April 11

Birthdays

1918: Jimmy Lewis (R&B Singer)

1935: Richard Berry (Wrote “Louie, Louie”)

Events

1956: Elvis Presley's tour plane develops engine trouble while flying the singer from Amarillo, TX to Nashville, forcing an emergency landing in Arkansas. When he calls his mother Gladys to tell her, she begs him to never fly again, instilling a fear of flying in Elvis which will take him years to get over.

1956: James Brown debuts on the R&B charts with "Please, Please, Please."

1966: NBC-TV's musical variety show Hullabaloo airs its last episode after sixteen months on the air, featuring Lesley Gore, Peter and Gordon, Paul Anka, and the Cyrkle.

1966: Frank Sinatra recorded "Strangers In The Night".

1967: Flying back to England after participating in the Beach Boys' aborted Smile sessions, Paul McCartney comes up with the idea for the Beatles film and album Magical Mystery Tour.

1968: Janis Joplin makes her television debut when Big Brother and the Holding Company perform on ABC-TV's variety show Hollywood Palace.

1976: Relaxing in his hotel after a record-breaking Sydney show, Alice Cooper is placed under house arrest for alleged breach of contract after refusing to pay another promoter $59,000 for an Australian tour the year before. When it is discovered that the promoter's fallen short on his end of the deal as well, Cooper is released to fly back to the States.

1983: R.E.M.'s first album, "Murmur", was released.

1988: Cher wins Best Actress for the romantic comedy Moonstruck at tonight's Oscar Awards in New York.

1990: Elton John performs at the Indianapolis, IN funeral of Ryan White, the hemophiliac 18-year-old who'd contracted AIDS through a blood transfusion and been shunned for it. Michael Jackson also attends the service.

1991: Ringo Starr was a guest on Fox TV's "The Simpsons."

1997: Grand Funk Railroad reforms for their first tour in years to benefit the Bosnian-American Relief Fund, which helps victims of the recent genocide in Bosnia.

2002: Aretha Franklin and seven other Motown stars are honored with street names in Detroit's new low-income housing project.

2002: Kid Rock and Pamela Anderson got engaged.

2006: Paul Anka guest-stars as himself in tonight's "The Real Paul Anka" episode of WB-TV's Gilmore Girls.

2006: June Pointer (The Pointer Sisters) died on this day.  She had a troubled history of drug and alcohol abuse, and suffered a stroke on February 27, 2006. While in the hospital, June was also diagnosed with cancer which had metastasized in her breast, colon, liver and bone.