 – “Baby Come Back,” by Player, begins its third and final week as a No. 1 single. 

1984 – “Owner of a Lonely Heart,” off Yes’ “90125” album, rules the Billboard Hot 100 for a second and final week.

1985 – Forty-five of the world’s top recording artists gather in a Los Angeles studio to record “We Are the World” to help raise funds for Ethiopian famine relief. The song, written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie and produced by Quincy Jones, reaches No. 1 on the singles chart three months later.

1995 – TLC marks the first of four weeks as Billboard singles chart-toppers with “Creep.”

2006 – “Grillz,” by Nelly featuring fellow rappers Paul Wall, Ali & Gipp, is the No. 1 single.  

History Highlights

1915 – The American merchant ship William P. Frye becomes the first casualty of World War I as a German cruiser opens fire and sinks the vessel. Despite apologies from the German government, the attack sparks outrage in the U.S.

1922 – Ninety-eight guests are killed, 133 others are injured when the roof of Washington, D.C.’s Knickerbocker Theatre collapses under the weight of a heavy snowfall. The disaster ranks as one of Washington’s worst, and the “Knickerbocker Snowstorm,” as it is known, still holds the record for Washington’s single greatest snowfall.

1958 – The interlocking stud-and-tube plastic Lego brick is patented by Godtfred Kirk Christiansen, whose father founded the Lego toy company (“Lego,” from the Danish term “leg godt,” meaning “play well”). Bricks manufactured today remain compatible with the original ones.

1964 – The State Department accuses the Soviet Union of shooting down an unarmed Air Force trainer jet over East Germany, killing its three occupants.

1986 – A nation watches in horror as Space Shuttle Challenger (STS-51-L) explodes 73 seconds into flight, killing teacher Christa McAuliffe — who was to have been the first civilian in space — and fellow crew members Dick Scobee, Michael Smith, Judith Resnick, Ellison Onizuka, Ronald McNair and Gregory Jarvis.

1997 – Four apartheid-era police officers, appearing before a tribunal in South Africa, admit to the 1977 killing of Stephen Biko, a leader of the South African “Black consciousness” movement.

Celebrity Birthdays

1912 – Abstract expressionist artist Jackson Pollock (d. 1956)

1936 – Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actor-director Alan Alda (“M*A*S*H,” “Same Time, Next Year,” “The Four Seasons,” “Everyone Says I Love You,” “The West Wing,” “The Aviator”)

1959 – Director Frank Darabont (“The Shawshank Redemption,” “The Green Mile,” “The Mist”)

1968 – Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Sarah McLachlan (“Building a Mystery,” “Angel,” “Fallen”) 

1977 – Former ‘N Sync band member, actor and TV personality Joey Fatone Jr. 

1981 – Actor-producer Elijah Wood (“Avalon,” “The Ice Storm,” “Deep Impact,” “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy, “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” “Sin City,” “Happy Feet”)

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Rumours

Fleetwood Mac

We Are The World

U.S.A. For Africa

Brick by Brick: How LEGO Rewrote the Rules of Innovation and Conquered the Global Toy Industry

David Robertson and Bill Breen

Space Shuttle Disaster: The Tragic Mission of the Challenger

Henry M. Holden

M*A*S*H: The Complete Collection

Starring Alan Alda, Wayne Rogers, Harry Morgan, Mike Farrell, Loretta Swit and others

The Green Mile

Starring Tom Hanks, David Morse and Bonnie Hunt, and directed by Frank Darabont

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On This Day: January 5

Musical Milestones

1959 – Coral Records releases Buddy Holly’s “It Doesn’t Matter Anymore.” It is Holly’s last single before his tragic death in a plane crash that also killed popular singers Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper. 

1963 – “Telstar,” by the British instrumental band The Tornados, marks its third and final week as a No. 1 single. 

1973 – Bruce Springsteen releases his debut album, “Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J.,” on Columbia Records.

1979 – Jazz musician and bandleader Charles Mingus dies at the age of 56.  

1980 – KC and the Sunshine Band claims the top spot on the singles chart with “Please Don’t Go.” 

1991 – Madonna scores the first No. 1 single of 1991 with “Justify My Love,” off her album, “The Immaculate Collection.” It remains a chart-topper for two weeks.

