Earl Thomas Conley was an American country music singer-songwriter. Between 1980 and 2003, he recorded ten studio albums, including seven for RCA Records. In the 1980s and into the 1990s, Conley also charted more than 30 singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, of which 18 reached Number One. His 18 Billboard Number One country singles during the 1980s were the third most by any artist in any genre during that decade, after Alabama and Ronnie Milsap.

1941Paul Ellison, American musician^[†]

Paul Ellison is an American double bassist and pedagogue. He has been teaching at Rice University in Houston, Texas USA since 1974 and is the Lynette B. Autry Professor of Double Bass at Rice University's Shepherd School of Music, where he also serves as co-chair of the string department. He is faculty emeritus of the USC Thornton School of Music, where he was also chair of the string department, and of The Colburn School in Los Angeles, California, and is a past president of the International Society of Bassists.

1941Jim Seals, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and violinist (died 2022)^[†]

Seals and Crofts were an American soft rock duo formed in Los Angeles, California in 1969 by Jim Seals and Dash Crofts. They are best known for their hits "Summer Breeze" (1972), "Diamond Girl" (1973), and "Get Closer" (1976), each of which peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Both Seals and Crofts were publicly outspoken advocates for the Baháʼí Faith. Though the duo disbanded in 1981, they reunited briefly in 1989–1992, and again in 2004, when they released their final album, Traces. Seals and his younger brother, the charting singer-songwriter "England" Dan Seals, later performed publicly together as Seals & Seals.

Historical Events

1941World War II: The USS Kearny becomes the first U.S. Navy vessel to be torpedoed by a U-boat.^[†]

World War II or the Second World War was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participated, with many nations mobilising all resources in pursuit of total war. Tanks and aircraft played major roles, enabling the strategic bombing of cities and delivery of the first and only nuclear weapons ever used in war. World War II is the deadliest conflict in history, causing the death of 70 to 85 million people, more than half of whom were civilians. Millions died in genocides, including the Holocaust, and by massacres, starvation, and disease. After the Allied victory, Germany, Austria, Japan, and Korea were occupied, and German and Japanese leaders were tried for war crimes.

Headlines from October 17, 1941

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U.S. TOKYO TARGET; Ministers Quit in Row on Policy Toward This Country and the Axis PRO-NAZI REGIME POSSIBLE General Tojo, War Department Head, Is Reported Premier -- Washington Warned Again JAPAN IS SEEKING A 'CRISIS' CABINET SLATED AS PREMIER

Marshall and Stark Present At Talk at White House; President Enjoins Strict Silence -- Hull, Stimson and Knox Are Understood to Insist on a Firm Policy

AXIS UNITS ENTER BLACK SEA PORT; Odessa Aflame as Nazis and Rumanians March In -- Red Troops Reported Evacuated

NAZI PUSH SLOWED; Russians Admit Gains by Foe Around Capital, Deny Army Is Broken

Notable Births

Historical Events