1990
1990 (MCMXC) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1990th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 990th year of the 2nd millennium, the 90th year of the 20th century, and the 1st year of the 1990s decade.
| Millennium: | 2nd millennium |
|---|---|
| Centuries: | 19th century – 20th century – 21st century |
| Decades: | 1960s 1970s 1980s – 1990s – 2000s 2010s 2020s |
| Years: | 1987 1988 1989 – 1990 – 1991 1992 1993 |
Events
January
The Leaning Tower of Pisa, closed on January 7
- January 2 – All My Children airs its 20th anniversary special. The characters Joe and Ruth Martin sit down with Erica Kane, her mother Mona, and Phoebe Wallingford as they go through scrapbook pictures which segue into memorable clips from the show's past twenty years.
- January 7 – The Leaning Tower of Pisa is closed due to safety concerns.
- January 15 – Thousands of people storm the Stasi headquarters in Berlin, to view government records.
- January 20 – Soviet forces kill civilians in Baku, Azerbaijan.
- January 21 – MTV's Unplugged premieres on cable television with musical guest, Squeeze.
- January 22 – The end of communism in Yugoslavia.
- January 25 – The Burns' Night storm kills 97 people in Northwestern Europe.
- January 31 – Moscow's first McDonald's restaurant opens.
February
- February 8 – Songwriter Del Shannon dies of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
- February 11 – James "Buster" Douglas KOs Mike Tyson to win heavyweight boxing crown.
- February 11 – Nelson Mandela, a political prisoner for 27 years, is freed from Victor Verster prison outside Cape Town, South Africa.
- February 14 – 50,000 fans watch The Rolling Stones play the first of 10 concerts at Tokyo's Korakuen Dome, the beginning of the Stones' first ever tour of Japan.
- February 16 – Ike Turner is sentenced to 4 years in prison for possession of cocaine.
- February 17 – Aerosmith appears in the Saturday Night Live sketch Wayne's World, where they perform the Wayne's World theme song.
- February 26 – The Sandinistas are defeated in Nicaraguan elections.
- February 27 – In Time Magazine, Milli Vanilli "singer" Rob Pilatus states that their group is, "more talented than any Bob Dylan or Paul McCartney. Mick Jagger can't produce a sound. I'm the new Elvis."
March
Patricio Aylwin becomes President of Chile on March 11
- March 11 – Lithuania declares independence from the Soviet Union.
- March 11 – Patricio Aylwin takes office as President of Chile, ending the rule of Augusto Pinochet.
- March 15 – Mikhail Gorbachev is elected executive President of the Soviet Union.
- March 15 – The Soviet Union declares Lithuania's independence declaration as invalid.
- March 18 – East Germany holds its first free elections.
- March 18 – 12 paintings worth $100 million are stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, the biggest art theft in US history.
- March 21 – Namibia becomes independent after 75 years of South African rule.
- March 25 – Mötley Crüe's Tommy Lee is arrested for allegedly exposing his backside during a performance in Augusta, Georgia
April
- April 6 – Mötley Crüe's Tommy Lee suffers a mild concussion after falling off of scaffolding above his elevated drum kit during a performance in New Haven, CT.
- April 7 – Neil Young, Elton John, Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp, Guns N' Roses and Jackson Browne perform at Farm Aid IV in Indiana. John dedicates "Candle in the Wind" to AIDS patient Ryan White during his performance. White died later that evening.
- April 25 – Jimi Hendrix's Fender Stratocaster that he used to perform his famous version of the "Star Spangled Banner" at Woodstock, is auctioned off in London for $295,000.
- April 25 – Violeta Chamorro is elected President of Nicaragua.
- April 30 – The long-lost pilot movie to I Love Lucy airs on CBS as a special.
May
- May 4 – Latvia declares independence from the Soviet Union.
- May 8 – In Los Angeles, California, Tom Waits wins a $2.5 million lawsuit against Frito-Lay for unlawfully using a sound alike of Waits in its Doritos television commercials.
- May 22 – The Yemeni Arab Republic and People's Democratic Republic of Yemen unite to form the Republic of Yemen.
