Eagle Classic Hitstory August 16 on birminghamseagle.com

On This Day in Eagle Classic Hitstory...

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August 16

1957
INXS guitarist Tim Farriss is born.
INXS "New Sensation"

1958
Madonna (Madonna Louise Ciccone) is born in Detroit. She is the top female pop artist of the 1980s with seven No. 1 hits, the biggest of which is "Like a Virgin," a million selling record that tops the Hot 100 for six weeks.

1962
Ringo Starr replaces Pete Best as the Beatles' drummer.

1965
Lead singer Mike Smith of the Dave Clark Five suffers two broken ribs when he's pulled off the stage by fans at a Chicago concert.

1966
The Monkees' first single, "Last Train to Clarksville," is released. It sells more than 1 million copies and reaches No. 1.

1969
Hippie leader Abbie Hoffman is knocked offstage by Pete Townshend while attempting to make a political statement during the Who's set at Woodstock. Later, Townshend claims he didn't know it was Hoffman at the time.

1974
The Ramones play their first show at CBGB's in New York's Bowery district.

1975
Vocalist and songwriter Peter Gabriel delivers a statement to the press announcing he's leaving Genesis. He made the decision back in December but stuck around until contracted tours were done. He had a desire to be with his family and said, "As an artist, I need to absorb a wide variety of experiences. It's difficult to respond to intuition and impulse within the long-term planning the band needed."

1976
Cliff Richards begins an SRO, 20 date tour of the Soviet union at Lenningrad's Hall of the October. The crowd's enthusiasm of his performance horrifies Russian officals who ask him if he wants barricades put up between himself and the audience for later shows. He declines the offer.

1977
The King is dead. Elvis Presley dies in his Memphis mansion, Graceland. According to Presley's girlfriend, Ginger Alden, she awoke in the afternoon and noticed he was not in bed. She found him lying on the floor of the bathroom. Efforts to resuscitate him were unsuccessful and at 3:30 p.m. he was pronounced dead. According to reports, the death resulted from coronary arrhythmia. Within the next couple of days, the death becomes one of the biggest media events in the past twenty years. It also sparks debates on whether or not the death was staged and if he was still alive and well. Within a few hours after the announcement, thousands of fans are enroute to Memphis to pay their respects. Elvis Presley was 42. PHOTO: The last photo ever taken of the living King - taken at 12:28 pm on August 16, 1977.

1979
Hardcore KISS fans are dismayed to hear "I Was Made for Lovin' You," a song with a disco beat. Still, the song climbs up to #11 and goes gold on this date.

1979
The biggest single of the summer is The Knack's "My Sharona," which goes gold. The success of the group is the gimmick of Beatle-esque posturing which the group treats as tounge-in-cheek. The Knack disbands less than two years later.

1983
Paul Simon and actress Carrie Fisher marry in the singer's duplex overlooking New York's Central Park. The couple had been together for five years but split up less than a year after the marriage. They divorce in 1985.

1985
Madonna and actor Sean Penn get married in Malibu, as helicopters with photographers hovered overhead. They would divorce in 1989.

1997
Grand Ole Opry member Jerry Clower and wife Homerline celebrate their 50th anniversary at Percy Quinn State Park in McComb, Miss. The happy couple met as teenagers and never dated another person from that day forward.

1998
Pete Townshend performs to a SRO crowd at the Chicago House of Blues in a benefit concert that raised about $300,000 in proceeds for Maryville Academy, a residential child-care facility for abused or neglected children.

1999
Thides Leasing Corp. files a lawsuit against the Artist Formerly Known as Prince, claiming that the Artist rented a tour bus between May and October 1998 but never paid for it. The Artist owes $42,109 for days he used the bus, the suit maintains, and $116,600 for seven months that he promised to use it but didn’t.

2000
'N Sync unveils a room dedicated in its honor at the Orlando, Fla., branch of the Ronald McDonald house. Orlando Mayor Glenda E. Hood presents 'N Sync with ceremonial keys to the city.

2002
Ash drummer Rick McMurray is injured as the band’s tour bus driver tries to avoid a shredded tire on Oregon’s Interstate 5. The bus, which is carrying the Irish band between tour gigs in San Francisco and Seattle, tips over, flinging the band members from their bunks. Only McMurray sustains injuries during the accident.

2002
The Rolling Stones perform a surprise club show in Toronto in preparation for their upcoming Licks world tour.

2005
Acclaimed fiddle virtuoso Vassar Clements dies at his daughter Midge Cranor’s home outside Nashville following a battle with cancer. Born in 1928, Clements was referred to as the “Miles Davis of bluegrass.” He began performing with Bill Monroe’s Bluegrass Boys when he was just 14 and became a regular member of the legendary group in 1949.

August 16 Birthdays