On This Day: April 2

On This Day April 2

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Celebrity Birthdays
Celebrity Birthdays

1914 – Actor Sir Alec Guinness (“Kind Hearts and Coronets,” “The Bridge on the River Kwai,” “Lawrence of Arabia,” “Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope”) (d. 2000)

1939 – Motown titan Marvin Gaye, whose hits include “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” and “What’s Going On”) (d. 1984)

1941 – Singer-songwriter and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Leon Russell (“A Song for You,” “Tight Rope,” “Lady Blue”) (d. 2016)

1945 – Oscar-winning actress Linda Hunt (“The Year of Living Dangerously,” “Kindergarten Cop,” “The Practice,” “NCIS: Los Angeles”)

1947 – Grammy-winning country singer-songwriter Emmylou Harris (“Two More Bottles of Wine,” “You Never Can Tell (C’est La Vie),” “Beneath Still Waters”)

1961 – Actor Christopher Meloni (“Oz,” “Runaway Bride,” “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” “True Blood”)

History Highlights
History Highlights

1792 – The U.S. Congress passes the Coinage Act, establishing the U.S. Mint and regulating money.

1917 – The first woman ever elected to the U.S. Congress, Jeannette Rankin, takes her seat as a representative from Montana. A year later, she earns a second distinction by joining 49 of her House colleagues in voting against U.S. entry into World War I. Rankin remained true to her antiwar beliefs, becoming the only member of Congress to oppose declaring war against Japan following the December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor.

1956 – One of the longest running soaps debuts on CBS: “As The World Turns.” Former cast members include Meg Ryan, Julianne Moore, and Marisa Tomei.

1972 – Actor Charlie Chaplin returns to the U.S. for the first time since being labeled a communist during the Red Scare in the early 1950s.

1978 – “Dallas” premieres in primetime on CBS, starring Larry Hagman as the devious and despised oil tycoon J.R. Ewing. Launched as a five-episode miniseries, the ratings juggernaut delivers audiences 356 episodes over 14 seasons, turning its actors into international stars and J.R. and Southfork Ranch into household names.

2005 – John Paul II, history’s most well-traveled pope and the first non-Italian to serve as head of the Roman Catholic Church since the 16th century, dies at his home in the Vatican at the age of 84. Six days later, two million people pack Vatican City for his funeral, believed to be the most-attended funeral of all time.

Musical Milestones
Musical Milestones

1957 – Elvis Presley performs at the Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, Canada. It is one of only five concert appearances The King ever makes outside the U.S. The tour marks the first and last time that Elvis wears his now-legendary gold lamé suit.

1966 – “Ballad of the Green Berets,” by Staff Sergeant Barry Sadler, begins its fifth and final week as the No. 1 single. 

1977 – “Rich Girl,” by Hall & Oates, tops the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the first of the duo’s six No. 1 career singles.

1977 – “Rumours,” by Fleetwood Mac, climbs to No. 1 on the Billboard album chart and remains there for 31 weeks. The album contains tracks that became huge hits for the band, including the chart-topping “Dreams” and Top-10 singles “Go Your Own Way,” “Don’t Stop” and “You Make Loving Fun.”

1987 – Buddy Rich, regarded as one of the greatest jazz drummers of all time, dies at the age of 69 from heart failure following surgery for a malignant brain tumor.

1994 – Ace of Base holds the top spot on the pop chart with “The Sign.”

2003 – Soul singer-songwriter Edwin Starr, best known for his passionate, 1970 chart-topping anti-Vietnam War anthem “War,” dies at his home in England at the age of 61.

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On This Day: March 1

On This Day March 1

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Celebrity Birthdays
Celebrity Birthdays

1904 – Swing bandleader, composer and arranger Glenn Miller (d. 1944)

1927 – Grammy and Tony-winning singer, actor and social activist Harry Belafonte, dubbed the “King of Calypso”

1944 – Singer-songwriter and The Who founder-frontman Roger Daltrey

1954 – Actor and Academy Award-winning director Ron Howard (“The Andy Griffith Show,” “Happy Days,” “Apollo 13,” “A Beautiful Mind,” “Cinderella Man,” “Frost/Nixon,” “Solo: A Star Wars Story”)

1994 – Grammy-winning pop sensation Justin Bieber 

History Highlights
History Highlights

1872 – The U.S. Congress passes an act designating Yellowstone the first federally protected national park.

1932 – In one of the most sensational criminal cases in American history, the 20-month-old son of aviator Charles Lindbergh is kidnapped from the family’s Hopewell, New Jersey mansion. Despite a ransom payment, the child is never returned. Two months later, his decomposed body is found by a truck driver about four miles from the Lindbergh home. The investigation eventually leads to the arrest of German immigrant and carpenter Bruno Hauptmann, who is tried, convicted and executed for the crime in 1936.

