#1 R&B Song 1950: “Double Crossing Blues,” Johnny Otis Quintette, the Robins & Little Esther
Born: Wilson Pickett (the Falcons), 1941; Helen Gathers (the Bobbettes), 1943; Irene Cara (Irene Escalera), 1959; Vanessa Williams, 1963; Queen Latifah (Dana Owens), 1970
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1944 The Ink Spots charted with “Don’t Believe Everything You Dream,” from the motion picture Around the World, starring Kay Kyser. It reached #6 R&B and #14 pop.
1954 The Harptones appeared at the Apollo Theater.
1960 Dave “Baby” Cortez (of “Happy Organ” fame), the Coasters, the Isley Brothers, and Luther Bond performed on the Rocketship Revue at the Apollo Theater, hosted by New York’s famed R&B disc jockey Jocko Henderson.
1970 Brook Benton’s “Rainy Night in Georgia” reached #1 R&B and #4 pop. It was his seventeenth and last R&B #1. Not bad for a guy who started out as a truck driver.
1982 Former Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes lead singer Teddy Pendergrass was paralyzed from the neck down after his Rolls Royce flipped over while he was trying to avoid another car on a Philadelphia street. Adding to his woes came the news that his passenger, one Tenika Watson, was actually a transsexual nightclub act named John Watson.
1992 Donna Summer received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
1994 Lloyd Price was honored in his hometown of Kenner, LA, today when they renamed Fourth Street Lloyd Price Avenue.
Ann
