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Today in Music History: A Marvin Gaye Classic Hits Number One

December 14, 2012

Marvin Gaye
Marvin Gaye
wikipedia

History Highlight:

Today in 1968, Marvin Gaye scored his first US No.1 single when "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" started a five-week run at the top.

The song written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong was recorded by a few different artists first (including Smokey Robinson and The Miracles and Gladys Knight and the Pips), but it was Gaye's version which scored big; and is acknowledged today as one of the greatest R&B singles ever recorded.

Also, Today In:

1969 - The Jackson Five made their first network television appearance in the US when they appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show.

1972 - Ringo became a movie producer. His film about T. Rex's Marc Bolan, Born To Boogie, opened in London.

1980 - Yoko Ono called on fans to observe ten minutes of silence in memory of John Lennon. 30,000 gathered outside St George's Hall in Liverpool, while nearly 100,000 attend a memorial in New York's Central Park.

1991 - Michael Jackson started a four-week run at No.1 on the US album chart with his eighth studio album Dangerous. The album has sold over 32 million copies worldwide making it one of the best selling albums of all time.

Birthdays:

Mike Scott of The Waterboys is 54 today.