On This Day In History

[Bikkie]

1878-Wellington steam-tram service opened
The governor, the Marquess of Normanby, formally opened the new service, which was said to be the first in the southern hemisphere.

✈️1932: Amelia Earhart Took Off from Los Angeles
The female aviator embarked on a groundbreaking non-stop flight from Los Angeles to Newark, aiming to set a women's transcontinental airspeed record. Flying her Lockheed Vega 5B, Earhart completed the journey in just under 20 hours, overcoming challenging weather conditions and mechanical issues. This achievement not only set a new record but also cemented her status as a pioneering aviator.



Music History


2021-Thirty years after appearing as a baby grasping for a dollar bill on Nirvana's Nevermind album cover, Spencer Elden sues the band and others associated with the photo shoot, claiming it caused him "extreme and permanent emotional distress."

2019-Billie Eilish ends a 19-week run at #1 for "Old Town Road" when "Bad Guy" claims the top spot on the Hot 100.

2016-Jeanne Martin, ex-wife of the late Dean Martin, dies of cancer at age 89. She married the singer in 1949, and gave birth to three children, including Dean Paul Martin, in addition to raising four more from Dean's first marriage. They divorced in 1972.

2014-Doo-wop singer Tommy Gough (of The Crests) dies of throat cancer at age 74.

2013-"Royals" by Lorde goes to #1 on the Alternative chart, making her the first female solo artist to top that tally since Tracy Bonham did it in 1996 (five months before Lorde was born) with "Mother Mother."

2013-The Civil Wars, the folk duo of Joy Williams and John Paul White, hit #1 in America with their self-titled sophomore album, but split up without ever performing songs from the set.

2012-Country singer Randy Travis continues his string of calamitous arrests, this time for a brawl at a church in Texas where he was purportedly fighting over a woman. The incident leads to him being cited for assault, giving him another citation to add to his collection. It's still a cheaper hobby than baseball cards.

2010-Teenage Dream, Katy Perry's second major-label album, is released. It goes to #1 in the US, where the first five singles, starting with "California Gurls," all top the Hot 100.

2008-Barenaked Ladies frontman Ed Robertson emerges unscathed after he crashes his Cessna 206 float-plane near Bancroft, Ontario. Three other passengers, including wife Natalie, are also miraculously uninjured. The Transportation Safety Board is unable to determine the cause of the crash, but clears Robertson of any wrongdoing.

2008-Leona Lewis and Jimmy Page perform during the closing ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games at the National Stadium (also known as the Bird's Nest). The duo perform the Led Zeppelin classic "Whole Lotta Love."

2007-During a routine medical exam in Gainesville, Florida, Bo Diddley complains of dizziness and nausea and is admitted to a local hospital, where he is diagnosed as having had a heart attack. The rock legend had suffered a stroke only a few months earlier.

2007-Mark Lindsay of Paul Revere & the Raiders opens Mark Lindsay's Rock And Roll Cafe in his native Portland, Oregon. The restaurant closes the next year.

2005-Hal Kalin (of the Kalin Twins) dies after a car accident in Charles County, Maryland, at age 71.

2003-Dick Peterson from The Kingsmen joins 753 other guitarists to perform "Louie Louie" for a charity fundraiser in Tacoma, Washington.

1999-Big Band trombonist Warren Covington dies at age 78 in New York City.

1999-18-year-old Christina Aguilera releases her self-titled debut album, which includes three #1 hits: "Genie in a Bottle," "What a Girl Wants" and "Come On Over Baby (All I Want Is You)." It ushers in a new era of teen pop alongside her former Mickey Mouse Club star, Britney Spears.

1998-53-year-old Ingrid Pedersen announces that she is the long-lost illegitimate half-sister of John Lennon, explaining that she kept her secret for so many years as a way of protecting her now-deceased adoptive parents.

1998-Composer/conductor Gene Page dies after a long illness in Westwood, Los Angeles, California, at age 58. Page did arrangements for The Supremes, Whitney Houston and Barbra Streisand and many others. He also scored the 1972 Blaxploitation flick Blacula.

1998-Bob Geldof of The Boomtown Rats and Live Aid fame begins hosting a show on the London radio station XFM. In his first broadcast, he announces (incorrectly) that Ian Dury has died.