- May 26 – Gin Blossoms sign a contract with A&M Records.
June
- June 12 – The parliament of the Russian Federation formally declares its sovereignty.
- June 21 – A 7.3 magnitude earthquake strikes Manjil, Iran, killing thousands of people.
- June 26 – US President George H. W. Bush goes back on his 'no new taxes' campaign promise.
July
Washington National Cathedral, completed on September 29
Germany is reunited on October 3
Margaret Thatcher leaves office on November 28
- July 2 – A stampede in Mecca kills 1,426 people.
- July 8 – West Germany wins the FIFA World Cup, beating Argentina 1-0 in the final.
- July 16 – A magnitude 7.7 earthquake kills more than 1,600 people in the Philippines.
- July 27 – Belarus declares its sovereignty.
- July 28 – Alberto Fujimori becomes President of Peru.
August
- August 2 – Iraq invades Kuwait, leading to the 1991 Gulf War.
- August 23 – East Germany and West Germany announce their intention to reunite on October 3.
September
- September 9 – The Sri Lankan Army kills 184 Tamil civilians in the Batticaloa massacre.
- September 9 – Liberian leader Samuel K. Doe is overthrown and killed in a coup.
- September 11 – After a decade of performing in the Francophone world, Céline Dion makes her formal English-language debut when she releases her album Unison.
- September 18 – The 1996 Summer Olympics are awarded to Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
- September 29 – Washington National Cathedral is completed.
October
- October 3 – Germany is officially reunited.
- October 14 – Leonard Bernstein dies aged 72.
November
- November 1 – Mary Robinson is elected President of Ireland, taking office on December 3.
- November 12 – Akihito is officially enthroned as Emperor of Japan.
- November 14 – Germany and Poland sign a treaty confirming their border on the Oder-Neisse Line.
- November 22 – Margaret Thatcher announces her intention to resign as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
- November 23 – Bad Religion releases Against the Grain, their first album released in the 90s. To date, the album remains the last to feature the "classic" line-up. It also features one of their signature songs, "21st Century (Digital Boy)", which would be re-recorded on their 1994 album Stranger Than Fiction.
- November 27 – "Vocal" group Milli Vanilli admits lip-synching hits such as "Girl You Know It's True." They later have their Grammy award revoked.
- November 28 – John Major becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
December
- December 1 – The Smashing Pumpkins begin recording Gish, which will be a blockbuster album in 1991.
- December 1 – Channel Tunnel workers from the UK and France meet 40 metres beneath the English Channel seabed.
- December 13 – Genesis'88 stage weekly Acid House night in legally acquired warehouse in Stratford London under the banner imagine.
- December 16 – Jean-Bertrand Aristide is elected President of Haiti.
- December 22 – The Marshall Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia become independent, after their trusteeship terminates.
- December 22 – Lech Wałęsa sworn in as President of Poland.
- December 25 – The first successful trial run of the system that would become the World Wide Web, is carried out.
- December 31 – Garry Kasparov wins the World Chess Championship against Anatoly Karpov.
Other Events
- Chris Farley and Adam Sandler join Saturday Night Live.
- The poorly received Cop Rock preimieres on television, TV's first (and last) musical police drama.
- Legislation is signed into United States law requiring close captioning decoders in all large color TVs manufactured after July 1, 1993.
