On this day

August 20, 1979

Revisit the music, news, notable people, and historical moments connected to this date.

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Headlines from August 20, 1979

ENVOY SUGGESTS U.S. PLAY CANCEL ITS PLAN ON THE PALESTINIANS

By Bernard Gwertzman; Special to The New York Times

Strauss says US may drop proposal to sponsor moderate resolution in UN Security Council on Palestinian rights because Begin and Sadat have rejected it; Strauss originally opposed proposal but was overruled by Pres Carter on advice of Vance and Brzezinski; Strauss illus (M)

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Music on My Birthday

Billboard 200

The Top 50 albums for the chart week of August 15, 1979, covering August 20, 1979.

  1. 1
    Album cover for Get The Knack by The Knack

    Get The Knack

    The Knack

    Last week
    1
    Peak
    1
    Weeks
    8
  2. 2
    Album cover for Bad Girls by Donna Summer

    Bad Girls

    Donna Summer

    Last week
    2
    Peak
    1
    Weeks
    15
  3. 3
    Album cover for Breakfast In America by Supertramp

    Breakfast In America

    Supertramp

    Last week
    3
    Peak
    1
    Weeks
    21
  4. 4
    Album cover for Candy-O by The Cars

    Candy-O

    The Cars

    Last week
    4
    Peak
    4
    Weeks
    8
  5. 5
    Album cover for Teddy by Teddy Pendergrass

    Teddy

    Teddy Pendergrass

    Last week
    5
    Peak
    5
    Weeks
    9

Notable Births

Sarah Borwell

1979Sarah Borwell, English tennis player[†]

Sarah Leah Borwell is an English former professional tennis player who enjoyed her greatest success in doubles. She was the British number one in doubles. Her career-high doubles ranking is 65, set on 9 August 2010, and her career-high singles ranking is 199, which she reached on 10 July 2006.

Jamie Cullum

1979Jamie Cullum, English singer-songwriter and pianist[†]

Jamie Paul Joseph Cullum is an English jazz-pop singer, pianist, songwriter and radio presenter. Although primarily a vocalist and pianist, he also accompanies himself on other instruments, including guitar and drums. He has recorded nine studio albums, three compilation albums, one live album and twenty-four singles. Since April 2010, he has presented a weekly Tuesday evening jazz show on BBC Radio 2.

Cory Sullivan

1979Cory Sullivan, American baseball player[†]

Cory Sullivan is an American former professional baseball outfielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Colorado Rockies, New York Mets, and Houston Astros between 2005 and 2010.

Notable Deaths

1979Christian Dotremont, Belgian painter and poet (born 1922)[†]

Christian Dotremont,, was a Belgian painter and poet who was born in Tervuren, Belgium. He was a founding member of the Revolutionary Surrealist Group (1946) and he also founded COBRA together with Danish artist Asger Jorn. In this capacity he was responsible for bringing Henri Lefebvre's Critique de la vie quotidienne (1946) to the group's attention. He later became well known for his painted poems, which he called logograms.

Historical Context for August 20, 1979

In 1979, the world population was approximately 4,368,539,528 people[†]