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Today in Music History

December, 21

  • 1998 Celine Dion, whose Oscar-winning single “My Heart Will Go On” powered record-breaking sales of the “Titanic” soundtrack, is named the top-selling artist of 1998 by the Recording Industry Association of America.
  • 1997 Johnny Coles, a trumpeter whose warm tone and spare style highlighted recordings by Duke Ellington, Herbie Hancock and many other of the biggest names in jazz dies from cancer at the age of 71.
  • 1996 Tony Bennett is rushed to a hospital for an emergency operation for an erupted hernia. Bennett is just arriving at the White House for a holiday dinner with President and Mrs. Clinton when he falls ill.
  • 1985 Lionel Richie’s “Say You, Say Me,” moves into the No. 1 spot, giving the movie “White Nights” two soundtrack singles in the top 5. The other single, placing at No. 5, is Phil Collins’ and Marilyn Martin’s “Separate Lives.” “White Nights” is only the sixth motion picture of the rock era to produce more than one No. 1 single. The first five are: “Saturday Night Fever,” “Grease,” “Flashdance,” “Footloose,” and “Purple Rain.”
  • 1980 No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit: “(Just Like) Starting Over,” John Lennon. The song reaches No. 1 18 days after Lennon is shot to death in New York City.
  • 1976 “Barry Manilow on Broadway” opens for a two-week sold-out run in New York.
  • 1969 The Supremes make their last appearance on TV’s “Ed Sullivan Show.” They sing “Someday We’ll Be Together.”
  • 1952 No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit: “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus,” Jimmy Boyd.
  • 1940 Frank Zappa is born in Baltimore, Md.