History

"BORN TODAY" Simon Curtis (30) Lykke Li (30) Sophia Myles (36) Danneel Harris (37) Adam Levine (37) Sutton Foster (41) Evan and Jaron (42) Dane Cook (44) Queen Latifah (46) Jerry Cantrell (50) Vanessa Williams (53) Mike Rowe (54) Irene Cara (57) Luc Besson (57) Brad Dourif (66) Charlie Pride (78) John Kander (89) "DIED TODAY" Peggy Wood (Born: February 9, 1892 / Died: March 18, 1978) John Phillips (Born: August 30, 1935 / Died: March 18, 2001) Natasha Richardson (Born: May 11, 1963 / Died: March 18, 2009) "MOVIES TODAY" 1933 - The Disney film Mickey's Mellerdrammer 1960 - Rio Bravo 1958 - The Producers 1970 - The Liberation of L.B. Jones i 1988 - D.O.A. 1988 - The Milagro Beanfield War 1988 - Pound Puppies and the Legend of Big Paw 1988 - Police Academy 5: Assignment Miami Beach 1988 - Stars and Bars 1994 - Monkey Trouble 1994 - The Paper 1994 - Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult "MUSIC TODAY" 1950 - Teresa Brewer's "Music! Music! Music!" hits #1 1959 - EMI Records announced that it had halted all production of 78 rpm records. 1960 - The Everly Brothers recorded "Cathy's Clown" at RCA Studios in Nashville, Tennessee. 1967 - The second Monkees album, More of the Monkees, appeared to be dominating the same way their debut did as for the sixth week it topped the Album chart. 1967 - The Four Tops meant business! "Bernadette" moved from #65 to #23 on this date. 1967 - The Beatles rose to #1 with "Penny Lane". 1968 - Bobby Goldsboro released the single "Honey". 1968 - The Beatles released the single "Lady Madonna". 1972 - A new artist first appeared on the chart--Jackson Browne debuted with his first single "Doctor My Eyes". 1972 - The self-titled Paul Simon rose to the top of the U.K. Album chart. 1972 - "I Gotcha'" by Joe Tex moved into the #1 slot on the R&B chart. 1972 - Nilsson continued to possess the #1 Adult song for the fifth consecutive week with "Without You". 1972 - Neil Young had his only #1 song of his career--"Heart Of Gold". 1974 - The Stylistics released the single "You Make Me Feel Brand New". 1978 - Parliament controlled the R&B chart for a third week with "Flash Light". 1978 - The Soundtrack to "Saturday Night Fever" was becoming a phenomenon, now totaling nine weeks at #1 on the Album chart. 1978 - The Bee Gees were responsible for each of the Top 3 songs and 4 of the Top 5. The only other time an artist has been that dominant in the Rock Era was in March of 1964 when the Beatles had each of the Top 5 songs. 1979 - Sister Sledge released the single "We Are Family". 1980 - Lipps, Inc. released the single "Funkytown". 1986 - Whitney Houston released the single "Greatest Love Of All". 1985 - Billy Ocean released his single "Suddenly". 1989 - Bon Jovi had one of the hottest songs as "I'll Be There For You" moved from 51 to 34. 1989 - Ricky Van Shelton aces the Billboard country singles chart with his remake of "From A Jack To A King" 1989 - On the Adult Contemporary chart, which had eclipsed the Top 40 chart in popularity, Mike + the Mechanics remained at #1 for a fourth week with "The Living Years". 1989 - Debbie Gibson held on to #1 for the third week with "Lost In Your Eyes". 1995 - After 20 years, Bruce Springsteen had enough material for a Greatest Hits album and it debuted at #2, sending II by Boyz II Men down to 2. 1995 - Madonna ruled for a fourth week with "Take A Bow". Soul for Real held down #2 with "Candy Rain" with the former #1 smash "Creep" by TLC third. "Baby" from Brandy followed that trio with another TLC smash--"Red Light Special" leaping from 18 to 5. 1996 - Arista releases Brooks & Dunn's "My Maria" 2000 - Toby Keith begins a five-week stay at #1 on the Billboard country singles chart with "How Do You Like Me Now?!" "TV/RADIO TODAY" 1940 - The soap opera "Light of the World" was first heard on NBC radio. 1954 - Disney animator Ward Kimball appears as a contestant on Groucho Marx's television quiz show You Bet Your Life 1958 - Jerry Lee Lewis performed on American Bandstand on ABC-TV. 1962 - Gary "U.S." Bonds performed on "The Ed Sullivan Show." 1965 - The Standells ("Dirty Water") were guests on an episode of The Munsters on NBC-TV. "OTHER IMPORTANT EVENTS" 1850 - Henry Wells & William Fargo founded American Express. 