19 DECEMBER
Featured Events
2014 Darlene Love sings "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" on David Letterman's show for the final time, as the host has announced his retirement.More
1997 Titanic opens in theaters. It becomes the top-grossing movie of all time, with a soundtrack that sells about 15 million copies, thanks mostly to the Celine Dion hit, "My Heart Will Go On."More
1985 Johnny Paycheck is drinking at a bar in Hillsboro, Ohio, when two guys recognize him and sit near him. Things get tense, and Paycheck pulls out a .22 pistol and shoots one of them, grazing his head. That man, Larry Wise, claims that Paycheck got testy after they offered him a meal of deer meat and turtle soup. Wise says Paycheck yelled, "What do you think I am, a country hick?," and shot him. The country singer is convicted and serves 22 months in jail.
1976 Al Green, recently ordained as a minister, opens the Full Gospel Tabernacle Church in Memphis, where he preaches most Sundays.
1941 Earth, Wind & Fire founder Maurice White is born in Memphis, Tennessee.
19 DECEMBER
In Music History
2016 Country songwriter Andrew Dorff, brother of actor Stephen Dorff, dies at age 40. Penned hits for artists such as Martina McBride ("Ride"), Kenny Chesney ("Save It for a Rainy Day"), Blake Shelton ("Neon Light") and Hunter Hayes ("Somebody's Heartbreak").
2012 Madonna gets angry at fans at a concert in Santiago, Chile, for smoking cigarettes near her against her wishes. The singer lectures the audience: "If you're going to smoke cigarettes, I'm not doing a show. You don't care about me, I don't care about you. All right? Are we going to play that game? I'm not kidding. I can't sing if you smoke." Did we mention that this was out in the open air in the rain and she was about ten feet above everybody onstage?
2003 Tori Amos makes her film debut in the Julia Roberts movie Mona Lisa Smile. In her cameo as a '50s big band singer at a wedding reception, she sings the standards "You Belong To Me" and "Murder, He Says," which also appear on the movie's soundtrack.
2000 Roebuck "Pops" Staples (of The Staple Singers) dies at age 85 after a bad fall leaves him with a concussion.
1996 Avenue H in Lubbock, Texas, is renamed Buddy Holly Avenue in honor of the city's hometown hero.
1993 Michael Clarke (drummer for The Byrds, Flying Burrito Brothers) dies of liver failure at age 47 after decades of alcohol abuse.
1978 The Carpenters: A Christmas Portrait airs on ABC.
1968 The Friends of Distinction record "Grazin' In The Grass."
1968 Kevin Shepard (drummer for Tonic) is born in Southern California.
1967 For the second time, Joan Baez is arrested for leading a sit-in at the Armed Forces Induction Center in Oakland, California to protest the Vietnam War. She's sentenced to 45 days in prison but released after 31.
1965 Keith Moon collapses during a Who concert in Ontario.
1960 The Four Preps record "More Money For You And Me" live at North Hollywood High School.
1958 Pop singer Limahl (lead singer of Kajagoogoo) is born Christopher Hamill in Pemberton, Wigan, England.
1957 Doug Johnson (keyboardist for Loverboy) is born in New Westminster, British Columbia.
1955 Carl Perkins records "Blue Suede Shoes" two days after writing the song.
Dolly Parton Is Workin' 9 To 5
19809 to 5, starring Dolly Parton and featuring the classic theme song by the singer (where she uses her fingernails as an instrument), opens in theaters. Parton, in her first acting role, stars alongside Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda as disgruntled secretaries who get even with their sexist boss.
Parton plays Doralee Rhodes, who is unfairly labeled the office tramp after a rumor spreads about her sleeping with the boss. Despite having no acting experience, the country singer agreed to play the part on the stipulation she could write and perform the theme song, which proves to be a shrewd move. The feminist anthem goes to #1 on multiple charts, including the Hot 100, Adult Contemporary, and Country tallies. Parton also snags Grammys for Best Country Song and Best Country Vocal Performance, Female, and an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song. Parton is also lauded for her performance, with Roger Ebert noting in his review: "Dolly Parton has a unique comic presence, she seems to be having a lot of fun on the screen, and if she finds the right roles and the right direction she can be so successful in the movies that her singing career will seem like an afterthought. Whatever it is that stars have and others don't have, Dolly has." She does land a handful of roles throughout the decade in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Rhinestone, and Steel Magnolias - but her occasional acting certainly doesn't overshadow her singing career.
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