26 MAY
In Music History
1940 Levon Helm (lead vocalist for The Band) is born Mark Lavon Helm in Elaine, Arkansas, but will grow up in nearby Turkey Scratch.
1940 Ray Ennis (vocalist, lead guitarist for Swinging Blue Jeans) is born in Huyton, Liverpool, England.
1937 Lionel Hampton records "Flying Home."
1933 Country singer Jimmie Rodgers dies at age 35 after a long battle with tuberculosis (which he sings about in "T.B. Blues.")
1926 Miles Davis is born in Alton, Illinois.
1920 Peggy Lee is born Norma Deloris Egstrom in Jamestown, North Dakota.
1916 Louis Thomas Hardin, aka Moondog, is born in Marysville, Kansas. Aside from forging a career as a musician, composer, and inventor, he becomes well-known as a street musician in New York City, where his cloak and Viking-style helmet earns him the nickname "the Viking of 6th Avenue."
1909 Delta bluesman "Papa Charlie" McCoy is born in Jackson, Mississippi.
1904 George Formby, who will become a popular comedic actor and singer throughout the '30s and '40s, is born George Hoy Booth in Wigan, Lancashire, England.
1886 Al Jolson is born Asa Yoelson in Seredžius, Lithuania (then part of the Russian Empire).
1880 John Curwen, an English minister who co-founded the Tonic sol-fa system of music education, dies at age 64.
1868 The Fenian terrorist, Michael Barrett, is hanged outside Newgate Prison in what is the last public execution in England. The crowd sings "Champagne Charlie" and "Rule, Britannia!"
Michael Jackson Marries Elvis' Daughter
1994Michael Jackson marries Lisa Marie Presley, the child of Elvis, in a secret ceremony held in the Dominican Republic. The couple divorce 20 months later, citing irreconcilable differences.
Read more26 MAY
Featured Events
2006 The right-leaning National Review reveals their list of the 50 greatest conservative rock songs. At the top is "Won't Get Fooled Again" by The Who, which is praised for its revolutionary spirit. Next on the list is "Taxman" by The Beatles and "Sympathy For The Devil" by The Rolling Stones.
1999 Backstreet Boys' album Millennium sells 1.13 million units in its first week, establishing a new SoundScan-era record for sales in a single week.
1996 Firemen arrive at the burning home of Eric Clapton to find the guitarist running in and out of the home to save his guitar collection. The house is gutted, with about three million dollars in damage.
1977 Rock sensations and serial marketers Kiss provide Marvel Comics with a vial of their blood to be mixed with the red ink used to print their upcoming comic book. The photo op takes place at the printing plant in Depew, New York, where the comic will be made.
1974 An overenthusiastic crowd at a David Cassidy concert in London rushes the stage, injuring a thousand screaming fans and crushing 14-year-old Bernadette Whelan, who dies from her injuries four days later. A distraught Cassidy refuses to tour for the next 11 years.
1972 Mott The Hoople, on the verge of breaking up, are offered help from David Bowie, who allows them to record two songs he wrote. They pass on "Suffragette City" but cut "All The Young Dudes," which becomes their biggest hit and revives their career.
1964 Lenny Kravitz is born in Manhattan, New York, to The Jeffersons actress Roxie Roker and TV executive Sy Kravitz. He releases his debut album, Let Love Rule, in 1989.More
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