Today's birthdays:
Ozzy Osbourne, 75.
John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne is an English singer, songwriter, and television personality. He rose to prominence during the 1970s as the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Black Sabbath, during which period he adopted the nickname "Prince of Darkness".
Born in Marston Green and raised in Birmingham, Osbourne became a founding member of Black Sabbath in 1968, and provided lead vocals from their self-titled debut album in 1970 to Never Say Die! in 1978. The band was highly influential on the development of heavy metal music, in particular their critically acclaimed releases Paranoid, Master of Reality and Sabbath Bloody Sabbath. Osbourne was fired from Black Sabbath in 1979 due to alcohol and drug problems. Osbourne then began a successful solo career with Blizzard of Ozz in 1980 and has released 13 studio albums, the first seven of which received multi-platinum certifications in the US. Osbourne has since reunited with Black Sabbath on several occasions. He rejoined in 1997 and helped record the group's final studio album, 13 (2013), before they embarked on a farewell tour that ended with a February 2017 performance in their hometown, Birmingham. His longevity and success have earned him the informal title "Godfather of Metal".
Osbourne's total album sales from his years in Black Sabbath, combined with his solo work, are over 100 million. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Black Sabbath and into the UK Music Hall of Fame as a solo artist and as a member of the band. He has been honoured with stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and Birmingham Walk of Stars. At the 2014 MTV Europe Music Awards, he received the Global Icon Award. In 2015, Osbourne received the Ivor Novello Award for Lifetime Achievement from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors.
On this day today:
1925 - George Gershwin premieres his "Concerto In F," the first jazz concerto for piano and orchestra, at New York City's Carnegie Hall. Gershwin is also the featured soloist on flugelhorn.
1947 - Patti Page records her first hit single, "Confess." Unable to find background singers due to a strike, Mercury Records sound engineer Bill Putnam overdubs Page's own vocals. It's the first-ever recording with overdubbed vocals.
1966 - The Monkees, who are stars thanks to their TV show, play their first concert. About 8,000 screaming fans show up for the performance in Honolulu, confirming their status as real-life superstars.
1968 - Iron Butterfly's In-a-Gadda-da-Vida album is certified gold.
1971 - Deep Purple arrive in Montreux, Switzerland to record their Machine Head album at the Montreux Casino. It doesn't go as planned: The casino burns down the next day and they end up recording in a hotel using the Rolling Stones' mobile unit. They tell the tale in the song "Smoke On The Water."
1971 - "This Is How We Do It" singer Montell Jordan is born in Los Angeles, California.
1976 - It's a Spinal Tap moment for Pink Floyd when during the shoot for their Animals album cover, a 40-foot inflatable pig being photographed at Battersea Power Station on the River Thames in London breaks free. Pilots in the area are warned of a pig loose in the skies, which reaches a height of 18,000 feet before coming down in Kent.
1978 - The Cure drummer Lol Tolhurst accidentally pees on Billy Idol backstage after a show in Bristol, England, where The Cure are opening for Idol's band Generation X. Idol is entertaining a young lady in a men's room stall when Tolhurst unloads his lager, missing the urinal and hitting Idol's leg. The Cure are kicked off the tour the next day.
1979 - Before The Who concert at Riverfront Coliseum in Cincinnati, 11 people are trampled to death and dozens are injured in a rush to enter the arena. Like many concerts of the day, there are no reserved seats, a practice known as "festival seating." The resulting controversy (and lawsuits) force promoters to rethink the practice.
1979 - Daniel Bedingfield is born in New Zealand. He is the older brother of fellow singers Natasha Bedingfield and Nikola Rachelle.
1984 - "Do They Know It's Christmas?," the first charity single on a grand scale, is released in the UK with proceeds going to help famine victims in Ethiopia. It becomes the biggest-selling single in UK history, a record that stands until 1997 when it's overtaken by Elton John's updated version of "Candle In The Wind." The single is released in America a week later.
1988 - Carole King and Gerry Goffin receive a Lifetime Achievement award from the US National Academy of Songwriters.
1990 - Madonna appears on the news program Nightline, where she debuts her video for "Justify My Love," which MTV has refused to play. As the lascivious clip plays, Madonna provides commentary, answering questions from host Forrest Sawyer.
1992 - Mick Jagger and Keith Richards confirm the rumors that Bill Wyman, their bass player since 1962, will be leaving The Rolling Stones.
2014 - A fake MSNBC report claims that Guns N' Roses frontman Axl Rose has been found dead in his West Hollywood home. The band's official Facebook page posts photos of the singer with the caption "Ha! They say I'm dead — again… Wait, what? WTF? It's a hoax. Guys. Get a life at ParadiseCity.com." The link references the band's online fan community.
2015 - A live adaptation of The Wiz airs on NBC. Based on the book (but not the film) The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, The Wiz began as a stage production in 1975, and was made into a movie (with Michael Jackson and Diana Ross) in 1978.
2015 - Crosby, Stills & Nash, which formed in 1968, finally implode at the White House National Christmas Tree Lighting concert when Stephen Stills throws a pick at David Crosby for talking over him. They get though a performance of "Silent Night," but never play together again.
2017 - LL Cool J, 49, becomes the youngest person to receive a Kennedy Center Honor, and the first rapper to do so.
2022 - SZA performs two cuts from her album SOS on Saturday Night Live, but it's a song called "Cuffing Season" in the skit "Big Boys" - a celebration of hefty boyfriends - that takes off of TikTok.
