1956: A 31-year-old woman named Gogi Grant knocked Elvis out of Billboard's number one spot with a song called "The Wayward Wind". It was a tune that she recorded almost as an after thought, with just fifteen minutes of studio time remaining. Six weeks later, Elvis would be back on top with "I Want You, I Need You, I Love You".
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1963: 21 year old Kyu Sakamoto became the first Japanese artist to hit the top of the US singles chart with a song called "Sukiyaki". It was also a #6 hit in the UK. The original title of the song was "Ue O Muite Aruko", which translates "I Look Up When I Walk". Sakamoto was killed on August 12th, 1985 when JAL Flight 123, a Boeing 747, crashed and burned on a thickly wooded mountain about 60 miles northwest of Tokyo. He was 43.
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1986: Patti LaBelle and Michael McDonald had Billboard's top tune with "On My Own". The pair actually recorded their vocal parts separately and had never met until after the song went to number one.
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1970: The Beatles had their last original single, "The Long and Winding Road" hit number 1 in the US. Since then, they've reached the top of the charts with re-releases of "Got to Get You Into My Life" and "Back in the USSR" (1976), "The Beatles' Movie Medley" (1982), "Twist and Shout" (1986, included in the movies Ferris Bueller's Day Off and Back to School), "Baby It's You" and "Free As a Bird" (both 1995) and "Real Love" (1996).
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1965: Sonny And Cher make their first TV appearance on American Bandstand, singing a tune called "Just You". Additionally it's Aurora Munroe's birthday!
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