Windows 95 Starts Up With Brian Eno
1995-Microsoft launches the Windows 95 operating system. The start-up music is composed by Brian Eno, a pioneer in ambient music who in 1978 released an album designed to soothe travelers at airports (Ambient 1: Music for Airports).

1991-Randy Newman wins his first Emmy, taking Outstanding Original Music And Lyrics for his work on Cop Rock, a spectacular flop that was cancelled long before the ceremony.

1990-Sinéad O'Connor refuses to perform at the Garden State Arts Center in New Jersey until they agree not to play the US national anthem before the show.

1990-Led by Donald Fagen of Steely Dan and his girlfriend Libby Titus, the first "New York Rock & Soul Revue" is held in Southampton, New York. The second Revue results in the popular live album The New York Rock and Soul Revue: Live at the Beacon, featuring Michael McDonald, Boz Scaggs and Phoebe Snow.

1989-The Who perform a special 20th anniversary charity concert of their rock opera Tommy at the Universal Amphitheater in Los Angeles, featuring guests Elton John (as the Pinball Wizard), Patti LaBelle (as the Acid Queen), Steve Winwood (as the Hawker), Phil Collins (as Uncle Ernie), and Billy Idol (as Cousin Kevin).

1983-Jerry Lee Lewis' fifth wife, Shawn Michelle Stevens, dies of a methadone overdose at The Killer's home in Nesbit, Mississippi, although several journalists suspect foul play. The couple had only been married three months. Lewis' fourth wife had died an accidental death only a year earlier.

1981-Mark David Chapman, who murdered John Lennon, is sentenced to 20 years to life in prison. He is repeatedly denied parole.

1981-The Rolling Stones release Tattoo You. The big hit from the album is "Start Me Up," which they first recorded with a reggae rhythm in 1977. That version was scrapped, but they rocked it up for Tattoo You with better results.

Rock 'N' Roll High School Hits Theaters
1979-The Ramones' movie Rock & Roll High School opens in theaters. The title song becomes one of their classics, and the film gains a cult following.

1978-Jazz trumpeter Louis Prima dies in New Orleans, Louisiana, at age 67, three years after a traumatic cerebral hemorrhage left him in a coma.

1977-Country legend Waylon Jennings is arrested for cocaine possession in New York City by federal agents, an event which will inspire his song "Don't You Think This Outlaw Bit's Done Got out of Hand?" The charges are later dropped.

1976-British composer Michael Head dies at 76.

"(You're) Having My Baby" Hits #1 Despite NOW Protest
1974-Paul Anka's "(You're) Having My Baby" hits #1 for the first of three weeks despite condemnation from feminist groups

1972-Many Brits get their first look at Roxy Music and their bedazzled frontman Bryan Ferry when they perform their song "Virginia Plain" on Top Of The Pops.

1969-John Lennon writes, rehearses, and records a song about his recent heroin withdrawal entitled "Cold Turkey," where he also puts into practice his recent introduction to "primal scream" therapy. Fans and critics are shocked and appalled by the emotionally raw recording, a prelude to his eventual Plastic Ono Band album.

1969-Folksinger Arlo Guthrie's film Alice's Restaurant, based on his hit song of the same name, premieres in both Los Angeles and New York.

1967-Keith Moon, drummer for The Who, drives his Lincoln Continental (not a Rolls Royce, as is often thought), into the swimming pool at the Holiday Inn in Flint, Michigan, to celebrate his 21st birthday, earning the entire band a lifetime ban from the chain.

1967-John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison meet Maharishi Mahesh Yogi when they attend his lecture at the Hilton Hotel on Park Lane, London. They later travel to India and study Transcendental Meditation with the Maharishi, an experience that informs many of their songs on The White Album.

1964-Taking him up on his telegram invitation to help out in any way he can in America, Beatles manager Brian Epstein meets Elvis Presley manager "Colonel" Tom Parker for the first time when they have lunch at the Beverly Hills Hotel.

1963-Stevie Wonder's album Recorded Live: The 12 Year Old Genius goes to #1, making him, at 13, the youngest solo artist ever to top the albums chart.

1961-Mark Bedford (bass guitarist for Madness) is born in Islington, London, England.

1959-The Browns' "The Three Bells" hits #1 for the first of four weeks.

1956-Elvis Presley records the ballad "Love Me Tender" on a soundstage in Hollywood where he's filming the movie of the same name.

