Today's birthdays:
Michel Legrand (1932-2019)
Michel Jean Legrand was a French musical composer, arranger, conductor, and jazz pianist. Legrand was a prolific composer, having written over 200 film and television scores, in addition to many songs. His scores for two of the films of French New Wave director Jacques Demy, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964) and The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967), earned Legrand his first Academy Award nominations. Legrand won his first Oscar for the song "The Windmills of Your Mind" from The Thomas Crown Affair (1968), and additional Oscars for Summer of '42 (1971) and Barbra Streisand's Yentl (1983).
On this day today:
1607 - Claudio Monterverdi's first opera, L'Orfeo, premieres in the The Ducal Palace, a group of buildings in Mantua, Lombardy. Monteverdi is considered the first opera composer to make it into a cohesive art-form.
1711 - George Frideric Handel's Rinaldo, the first Italian language opera written specifically for the London stage, premieres at the Queen's Theatre in London's Haymarket.
1942 - Paul Jones (original lead vocalist for Manfred Mann) is born Paul Pond in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England.
1944 - Nicky Hopkins, a renown piano player heard on albums from The Rolling Stones and The Kinks, is born in Perivale, Middlesex, England.
1947 - Rupert Holmes is born David Goldstein in Northwich, Cheshire, England.
1963 - The Rolling Stones get their first steady gig at London's Station Hotel, performing on Sundays in the Crawdaddy room for a grand total of $67 a week.
1965 - The Beatles begin shooting their second movie, Help!, in the Bahamas as director Richard Lester films them riding bicycles near the airport.
1969 - Johnny Cash records Johnny Cash At San Quentin.
1969 - Jimi Hendrix's Experience play their final UK concert, at London's Royal Albert Hall.
1973 - Roberta Flack's "Killing Me Softly With His Song" hits #1 for the first of five weeks, a longer run than any other song of 1973. It was written by Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel, the guys who wrote the theme songs to Happy Days and Laverne & Shirley.
1975 - Led Zeppelin releases Physical Graffiti.
1976 - The Eagles' Their Greatest Hits (1971–1975) becomes the first album certified Platinum by the RIAA, a designation introduced in 1975.
1987 - Bruce Hornsby & the Range take home the Grammy award for Best New Artist, winning over Glass Tiger, Nu Shooz, Simply Red, and Timbuk3.
1988 - At a concert in Phoenix, Alice Cooper claims he is running for governor of Arizona, representing the "Wild Party." (A special election was being held to replace Evan Mecham, who had been impeached.) Cooper's slogan: "A troubled man for troubled times."
1990 - At the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles, The Byrds' David Crosby, Roger McGuinn, and Chris Hillman reunite for a tribute concert honoring the recently deceased Roy Orbison and raising money to support the homeless, a cause Orbison was passionate about. Bob Dylan, Emmylou Harris, John Fogerty and Bonnie Raitt are also on the bill; the concert is later broadcast as a Showtime special.
1992 - Balloting begins to decide the design on the new Elvis stamp. The choice is between a fit '50s Elvis or a more plump '70s one. Young Elvis wins in a landslide.
1992 - Kurt Cobain of Nirvana and Courtney Love of Hole are married in Hawaii, with a non-denominational, female minister conducting the ceremony.
1993 - Eric Clapton wins big at the Grammy Awards, taking three awards for "Tears In Heaven," two more for his album Unplugged, and Best Rock Song for his acoustic version of "Layla."
1993 - Tom Waits's stripped-down, raw, nearly primeval Bone Machine wins a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Rock Album.
1995 - Dave Matthews Band make their first appearance on national TV when they perform the hit "What Would You Say" on the Late Show with David Letterman.
1997 - Spice Girls win Brit Awards for Best Single ("Wannabe") and Best Video ("Say You'll Be There"). Geri Halliwell wears a skin-tight Union Jack dress when they perform at the ceremony, introducing her signature look.
1998 - Elton John is knighted by Queen Elizabeth II during a ceremony at Buckingham Palace.
1999 - Lenny Kravitz wins his first Grammy when "Fly Away" is named Best Male Rock Vocal Performance. It's his first of four-consecutive wins in the category, followed by "American Woman," "Again" and "Dig In."
1999 - Ricky Martin ushers in a wave of Latin pop with a spellbinding performance of "The Cup Of Life" at the Grammy Awards. Ten weeks later, his song "Livin' La Vida Loca" goes to #1 in America; later in the year, Enrique Iglesias ("Bailamos") and Santana ("Smooth") follow to the top with Latin-flavored hits.
2004 - After EMI refuses to let DJ Danger Mouse release his Grey Album, a mash-up of Jay-Z's Black Album with samples from The Beatles' White Album, the DJ makes the album available as a download, for free, on his website for one day.
2008 - A statue of departed AC/DC lead singer Bon Scott is unveiled in his hometown of Fremantle, Australia.
2013 - Larry Marks, original singer of the Scooby Doo theme song, dies in Los Angeles at age 73. He was also a producer for Columbia Records and A&M Records, where he helmed projects for Liza Minnelli and Phil Ochs, among others.
2019 - Queen, with Adam Lambert on vocals, open the Oscars with a medley of "We Will Rock You" and "We Are The Champions." The biopic Bohemian Rhapsody goes on to win four awards, more than any other film at the ceremony.
2024 - Beyonce becomes the first Black woman to top the Country chart when "Texas Hold 'Em," a song she surprised released the night of the Super Bowl, hits #1 on that tally.
