Today in Music History: Happy 65th Birthday to Stevie Wonder
May 13, 2015
Birthday Highlight:
Stevie Wonder is 65 today. He was born Stevland Hardaway Judkins in Saginaw, Mich. A child prodigy, Stevie Wonder has become one of the most creative and loved performers in music. Wonder signed with Motown's Tamla label at the age of 11 and continues to perform and record to this day. In March of this year, Stevie Wonder delighted music fans in Minneapolis after a day that included worshipping at the New Salem Missionary Baptist Church, shopping at the Wedge Co-op and performing in concert at Target Center (you can read Andrea Swensson's review of the concert here).
Also, Today In:
1967 - The Supremes scored their tenth U.S. No. 1 single with "The Happening."
1969 - Led Zeppelin became the first major British rock group to appear in Hawaii, when they appeared at The Civic Auditorium, Honolulu.
1970 - The world premiere of The Beatles last film project, Let It Be, took place in New York City. The film was released shortly after the album of the same name.
1971 - Grace Slick of Jefferson Airplane crashed her Mercedes into a wall near the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and was hospitalized.
1978 - Yvonne Elliman went to No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with her cover of the Gibb brothers' song, "If I Can't Have You." The song was featured in the film Saturday Night Fever.
1989 - Bon Jovi went to No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "I'll Be There for You", their fourth U.S. No. 1.
1996 - Oasis became the fastest-selling band in U.K. history after all 330,000 tickets for their summer shows sold out in just nine hours.
2008 - The U.S. Postal Service issued a 42-cent postage stamp in honor of Frank Sinatra. The design featured a 1950s image of Sinatra, wearing a hat.
2011 - "Like A Rolling Stone" was voted Bob Dylan's best-ever song by Rolling Stone magazine, who had asked the opinions of a panel of writers, academics and musicians to compile a poll to mark Dylan's 70th birthday on May 24 of that year.
More Birthdays:
Ritchie Valens was born on this day in 1941.
Mary Wells was born on this day in 1943.
Roxy Music drummer Paul Thompson is 64.
Darius Rucker is 49.
Alison Goldfrapp — best known as the lead vocalist of the electronic music duo Goldfrapp — is 49.