1961 – Newly elected President John F. Kennedy signs an executive order establishing the Peace Corps. Over the years, the Peace Corps has sent nearly a quarter of a million American volunteers to 141 countries to provide local training and assistance with health, education, water, sanitation, agriculture, nutrition and forestry projects.

1969 – Legendary New York Yankees center fielder Mickey Mantle announces his retirement from baseball. Nicknamed “The Mick,” he is considered one of the greatest power and switch hitters in baseball history.

Musical Milestones
Musical Milestones

1969 – “Everyday People,” by Sly and the Family Stone, tops the Billboard Hot 100.

1973 – “The Dark Side of the Moon,” the eighth studio album by British rock band Pink Floyd, is released in the U.S. and gives us classics including “Money” and “Us and Them.” It remains on the Billboard album chart for an incredible 937 weeks (18 years).

1974 – Olivia Newton-John wins Record of the Year and Best Pop Female Vocal Performance Grammys for “I Honestly Love You.”

1975 – The Eagles soar to the top of the singles chart with their first No. 1 single: “Best of My Love.”

1986 – Mr. Mister’s “Kyrie,” from the band’s “Welcome to the Real World” album, begins two weeks as a No. 1 single. 

1997 – The Spice Girls’ debut single, “Wannabe,” is in the middle of a four-week domination of the Billboard Hot 100. The track also goes on to top the pop charts in the band’s native U.K. and 20 other countries.

2003 – Jennifer Lopez and LL Cool J wrap up four weeks as chart-toppers with “All I Have.”

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On this Day: August 4

On this Day August 4

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Celebrity Birthdays
Celebrity Birthdays

1821 – Fashion designer Louis Vuitton (d. 1892)

1901 – Legendary jazz trumpeter and singer Louis Armstrong, also known as “Satchmo” (d. 1971)

1920 – Helen Thomas, known as the “First Lady of the Press” for her more than 60-year career as a White House correspondent (d. 2013)

1944 – Actor, comedian and author Richard Belzer (“Homicide: Life on the Street,” “Law & Order: SVU”)

1955 – Actor-director Billy Bob Thornton (“Monster’s Ball,” “Sling Blade,” “Armageddon,” “Primary Colors,” “Bad Santa,” “The Judge”) 

1961 – 44th U.S. President Barack Obama 

1962 – Retired MLB All-Star pitcher Roger Clemens (a.k.a. “Rocket”),  the first pitcher to win the Cy Young Award seven times

1968 – Actor Daniel Dae Kim (“The Jackal,” “The Adjustment Bureau,” “Lost,” “Hawaii Five-O”)

1971 – Champion NASCAR driver Jeff Gordon

History Highlights
History Highlights

1790 – The U.S. Congress authorizes creation of a maritime service to enforce customs laws. We know that service today as the U.S. Coast Guard.

1936 – American track and field star Jesse Owens embarrasses German Fuhrer Adolf Hitler when he captures the gold medal in the long jump at the Summer Olympics in Berlin. The win discredits Hitler’s notion of a superior Aryan “master race” in front of an international audience. 

1944 – Officers of the Nazi Gestapo (secret police) arrest eight Jews, including 15-year-old schoolgirl Anne Frank and her parents and sister, found hiding inside the secret annex of an Amsterdam warehouse. The Franks had taken shelter there two years earlier to avoid deportation to a concentration camp.

1955 – The romantic thriller “To Catch a Thief,” starring Cary Grant and Grace Kelly and directed by Alfred Hitchcock, opens in U.S. theaters.

1964 – The remains of three civil rights workers whose disappearance six weeks earlier garnered national attention are found buried in an earthen dam near Philadelphia, Mississippi.

1977 – President Jimmy Carter signs legislation creating the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). 

Musical Milestones
Musical Milestones

1958 – Billboard magazine introduces its Hot 100 chart, a list of the 100 best-selling pop singles in the U.S. The very first No. 1 is Ricky Nelson’s “Poor Little Fool,” which holds the top spot for two weeks.

1962 – Bobby Vinton’s “Roses Are Red (My Love)” wraps up four weeks as a Billboard No. 1. 

1973 – Maureen McGovern sails to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart with “The Morning After,” the Academy Award-winning love theme from the cruise ship disaster movie “The Poseidon Adventure.” 

1980 – John Lennon begins recording what becomes his final album, “Double Fantasy,” at The Hit Factory in New York. On December 8, 1980, Lennon is shot to death outside his Manhattan apartment building.

1990 – “Vision of Love,” by Mariah Carey, kicks off four weeks on top of the pop chart. 

2001 – Destiny’s Child rules the Billboard Hot 100 with “Bootylicious,” off the trio’s “Survivor” album.  The song contains a prominent sample from the Stevie Nicks song, “Edge of Seventeen.”

2007 – The Plain White T’s mark their second and final week as chart-toppers with “Hey There Delilah.”

2012 – Carly Rae Jepsen is in the middle of a nine-week reign over the pop chart with “Call Me Maybe,” which earns Grammy nominations for Song of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance.

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