DYR Today, January 16

“Birthdays”

1956 – Tennessee Ernie Ford was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with his version of the Merle Travis coal-mining song ‘Sixteen Tons.’ Written in 1947 about the misery of coal mining.
1957 – The Cavern Club opened in Liverpool, England. It became the home of many Liverpool bands including The Beatles who appeared at the club 292 times.
1961 – “Shop Around” by the Miracles was the new #1 on the R&B chart.
1964 – The Dave Clark Five owned the #1 U.K. song with “Glad All Over”.
1967 – The Rolling Stones released the single “Ruby Tuesday”.

1977 – One half of TV cop show “Starsky & Hutch” (he was blonde Hutch), David Soul went to No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Don’t Give Up On Us’. Also a No.1 in the US.
1978 – Paul Simon, Art Garfunkel and James Taylor combined for a great remake of “(What A) Wonderful World”.
1982 – “Yesterday’s Songs” by Neil Diamond held on to #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart for a fifth week.
1982 – Juice Newton had the only new Top 10 song with her remake of “The Sweetest Thing (I’ve Ever Known)”.
1982 – Bucks Fizz were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with their second No.1 ‘Land Of Make Believe’.
1988 – Former Go-Go’s singer Belinda Carlisle scored her first UK No.1 single with ‘Heaven Is A Place On Earth.’
1988 – George Harrison reached #1 with “Got My Mind Set On You”

1988 – George Michael went to No.1 on the US album charts with his debut solo album ‘Faith’, which went on to sell over 8 million copies.
1988 – Tina Turner gave herself a place in the record books when she performed in front of 182,000 people in Rio De Janeiro. The largest audience ever for a single artist.
1989 – Michael Jackson wrapped up the highly successful Bad tour with the first of five nights at the Memorial Sports Arena in Los Angeles. Jackson donated more than $1 million to a charitable organization fighting child cruelty.
1989 – Debbie Gibson released the single “Lost In Your Eyes”

1989 – The Fine Young Cannibals released the single “She Drives Me Crazy”
1992 – Eric Clapton recorded his unplugged session for MTV. The set which included his current hit single ‘Tears in Heaven’ and a reworked acoustic version of ‘Layla’, earned six Grammy Awards for the album including Record of the Year.

1939 – The “I Love a Mystery” debuted on NBC’s West-Coast outlets.
1958 – The Everly Brothers made their debut on British television with the rebroadcast of the U.S. show The Perry Como Show.
1976 – The TV show “Donny & Marie” premiered on ABC-TV.

1987 – The Beastie Boys became the first act censored on “American Bandstand.”
1988 – Jimmy “The Greek” Snyder was fired as a CBS sports commentator one day after telling a TV station in Washington, DC, that, during the era of slavery, blacks had been bred to produce stronger offspring.

1759 – The British Museum opened.
1883 – The United States Civil Service Commission was established as the Pendleton Act went into effect.
1896 – The first five-player college basketball game was played at Iowa City, IA.
1919 – The 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which prohibited the sale or transportation of alcoholic beverages, was ratified. It was later repealed by the 21st Amendment.
1925 – Leon Trotsky was dismissed as Chairman of the Revolutionary Council of the USSR.
1961 – Mickey Mantle signed a contract that made him the highest paid baseball player in the American League at $75,000 for the 1961 season.
1978 – Sex Pistol Sid Vicious fell through a glass door at a San Francisco hotel, took a drug overdose and was rushed to hospital.
1979 – Cher and Gregg Allman divorced.
1985 – “Playboy” magazine announced its 30-year tradition of stapling centerfold models in the bellybutton and elsewhere would come to an immediate end.
1998 – Researchers announce that an altered gene helped to defend against HIV.
1998 – NASA officially announced that John Glenn would fly aboard the space shuttle Discovery in October.
1998 – It was announced that Texas would receive $15.3 billion in a tobacco industry settlement. The payouts were planned to take place over 25 years.