1987

**1987** (MCMLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Thursday in the Gregorian calendar.

It was the last year until 2013 to have four different digits.

## Events

- January 3 – Aretha Franklin becomes the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
- February 14–March 7 – Bon Jovi's "Livin' On A Prayer" is the #1 song. It would be 1987's Biggest hit song.
- February 22 – The Airbus A320 makes its first flight.
- March 7 – The first five Beatles albums, _Please Please Me_, _With the Beatles_, _A Hard Day's Night_, _Beatles for Sale_ and _Help!_ are released on Compact disc. Capitol Records decides to release the original UK mixes of the Beatles albums, which means that the first four CDs are released in mono. This marks the first time that many of these mono mixes were available in the US.
- March 4 - Ronald Reagan issues a televised address to apologize to the American people about the Iran-Contra affair.
- March 27 – Inspired by The Beatles' 1969 rooftop concert, U2 shoots a music video for the song "Where the Streets Have No Name" on a rooftop in Los Angeles, California.
- April 19 – _The Simpsons_ cartoon first appears as a series of shorts on _The Tracey Ullman Show_.
- June 12 – Ronald Reagan challenges Mikhail Gorbachev to "Tear down this wall!" at the Brandenburg Gate.
- October – electronic data gathering completely replaces the old sales diary technique in compiling the UK singles and albums chart.
- October 7 – Independence of Khalistan is legally declared from the Hindu Indians
- October 12 – Twisted Sister breaks up.
- October 19 – Mötley Crüe release the song "You're All I Need" as a single. Its lyrics cause MTV to refuse to play its video. Radio stations never play the song either.
- November 7 – The first MRT section between Yio Chu Kang and Toa Payoh opened.
- December 8 – President Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev sign the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty banning all nuclear weapons.

### January

- January 1 – Meryl Davis, American ice dancer

### February

- February 16 – Luc Bourdon, Canadian professional ice hockey player (died 2008)

### March

- March 9 – Bow Wow, American rapper, actor
- March 22 – Omar Abu Shawish, Palestinian poet and journalist
- March 25 – Nobunari Oda, Japanese figure skater
- March 28 – Yui, Japanese musician

### April

- April 19 – Maria Sharapova, Russian tennis player

### May

- May 4 – Cesc Fàbregas, Spanish footballer

### June

- June 2 – Darin Zanyar, Swedish singer
- June 20 - Paweł Rogaliński, Polish journalist
- June 24 – Lionel Messi, Argentine footballer

### August

- August 7 – Sidney Crosby, Canadian ice hockey player
- August 8 – Katie Leung, Scotish actress
- August 25 – Blake Lively, American actress and model
- August 30 – Johanna Braddy, American actress

### September

- September 19 – Danielle Panabaker, American actress
- September 22 – Tom Felton, English actor and singer
- September 28 – Hilary Duff, American actress and singer

### October

- October 3 – Zuleyka Rivera Mendoza, Puerto Rican Miss Universe 2006
- October 18 – Zac Efron, American actor
- October 24 – Charlie White, American ice dancer

### November

- November 3 – Elizabeth Smart, American kidnapping victim
- November 18 – Jake Abel, American actor

### December

- December 3 – Michael Angarano, American actor
- December 7 – Aaron Carter, American pop singer
- December 18 – Miki Ando, Japanese figure skater
- December 18 – Ayaka, Japanese singer and songwriter
- December 29- Katie Blair, actress, model and pageant titleholder
- December 31 – Javaris Crittenton, American basketball player

- Alexander von Zweigbergk Väggö, Swedish model

### February

- February 21  Jack Catain Jr., American businessman and convicted criminal (b. 1930)
- February 22 – Andy Warhol, American artist (b. 1928)

### March

- March 19 – Louis de Broglie, French physicist (b. 1892)
- March 28 – Patrick Troughton, English actor (b. 1920)

### May

- May 3 – Dalida, French-Italian actress (b. 1933)
- May 14 – Rita Hayworth, American actress (b. 1918)

### June

- June 22 – Fred Astaire, American actor, singer, dancer (b. 1899)

### August

- August 17 – Rudolf Hess, Nazi leader (b. 1894)
- August 29 – Naji al-Ali, Palestinian cartoonist (b. 1938)

### September

- September 2 – Alfredo Oscar Saint Jean, President of Argentina (b. 1926)
- September 11 – Peter Tosh, Jamaican reggae musician (b. 1944)
- September 21 – Jaco Pastorius, American jazz bassist (b. 1951)
- September 25 – Mary Astor, American actress (b. 1906)

### October

- October 8 – Konstantinos Tsatsos, President of Greece (b. 1899)
- October 20 – Andrey Kolmogorov, Russian mathematician (b. 1903)

### November

- November 1 – René Lévesque, Canadian politician (b. 1922)
- November 10 – Seyni Kountché, 2nd President of Niger (b. 1931)

### December

- December 4 – Rouben Mamoulian, Armenian-American movie director (b. 1897)
- December 24 – Joop den Uyl, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (b. 1919)

## Nobel Prizes

- Nobel Prize in Physics – J. Georg Bednorz, K. Alexander Müller
- Chemistry Donald J Cram, Jean-Marie Lehn, Charles J. Pedersen
- Medicine – Susumu Tonegawa
- Literature – Joseph Brodsky
- Peace- Oscar Arias Sanchez
- Economics – Robert Solow

## Movies released

- _Beverly Hills Cop ll_
- _Dirty Dancing_
- _Full Metal Jacket_
- _Lethal Weapon_
- _Over the Top_
- _Predator_
- _RoboCop_
- _Three Men and a Baby_
- _The Running Man_
- _The Care Bears Adventure in Wonderland_

## Hit songs

- "Alone" – Heart
- "Beds Are Burning" – Midnight Oil
- "Faith" – George Michael
- "Hazy Shade of Winter" – The Bangles
- "Hot Love" – Twisted Sister
- "I Found Someone" – Cher
- "I Knew You Were Waiting for Me" – Aretha Franklin & George Michael
- "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" – U2
- "I Wanna Dance With Somebody (who loves me)" – Whitney Houston
- "I Want Your Sex" – George Michael
- "Livin' on a Prayer" – Bon Jovi
- "Somewhere Out There" – Linda Ronstadt and J. Ingram
- "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight" – Genesis
- "Walk Like An Egyptian" – The Bangles
- "Where the Streets Have No Name" – U2
- "Wild Nights, Hot & Crazy Days" – Judas Priest
- "With or Without You" – U2
- "You Can Call Me Al" – Paul Simon

## New books

- _Legacy_ – James A. Michener