1956-Buddy Holly is in the audience when Little Richard plays the Cotton Club in Lubbock, Texas.

1955-R&B singer Jeffrey Daniel (of Shalamar) is born in Los Angeles, California.

1951-Danny Joe Brown (lead singer of Molly Hatchet) is born in Jacksonville, Florida.

1951-Michael Derosier (former drummer for Heart) is born in Canada.

1948-Composer Jean-Michel Jarre is born in Lyon, France. Forerunner of electronic and ambient music.

1947-Jim Fox (drummer for the James Gang) is born in Cleveland, Ohio.

1945-Malcolm "Molly" Duncan (tenor saxophonist for The Average White Band) is born in Montrose, Scotland.

1945-Ken Hensley (multi-instrumentalist and songwriter for Uriah Heep) is born in Hertfordshire, England.

1944-Folk rocker Jim Brady (of The Sandpipers) is born in Los Angeles, California.

1943-John Cipollina (lead guitarist for Quicksilver Messenger Service) is born in Berkeley, California.

1943-Frank Sinatra's "In The Blue Of Evening" hits #1 in America.

1942-Jimmy Soul, known for the 1963 chart-topper "If You Wanna Be Happy," is born James Louis McCleese in Weldon, North Carolina.

1942-Carl Mann, known for rockabilly versions of Nat King Cole's "Mona Lisa" and The Platters' "Twilight Time," is born in Huntingdon, Tennessee.

1942-Marshall Donald Thompson (of The Chi-Lites) is born in Chicago, Illinois.

1941-Doo-wop singer Ernest Wright (of Little Anthony & the Imperials) in Brooklyn, New York.

1938-David Freiberg (vocalist and multi-instrumentalist for Quicksilver Messenger Service, Jefferson Airplane) is born in Cincinnati, Ohio.

1938-Mason Williams is born in Abilene, Texas. Aside from becoming a comedy writer for The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour and Saturday Night Live, he also works as a guitarist and composer.

1924-Louis Teicher (of the piano-playing duo Ferrante & Teicher) is born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.

1915-Blues singer Wynonie Harris is born in Omaha, Nebraska. He'll land his first R&B chart-topper in 1945 with "Who Threw The Whiskey In The Well."

1905-Blues musician Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup is born in Forest, Mississippi.

[Bikkie]

Cook's First Voyage
1768 Captain James Cook departs from Plymouth, England, bound for the Pacific Ocean on his first voyage aboard the Endeavour

Captain Webb Conquers English Channel
1875 Captain Matthew Webb makes the first recorded and unassisted swim across the English Channel in 21 hours and 45 minutes

1908 Allan Winter wins the first $50,000 trotting race in the US

1910 Yellow Cab is founded

1912 First time an aircraft recovers from a spin

1916-New Zealand soldier executed
After being found guilty of desertion, 28-year-old Private Frank Hughes was killed by a firing squad in Hallencourt, northern France. He was the first New Zealand soldier executed during the First World War.

1st US Female Olympic Champion
1920 Ethelda Bleibtrey leads an American medal sweep at the Antwerp Olympics in the women's 100 m freestyle with a world record of 1:13.6, becoming the first US female Olympic champion

1920-First flight across Cook Strait
Captain Euan Dickson completed the first air crossing of Cook Strait, flying a 110-hp Le Rhone Avro from Christchurch to Upper Hutt with the first air mail between the South and North Islands.

Walter Nash visits a tornado-damaged house in Frankton
1948
Killer twister hits Frankton
Three people were killed, 80 injured and about 150 buildings destroyed or badly damaged by New Zealand’s deadliest recorded tornado. The damage was estimated at more than £1 million (equivalent to $77 million in 2020).


Music History


2018-During her Reputation tour, Taylor Swift headlines a concert at the Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee, where Tim McGraw and Faith Hill join her onstage for a performance of her seminal country hit "Tim McGraw."

2018-Neil Young and Daryl Hannah get married in a secret ceremony in Atascadero, California. It's Young's third marriage, her first.

2016-Kanye West begins his Saint Pablo Tour with a concert in Indianapolis. During the show, West performs on a floating stage that hovers about 15 feet over the audience.More

2013-'N Sync reunite to perform at the MTV Video Music Awards, where group member Justin Timberlake accepts the Video Vanguard Award. It's their first performance since 2004; they don't perform again until 2024, when they make a surprise appearance at one of Timberlake's concerts.

