Born:  George Clinton, 1940; Keith Sweat, 1961

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1957   B.B. King charted for the first time with “Be Careful With A Fool” (#95). He had already had eighteen R&B charters; it took him six years to cross over. He would go on to have thirty-six pop singles on the hit list through 1989.

1960   Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, the Five Satins, Joe Turner, Ben E. King, Faye Adams, Nappy Brown, and Annie Laurie (who had an R&B hit with “Since I Fell For You” in 1947) appeared at Chicago’s Regal Theater.

1961   Singer and songwriter Keith Sweat was born. The balladeer began working as a Wall Street brokerage assistant and graduated to soulful love songs for a new generation. Influenced by singing groups such as the Emotions and the Sylvers, Sweat managed twenty-nine R&B charters and eighteen pop winners through 2002.

1969   Aretha Franklin was arrested and fined $50 for creating a disturbance in a Detroit parking lot. Upon leaving, she expressed her frustration by running over a road sign.

1983   Diana Ross gave a free concert in New York’s Central Park after the previous night’s concert was washed out by heavy wind and rain.

1991   Bobby Womack performed at London’s Hackney Empire.

1998   Cypress Hill, Busta Rhymes, Canibus, Wyclef Jean, and Public Enemy, among others, performed at the third annual Smokin’ Grooves tour at the Darien Lake Performing Arts Center, Darien Center, NY.