Evan Peters, born January 20, 1987 in St. Louis, Missouri, got his big break when he was cast in American Horror Story in 2011. His favorite role of mine is X-Man Quicksilver (Pietro Maximoff) in the X-Men series. He won accolades as his performance as Jeffrey Dahmer in Monster, for which he won a Golden Globe award.
Livin' on a Prayer, the single from Slippery When Wet released by Bon Jovi in October 1986, reached #1 February 14, 1987 on the Billboard Hot 100. It became their second #1 and in 2013, it was certified triple platinum. To date it has sold over 13M copies, certified Diamond, making it one of the best selling singles of all time.
Bill Paxton got a great birthday present as he was awarded a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Private Hudson in Aliens on his 32nd birthday, at the annual ceremony held May 17, 1987. Aliens was nominated for 11 Saturn Awards, tied with Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. Aliens walked away with 8 awards, and Star Trek only one. Which is a shame because I like Star Trek IV. It's one of my favorite Star Trek movies.
Besides Paxton's win, Aliens also won Best Science Fiction Film, Best Director for James Cameron, Best Actress for Sigourney Weaver, Best Supporting Actress for Jenette Goldstein, Best Performance by a Younger Actor for Carrie Henn, Best Writing for James Cameron, and Best Special Effects for Stan Winston, Robert Skotak, and Dennis Skotak.
Michael Biehn was nominated for Best Actor (totally deserved it). Aliens also was nominated for Best Costumes, and Best Make-up.
Sam Bradford, born November 8 (Happy birthday, Sam!), 1987 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, is the first Native American to win the Heisman Trophy. He is a member of the Cherokee Nation and was drafted in the first round of the 2010 NFL Draft by the St. Louis Rams. He set a record for most completions by a rookie in NFL history and won NFL Offense Rookie of the Year.
He played football at Putnam City North High School and accepted a scholarship from University of Oklahoma. He became only the second sophomore to win the Heisman Trophy. Bradford played for the Rams, the Philadelphia Eagles, the Minnesota Vikings, and the Arizona Cardinals.
Charles Pedersen, born October 3, 1904 in Busan, Korea, is the first Korean to be awarded a Nobel Prize. He shared the prize for chemistry with Donald J. Cram and Jean-Marie Lehn in 1987.
While a chemist at DuPont, he developed a method for synthesizing crown ethers.
Trio, the collaboration of Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt, took home Album of the Year at the Academy of Country Music Awards April 6, 1987. The album was released March 2 of that year and peaked at #1 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart and stayed there for 5 consecutive weeks.
Trio also won a Grammy for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals.
Soyuz TM-4, launched December 21, 1987, was the fourth manned mission to the space station Mir. Its crew at lift-off consisted of Commander Vladimir Titov, Musa Manarov and Anatoli Levenchenko. Titov and Manarov were part of the expedition Mir EO-3 and stayed in space for a year returning to Earth. Levchenko returned to Earth on Soyuz TM-3 a week later.
Soyuz TM-4 returned in June 1998 with crew of Mir EP-2:Commander Anatoly Solovyev, Viktor Savinykh and Aleksandr Aleksandrov. They had arrived a week earlier on Soyuz TM-5.
One of the most entertaining movies ever, and one of the best ensemble casts ever assembled, The Princess Bride was released October 9, 1987. Directed by Rob Reiner, It is one of the few movies that is required viewing for everyone. Cary Elwes, Mandy Patinkin, Billy Crystal, Carol Kane and Peter Falk are just a few of the stars. Not many films have so many lines that are quotable as The Princess Bride.
Soyuz TM-3 crew (L-R): Muhammed Faris, Aleksandr Aleksandrov, Alexander Viktorentko
Soyuz TM-3, launched July 22, 1987, was the third manned spacecraft to visit the space station Mir. Its crew consisted of Commander Alexander Viktorenko, Flight Engineer Aleksandr Aleksandrov, and research cosmonaut Muhammed Faris, first Syrian astronaut.
Viktorenko and Faris stayed on board approximately a week (Mir EP-1) and returned on Soyuz TM-2, but Aleksandrov stayed aboard as part of Mir EO-2.
Soyuz TM-3 returned to Earth December 29 with Yuri Romanenko, Aleksandrov and Anatoli Levchenko.
Sting released his second solo album ...Nothing Like the Sun, October 13, 1987. Rolling Stone magazine listed it as one of the 100 Best Albums of the Eighties. It won Best British Album at the 1988 Brit Awards and received 3 Grammy nominations including Album of the Year. The second single, Be Still My Beating Heart was nominated for Song of the Year and Best Male Pop Vocal Performance. It lost to Bobby McPherin's Don't Worry. Be Happy both times. WTF?
In the U.S., the album went double-platinum.
This is my favorite song and video from the album: We'll Be Together.
Def Leppard released their 4th studio album, Hysteria, August 3 1987, and has become their best-selling album to date. It has received critical acclaim from all over the world, selling over 12 million albums (certifying it diamond, i.e. >10M) in the U.S. where it reached #1 on the Billboard 200. Currently, it is the 51st best-selling album of all time.
According to Wikipedia, Q Magazine readers voted it the 98th Greatest Album of All Time. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked it #464 on the list of the 500 Greatest Albums of all Time.
The album was released over 3 years after Pyromania, their breakout album, in 1983. Drummer Rick Allen lost an arm after a car crash in 1984. Producer Mutt Lange dropped out early in the album's production but returned a year later. Lange was also involved in an auto accident but recovered quickly and Joe Elliott suffered a bout of mumps. Still, they managed to pull off one of the greatest!
The tenth and final studio album by The Alan Parsons Project, Gaudi, was released in January 1987. Eric Woolfson wrote the rock opera Freudiana, which was released in 1990 and Alan Parsons pursued a solo career.
Gaudi referred to the Spanish architect Antoni Gaudi, whose best known creation is La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, Spain. A song dedicated to the building is the opening track.
Paseo de Gracia refers to a major thoroughfare in Barcelona. Gaudi designed some of the unique buildings seen along the street.
One of the best shows ever to be broadcast, Star Trek: The Next Generation, premiered on September 26, 1987. It introduced all the major characters, including Mr. O'Brien (Colm Meaney) who would later play a major role on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) commanded the fifth starship to be named Enterprise. The cast didn't have much hope the series would last but it went for seven seasons and ended on a high note in 1994.
It won 34 awards including 18 Primetime Emmys, mostly for technical achievements such as sound editing, sound mixing, wardrobe and makeup.
My man Billy Joel said "What Iron Curtain?" and knocked the sucker down. He performed a concert in the Soviet Union, July 26, 1987 in Leningrad, which is now St. Petersburg. During this tour, he also performed in Moscow. A few years before, such an event would have been impossible.
He released his performance on an album, the name of which is "concert" in Russian.
Sting released his second solo album, ...Nothing Like the Sun, on October 13, 1987 to rave critical reviews. Rolling Stone ranked it #90 on the best100 albums from the 1980's. It peaked at #9 on the Billboard's 200 but reached #1 in three other countries. It was nominated for three Grammys in 1989 including Album of the Year.
The first single to be released We'll be Together Tonight made it to #7 on Billboard's Hot 100 charts.
