1984
HIGHLIGHTS OF AN INCREDIBLE YEAR:• January 1 – Brunei becomes a fully independent state.
• July 23 – Vanessa Lynn Williams (remember the singer of “Colors of the Wind? ) becomes the first Miss America to resign when she surrenders her crown, after nude photos of her appear in "Penthouse" magazine.
• July 28 – August 12 – The 1984 Summer Olympics are held in Los Angeles, California.
• August 21 – Half a million people in Manila demonstrate against the regime of Ferdinand Marcos
• October 31 – Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi is assassinated by her 2 Sikh security guards . Riots soon break out in New Delhi, and some 2,700 Sikhs are killed. Rajiv Gandhi becomes prime minister of India.
• November 6 – U.S. presidential election, 1984: Ronald Reagan defeats Walter F. Mondale with 59% of the popular vote, the highest since Richard Nixon's 61% victory in 1972. Reagan carries 49 states in the electoral college; Mondale wins only his home state of Minnesota by a mere 3,761 vote margin and the District of Columbia.
• November 25 – Thirty-six of Britain and Ireland's top pop musicians gather in a Notting Hill studio to form Band Aid, and record the song "Do They Know It's Christmas", in order to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia.
• December 3 – Bhopal Disaster: A methyl isocyanate leak from a Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India, kills more than 2,000 people outright and injures anywhere from 15,000 to 22,000 others (some 6,000 of whom later die from their injuries) in one of the worst industrial disasters in history.
HIGHLIGHTS IN MUSIC FOR YEAR 1984:
• February 28 - Recovering from the scalp burns sustained a month earlier, Michael Jackson wins eight Grammy Awards out of twelve nominations, breaking the record for the most Grammys won in a single year. He wins seven for the critically acclaimed album Thriller and the other for a song featured in the movie E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.
• May 2 - Lionel Richie's hit "Hello" becomes Motown's first ever UK million selling single.
• July 10 - The last original member of Menudo, Ricky Melendez, leaves the group and is replaced by Ricky Martin. Meanwhile, Menudomania reaches Asia in 1984.
• September 14 - The first annual MTV Video Music Awards are held in New York City. Herbie Hancock wins the most awards with five, and The Cars take the highest prize of Video Of The Year for "You Might Think". However, much attention is garnered by Madonna for her controversial performance of her hit single "Like a Virgin" in which she rolls around on the stage, revealing lacy stockings and garters, and grinds her crotch against her veil.
• October 19 - A-Ha's career begins with the release of the "Take On Me" single in the UK.
TOP TEN GROSSING AMERICAN FILMS FOR 1984:1.Beverly Hills Cop Paramount $234,760,478
2. Ghostbusters Columbia $229,242,989
3. Indiana Jones 2 Paramount $179,870,271
4. Gremlins Warner Brothers $148,168,459
5. The Karate Kid Columbia $90,815,558
6. Police Academy Warner Brothers $81,198,894
7. Footloose Paramount $80,035,402
8. Romancing the Stone 20th Century Fox $76,572,238
9. Star Trek III Paramount $76,471,046
10. Splash Touchstone $69,821,334
THE FOLLOWING ARE PINOY BOX OFFICE HITS:1. Bagets (Viva Films) – an iconic Pinoy film that launched the career of Aga Mulach and directed by Maryo J de los Reyes. The theme song “Farewell” sung by Raymond Lauchencgco eventually became the graduation song of DWCT Batch 1984
2. Working Girls (Viva Films) – a comedy that centered on the lives, loves, and misadventures of six Makati working girls and starred Carmi Martin, Maribel Lopez, Gina Pareno, Baby Bautista, Rio Locsin
3. Shake, Rattle, & Roll- the first installment of the longest running Pinoy horror movie genre. Who could forget Irma Alegre as the manananggal? Or the killer refrigerator that seduced Janice de Belen?
THE FOLLOWING CELEBRITIES WERE BORN IN 1984:( They’ll all turn 25 this year! He he he!)
January 20 – Toni Gonzaga, Filipina Actress and Singer
February 28 – Karolina Kurkova, Czech model
March 25 – Katharine McPhee, American Idol finalist
April 10 – Mandy Moore, American singer and actress
April 17 – Rosanna Davison, Irish model, 2003 Miss World
June 30 – Fantasia Barrino, American singer
August 12 – Marian Rivera, Filipino Actress
September 15 – Prince Harry of Wales, son of Prince Charles & Princess Diana
September 27 – Avril Lavigne, Canadian singer
October 3 – Ashlee Simpson, American singer and actress
November 7 – Amelia Vega, Miss Universe 2003, from the Dominican Republic
November 22 – Scarlett Johansson, American actress
November 29 – Sitti Navarro, Philippine bossa nova artist