ON THIS DATE: Saturday Night Fever soundtrack released

In 1977, the soundtrack to Saturday Night Fever was released. The album featuring four new tracks by the Bee Gees stayed at No. 1 for 24 straight weeks, won five Grammy Awards including Album of the Year, proudced four No. 1 singles, and remains one of the best selling albums of all-time.

In 1979, The Rose, which starred Bette Midler as a Janis Joplin-like rock star, opened in the U.S. and Canada. Midler received an Academy Award nomination.

In 1983, the world's first successful single-lung transplant was performed in Toronto. Tom Hall, a 58year-old hardware executive, lived for another six years after receiving the lung of a 13-year-old car accident victim.

In 1990, Mary Robinson, a 46year-old lawyer, was elected Ireland’s first woman president.

In 1991, Los Angeles Lakers guard Magic Johnson announced he was HIV positive and was retiring immediately from the NBA. He went on to play for the 1992 U.S. Olympic Dream Team.

In 1999, Tiger Woods became the first golfer since Ben Hogan in 1953 to win four straight tournaments.

In 2000, Canadian writer Margaret Atwood won the Booker Prize, Britain’s most prestigious literary award, for her 10th novel The Blind Assassin.

In 2000, U.S. First lady Hillary Rodham Clinton won a Senate seat in New York state, defeating Republican Congressman Rick Lazio. She was the first wife of a U.S. president to seek public office and was the first woman to win a New York Senate seat.

Also in 2000, the U.S. presidential election was held. The election was disputed because of the close race in Florida, which both George W. Bush and his Democratic rival, Al Gore, needed to win. The election was settled five weeks later

In 2016, Canadian Leonard Cohen, the iconic writer, poet, composer and baritone-voiced singer-songwriter died at age 82.