History Highlights

1914 – The Ford Motor Company introduces an eight-hour workday and minimum wage of $5 for a day’s labor. 

1933 – Construction begins on California’s iconic Golden Gate Bridge, spanning San Francisco Bay. The span was completed ahead of schedule and $1.3 million under budget when it opened on May 27, 1937.

1970 – The ABC soap “All My Children” premieres and runs for 41 seasons.

1972 – President Richard Nixon orders the development of a new space transportation system that relies on a reusable vehicle, and NASA’s space shuttle program is born.

1998 – Entertainer-turned-congressman, Sonny Bono, is killed in a California skiing accident at the age of 62.

Celebrity Birthdays

1928 – Former U.S. Vice President Walter “Fritz” Mondale, who served under President Jimmy Carter

1931 – Oscar, Golden Globe and Emmy-winning actor Robert Duvall (“To Kill a Mockingbird,” “Apocalypse Now,” “The Godfather,” “The Godfather Part II,” “Tender Mercies,” “Lonesome Dove,” “The Judge”)

1946 – Oscar-winning actress Diane Keaton (“The Godfather” series, “Annie Hall,” “The First Wives Club,” “Something’s Gotta Give”)

1969 – Shock rocker Marilyn Manson, born Brian Hugh Warner (“Sweet Dreams are Made of These,” “The Dope Show,” “The Beautiful People”)

1975 – Actor-director Bradley Cooper (“Wedding Crashers,” “Yes Man,” “He’s Just Not That Into You,” “The Hangover” trilogy, “Silver Linings Playbook,” “American Hustle,” “American Sniper,” “A Star is Born”)

1978 – Actress January Jones, best known for her role as Betty Draper in the “Mad Men” television series

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Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J.

Bruce Springsteen

The Immaculate Collection

Madonna

Golden Gate Bridge: History and Design of an Icon

Donald MacDonald and Ira Nadel

All My Children

ABC soap “All My Children”

Lonesome Dove

Starring Robert Duvall and Tommy Lee Jones, and directed by Simon Wincer

Annie Hall

Starring Woody Allen, Diane Keaton and Tony Roberts, and directed by Woody Allen

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On This Day: December 4

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.

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. — shuts down after nearly 65 years of service.

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

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

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Mr Sandman

The Chordettes

The Ultimate Collection: Roy Orbison

Roy Orbison

United Nations: A History

Stanley Meisler

I Was a Pan Am Princess of the Sky

Fumiko Takahashi

The Big Lebowski

Starring Jeff Bridges, John Goodman and Julianne Moore, and directed by Joel Coen

My Cousin Vinny

Starring Joe Pesci, Marisa Tomei and Fred Gwynne, and directed by Jonathan Lynn

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On This Day: October 29

Musical Milestones

1966 – The Michigan-based garage rock band Question Mark & the Mysterians dominates the singles chart with “96 Tears.” Some music critics credit the song with starting the punk rock movement.

1971 – Guitarist Duane Allman of The Allman Brothers Band dies in a motorcycle accident in Macon, Georgia just three weeks shy of his 25th birthday.

1977 – “You Light Up My Life,” by Debby Boone, is in the midst of a 10-week domination of the Billboard Hot 100.

1983 – The Dolly Parton-Kenny Rogers duet “Islands In The Stream” is the No. 1 single. The song, written by the Bee Gees, holds the top spot for two weeks.

1988 – Phil Collins holds first place on the Billboard Hot 100 with “A Groovy Kind of Love,” from the soundtrack to the movie “Buster,” in which Collins stars. The track garners him a Grammy nomination for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance.

1994 – Boyz II Men rule the singles chart with “I’ll Make Love to You.”

History Highlights

1929 – Pandemonium erupts on Wall Street as the New York Stock Exchange crashes. Black Tuesday, as it is known, triggers the start of the Great Depression.

1966 – The National Organization for Women (NOW) is established.

1969 – The Internet is born as bits of electronic data begin to flow between computers at UCLA and the Stanford Research Institute.

1998 – Nearly four decades after making history as the first American to orbit the Earth, U.S. Senator John Glenn heads back into space—this time as a payload specialist aboard the space shuttle Discovery. At 77, Glenn becomes the oldest human ever to travel in space.

