• • Today in 1967, Freda Payne was appearing at the Elmwood Casino in Windsor. A galaxy of stars were on deck at the Masonic Temple including Wilson Pickett, Solomon Burke, James and Bobby Purify, Johnny Taylor, Joe Simon and Moms Mabley. And Adam West joined the Flying Wallendas at the Dobritch International Circus at the State Fair Coliseum. Tickets were 2, 3 and 4 dollars.
  • Today in 1972, a stagnant airmass over the midewest caused extremely high levels of polution 8n Detroit, so much so that the Wayne County Polution Control Board recommended persons with respiratory diseases should avoid strenusous activity.
  • Today in 1977, Hudsons was advertising Code-a-Phone, a device that could record messages from people who called your land-line telephone when you weren’t home. The device came with a beeper that could signal it from any phone to play the messages back.
  • Today in 1979, CBS debuted an animated musical version of J.R.R. Tolkein’s The Hobbit. Orson Bean supplied the voice of Bilbo Baggins, John Houston voiced Gandalf.
  • Today in 1982, Volkswagen announced price cuts on it’s popular Rabbit automobile. You could score the fuel efficiant German import for just $5,990.

1536 Anne Boleyn, second wife of English King Henry VIII, is beheaded at the Tower of London on charges of adultery, incest and treason
1568 English Queen Elizabeth I arrests Mary, Queen of Scots
1912 AL President Ban Johnson tells Tigers if they continue protest of Ty Cobb’s suspension, they will be banned from baseball
1958 “South Pacific” soundtrack album goes #1 & stays #1 for 31 weeks
1964 US diplomats find at least 40 secret microphones in Moscow embassy
1968 20th Emmy Awards: “Get Smart”, “Mission Impossible” & Barbara Bain win
1977 Film “Smokey & the Bandit” starring Burt Reynolds, Sally Field and Jackie Gleason premieres in NYC
1989 Actress Linda Gray makes her last appearance as Sue Ellen Ewing on the TV show “Dallas”
1994 Final Episode of TV drama “LA Law” after 8 year run
1997 “The Lost World: Jurassic Park”, directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Jeff Goldblum and Julianne Moore, premieres in the US
1999 “Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace”, directed by George Lucas, starring Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman and Liam Neeson, is released in cinemas
2009 TV musical show “Glee” starring Jane Lynch, Michael Morrison, Lea Michele and an ensemble cast premieres on Fox
2018 American actress Meghan Markle marries Prince Harry at a ceremony in Windsor Castle, making her a member of the British royal family. Queen Elizabeth II grants them the the titles of Duke and Duchess of Sussex

Music released today:

1958: Bobby Darin, “Splish Splash”, Novelty Pop, [Single], “Judy Don’t Be Moody”
1967: Strawberry Alarm Clock, “Incense And Peppermints”, Psychedelic Pop, Incense And Peppermints, “The Birdman Of Alkatrash”
1972: Sweet, “Little Willy” [UK], Pop-Rock, Sweet, “Man From Mecca”
1973: Paul Simon, “Kodachrome”, Folk-Pop, There Goes Rhymin’ Simon, “Tenderness”
1975: Aerosmith, “Sweet Emotion”, Hard Rock, Toys In The Attic, “Uncle Salty”
1975: Lynyrd Skynyrd, “Saturday Night Special”, Southern Rock, Nuthin’ Fancy, “Made In The Shade”
1975: Eagles, “One Of These Nights”, Country-Rock, One Of These Nights, “Visions”
1978: Dire Straits, “Sultans Of Swing” [UK], New Wave/Post-Punk, Dire Straits, “Eastbound Train” [Live Version]
1978: Steely Dan, “Deacon Blues” [UK], Jazz-Rock, Aja, “Josie”
1986: Genesis, “Invisible Touch”, Prog Rock, Invisible Touch, “The Last Domino”
1986: Bananarama, “Venus”, New Wave Dance-Pop, True Confessions, “White Train”
1969: Spiral Starecase, More Today Than Yesterday LP
1969: Poco, Pickin’ Up The Pieces LP
1972: Elton John, Honky Chateau LP
1976: Billy Joel, Turnstiles LP

