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Today in History:
1954 – Rock & Roll arrived as Bill Haley & The Comets made the Top Ten with “Shake, Rattle & Roll.”
1960 – Ray Charles went to No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with “Georgia On My Mind”, a No. 24 hit in the U.K.
1969 – “Sugar Sugar” by The Archies was at No. 1 on the U.K. singles chart. The single became the longest running One Hit Wonder in the U.K. with eight weeks at the top of the charts. It was the first No. 1 performed by cartoon characters.
1981 – The Police had their fourth U.K. No. 1 single with “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic”, a No. 3 hit in the U.S. The song is from the band’s fourth album, Ghost in the Machine. Though the song was recorded in 1981, Sting wrote it as early as 1976, since an early demo of the song can be heard on the Strontium 90 album Strontium 90: Police Academy.
1987 – George Michael went to No. 1 on the LP charts with his debut solo album Faith. The album produced six Top 5 Billboard Hot 100 hits, four of which reached No. 1, making George the only British male singer to have four No. 1 singles from one LP on the Billboard Hot 100.
1987 – The long-since-divorced Sonny and Cher perform “I Got You Babe” on Late Night with David Letterman.
1987 – The Dirty Dancing soundtrack hits No. 1 in America. Even though it was set in 1963, the movie featured modern, original songs “(I’ve Had) The Time Of My Life” and “Hungry Eyes.”
Today’s Birthdays:
Freddie Garrity of Freddie and the Dreamers was born today in 1936.
Wendy Carlos — an electronic musician who scored the films A Clockwork Orange, The Shining, and Tron — is 85.
James Young of Styx is 75.
Stephen Bishop (“On and On”) is 73.