Super Fly – Time Rewind

On This Day December 26

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On This Day October 21

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Celebrity Birthdays

1917 – Legendary jazz trumpeter-composer Dizzy Gillespie, who helped develop the “bebop” music style (d. 1993)

1924 – Actress Joyce Randolph, who played Trixie Norton in the 1950s sitcom “The Honeymooners”

1928 – Baseball Hall of Famer Whitey Ford, who was a star pitcher for the New York Yankees

1942 – Judith Sheindlin, better known as TV’s “Judge Judy”

1956 – Actress-author Carrie Fisher, who played Princess Leia in the “Star Wars” movie trilogy and wrote “Postcards From the Edge” (d. 2016)

1959 – Actor Ken Watanabe (“The Last Samurai,” “Batman Begins,” “Inception,” “Godzilla”)

1980 – Socialite and reality TV star Kim Kardashian West (“Keeping Up With The Kardashians”)

History Highlights

1879 – Thomas Edison throws the switch on his newly invented incandescent lamp, which burns for nearly 14 hours.

1921 – President Warren Harding delivers a speech in Alabama condemning lynchings that were being committed primarily by white supremacists against African Americans in the Deep South. Harding is the first U.S. president to address the controversial subject.

1941 – Nazi troops massacre thousands of men, women and children across Yugoslavia in retaliation for that country’s rejection of an alliance with Germany.

1959 – The distinctive and world-renowned Guggenheim Museum opens in New York City. Designed by acclaimed architect Frank Lloyd Wright, the museum houses one of the world’s top collections of contemporary art.

1959 – President Dwight Eisenhower signs an executive order transferring renowned rocket engineer Wernher von Braun and his team from the U.S. Army to the newly created National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Von Braun, who masterminded America’s space program, developed the lethal V-2 rocket for Nazi Germany during World War II, and had been a member of the Nazi Party and an SS officer.

1967 – In Washington, D.C., thousands of Vietnam War protesters stage a peaceful rally at the Lincoln Memorial before attempting to storm the Pentagon. Police arrest 250 of the demonstrators.

2014 – South African Oscar Pistorius, the first double amputee runner to compete at the Olympics, is sentenced to five years in prison after being found guilty of culpable homicide (manslaughter) in the 2013 death of his girlfriend, 29-year-old Reeva Steenkamp. His sentence is later doubled by a higher court.

Musical Milestones

1958 – Rock and roll legend Buddy Holly’s last recording session takes place in a New York City studio. Among the songs he records is “It Doesn’t Matter Anymore,” which was written by Paul Anka and becomes a No. 13 hit following Holly’s death in a February 1959 plane crash.

1967 – Lulu begins a five-week run at No. 1 on the singles chart with the theme from the movie “To Sir With Love,” starring Sidney Poitier.

1972 – Curtis Mayfield begins four weeks on top of the Billboard album chart with the soundtrack to the movie “Super Fly.” Sales of the album, which contains the hits “Freddy’s Dead” and “Super Fly,” go on to surpass the movie’s box office performance.

1973 – “Angie” begins a week as a No. 1 single for The Rolling Stones. The track is from the band’s “Goats Head Soup” album and becomes their seventh U.S. chart-topper.

1989 – Janet Jackson’s “Miss You Much” is mid-way through a four-week domination of the Billboard Hot 100.

1995 – Mariah Carey holds on to the top spot on the pop chart for a fourth week with “Fantasy.” The track remains there for another four weeks.

2000 – “Come on Over Baby (All I Want Is You)” becomes the third No. 1 single of Christina Aguilera’s music career. This track stays on top for four weeks.

2000 – Radiohead’s fourth album, “Kid A,” debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard album chart.

2006 – Justin Timberlake’s “SexyBack” marks its seventh and final week at No. 1 on the singles chart. The track captures a Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording in 2007.

On this Day June 3

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Celebrity Birthdays

1906 – Dancer-singer-actress Josephine Baker (d. 1975)

1925 – Actor Tony Curtis (“Houdini,” “The Defiant Ones,” “Some Like It Hot,” “Spartacus”) (d. 2010)

1929 – Game show creator-host Chuck Barris (“The Dating Game,” “The Newlywed Game,” “The Gong Show”) (d. 2017)

1936 – Author-screenwriter Larry McMurtry, best known for his 1985 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel “Lonesome Dove”

1942 – Soul singer-songwriter-producer Curtis Mayfield, formerly with The Impressions and best known for his 1972 “Super Fly” movie soundtrack (d. 1999)

1950 – Singer and bass guitarist Suzi Quatro, best known for her 1978 hit “Stumblin’ In”

1950 – Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Deniece Williams (“Free,” “Let’s Hear It For The Boy”)

1967 – CNN host and reporter Anderson Cooper

1986 – Grand slam tennis champion and Olympic gold medalist Rafael “Rafa” Nadal

History Highlights

1800 – John Adams, the second president of the United States, becomes the first president to make his home in Washington, D.C. when he takes up residence at Union Tavern in the Georgetown section.

1937 – The Duke of Windsor – formerly King Edward VIII of Great Britain and Northern Ireland – marries Wallis Simpson, the American divorcée for whom he abdicated the British throne six months earlier. It is considered the wedding that forever changed the Royal Family.

1965 – NASA launches Gemini IV, the first multi-day manned space mission. Astronaut Ed White performs the first spacewalk by an American.

1979 – A blowout at the Ixtoc I oil well in the southern Gulf of Mexico leads to one of the largest oil spills in history. More than 176 million gallons spills before the well is finally capped nine months later.

1989 – China’s government sends troops to force pro-democracy demonstrators out of Tiananmen Square following seven weeks of occupation.

2002 – Lew Wasserman, an agent and studio executive who was arguably the most influential Hollywood mogul for some 40 years after World War II, dies at the age of 89.

Musical Milestones

1956 – Authorities in Santa Cruz, California impose a ban on rock and roll at public gatherings, calling the music “Detrimental to both the health and morals of our youth and community.” Media coverage of the ban sparks a backlash, and it isn’t long before the ban is suspended.

1967 – Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin begins a two-week run at No. 1 on the singles chart with her Grammy-winning R&B smash, “Respect.”

1972 – The Staple Singers take their soulful single, “I’ll Take You There,” to the top of the Billboard Hot 100. In 1999, the song is inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

1975 – Actor and bandleader Ozzie Nelson dies of cancer at the age of 68.

1978 – The nation’s hottest single is a duet by Johnny Mathis and Deniece Williams: “Too Much, Too Little, Too Late.”

1989 – Soap opera star-vocalist Michael Damian’s cover of the David Essex classic, “Rock On,” climbs to the top of the Billboard Hot 100.

1992 – Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, performs soulful renditions of “Heartbreak Hotel” and “God Bless The Child” on “The Arsenio Hall Show.” Many believe the jam was just what Clinton needed to set himself apart from his opponents — Republican President George H.W. Bush and independent candidate Ross Perot — and go on to win the election.

1995 – Bryan Adams begins five weeks on top of the Billboard singles chart with “Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?” The track is featured in the Johnny Depp movie, “Don Juan DeMarco.”

2006 – The No. 1 spot on the pop chart belongs to Chamillionaire featuring Krayzie Bone with “Ridin’.”