Births
January
- January 4 – Toni Kroos, German footballer
- January 7 – Liam Aiken, American actor
- January 7 – Elene Gedevanishvili, Georgian figure skater
- January 7 – Camryn Grimes, American actress
- January 7 – Gregor Schlierenzauer, Austrian ski jumper
- January 8 – Xu Xin, Chinese ping-pong player
- January 12 – Sergey Karjakin, Ukrainian-born chessmaster
- January 30 – Jake Thomas, American actor
February
- February 1 – Laura Marling, English singer-songwriter
- February 3 – Sean Kingston, American singer
- February 11 – Q'Orianka Kilcher, German-born actress
- February 13 – Erdini Qoigyijabu, eleventh Panchen Lama
- February 23 – Christian Copelin, American actor
- February 28 – Anna Muzychuk, Ukrainian chess player
March
- March 7 – Abigail and Brittany Hensel, American conjoined twins
- March 8 – Petra Kvitova, Czech tennis player
- March 23 – Princess Eugenie of York
- March 24 – Keisha Castle-Hughes, Australian-born actress
- March 27 – Kimbra, New Zealand singer-songwriter
April
- April 9 – Kristen Stewart, American actress
- April 10 – Alex Pettyfer, British actor
- April 15 – Emma Watson, British actress
- April 23 – Dev Patel, British actor
May
- May 1 – Caitlin Stasey, Australian actress
- May 2 – Kay Panabaker, American actress
- May 16 – Thomas Sangster, English actor
- May 27 – Chris Colfer, American actor
June
- June 2 – Brittany Curran, American actress
- June 11 – Christophe Lemaitre, French runner
- June 13 – Aaron Johnson, British actor
- June 17 – Jordan Henderson, English footballer
- June 20 – Ding Ning, Chinese table tennis player
July
- July 1 – Emil Wennström, Swedish musician (Guitar)
- July 11 – Caroline Wozniacki, Danish tennis player
- July 19 – Aron Palmarsson, Icelandic handball player
- July 24 – Daveigh Chase, American actress
- July 27 – Indiana Evans, Australian actress
- July 27 – Nick Hogan, American television personality
- July 28 – Soulja Boy, American rapper
August
- August 12 – Mario Balotelli, Italian footballer
- August 15 – Jennifer Lawrence, American actress
- August 17 – Rachel Hurd-Wood, English actress
- August 21 – Jared Staal, Canadian ice hockey player
- August 26 – Lil' Chris, English singer
- August 27 – Taylor Mitchell, Canadian singer (d. 2009)
- August 28 – Bojan Krkic, Serbian-Spanish footballer
- August 29 – Patrick van Aanholt, Dutch footballer
September
- September 5 – Kim Yu-Na, South Korean figure skater
- September 18 – Lewis Holtby, German footballer
- September 20 – John Tavares, Canadian ice hockey player
- September 25 – Mao Asada, Japanese figure skater
- September 28 – Kirsten Prout, Canadian actress
- September 29 – Doug Brochu, American actor and comedian
October
- October 16 – Yohanna, Icelandic singer
- October 18 – Carly Schroeder, American actress
- October 21 – Ricky Rubio, Spanish basketball player
- October 22 – Jonathan Lipnicki, American actor
- October 29 – Amarna Miller, former Spanish porn actress, vlogger & YouTuber
- October 29 – Eric Saade, Swedish singer
- October 31 – J.I.D, American hip-hop rapper
November
- November 7 – Marisa Siketa, Australian actress
- November 7 – David de Gea, Spanish footballer
- November 26 – Chipmunk, English rapper
- November 26 – Danny Welbeck, English footballer
- November 27 – Shane Haboucha, American actor
- November 30 – Magnus Carlsen, Norwegian chess player
December
- December 10 – Shoya Tomizawa, Japanese motorcycle racer (d. 2010)
- December 17 – Ashley Edner, American actress
- December 20 – Joanna Noelle Levesque, American singer
- December 23 – Anna Maria Perez de Tagle, American actress
- December 26 – Aaron Ramsey, Welsh footballer
- December 28 – David Archuleta, American singer
- December 31 – Patrick Chan, Canadian figure skater
- December 31 – Zhao Jing, Chinese swimmer
Deaths
January
Naruhiko Higashikuni
Lewis Mumford
- January 4 – Alberto Lleras Camargo, 20th President of Colombia (b. 1906)
- January 6 – Pavel Cherenkov, Russian physicist (b. 1904)
- January 9 – Bazilio Olara-Okello, Ugandan politician (b. 1929)
- January 14 – Mani Madhava Chakyar, Indian actor (b. 1899)
- January 19 – Herbert Wehner, German politician (b. 1906)
- January 20 – Barbara Stanwyck, American actress (b. 1907)
- January 20 – Naruhiko Higashikuni, 30th Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1887)
- January 22 – Mariano Rumor, Italian politician (b. 1915)