Celebrity Birthdays

1891 – Actress-singer-comedian Fanny Brice, best known for her work with the Ziegfeld Follies (portrayed by Barbra Streisand in the movie “Funny Girl”) (d. 1951)

1925 – Best-selling author, journalist and TV personality Dominick Dunne, who covered high-profile murder cases, including the O. J. Simpson trial, for Vanity Fair (d. 2009)

1945 – Tony-winning singer and actress Melba Moore (“This Is It,” “Lean on Me,” “Love’s Comin’ At Ya”)

1947 – Oscar-winning actor Richard Dreyfuss (“American Graffiti,” “Jaws,” “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” “The Goodbye Girl,” “Mr. Holland’s Opus”)

1948 – Actress Kate Jackson (“Charlie’s Angels,” “Scarecrow and Mrs. King”)

1957 – Actor Dan Castellaneta, best known as the voice of Homer Simpson and several other characters in “The Simpsons”

1971 – Golden Globe-winning actress Winona Ryder, born Winona Laura Horowitz (“Beetlejuice,” “Heathers,” “Mermaids,” “Edward Scissorhands,” “Bram Stoker’s Dracula,” “The Age of Innocence,” “Reality Bites,” “Girl, Interrupted,” “Mr. Deeds”)

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The Best Of ? & The Mysterians (1966-1967)

? & The Mysterians 

Ultimate Dolly Parton

Dolly Parton

The Great Crash 1929

John Kenneth Galbraith

John Glenn: A Memoir

John Glenn with Nick Taylor

Mr. Holland's Opus

Starring Richard Dreyfuss, Glenne Headly and Olympia Dukakis

Reality Bites

Starring Winona Ryder, Ethan Hawke and Janeane Garofalo, and directed by Ben Stiller

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On This Day: September 29

Musical Milestones

1962 – “Sherry,” by The Four Seasons, is in the middle of a five-week run on top of the Billboard singles chart.

1973 – Grand Funk Railroad’s “We’re An American Band” is the No. 1 single.

1976 – Enjoying a little target practice during his own birthday party, rock and roll legend Jerry Lee Lewis accidentally shoots his bass player, Norman “Butch” Owens, in the chest. Twice! Owens survives and sues Lewis.

1979 – The Knack begin their fifth and final week on top of the Billboard Hot 100 with “My Sharona.”

1984 – Prince and the Revolution rule the singles chart with “Let’s Go Crazy,” from the soundtrack to the motion picture “Purple Rain.”

1990 – The hard rock band Nelson begins one week atop the pop chart with “(Can’t Live Without Your) Love and Affection.”

2004 – Keith Moon’s five-piece silver Premier drum kit, custom-made for The Who drummer in 1968, sells for £120,000 ($215,772 U.S.) at Christie’s auction house in London to an American collector, setting a world auction record for a set of drums.

2007 – “Stronger,” by Kanye West, is the No. 1 single.

History Highlights

1941 – The Babi Yar massacre of nearly 34,000 Jewish men, women, and children begins on the outskirts of Kiev in the Nazi-occupied Ukraine. The two-day bloodbath becomes a symbol of Jewish suffering in the Holocaust.

1966 – General Motors rolls out the sporty Chevy Camaro in an effort to go head-to-head with the popular Ford Mustang, which debuted two years earlier.

1988 – NASA launches the so-called “Return to Flight Mission” — the first space shuttle launch since the devastating Challenger explosion that claimed the lives of all seven crew members in January 1986. STS-26 marks the seventh flight for shuttle Discovery.

1988 – Stacy Allison of Portland, Oregon, becomes the first American woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest, the highest point on Earth.

1995 – President Bill Clinton posthumously awards voting rights advocate Willie Velasquez the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Velasquez and the organizations he founded are credited with dramatically increasing political awareness and participation among the Hispanic communities of the Southwestern U.S.

2005 – New York Times reporter Judith Miller is released from a federal detention center after agreeing to testify in the investigation into the leaking of the identity of covert CIA officer Valerie Plame.

