The father of Bebop, Miles Davis, was born in Alton in 1926, the son of a dental surgeon and a music teacher. Davis’ immense talent and interest in music was first cultivated at the age of 12 when he began taking trumpet lessons. In high school, he was already playing weekend gigs at bars in East St. Louis, where the Davis family moved shortly after Miles’ birth. After graduating from East St. Louis Lincoln High School and playing for several local St. Louis bands, Davis moved to New York City and attended the Institute of Musical Art (what is now Juilliard).

It was in New York that Davis made the transition to a professional jazz musician. He played in the Charlie Parker Quintet, worked with Gil Evans on creating a nonet and eventually landed a deal with Capitol Records. In the 1950s, Davis played in a quintet with John Coltrane, Red Garland, Paul Chambers and Philly Joe Jones. Davis released the studio album Kind of Blue in 1959. The album, which was certified quadruple platinum, is today acknowledged as one of the best jazz albums of all time. Davis continued his success into the 1960s and 1970s, recording several successful studio albums and touring with a host of artists across the globe.

It was Davis’ ability to experiment and push the limits of jazz music that made him so well-known. His innovative music earned him nine Grammy awards and the honor of being the first jazz musician to be featured on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine.

To recognize Davis’ birthplace and the role he played in musical history, the city of Alton recently unveiled a bronze statue of the music legend in their downtown entertainment district.

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Then-U.S. Senator John F. Kennedy and Vice President Richard Nixon’s famous presidential debate was filmed in Chicago on September 16, 1960.

The first of four debates recorded by CBS’s WBBM-TV attracted enormous publicity. Presidential scholars argue that Kennedy’s on-screen appearance and performance helped him and was the major turning point of his campaign.

Since the 1960s, televised presidential debates have become a permanent fixture of the political process.

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Jennifer Hudson was born on September 12, 1981 in Chicago. Her fame started when she became a contestant on “American Idol” in 2004. Hudson was a finalist for the competition but didn’t come out on top in the end. However, she did gain a substantial fan base that stayed loyal and wanted to see her succeed.

In 2005, she got a role in a Broadway musical and Hollywood movie entitled “Dreamgirls.” You may have heard her rendition of “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going.” The film earned her a Golden Globe and an Oscar in the Supporting Actress category.

Hudson was in “The Secret Life of Bees” in 2008, which also starred Queen Latifah and Alicia Keys. In the same year, her self-titled album won a Grammy for Best R&B Album. Hudson recently released her third studio album, JHUD.

Hudson was also a Weight Watchers spokeswoman for a time, losing a substantial amount of weight, becoming an inspiration for many. Hudson keeps busy running and improving her clothing line and various other small projects.

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When you think of music on television, the first thing that pops into your head might be MTV. But in the ‘60s and ‘70s, music shows were television staples before there was a channel dedicated to them. One of the most popular was “Soul Train,” founded by Chicago native Don Cornelius in his hometown in 1970.

Some of the program’s first guests were regional musicians with a modicum of fame and success. “Soul Train” was first broadcast as a local show on WCIU-TV as a daily program in Chicago. The following year, the show moved to Los Angeles where it also came into national syndication. Cornelius was the host of his show from its inception until 1993, when he resigned as host. He remained a solid creative force with the show until 2006.

For his part, Cornelius had just quit his job as a Chicago police officer when he decided to go into television. After bouncing around in odd jobs after returning from the Korean War, the journalism major decided television would be a good medium for what he saw as a young people’s format: civil rights and soul music, both incredibly popular when the show started.

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Oprah Winfrey made her television debut in 1976 in Baltimore, hosting the television chat show People Are Talking. Winfrey moved to Chicago in 1984 to host AM Chicago, a morning show on ABC 7 that had struggled with ratings before Winfrey’s arrival. Once on the show, Winfrey helped turn around the struggling production and eventually landed her own talk show, The Oprah Winfrey Show.

Before The Oprah Winfrey Show went into national syndication, Oprah starred in Steven Spielberg’s The Color Purple, which earned her an Academy Award nomination. The Oprah Winfrey Show went into national syndication on September 8, 1986, and quickly became one of the most popular television shows in the nation.

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