My Sharonna by the Knack hits #1

"My Sharonna" by the Knack hits #1 (stays for 42 days) on August 19, 1979.

The Knack was an American New Wave rock quartet based in Los Angeles that rose to fame with their first single, "My Sharona", an international number one hit in 1979.

Singer Doug Fieger was a native of Oak Park, Michigan, a northern suburb of Detroit, Michigan, and grew up in the 9 Mile/Coolidge area. The brother of attorney Geoffrey Fieger, best known for representing Dr. Jack Kevorkian in a series of assisted suicide cases, Fieger had previously played in an eclectic rock band called Sky as well as the Sunset Bombers. Although Sky had received a modest amount of acclaim, including being produced by Rolling Stones producer Jimmy Miller, the band broke up without having any chart success. As a result, Fieger made the decision to move to Los Angeles and start another band.

Fieger met the three other original members of The Knack in 1977 and 1978: Berton Averre (lead guitar, backing vocals and keyboards), Prescott Niles (bass), and Bruce Gary (drums). Niles was the last to join, a week before the band's first show in June 1978.[1] In the meantime, Fieger had been doubling on bass on a series of demos that the group had shopped to several record labels, all of which were rejected. Ironically, these were the same songs that would later make up the band's debut album Get The Knack, and included "My Sharona".

Within months of their live debut, popular club gigs on the Sunset Strip, as well as guest jams with musicians such as Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty and Ray Manzarek, led the band to be highly prized in a record label bidding war (Bruce Gary was well known in the LA session scene, this would become a source for later tensions). They ultimately signed to Capitol Records, the same label that released the Beatles' records in the United States, which later became problematic.

The Knack debut album, Get The Knack, was one of the year's biggest albums, holding the number one spot on Billboard magazine's album chart for five consecutive weeks and selling two million copies in the United States. Lead single "My Sharona" was a No.1 hit in the US, and became the number one song of 1979.

Follow-up single "Good Girls Don't" peaked at #11.

Retro History for August 19 The 50s 60s 70s 80s

Retro History For The Decade 1980

1989 Tadeusz Mazowiecki, elected 1st non-communist president of Poland
1988 Iran-Iraq begin a cease-fire in their 8-year-old war (11 PM EDT)
1988 Muang Muang succeeds General Sein Lwin as President of Burma
1988 New York Rangers sign ex-Canadien great Guy LaFluer
1986 Car bomb kills 20 in Tehran, Iran
1985 Japan launches its 2nd probe of Halley's Comet, Suisei
1984 66th PGA Championship: Lee Trevino shoots a 273 at Shoal Creek Ala
1984 Nancy Lopez wins LPGA Chevrolet World Championship of Women's Golf
1984 Republican convention in Houston nominates Ronald Reagan for president
1984 Sally Quinlan wins LPGA MasterCard Golf International Pro-Am
1983 LSU footballer Billy Cannon sentenced to 5 years for counterfeiting
1983 Dodgers trade Dave Stewart and Ricky Wright to Texas for Rick Honeycut
1982 Renaldo Nehemiah of U.S. sets record for 110 m hurdles, 12.93 sec
1982 Soyuz T-7 launched, Svetlana Savtiskaya 2nd woman in space
1981 2 U.S. Navy F-14 jet fighters shoot down 2 Soviet-built Libyan SU-22
1980 George Brett ends hitting streak at 30
1980 Saudi Arabian Lockhead Tristar crashes on landing at Riyadh, 301 die
1980 Willy Russell's "Educating Rita," premieres in London

Retro History For The Decade 1970

1979 "My Sharonna" by the Knack hits #1 (stays for 42 days)
1979 Crew of Soyuz 32 returns to Earth aboard Soyuz 34 aft 175 d flight
1979 Sally wins LPGA Barth Golf Classic Little
1979 Soviet Cosmonauts Vladimir Lyakov and Valery Ryumin returned to Earth aboard Soyuz 34 after a record 175 days in space
1978 422 die in an arson fire at a movie theater in Iran
1977 U.S.S.R. performs nuclear test at Sary Shagan U.S.S.R.
1976 President Gerald R. Ford won Republican President nomination at Kansas City convention
1975 Astros hire Bill Virdon to replace Preston Gomez as manager
1973 France performs nuclear test at Muruora Island
1973 Kris Kristofferson weds Rita Coolidge
1973 Sandra Palmer wins LPGA St. Paul Golf Open

Retro History For The Decade 1960

1969 Chicago Cub Ken Holtzman no-hits Atlanta Braves, 3-0
1967 Beatles' "All You Need is Love," single goes #1
1966 Earthquake strikes Varko Turkey: 2,400 killed
1965 Auschwitz trials end with 6 life sentences
1965 Cincinnati Red Jim Maloney 2nd no-hitter of year beats Chicago Cubs, 1-0
1964 Communication satellite Syncom 3 launched
1963 NAACP Youth Council begins sit-ins at lunch counters, Oklahoma City
1962 Homer Blancos plays finest round in golf, shooting a 55
1962 Mickey Wright wins LPGA Albuquerque Swing Parade Golf Tournament
1961 U.S. vice-president Lyndon B. Johnson visits West Berlin
1960 Francis Gary Powers convicted of spying by U.S.S.R. (U-2 incident)
1960 Sputnik 5 carries 2 dogs, 3 mice into orbit (later recovered alive)

Retro History For The Decade 1950

1959 Doctor X beats Wilber Snyder in Omaha, to become NWA wrestling champ
1959 Honolulu seeks a franchise in Continental League
1959 Satellite Discoverer 6 launched into polar orbit
1958 NAACP Youth Council begin sit-ins at Oklahoma City Lunch counters
1957 New York Giants vote 8-1 to move their franchise to San Francisco in 1958
1957 U.S. Major David Simons reaches 30,933m in a balloon
1956 Fay Crocker wins LPGA St. Louis Golf Open
1955 32.4 cm precipitation at Burlington, Connecticut (state record)
1955 Hurricane Diane kills 200 and 1st billion $ damage storm (N.E. U.S.)
1955 U.S. raises import duty on bicycles 50%
1955 WINS radio, announces it will not play "copy" white cover versions of R&B (DJs must play Fats Domino's "Ain't It A Shame," not Pat Boone's)
1954 Ralph J. Bunche named undersecretary of UN
1953 England regained cricket Ashes after winning series 1-0
1951 Bill Veeck (Browns) sends Eddie Gaedel, a 3'7" midget, to pinch-hit
1950 ABC begins Saturday morning kid shows (Animal Clinic and Acrobat Ranch)

Have a groovy vintage retro day!


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Vintage Retro Music & Retro Pop Culture is our passion and what we LOVE. We keep it going everyday for the love of producing it for you to enjoy. Thanks for viewing. Much Peace! My Sharonna by the Knack hits #1 on August 19, 1979.