Celebrity Birthdays

1907 – Entertainer Gene Autry, born Orvon Grover Autry, affectionately known as “The Singing Cowboy” (d. 1998)

1929 – NFL coach Bum Phillips, most associated with the former Houston Oilers (d. 2013)

1935 – Rock and Roll legend Jerry Lee Lewis (“Whole Lotta Shakin’ Going On,” “Great Balls of Fire”)

1942 – Jazz-rock violinist-composer Jean Luc Ponty

1942 – Actress Madeline Kahn, born Madeline Gail Wolfson, best known for her roles in the Mel Brooks comedies “Blazing Saddles,” “High Anxiety” and “Young Frankenstein” (d. 1999)

1943 – Nobel Laureate Lech Walesa, former Polish president and leader of Poland’s Solidarity movement

1948 – Emmy-winning former “Today Show” co-host and “Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel” host Bryant Gumbel

1980 – Actor Zachary Levi (“Less Than Perfect,” “Chuck,” “Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel,” “Tangled,” “Thor: The Dark World”)

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Jerry Lee Lewis: His Own Story

Rick Bragg

Purple Rain

Prince

In Broad Daylight: The Secret Procedures behind the Holocaust by Bullets

Father Patrick Desbois

Beyond the Limits: A Woman's Triumph on Everest

Stacy Allison

The Essential Gene Autry

Gene Autry

Blazing Saddles

Starring Cleavon Little, Gene Wilder, Slim Pickens and Madeline Kahn, and directed by Mel Brooks

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On This Day: September 17

Musical Milestones

1967 – The Doors are banned from “The Ed Sullivan Show” after front man Jim Morrison breaks his agreement with the producers. Morrison promised he wouldn’t sing the words, “Girl, we couldn’t get much higher,” from “Light My Fire,” but did anyway.

1969 – Media on both sides of the Atlantic report that Paul McCartney of The Beatles is dead — supposedly killed in a car accident in Scotland in November 1966 and that a double had been standing in for him during public appearances. In fact, Paul and his girlfriend, Jane Asher, were vacationing in Kenya at the time.

1977 – Andy Gibb owns the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 with “I Just Want to Be Your Everything.”

1988 – Guns N’ Roses begins the second and final week at No. 1 on the singles chart with “Sweet Child o’ Mine,” off the band’s debut album, “Appetite for Destruction.”

1994 – “I’ll Make Love to You,” by Boyz II Men, is in the midst of a 14-week domination of the singles chart.

2016 – Barbra Streisand extends her record as the artist with the most No. 1 albums in chart history (11) when “Encore: Movie Partners Sing Broadway” reaches the top of the Billboard album chart.

History Highlights

1862 – At the Battle of Antietam, Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia and Union General George B. McClellan’s Army of the Potomac fight to a standstill along a Maryland creek. The bloodiest day in American military history results in nearly 23,000 soldiers killed, wounded or missing.

1937 – The stone likeness of President Abraham Lincoln’s face is officially dedicated at Mount Rushmore.

1963 – New programming premieres on ABC: “The Greatest Show on Earth” and “The Fugitive,” the latter of which is made into a movie 30 years later, starring Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones. 

1966 – The spy series “Mission: Impossible” debuts on CBS. Thirty years later, in 1996, the first in a series of “Mission: Impossible” movies is produced starring, starring Tom Cruise. 

1972 – The Korean War-era series “M*A*S*H,” starring Alan Alda, begins an 11-year run on CBS

1976 – NASA unveils the first space shuttle, Enterprise, a $10 billion technological marvel that took a decade to develop. 

1978 – A milestone is achieved on the road to a Middle East peace, with the signing of the Camp David Accords. U.S. President Jimmy Carter presides as Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli President Menachem Begin agree to end three decades of hostilities between their nations. 

Celebrity Birthdays

1923 – Legendary country music star Hank Williams, Sr. (d. 1953)

1928 – Actor Roddy McDowall, born Roderick Andrew Anthony Jude “Roddy” McDowall, who played Cornelius and Caesar in the original “Planet of the Apes” sci-fi movie and TV series (d. 1998)

1931 – Oscar, Golden Globe, Tony and Emmy-winning actress Anne Bancroft, born Anna Maria Louisa Italiano (“The Graduate,” “The Miracle Worker,” “The Elephant Man, “Agnes of God,” “Malice”) (d. 2005)

1948 – Golden Globe and Emmy-winning actor John Ritter, best known as Jack Tripper in the hit comedy series “Three’s Company” (d. 2003)

1951 – Actress Cassandra Peterson, a.k.a. Elvira, Mistress of the Dark

1965 – Actor Kyle Chandler (“Friday Night Lights,”  “Super 8,” “Argo,” “Zero Dark Thirty,” “The Wolf of Wall Street,” “King Kong”)

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Appetite for Destruction

Guns N’ Roses

II

Boyz II Men

M*A*S*H (TV Milestones Series)

David Scott Diffrient

Landscape Turned Red

Stephen W. Sears

The Complete Hank Williams

Hank Williams, Sr.

