1987 George Harrison releases Cloud Nine, a commercial comeback that includes the #1 hit "Got My Mind Set On You." It's the last album he puts out in his lifetime.More
1984 Marvin Gay Sr., father of singer Marvin Gaye (who added the e when he joined Motown) is found guilty of manslaughter in the shooting death of his son, but courts rule the action was taken in self-defense, and the elder Gay is given five years' probation.
1981 Neil Young releases Re-ac-tor, his 11th studio album. It marks the first time Young uses an instrument called the Synclavier and signals the coming electronic sound of Trans. Made at a time when Young's attention is primarily focused on caring for his disabled son, the album feels slopped together and is not well received by critics or fans.
1979 The Who's musical film Quadrophenia, featuring a small part played by Sting, opens in US theaters.
1978 David Cassidy stars in a new cop show called David Cassidy: Man Undercover. It is cancelled after 10 episodes.
1974 Stevie Wonder's "You Haven't Done Nothin'," a dig on President Richard Nixon, hits #1 in America.
1974 Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young's greatest hits album So Far goes to #1 in America. The group hasn't released a studio album since 1970 but has reunited for a tour and plans to start recording again. Unfortunately, longstanding squabbles resurface and the new album doesn't materialize.
1974 Nelly is born Cornell Haynes, Jr. in Austin, Texas, but grows up in St. Louis, where he becomes the first major rapper to emerge from the city.
1973 Barbra Streisand hosts a TV special on CBS called Barbra Streisand And Other Musical Instruments. Among the "instruments": Ray Charles.
1973 Ringo Starr releases his third studio album, Ringo, in the US.
1971 John Hampson (vocalist, guitarist for Nine Days) is born in the US.
1969 Reginald Arvizu (bassist for KoRn) is born in Los Angeles, California.
1969 The Rolling Stones quasi-documentary Sympathy For The Devil, directed by Jean-Luc Godard, premieres in San Francisco.
1968 Cream is presented with a Platinum album for Wheels Of Fire at the Madison Square Garden stop of their farewell tour.
1966 Dressed in full revolutionary regalia, Paul Revere & the Raiders appear on an episode of Batman.
The Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, starring Rami Malek as Freddie Mercury, opens in theaters. It wins four Oscars, including Best Actor for Malek.
Read more1995 Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders guest stars on the Friends episode "The One with the Baby on the Bus." She sings "Angel of the Morning" and learns "Smelly Cat" from Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow).
1985 "Part-Time Lover" hits #1 on the Hot 100, 22 years after Stevie Wonder first topped the chart in 1963.More
1985 The Miami Vice soundtrack album, featuring the #1-hit theme song, tops the albums chart in America, ushering in a new age of TV soundtracks.More
1978 Alice Cooper appears on The Muppet Show, where he performs "Welcome to My Nightmare" and "School's Out." He also offers to give the Muppets fame and riches if they'll sign their souls over to him. Kermit is horrified. Gonzo spends the entire episode looking for a pen.
1978 The Police release their debut album, Outlandos d'Amour. The working title, "Police Brutality," is changed to make is sound more romantic. The title loosely translates as "Outlaws of Love" but the term "Outlandos" is actually a mix of the words for "Outlaws" and "Commandos."
1974 George Harrison begins his Dark Horse tour with Ravi Shankar in Vancouver, BC. It's the first solo tour for any Beatle, and a drag on Harrison, who doesn't travel well. It's the last time he tours until 1991, when he joins Eric Clapton on some dates in Japan.
1968 Jose Feliciano's unique rendition of "The Star Spangled Banner," which he performed on acoustic guitar before Game 5 of the World Series on October 7, enters the Hot 100 at #89, making it the first version of the US National Anthem to chart (it peaks at #50). Many singers start adding their own flavor to the song; the next version to chart is Whitney Houston's Super Bowl performance in 1991, which hits #20.
1961 k.d. lang is born Kathryn Dawn Lang in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
1920 KDKA in Pittsburgh becomes the first commercially licensed radio station in the United States. They are not the first station on the air, but the first to get the broadcast license. With consumers unsure of the benefits of radio, the station announces results of the Harding-Cox presidential election, getting the news to those with a radio much faster than everyone who had to wait for the morning paper.
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