Born:   Bertha “Chippie” Hill, 1905; Sam “Lightnin’ Hopkins, 1912; Sly Stone (Sylvester Stewart), 1944

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1945   The first #1 pop album was by Nat King Cole.

1954   The Chords recorded the soon-to-be-standard, “Sh-Boom,” which became the first pop Top 10 hit (#5 , #2 R&B) by a rock ‘n’ roll/R&B vocal group.

1957   Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers arrived in London for a British tour. The Harlem teen quintet was the first rock ‘n’ roll vocal group to have a #1 record in England when “Why Do Fools Fall In Love” topped the U.K charts in August 1956. Lymon also became the youngest headliner and  the youngest British chart topper. The group spent two weeks in London featured at the London Palladium.

1966   James Brown earned the Best R&B Recording of 1965 for “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag” at the eighth annual Grammy Awards. It became his biggest R&B hit.

1969   The Isley Brothers “It’s Your Thing” charted on the way to #1 R&B and #2 pop. It would become their biggest hit of a career spanning five decades.

1978   The film American Hot Wax took off across the nation and included performances (both live and recorded) by the Spaniels, Chuck Berry, Jackie Wilson, the Moonglows, Maurice Williams & the Zodiacs, the Drifters, Little Richard, the Turbans, and the Cadillacs. The movie was based on the life of Alan Freed, who championed Black music throughout his career.

1994   Babyface won the Best R&B Album, Male at the eighth annual Soul Train Awards for his CD For The Cool In You at Los Angeles’ Shrine Auditorium. The show’s hosts were Patti LaBelle, Gladys Knight, and Johnny Gill.

1998   VH-1 aired a one-hour special, Behind The Music, on Rick James.

1999   Charles Brown, Curtis Mayfield, and the Staple Singers were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at the fourteenth annual festivities in New York.