TODAY IN HISTORY - September 17th
1923 - Born this day, Hank Williams, Sr., singer, songwriter and guitarist known for Lonesome Blues and Your Cheatin' Heart, Cold, Cold Heart, Hey Good Lookin'. Scored 36 Top 10 Country hits. Died 1 January 1953.
1931 - The first long-playing record, a 33 1/3 rpm recording, was demonstrated in New York by RCA-Victor. It was Beethoven's 5th. The venture failed however, due to the high price of the record players and wasn't revived until 1948.
1947 - Born this day, Jim Hodder, drums, Steely Dan, 1973 US No.11 single Reeling In The Years. Died after drowning at Point Arena, California 15 June 1990.
1962 - Born this day, Baz Luhrmann, Australian film maker, 1999 UK No.1 single Everybody's Free To Wear Sunscreen.
1964 - During a US tour The Beatles appeared at the Municipal Stadium in Kansas City. The Beatles were paid $150,000 for the show, which was more than any other act had ever been paid for a live show. Tickets cost $4.50.
1967 - The Doors appeared on CBS-TV's Ed Sullivan Show and infuriated Ed when they sang Light My Fire, which he had banned because of the lyric Girl, we couldn't get much higher.
1969 - Born this day, Keith Flint, vocals, Prodigy, 1996 UK No.1 single Firestarter, 1997 UK and US No.1 album The Fat Of The Land.
1968 - Born this day, Anastacia, US singer, 2000 UK No.6 single I'm Outta Love topped the charts in Austalia and New Zealand (from the album “Not that Kind”)
1969 - Media on both sides of the Atlantic were running stories that said Paul McCartney was dead. He was supposedly killed in a car accident in Scotland on November 9th, 1966 and that a double had been taking his place for public appearances. In fact, Paul and his girlfriend Jane Asher were on vacation in Kenya at the time.
1978 - The video for Queen's single 'Bicycle Race' was filmed at Wimbledon Stadium, Wimbledon, UK. It featured 65 naked female professional models racing around the stadium's track on bicycles, which had been hired for the day. The rental company was reported to have requested payment for all the saddles when they found out how their bikes had been used.
1983 - Paul Young scored his first UK No.1 album with his debut release No Parlez. The album returned to the top of the charts on four other occasions spending a total of 119 weeks on the chart.
1983 - Vanessa Williams of New York became the first black Miss America. (She resigned the crown 11 months later when Penthouse magazine published nude photos of her, but later became famous again as a singer and actress.)
1987 - Peter Gabriel's Sledgehammer, won ten of the twenty MTV video awards, including best video, best concept, best special effects and best director.
1991 - At 12.01am, 4.2 million copies of Guns N' Roses Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II were simultaneously released for retail sale, the largest ship out in pop history in the US.
1998 - A 19-year-old man was taken off a plane in Denver after harassing members of Hootie & the Blowfish who were travelling in the first class section of the plane.
2000 - Paula Yates, the television personality and former wife of Bob Geldof, was found dead in bed from a suspected drug overdose. She was 40 years old. Yates had presented The Tube during the 80's, married Bob Geldof and was the girlfriend of INXS singer Michael Hutchence.
2004 - Israeli police arrested two of Madonna's bodyguards after they assaulted photographers waiting for the singer outside her hotel. Madonna was in Israel with 2,000 other students of Kabbalah, the Jewish mystical offshoot.
2011 - Adele went to No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Someone Like You'. The track was also No.1 in Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, Finland, France, Italy, Poland, Switzerland, the United Kingdom.
2013 – News released that comedian, Billy Connolly (70) is recovering from prostate cancer surgery and has been diagnosed with the early symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. He still has plans to tour NZ in 2014 though.
1923 - Born this day, Hank Williams, Sr., singer, songwriter and guitarist known for Lonesome Blues and Your Cheatin' Heart, Cold, Cold Heart, Hey Good Lookin'. Scored 36 Top 10 Country hits. Died 1 January 1953.
1931 - The first long-playing record, a 33 1/3 rpm recording, was demonstrated in New York by RCA-Victor. It was Beethoven's 5th. The venture failed however, due to the high price of the record players and wasn't revived until 1948.
1947 - Born this day, Jim Hodder, drums, Steely Dan, 1973 US No.11 single Reeling In The Years. Died after drowning at Point Arena, California 15 June 1990.
1962 - Born this day, Baz Luhrmann, Australian film maker, 1999 UK No.1 single Everybody's Free To Wear Sunscreen.
1964 - During a US tour The Beatles appeared at the Municipal Stadium in Kansas City. The Beatles were paid $150,000 for the show, which was more than any other act had ever been paid for a live show. Tickets cost $4.50.
1967 - The Doors appeared on CBS-TV's Ed Sullivan Show and infuriated Ed when they sang Light My Fire, which he had banned because of the lyric Girl, we couldn't get much higher.
1969 - Born this day, Keith Flint, vocals, Prodigy, 1996 UK No.1 single Firestarter, 1997 UK and US No.1 album The Fat Of The Land.
1968 - Born this day, Anastacia, US singer, 2000 UK No.6 single I'm Outta Love topped the charts in Austalia and New Zealand (from the album “Not that Kind”)
1969 - Media on both sides of the Atlantic were running stories that said Paul McCartney was dead. He was supposedly killed in a car accident in Scotland on November 9th, 1966 and that a double had been taking his place for public appearances. In fact, Paul and his girlfriend Jane Asher were on vacation in Kenya at the time.
1978 - The video for Queen's single 'Bicycle Race' was filmed at Wimbledon Stadium, Wimbledon, UK. It featured 65 naked female professional models racing around the stadium's track on bicycles, which had been hired for the day. The rental company was reported to have requested payment for all the saddles when they found out how their bikes had been used.
1983 - Paul Young scored his first UK No.1 album with his debut release No Parlez. The album returned to the top of the charts on four other occasions spending a total of 119 weeks on the chart.
1983 - Vanessa Williams of New York became the first black Miss America. (She resigned the crown 11 months later when Penthouse magazine published nude photos of her, but later became famous again as a singer and actress.)
1987 - Peter Gabriel's Sledgehammer, won ten of the twenty MTV video awards, including best video, best concept, best special effects and best director.
1991 - At 12.01am, 4.2 million copies of Guns N' Roses Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II were simultaneously released for retail sale, the largest ship out in pop history in the US.
1998 - A 19-year-old man was taken off a plane in Denver after harassing members of Hootie & the Blowfish who were travelling in the first class section of the plane.
2000 - Paula Yates, the television personality and former wife of Bob Geldof, was found dead in bed from a suspected drug overdose. She was 40 years old. Yates had presented The Tube during the 80's, married Bob Geldof and was the girlfriend of INXS singer Michael Hutchence.
2004 - Israeli police arrested two of Madonna's bodyguards after they assaulted photographers waiting for the singer outside her hotel. Madonna was in Israel with 2,000 other students of Kabbalah, the Jewish mystical offshoot.
2011 - Adele went to No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Someone Like You'. The track was also No.1 in Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, Finland, France, Italy, Poland, Switzerland, the United Kingdom.
2013 – News released that comedian, Billy Connolly (70) is recovering from prostate cancer surgery and has been diagnosed with the early symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. He still has plans to tour NZ in 2014 though.