- January 22 – Roman Vishniac, Russian-American photographer (b. 1897)
- January 24 – Araken Patusca, Brazilian football player (b. 1905)
- January 24 – Madge Bellamy, American actress (b. 1899)
- January 25 – Ava Gardner, American actress (b. 1922)
- January 26 – Lewis Mumford, American historian (b. 1895)
February
- February 7 – Jimmy van Heusen, American composer (b. 1913)
- February 8 – Del Shannon, American musician and singer (b. 1934)
- February 23 – James M. Gavin, American lieutenant general (b. 1907)
- February 23 – José Napoleón Duarte, President of El Salvador (b. 1925)
- February 24 – Alessandro Pertini, President of Italy (b. 1896)
March
- March 5 – Edmund Conen, German footballer (b. 1914)
- March 13 - Karl Münchinger, German conductor (b. 1915)
- March 15 – Farzad Bazoft, Iranian-British journalist (b. 1958)
- March 20 – Lev Yashin, Russian footballer (b. 1929)
April
- April 1 – Carlos Peucelle, Argentine footballer (b. 1908)
- April 2 – Aldo Fabrizi, Italian actor (b. 1905)
- April 3 – Sarah Vaughan, American jazz singer (b. 1924)
- April 8 – Ryan White, AIDS spokesperson (b. 1971)
- April 15 – Greta Garbo, Swedish actress (b. 1905)
- April 17 – Ralph Abernathy, American civil rights leader (b. 1926)
- April 20 – Horst Sindermann, East German politician (b. 1915)
- April 21 – Romain de Tirtoff, French art deco artist (b. 1892)
May
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- May 10 – Walker Percy, American writer (b. 1916)
- May 12 – Andrei Kirilenko, Soviet politician (b. 1906)
- May 16 – Sammy Davis Jr., American actor, dancer and singer (b. 1925)
- May 16 – Jim Henson, American puppeteer and movie maker (b. 1936)
- May 22 – Rocky Graziano, American boxer (b. 1919)
- May 29 – Hussein Onn, Prime Minister of Malaysia (b. 1922)
June
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Ilya Frank
- June 2 – Rex Harrison, British actor (b. 1908)
- June 3 – Stiv Bators, American singer (b. 1949)
- June 3 – Robert Noyce, American inventor (b. 1927)
- June 5 – Vasili Kuznetsov, Soviet politician (b. 1901)
- June 8 – José Figueres Ferrer, President of Costa Rica (b. 1906)
- June 16 – Eva Turner, British soprano (b. 1892)
- June 22 – Ilya Frank, Russian physicist (b. 1908)
- June 24 – Germán Suárez Flamerich, President of Venezuela (b. 1907)
July
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Manuel Puig
August
- August 9 – Joe Mercer, English footballer (b. 1914)
- August 15 – Viktor Tsoi, Soviet singer (b. 1962)
- August 17 – Pearl Bailey, American singer and actress (b. 1918)
- August 27 – Stevie Ray Vaughan, American Blues guitarist (b. 1954)
September
Ahti Karjalainen
Alberto Moravia
- September 1 – Geir Hallgrimsson, Icelandic politician (b. 1925)
- September 6 – Gyula Bereznai, Hungarian mathematician (b. 1921)
- September 6 – Tom Fogerty, American musician (b. 1941)
- September 7 – Ahti Karjalainen, Prime Minister of Finland (b. 1923)
- September 9 – Samuel Doe, President of Liberia (b. 1951)
- September 21 – Xu Xiangqian, Chinese Communist military commander (b. 1901)
- September 26 – Alberto Moravia, Italian novelist (b. 1907)
- September 30 – Patrick White, Australian writer (b. 1912)
October
- October 3 – Stefano Casiraghi, husband of Princess Caroline of Monaco (b. 1960)
- October 13 – Le Duc Tho, Vietnamese politician (b. 1911)
- October 14 – Leonard Bernstein, American composer and conductor (b. 1918)
- October 27 – Xavier Cugat, Catalan-born bandleader (b. 1900)
November
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Yiannis Ritsos
- November 3 – Mary Martin, American actress (b. 1913)
- November 11 – Yiannis Ritsos, Greek poet (b. 1909)
- November 13 – Don Chaffey, British movie director (b. 1917)
- November 17 – Robert Hofstadter, American physicist (b. 1915)
- November 23 – Roald Dahl, British writer (b. 1916)
December
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Vasili Lazarev
- December 2 – Aaron Copland, American composer (b. 1900)
- December 6 – Tunku Abdul Rahman, Prime Minister of Malaysia (b. 1913)
- December 7 – Joan Bennett, American actress (b. 1910)
- December 14 – Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Swiss writer (b. 1921)
- December 16 – Jackie Mitoo, Jamaican musician (b. 1948)
- December 31 – Vasili Lazarev, Soviet cosmonaut (b. 1928)
Nobel Prizes
Mikhail Gorbachev (pictured with Ronald Reagan) won the 1990 Nobel Peace Prize.