Skillet Sizzles With Awake Album
2009-Skillet's Awake album debuts at #2 on the US albums chart, tying with Underoath's Define The Great Line and Casting Crowns' The Altar and the Door for the highest-charting Christian rock album. The album also features their first Hot 100 entry: "Awake and Alive."

2009-Chris Brown is sentenced to five years probation and six months hard labor for assaulting Rihanna in February 2009 the night of the Grammy awards. Brown is also ordered to stay away from her for the next five years and undergo a full year of domestic violence counseling.

2008-The Verve release Forth, their first album since Urban Hymns in 1997. It proves to be their last.

2007-While singing his 1968 hit "Fire" on stage in Lewes, England, Arthur Brown catches on fire after wearing his customary tinfoil hat with a small fire burning in the center.

2007-The Veronicas' fashion line for Target is released in Australia. "It's a bit punk princess, mixed with rock 'n' roll,'' says Lisa Origliasso.

2006-Longtime Aerosmith bassist Tom Hamilton misses his first gig in 24 years after being diagnosed with throat cancer.

Aaliyah Dies In Plane Crash
2001-After shooting the music video for "Rock The Boat" in The Bahamas, 22-year-old Aaliyah dies in a plane crash along with eight others when the overloaded aircraft goes down shortly after takeoff.

2000-Composer Jack Nitzsche dies after a cardiac arrest in Hollywood, California, at age 63. Aside from playing keyboard for The Rolling Stones in the '60s, he co-wrote the 1983 hit "Up Where We Belong" from the romantic drama An Officer and a Gentlemen.

1998-Fugees member Lauryn Hill releases her solo album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. It becomes the first hip-hop album to win the Grammy for Album of the Year.

1995-Dutch rock 'n roller Arnie Treffers (of Long Tall Ernie & the Shakers) dies of lung cancer in Westeremden, Groningen, Netherlands, at age 48. Had an international hit in 1977 with "Do You Remember."

1994-Jimmy Buffett swims to safety after crashing his seaplane while trying to take off in Nantucket.

1994-Jimmy Page and Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin reunite in a London studio to record the concert that becomes the MTV special Unledded.

1994-Billy Joel is officially divorced from the model Christie Brinkley. Their marriage lasted nine years.

Snoop Dogg Involved In Fatal Shooting
1993-Snoop Doggy Dogg drives his Jeep Cherokee to Woodbine Park in Los Angeles, where his passenger, McKinley Lee, shoots and kills a rival gang member. Both are tried for murder but found not guilty in 1996.More

1992-Mary J. Blige releases "Real Love," her first Top 10 hit on the Hot 100.

1989-Chicago mayor Richard Michael Daley declares today "Pops Staples Day" in honor of the native musician and leader of The Staple Singers.

1988-Metallica issue their fourth studio album, ...And Justice For All, featuring "One" and "To Live Is To Die."

1987-Mötley Crüe lead singer Vince Neil suffers a mustard-related injury when he angrily breaks a jar of Gulden's before a show in Rochester, New York (he wanted Frenchie's). The show is cancelled, and Neil is airlifted to Baltimore, where surgeons work to repair nerve and tendon damage in his hand.

1984-Menudo, the Puerto Rican boy band with the ever-changing lineup, release their 16th studio album, Evolucion. The album introduces their new 12-year-old singer, Ricky Martin.

1979-Bandleader Stan Kenton dies days after having a stroke in Los Angeles, California, at age 67. Known for hits with June Christy and a popular version of "Laura," named for the 1944 film-noir of the same name.

1979-The Knack's "My Sharona" hits #1 in the US for the first of six weeks.

1977-California governor Jerry Brown appoints singer and longtime environmental activist Helen Reddy to the state's Parks Commission.

Boston Blast Off With Blockbuster Debut Album
1976-Boston release their self-titled debut album, which despite being mostly recorded in Tom Scholz' basement studio, becomes one of the best-selling debuts of all time.

1976-Frankie Avalon's summer replacement variety series, Easy Does It, debuts on CBS.

1975-Bruce Springsteen releases his third album and big breakthrough: Born to Run.

