52 years ago today - Gladys Knight & the Pips topped the US pop singles chart with the classic Midnight Train to Georgia, which went on to sell over a million copies and earn the Grammy Award for Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Duo, Group or Chorus
Happy #Birthday Hazell Dean, English 80s dance-pop singer/songwriter who landed a trio of Top 10 hits in the UK with the singles Who's Leaving Who, Whatever I Do (Wherever I Go) and 1984's Searchin' (I Gotta Find a Man), which (unsurprisingly) was a big hit in the London #gay clubs
Happy #Birthday Simon Le Bon, singer/songwriter inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2022 as lead vocalist/lyricist with Duran Duran, whose 80s US pop hits include The Reflex, A View to a Kill, Union of the Snake, Notorious, The Wild Boys, Rio, New Moon on Monday and Hungry Like the Wolf
40 years ago today - Canadian singer Gino Vannelli peaked at #6 on the US Adult Contemporary chart with the self-penned power ballad Hurts to Be in Love, produced by Vannelli and his brothers Ross and Joe, and released as the second single from his eighth studio album Black Cars
Happy #Birthday Keith Strickland, #out musician/songwriter who started as drummer with the B-52's before switching to guitar after bandmate Ricky Wilson's death, playing on classic tracks like Rock Lobster, Planet Claire, Love Shack, Roam, Good Stuff, Songs for a Future Generation and Private Idaho
Happy #Birthday Natalie Merchant, singer/songwriter best known for her work as lead vocalist/lyricist for the band 10,000 Maniacs during the 80s/early 90s, whose Top 10 alt rock hits include These Are Days, Trouble Me, Candy Everybody Wants and an unplugged cover of Patti Smith's Because the Night
43 years ago today - Bob Newhart's second hit sitcom Newhart aired its debut episode on CBS, going on to run 184 episodes over 8 seasons, culminating with an audience-pleasing surprise ending that revealed the entire series occurred in a dream that his character from The Bob Newhart Show had
50 years ago today - The Spinners peaked at #2 on the US Adult Contemporary chart with the single Games People Play, from the vocal group's sixth studio album Pick of the Litter
In Memoriam - Happy #Birthday Helen Reddy, singer/songwriter with a long string of 70s US pop and Adult Contemporary hits including the feminist anthem I Am Woman, the eerie tale of Angie Baby, and her cover of the Jesus Christ Superstar ballad I Don't Know How to Love Him youtu.be/WOCwE5D9Ghk?...
Happy #Birthday Jon Anderson, English singer/songwriter/musician and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee in 2017 as co-founder of progressive rock band Yes, providing lead vocals on US hits including the 1983 chart topper Owner of a Lonely Heart and 1972's Roundabout
55 years ago today - Santana earned their first chart-topping album on the US chart with their second release Abraxas, which includes the singles Black Magic Woman, Samba Para Ti and Oye Como Va, and has gone on to 5X Platinum status, selling more than 5 million copies
Happy #Birthday Raúl Esparza, stage/TV/film actor/singer whose memorable Broadway roles include Riff Raff in The Rocky Horror Show and Caractacus Potts in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, as well as Tony Nominated work in Taboo, The Homecoming, Speed-the-Plow and Company
Happy #Birthday Bill Wyman, musician/songwriter inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989 for his long tenure as bassist with rock band the Rolling Stones (1962-1993), whose classic #1 US hits include (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction, Ruby Tuesday, Honky Tonk Women and Get Off of My Cloud
Happy #Birthday Kevin Kline, whose 5+ decade acting career has earned him numerous awards including the Supporting Actor Oscar for 1988's A Fish Called Wanda, and 3 Tonys - for the play Present Laughter (2017) and the musicals On The Twentieth Century (1978) and Pirates of Penzance (1981)
43 years ago today - English synth-pop duo Yazoo (known as Yaz in North America) spent the first of 2 weeks at #1 with Don't Go, their second chart-topping US dance hit in 1982 following the track Situation, both of which were released as singles from their debut album Upstairs at Eric's
Happy #Birthay "Weird" Al Yankovich, 5X Grammy winning comic singer/songwriter/musician whose creative parodies include tracks like Eat It, I Lost On Jeopardy, Like A Surgeon, Fat, Smells Like Nirvana, The Saga Begins, Amish Paradise and a Beverly Hillbillies-themed version of Money for Nothing
