16 MAY
In Music History
1947 Darrell Sweet (drummer for Nazareth) is born in Bournemouth, England.
1947 '60s singer Barbara Lee (of The Chiffons) is born in The Bronx, New York.
1946 Roger Earl (drummer for Foghat, Savoy Brown) is born in Hampton Court Palace, London, England.
1946 Robert Fripp (guitarist for King Crimson) is born in Wimborne Minster, Dorset, England.
1945 Nicky Chinn, who penned hits with songwriting partner Mike Chapman throughout the '60s and '70s, is born in London, England.
1944 Jazz drummer Billy Cobham is born in Panama.
1936 Doo wop singer Corinthian "Kripp" Johnson (of The Dell-Vikings) is born in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
1932 Drummer Isaac "Redd" Holt (Young-Holt Unlimited, The Ramsey Lewis Trio) is born in Rosedale, Mississippi.
1929 Jazz singer Betty Carter is born Lillie Mae Jones in Flint, Michigan.
1919 Liberace is born Władziu Valentino Liberace in West Allis, Wisconsin, along with a twin who dies at birth.
1913 Woody Herman, jazz clarinetist and saxophonist, is born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
1767 A piano is played for the first time in public in the UK. In a playbill for a performance of The Beggar's Opera at Covent Garden Theatre, London, it is announced a Miss Brickler sings "accompanied by Mr. Dibdin on a new instrument called piano-forte."
Michael Jackson Introduces The Moonwalk
1983Michael Jackson does the Moonwalk for the first time on TV when he breaks out the move on the Motown 25th anniversary TV special.
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Featured Events
2000 Britney Spears' second album, Oops!… I Did It Again, is released. It sells 1.3 million copies in its first week, setting a new record for best-selling debut by a female artist.More
1998 Five years after it was first released (in Danish), "Torn" goes to #1 on the US Airplay chart with a version by the Australian actress Natalie Imbruglia.More
1987 U2 break big in America with their first #1 hit in that country, "With Or Without You," from the album The Joshua Tree. Their next single, "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For," follows to #1, cementing their superstar status.
1986 Host Johnny Carson and his bandleader Doc Severinsen wear fake beards in honor of ZZ Top, who perform "Sharp Dressed Man" and "Tush" on The Tonight Show.More
1975 Kiss play the Cobo Arena, Detroit, recording it for some of their live album Alive!, their first Gold album. In September, Bob Seger records two concerts at Cobo for Live Bullet, his first Gold album.
1966 Janet Jackson is born Janet Damita Jo Jackson in Gary, Indiana, the youngest of nine kids in the Jackson family. She releases her first album in 1982 when she's 16 and breaks through with Control in 1986. Her next album, Rhythm Nation 1814, makes her one of the biggest pop stars on the planet.
1966 The Beach Boys release their landmark album Pet Sounds, produced with great ingenuity by their bass player, Brian Wilson. Standout tracks include "Wouldn't It Be Nice" and "God Only Knows."
1956 Doris Day introduces her signature song, "Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)," in the Alfred Hitchcock thriller The Man Who Knew Too Much.More
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