1973-Butch Trucks, drummer for The Allman Brothers Band, crashes his car while driving in Macon, Georgia, breaking his leg in the process. This happens within sight of the spot where Duane Allman had died in a crash two years earlier.

1973-Todd Rundgren puts on a free concert at Wollman Rink in Central Park, where he records the song "Sons Of 1984" for his upcoming album, Todd. The audience is given lyric sheets so they can sing along in the chorus.

1973-The Stories' "Brother Louie" hits #1 in the US for the first of two weeks.

1970-At Plymouth Guildhall in England, Emerson, Lake & Palmer perform for the first time. They play to a far larger audience four days later at the the Isle Of Wight Festival.

1967-Jimmy Page's band The Yardbirds play the Village Theatre (later the Fillmore East) in New York City, where their opening act, Jake Holmes, plays his song "Dazed And Confused." Later with Led Zeppelin, Page releases a very similar song with the same title.

1970-Country singer Jo Dee Messina is born in Holliston, Massachusetts.

1970-The little-known 23-year-old singer Elton John plays his first live show in the United States, co-headlining with the singer/songwriter David Ackles at The Troubadour in West Hollywood. The show gets rave reviews, giving him a huge career boost in America.

1967-Jimmy Page's band The Yardbirds play the Village Theatre (later the Fillmore East) in New York City, where their opening act, Jake Holmes, plays his song "Dazed And Confused." Later with Led Zeppelin, Page releases a very similar song with the same title.

1967-After a two-year bout with stage fright, Beach Boys founder and resident genius Brian Wilson returns to playing live with the band.

1967-Jeff Tweedy (frontman for Wilco) is born in Belleville, Illinois.

1966-Public Enemy DJ Terminator X is born Norman Lee Rogers. In the late '90s, he joins the family business raising African black ostriches on a farm in North Carolina.

1963-Digital Underground leader Greg Jacobs is born in New York City. He assumes various personas in the group, most famously Shock G and Humpty Hump. Digital Underground become one of the most comically joyful and musically inventive acts of their time. At one point, Tupac is a member, learning the ropes from Jacobs.

1962-Little Eva, who takes care of Carole King and Gerry Goffin's daughter, takes their song "The Loco-Motion" to #1 in America.

1962-Vivian Campbell, who would replace the late Steve Clark as guitarist for Def Leppard, is born in Belfast, County Antrim, Northern Ireland.

1961-Billy Ray Cyrus is born in Flatwoods, Kentucky. The "Achy Breaky Heart" singer is also known as dad to Hannah Montana alum Miley Cyrus.

1958-The Elegants' "Little Star," an adaptation of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star," hits #1 in America.

1956-Matt Aitken of the songwriting team Stock Aitken Waterman is born in Coventry, England. Among their hits: "Never Gonna Give You Up" by Rick Astley.

1954-Rock singer/songwriter Elvis Costello is born Declan Patrick Aloysius MacManus in Paddington, London, England. He would adopt his stage surname from his dad, who performed as Day Costello.

1952-Geoff Downes (keyboard player/songwriter for Asia and Yes) is born Stockport, Cheshire, England.

1951-Rob Halford, the hell-bent-for-leather frontman of Judas Priest, is born in Sutton Coldfield, England.

1950-Willy DeVille (of rock band Mink Deville) is born William Paul Borsey Jr. in Stamford, Connecticut. Known for "Storybook Love," a collaboration with Mark Knopfler that served as the theme to the 1987 movie The Princess Bride.

1949-Gene Simmons (of Kiss) is born Chaim Weitz in Haifa, Israel, to Nazi concentration camp survivor Flora Klein and her carpenter husband, Feri.

1942-Walter Williams (of The O'Jays) is born in Canton, Ohio. He would go on to be a spokesman for multiple sclerosis, an illness he was diagnosed with in 1983.

1941-Skinnay Ennis records "Don't Let Julia Fool Ya."

1941-Christopher Augustine (drummer for Every Mother's Son) is born in New York. Known for the 1967 hit "Come on Down to My Boat."

1933-Jazz saxophonist Wayne Shorter is born in Newark, New Jersey. Known for several compositions for Miles Davis, including "Prince of Darkness," "Footprints" and "Sanctuary."

1918-Composer Leonard Bernstein is born in Lawrence, Massachusetts. Known for his work on Broadway smashes West Side Story, Peter Pan and On the Town, among others.