Rock Birthdays: Via DrRock.com

1894: Moms Mabley / (Loretta Mary Aitken), Hugely successful stand-up comedienne from the vaudeville era with 17 charting albums in the 60s and one hit, a cover of “Abraham, Martin And John” (#35, R&B #18, 1969), for a time making her the oldest living person to have a Billboard Top 40 hit, died from heart failure on 5/23/1975, age 82
1932: Alma Cogan / (Alma Cohen), 50s and early 60s rising star Brit traditional pop female vocalist, “Dreamboat” (UK #1, 1955) plus 20 other UK Top 40 hits, died of stomach cancer on 10/26/1966, age 34
1940: Mickey Newbury / (Milton Sims Newbury, Jr.), Prolific country music songwriter with dozens of hit songs performed by others, including Top 20 songs on four charts simultaneously, “Here Comes the Rain, Baby” (Eddy Arnold, Country #4, 1968), “Sweet Memories” (Andy Williams, Easy Listening #4, 1968), “Time Is A Thief” (Solomon Burke, R&B #15, 1968) and “Just Dropped In (to See What Condition My Condition Was In)” (Kenny Rogers & The First Edition, Pop #5, 1968), plus a solo hit single “An American Trilogy” (#26, 1972), died 9/29/2002, age 62
1945: Pete Townshend / (Peter Dennis Blandford Townshend), Guitarist, songwriter, rock opera composer and vocalist for Brit rock ‘n’ roll The Who, “I Can See For Miles” (#9, 1967) and 14 other US Top 40 singles, rock opera albums Tommy (1969) and Quadrophenia (1973), Grammy-winning solo career, “Face The Face” (#26, Mainstream Rock #3, 1985)
1947: Jerry Hyman, Trombonist for jazz-rock/pop-rock horn band Blood, Sweat & Tears, “Spinning Wheel” (#2, 1969)
1947: Paul Brady, Irish folk-pop singer/songwriter and guitarist with The Johnstons and Planxty, then long solo career, “Nobody Knows” (1990)
1947: Gregory Herbert, Alto saxophone for jazz-rock/pop-rock fusion band Blood, Sweat & Tears, “Spinning Wheel” (#2, 1969), died of a drug overdose on 1/31/1978, age 30
1947: Steve Currie, Bassist for proto-glam-rock T. Rex, “Bang A Gong (Get It On)” (#10, 1971), sessions, died in a car crash on 4/28/1981, age 33
1948: Tom Scott, Grammy-winning jazz-pop-rock multi-reedist, composer, session musician and bandleader, co-founder of the Blues Brothers Band and jazz-rock The L. A. Express, which backed Joni Mitchell, Carole King, George Harrison and others, solo “Tom Cat” (R&B #93, 1975), composer of film soundtracks and TV shows, including the theme song for Starsky And Hutch
1948: Paul Williams / (Paul S. Williams), Music journalist and writer, founder and editor of college-rag turned national publication Crawdaddy, the first journal entirely devoted to in-depth commentary about rock music and the career-starter for a generation of rock writers and critics, also wrote articles for Rolling Stone and other rock publications and some two dozen books on a variety of subjects, including three about Bob Dylan, suffered brain trauma in a 1995 bicycle accident and died from complications of resulting dementia on 3/27/2013, age 64.
1949: Dusty Hill / (Joseph Michael Hill), Founding member and five-decade bassist, vocalist and occasional keyboardist for venerable Texas blues/boogie rock trio ZZ Top, sang lead on the band’s first Top 20 hit, “Tush” (#20, 1975) and played in the band for every live show from 1970 through July 2021 when multiple, decades-long health issues forced an early retirement from touring, died at home from undisclosed causes on 7/28/2021, age 72.
1949: Larry Wallis, English hard rock guitarist and songwriter with a long resume, including co-founder of late-60s pop-rock The Entire Sioux Nation and original member of heavy metal trio Motörhead during 1975, in between played with ex-T. Rex percussionist Steve Took‘s Shagrat, Blodwyn Pig, briefly with start-up UFO and the first incarnation of power pop/proto-punk Pink Fairies, after Motörhead wrote and recorded the punk classic “Police Car” in 1977 and became an in-house writer and producer for Stiff Records into the 80s, played in various collaborations before rejoining the Pink Fairies in 1987, released three albums with The Deviants and wrote for Dr. Feelgood in the 90s, continued working alongside other top names in British rock through to the 10s and in 2017 issued The Sound Of Speed, a collection of rare and unreleased tracks, died from undisclosed causes on 9/19/2019, age 70.
1950: Mike Wedgewood, Bassist for Brit prog/avant-garde rock Curved Air, “Back Street Luv” (UK #4, 1974)
1950: Romeo Challenger, Drummer for Brit rock ‘n’ roll revival Showaddywaddy, “Under The Moon Of Love” (UK #1, 1976) and over 20 other UK Top 40 singles
1951: Joey Ramone / (Jeffrey Hyman), Cultural icon, lead vocals and songwriter for seminal punk rock band The Ramones, “Rockaway Beach” (#66, 1978), died from lymphatic cancer on 4/15/2001, age 49
1952: Barbara Joyce Lomas, Vocals for 70s R&B/soul-funk-disco B.T. Express, “Do It (‘Til Your Satisfied)” (#2, R&B #1, 1974)
1952: Grace Jones / (Grace Mendoza), Severely androgynous “Queen of the Gay Discos” and R&B/dance-pop-disco diva, “Pull Up To The Bumper” (R&B #5, Dance/Club #2, 1981), actress
1954: Phil Rudd / (Phillip Rudd), Drummer for Aussie power chord hard rockers AC/DC, “For Those About To Rock” (Mainstream Rock #4, 1982), left in 1983
1956: Teddy Bear Ware / (Martyn Ware), Founding member of late-70s synth-pop pioneers The Human League, “Don’t You Want Me” (#1, 1981), left to form 80s synth-pop Heaven 17, “Temptation” (UK #2, 1983) and “Contenders” (Dance/Club #6, 1987)
1962: Iain Harvie, Founder, guitarist and songwriter for pop and country-rock Del Amitri, “Roll To Me” (#10, 1995)

Other Notable Birthdays: Via OnThisDay.com

1925 Malcolm X [Little], African American human rights activist and Muslim minister, born in Omaha, Nebraska (d. 1965)
1935 David Hartman, American actor and TV personality (Good Morning America), born in Pawtucket, Rhode Island
1939 Nancy Kwan, Hong Kong-born American actress (Flower Drum Song, World of Suzie Wong), born in Hong Kong
1941 Nora Ephron, American novelist (Heartburn), screenwriter (Silkwood; When Harry Met Sally), and director (Sleepless In Seattle), born in NYC (d. 2012)
1946 André the Giant, French pro wrestler (WWF World Heavyweight C’ship 1988; WWF World Tag Team C’ship [with Haku] 1989), born in Grenoble, France (d. 1993)
1956 Steve Ford, actor (Young & Restless)/son of President Gerald Ford
1957 Bill Laimbeer, NBA forward (Cleveland Cavaliers, Detroit Pistons)

• Today in 1987, Tempers were on a hair trigger after an Iraqi Jet attacked the USS Starke in the Persian Gulf. 28 sailors died and at least six Michigan families were on pins and needles, waiting for word of their sons who served on the guided-missile frigate.