- Physics – Jerome Isaac Friedman, Henry Way Kendall, Richard Edward Taylor
- Chemistry – Elias James Corey
- Physiology or Medicine – Joseph E. Murray, E. Donnell Thomas
- Literature – Octavio Paz
- Nobel Peace Prize – Mikhail Gorbachev
- Economics – Harry Markowitz, Merton Miller, William Sharpe
New books
- The Bourne Ultimatum – Robert Ludlum
- The Burden of Proof – Scott Turow
- The Cardinal Virtues – Andrew Greeley
- Clear and Present Danger – Tom Clancy
- Devices and Desires – P. D. James
- Eric – Terry Pratchett
- Four Past Midnight – Stephen King
- Get Shorty – Elmore Leonard
- A Graveyard for Lunatics – Ray Bradbury
- Heads – Greg Bear
- Harvest – Belva Plain
- Homecoming – John Bradshaw
- An Inconvenient Woman – Dominic Dunne
- Joy – Marsha Hunt
- Jurassic Park – Michael Crichton
- Last Chance to See – Douglas Adams & Mark Cawardine
- Liberty and Power – Harry L. Watson
- Message From Nam – Danielle Steel
- Moving Pictures – Terry Pratchett
- Pilgrimage – James A. Michener
- Queen of Angels – Greg Bear
- September – Rosamund Pilcher
- The Stand: The Complete and Uncut Version – Stephen King
- A Tenured Professor – John Kenneth Galbraith
- The Things They Carried – Tim O'Brien
- Use of Weapons – Iain M. Banks
- Vineland – Thomas Pynchon
Movies released
- Bird on a Wire
- Dances with Wolves
- Dick Tracy
- Die Hard 2
- Days of Thunder
- Edward Scissorhands
- Flatliners
- Marked for Death
- Ghost
- Goodfellas
- Hard to Kill
- Home Alone
- King of New York
- Kindergarten Cop
- Lionheart
- Pretty Woman
- Rocky V
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
- The Hunt for Red October
- Total Recall
- Tremors
- Wild at Heart
Hit songs
- "Ball and Chain" – Social Distortion
- "Blaze of Glory" – Jon Bon Jovi
- "Blue Sky Mine" – Midnight Oil
- "Close to You" – Maxi Priest
- "Epic" – Faith No More
- "Escapade" – Janet Jackson
- "Friends In Low Places" – Garth Brooks
- "I Go To Extremes" – Billy Joel
- "I Wish It Would Rain Down" – Phil Collins
- "Ice Ice Baby" – Vanilla Ice
- "It Must Have Been Love" – Roxette
- "Janie's Got A Gun" – Aerosmith
- "Nothing Compares 2 U" – Sinéad O'Connor
- "Opposites Attract" – Paula Abdul
- "Step by Step" – New Kids on the Block
- "Three Strange Days" – School of Fish (debut single)
- "The Thunder Rolls" – Garth Brooks
- "U Can't Touch This" – M.C. Hammer
- "Unbelievable" – EMF (debut single)
- "Vision of Love" – Mariah Carey
- "Vogue" – Madonna
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