The Graduate

Starring Anne BancroftDustin Hoffman and Katharine Ross, and directed by Mike Nichols

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On This Day: September 2

Musical Milestones

1957 – Elvis Presley’s first soundtrack album, “Loving You,” tops the Billboard 200 and spawns the chart-topping hit, “(Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear.”

1967 – Bobbie Gentry is mid-way through a four-week ride on top of the Billboard singles chart with “Ode to Billie Joe.”

1972 – Gilbert O’Sullivan’s “Alone Again (Naturally)” returns to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 after spending four weeks there in July and August.

1986 – Sixteen-year-old Debbie Gibson signs with Atlantic Records, launching a string of 11 chart singles.

1989 – Paula Abdul has the No. 1 single with “Cold Hearted.”

1995 – The Rock And Roll Hall of Fame opens in downtown Cleveland, Ohio. Most of the celebration actually takes place at nearby Cleveland Municipal Stadium with a marathon concert featuring a slew of legendary musicians and vocalists.

1995 – Michael Jackson’s “You Are Not Alone,” off his “HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I” album, becomes the first single in Billboard history to debut at No. 1. It is also Jackson’s 13th and final chart-topper.

2000 – Janet Jackson rules the Billboard Hot 100 with “Doesn’t Really Matter.”

History Highlights

1789 – Congress establishes the U.S. Treasury Department to maintain the day-to-day activities of the federal government. 

1945 – Japan officially surrenders to the Allies aboard the battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, marking the end of World War II (V-J Day).

1959 – Ford introduces the 90-horsepower, 30 mile-per-gallon Falcon during the first nationwide closed-circuit TV news conference. Marketed as “the small car with the big car feel,” the Falcon becomes an overnight success.

1969 – Personal banking is revolutionized as America’s first automatic teller machine (ATM) goes into service, dispensing cash to customers at Chemical Bank in Rockville Centre (Long Island), New York.

2013 – Endurance swimmer Diana Nyad becomes the first person to swim from Cuba to Florida without the use of a protective shark cage. The 64-year-old Nyad completes the 110-mile swim from Havana to Key West, through the jellyfish-and shark-infested waters of the Straits of Florida, in approximately 53 hours.

Celebrity Birthdays

1946 – Grammy-winning singer-keyboardist Billy Preston, who collaborated with the Beatles and Rolling Stones and had big hits of his own, including “Outa-Space,” “Nothing From Nothing,” “Will It Go Round in Circles” (d. 2006)

1948 – Legendary NFL quarterback and sportscaster Terry Bradshaw

1948 – Schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe, who died in the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion (d. 1986)

1951 – Actor Mark Harmon (“St. Elsewhere,” “The Presidio,” “Wyatt Earp,” “Chicago Hope,” “The West Wing,” “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,” “Freaky Friday,” “Weather Girl,” “NCIS”)

1952 – Tennis great Jimmy Connors

1964 – Actor-director and bass player Keanu Reeves (“Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure,” “Speed,” “The Matrix” trilogy, “A Walk in the Clouds,” “Devil’s Advocate,” “John Wick”)

1966 – Emmy-winning actress Salma Hayek (“Desperado,” “The Faculty,” “Wild Wild West,” “Fools Rush In,” “Frida,” the “Grown Ups” movies, “Puss in Boots,” “Tale of Tales”)

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Ode to Billie Joe

Bobbie Gentry

The Very Best of Gilbert O'Sullivan: A Singer and His Songs

Gilbert O’Sullivan

The Fall of Japan: A Chronicle of the End of an Empire

William Craig

Find a Way: The Inspiring Story of One Woman's Pursuit of a Lifelong Dream

Diana Nyad

Teacher in Space: Christa McAuliffe and the Challenger Legacy

Colin Burgess

Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure

Starring Keanu ReevesAlex WinterGeorge Carlin, and directed by Stephen Herek

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