On this day

September 21, 1989

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

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Headlines from September 21, 1989

GARDENING; After the Harvest, Joys of the Cleanup

By Leslie Land

LEAD: THE frost isn't exactly on the pumpkin - if it were, the pumpkin would rot - but we will be talking serious autumn before very long: the time to finish the harvest, plant the bulbs and, at long last, clean up the place before the snows start to fall.

Home Desk1138 words
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3 Die as Jetliner Plunges Into Bay Off La Guardia

By John T. McQuiston

LEAD: A USAir jetliner taking off for Charlotte, N.C., from La Guardia Airport late last night skidded off the end of a rain-slicked runway and plunged into the bay near Rikers Island, killing 3 and injuring 51 of the 62 people aboard, police and fire officials said.

Metropolitan Desk1156 words
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Bailout Urged For Hospitals With Losses

By Philip S. Gutis, Special To the New York Times

LEAD: Foreshadowing what is likely to be a divisive debate in Albany next year, a representative of New York City's private hospitals called today for a $300 million bailout of many financially troubled hospitals.

Metropolitan Desk1016 words
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In a Houseboat, a City So Near Seems Far Away

By Cindy D. Brown

LEAD: TEN minutes north of downtown, where Lake Union wedges a large thumb print of water into this city's densest neighborhoods, is a community that people here speak of almost poetically. To live on a houseboat is to come home to a floating world where blue heron and Canada geese are one's neighbors. It is to be in the city, but separated from it.

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Music on My Birthday

Billboard 200

The Top 50 albums for the chart week of September 20, 1989, covering September 21, 1989.

  1. 1
    Album cover for Girl You Know It's True by Milli Vanilli

    Girl You Know It's True

    Milli Vanilli

    Last week
    2
    Peak
    1
    Weeks
    27
  2. 2
    Album cover for Hangin' Tough by New Kids on the Block

    Hangin' Tough

    New Kids on the Block

    Last week
    1
    Peak
    1
    Weeks
    57
  3. 3
    Album cover for Forever Your Girl by Paula Abdul

    Forever Your Girl

    Paula Abdul

    Last week
    4
    Peak
    3
    Weeks
    62
  4. 4
    Album cover for Repeat Offender by Richard Marx

    Repeat Offender

    Richard Marx

    Last week
    3
    Peak
    1
    Weeks
    19
  5. 5
    Album cover for Full Moon Fever by Tom Petty

    Full Moon Fever

    Tom Petty

    Last week
    6
    Peak
    3
    Weeks
    20

Notable Births

Jason Derulo

1989Jason Derulo, American singer-songwriter[†]

Jason Joel Desrouleaux, known professionally as Jason Derulo, is an American singer, songwriter and dancer. Since the start of his solo recording career in 2009, he has sold over 250 million singles worldwide and has achieved fourteen platinum singles in the US.

Sandor Earl

1989Sandor Earl, Australian rugby league player[†]

Sandor Earl is a former New Zealand Māori international rugby league footballer who played on the wing for the Sydney Roosters, Penrith Panthers, Canberra Raiders and the Melbourne Storm in the National Rugby League (NRL). He was banned for four years for a doping violation in 2013.

Manny Harris

1989Manny Harris, American basketball player[†]

Corperryale Lādorable "Manny" Harris is an American professional basketball player for Al Riyadi Beirut of the Lebanese Basketball League. He has previously played for the Los Angeles Lakers, Cleveland Cavaliers, and Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association (NBA), and is a former All-Big Ten Conference guard who played three seasons for the Michigan Wolverines.

Emma Watkins

1989Emma Watkins, Australian singer and actress[†]

Emma Olivia Watkins is an Australian children's entertainer, dancer, singer, author and television presenter. She is best known as the first female member of the children's group the Wiggles, which she was a member of from 2013 to 2021. Due to her popularity in the group, she starred in her own spinoff series as a solo Wiggles performer, titled Emma!. After departing the group, she debuted her own children's entertainment character, Emma Memma, in 2022. She released her first solo children's music album in September 2022, which received an ARIA Award for Best Children's Album in 2023.

Notable Deaths

1989Rajini Thiranagama, Sri Lankan physician and academic (born 1954)[†]

Rajani Thiranagama was a Sri Lankan Tamil human rights activist and feminist who was assassinated by the LTTE cadres after she had criticised them for their atrocities. At the time of her assassination, she was the head of the Department of Anatomy at the University of Jaffna and an active member and one of the founders of University Teachers for Human Rights, Jaffna.

Historical Context for September 21, 1989

In 1989, the world population was approximately 5,234,431,732 people[†]