1858 - Kepple Disney marries Mary Richardson. The following year, they will have a child named Elias (the future father of Walt Disney). 1911 - Theodore Roosevelt opened the Roosevelt Dam in Arizona. It was the largest dam in the U.S. at the time. 1925 - A giant tornado, struck Missouri, Illinois and Indiana during the mid-afternoon killing hundreds often referred to as the tri-state tornados. 1937 - A gas explosion at a school in New London, Texas, killed more than 400 people, most of them children. 1942 - The third military draft began in the U.S. because of World War II. 1945 - Maurice "Rocket" Richard became the first National Hockey League (NHL) player to score 50 goals. 1955 - A ground breaking ceremony takes place at 11:15 a.m. in Anaheim, California for the Disneyland Hotel. Among the guests in attendance are Roy Disney (Walt's brother), C. V. Wood (Disneyland's vice-president & general manager), Anaheim's Mayor Charles Pearson, and members of the Wrather family (owners of the Disneyland Hotel 1978 - California Jam II took place at the Ontario Motor Speedway in Ontario, California, with over 250,000 in attendance. Santana, Heart, Aerosmith and Dave Mason were among the performers. 1966 - Scott Paper began selling paper dresses for $1. 1967 - The Pirates of the Caribbean attraction opens in New Orleans Square at Disneyland, California. 1970 - The U.S. Postal Service experienced the first postal strike. 1979 - "On the 20th Century" closes at St. James Theater New York City after 460 performances. 1979 - Joanne Carner wins LPGA Honda Civic Golf Classic. 1982 - Returning from a Philadelphia basketball game, Teddy Pendergrass is permanently paralyzed from the waist down when the brakes on his Rolls Royce fail, causing him to cross into oncoming traffic and crash into a tree. Miraculously, he returns to the stage in 1984. 1985 - Kris Kristofferson is inducted into the Songwriters Hall Of Fame in New York 1985 - The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) announces plans to merge with Capital Cities Communications to form Cap Cities/ABC. The $3.5 billion merger is the 11th largest corporate merger in U.S. history. (A decade and a few months later, the Walt Disney Company will announce that it has reached an agreement to merge with Cap Cities/ABC to form the largest entertainment and television production conglomerate in the world in a deal worth more than 19 billion dollars.) 1986 - Buckingham Palace announced the engagement of Prince Andrew to Sarah Ferguson. 1987 - Gerber survey find most popular names for newborns (Jessica and Matthew) 1989 - Phil Collins and wife Jill celebrated the birth of daughter Lily Jane. 1990 - Two thieves disguised as Policemen steal 12 works of art from the Isabella Gardner Museum in Boston including works by Rembrandt, Degas, Vermeer and others valued in excess of 300 million dollars, which have still not been recovered, making it the largest art robbery in history. 1991 - Mike Tyson beats Razor Ruddock in the 7th round 1992 - Donna Summer is awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7000 Hollywood Blvd. 1992 - Leona Hemsly was sentenced to 4 years in prison for tax evasion. 1994 - Kenner, Louisiana named a street after Lloyd Price. 1994 - Darryl Jones replaced longtime bassist Bill Wyman on tour for the Rolling Stones. 1994 - Zsa Zsa Gabor filed for bankruptcy. 1994 - Police in Seattle, Washington confiscated four guns and 25 boxes of ammunition from Kurt Cobain of Nirvana after his wife, Courtney Love, called police fearing he would commit suicide. He did just that about three weeks later. 1997 - Yanni became the first artist from the West to play at the Taj Mahal in India 1997 - Taylor Hawkins replaced William Goldsmith as the drummer for the Foo Fighters. 1997 - Joni Mitchell announced that she had reunited with a daughter she had given up for adoption many years previous. 1998 - Michael Jackson and his son went shopping at a toy store in Munich, Germany. Jackson was dressed as an Arab woman. 2000 - The U.S. Postal Service issued a 20-cent stamped postcard that featured the historic Ryman Auditorium, the home of the Grand Ole Opry for more than 30 years.