100px|Elvis in 1970
Elvis Presley (1935–1977) was an American singer and one of the most important figures of 20th-century popular culture. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King". Born in Tupelo, Mississippi, Presley moved to Memphis, Tennessee at the age of 13. He began his career there in 1954 and became the leading figure of the newly popular sound of rock and roll with a series of television appearances and chart-topping records during the late 1950s. Conscripted in 1958, Presley relaunched his recording career two years later with some of his most commercially successful work. In 1968, after seven years away from the stage, he returned to live performance in a celebrated comeback television special that led to an extended Las Vegas concert residency and a string of profitable tours. In 1973 Presley staged the first concert broadcast globally via satellite, Aloha from Hawaii, seen by around 1.5 billion viewers. Prescription drug abuse severely affected his health, and he died suddenly in 1977 from cardiac arrest. With his versatile voice and unusually wide success encompassing many genres, Presley is the best-selling solo artist in the history of popular music. Nominated for 14 competitive Grammys, he won three, and received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award at age 36. He has been inducted into multiple music halls of fame. (more...)
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_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1297:
Francesco Grimaldi, disguised as a monk, led his men to capture the fortress protecting the Rock of Monaco, establishing his family as the rulers of Monaco. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monaco
1904:
Blackstone Library , the first branch of the Chicago Public Library system, was dedicated. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackstone_Library
1920:
The steel strike of 1919, an attempt to organize the United States steel industry in the wake of World War I, collapsed in complete failure for the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/steel_strike_of_1919
2003:
Turkish Airlines Flight 634 crashed in extensive fog during final approach to Diyarbakır Airport in Turkey, leaving only five survivors out of 80 people on board. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkish_Airlines_Flight_634
2010:
Gunmen from an offshoot of the Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda attacked the bus carrying the Togo national football team on its way to the 2010 African Cup of Nations, killing three. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Togo_national_football_team_attack
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
genet (n): (biology) A group of genetically identical individuals (plants, fungi, bacteria etc.) that have grown in a given location, all originating from asexual reproduction of a single ancestor http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/genet
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Some would be sages if they did not believe they were so already. --Baltasar Gracián http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Baltasar_Graci%C3%A1n