1997 (MCMXCVII) was a common year that started on a Wednesday. In the Gregorian calendar, it was the 1997th year of Anno Domini; the 997th year of the 2nd millennium; the 97th year of the 20th century; and the 8th of the 1990s.

September 2

Steve Austin (born Steven James Anderson, later Steven James Williams; December 18, 1964), better known by his ring name "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, is an American film and television actor, producer, and retired professional wrestler. Austin wrestled for several well-known wrestling promotions such as World Championship Wrestling (WCW), Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) and most famously, the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). Described by WWE (formerly the WWF) chairman Vince McMahon as the most profitable wrestler in the company's history, he gained significant mainstream popularity in the WWF during the mid-to-late 1990s as "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, a disrespectful, beer-drinking antihero who routinely defied McMahon, his boss. This defiance was often shown by Austin flipping off McMahon and incapacitating him with the Stone Cold Stunner, his finishing move. McMahon inducted Austin into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2009.

Austin held twenty championships throughout his professional wrestling career, and is a six-time WWF Champion as well as the fifth Triple Crown Champion. He was also the winner of the 1996 King of the Ring tournament, as well as the 1997, 1998 and 2001 Royal Rumbles. He was forced to retire from in ring competition in early 2003 due to a series of knee and neck injuries sustained throughout his career. Throughout the rest of 2003 and 2004, he was featured as the Co-General Manager and "Sheriff" of Raw. Since 2005, he has continued to make occasional appearances. In 2011, Steve Austin returned to WWE to host the reality series Tough Enough.

Demi Guynes Kutcher ( /dəˈmiː/ də-MEE; born November 11, 1962), known professionally as Demi Moore, is an American actress, film producer, film director, former songwriter and model. Born in Roswell, New Mexico to teenage parents who divorced before she was born, Moore dropped out of high school at age 16 to begin modeling in Europe, and posed for a nude pictorial in Oui magazine in 1980. After making her movie debut in 1981, she appeared on the soap opera General Hospital and established her career with such films as St. Elmo's Fire (1985) and About Last Night... (1986). Following the successes of Ghost (1990), A Few Good Men (1992), Indecent Proposal (1993), and Disclosure (1994), Moore became Hollywood's highest-paid actress, receiving an unprecedented sum of $12.5 million for Striptease (1996).

Moore took her professional name from her first husband, musician Freddy Moore, and is the mother of three daughters from her second marriage to actor Bruce Willis. She married her third husband, actor Ashton Kutcher, in 2005, and separated from him in November 2011.

Kobe Bean Bryant (born August 23, 1978) is an American professional basketball player who plays shooting guard for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Bryant enjoyed a successful high school basketball career at Lower Merion High School, where he was recognized as the top high school basketball player in the country. He decided to declare his eligibility for the NBA Draft upon graduation, and was selected with the 13th overall pick in the 1996 NBA Draft by the Charlotte Hornets, then traded to the Los Angeles Lakers. As a rookie, Bryant earned himself a reputation as a high-flyer and a fan favorite by winning the 1997 Slam Dunk Contest.

Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal led the Lakers to three consecutive NBA championships from 2000 to 2002. A heated feud between the duo and a loss in the 2004 NBA Finals was followed by O'Neal's trade from the Lakers after the 2003–04 season. Following O'Neal's departure Bryant became the cornerstone of the Los Angeles Lakers franchise. He led the NBA in scoring during the 2005–06 and 2006–07 seasons, setting numerous scoring records in the process. In 2006, Bryant scored a career-high 81 points against the Toronto Raptors, the second most points scored in a single game in NBA history, second only to Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point game in 1962. He was awarded the regular season's Most Valuable Player Award (MVP) in 2008. After losing in the 2008 NBA Finals, Bryant led the Lakers to two consecutive championships in 2009 and 2010, earning the NBA Finals MVP Award on both occasions.

Alberto Aguilera Valadez (Spanish pronunciation: [alˈβeɾto aɣiˈleɾa βalaˈðes]) (born January 7, 1950), better known by his stage name Juan Gabriel (pronounced: [ˈxwaŋ ɡaˈβɾjel]), is a Mexican singer, songwriter, recording artist, and performer.

Born on 7 January 1950, on Cinco de Mayo street (now known as Juan Gabriel Street) in the small town of Parácuaro, Michoacán, to father Gabriel Aguilera Rodríguez and mother Victoria Valadez Rojas, he is the youngest of 10 siblings: Rosa who died shortly after birth, Virginia, José Guadalupe, Gabriel, Pablo, Miguel (died) and three brothers named Rafael who all three have also died.

Around the age of three months, Alberto's father, Gabriel, being an agricultural field worker, intended to clear a piece of land by setting fire to the field. Due to windy conditions, sadly he lost control of the fire which began to spread to neighboring properties and homes. Deeply disturbed and worried over the consequences he brought onto his family, Gabriel knew not what to do and threw himself into a river. Badly injured from the fall, Gabriel was hospitalized and committed to La Castañeda psychiatric ward in México City. What happened to Gabriel after the psychiatric ward is unknown. One tale is that he died while in La Castañeda for their alleged patient mistreatment, while others say that Gabriel escaped from the mental ward to unknown whereabouts. Either way, Alberto and his family never heard from their father again. These accounts would later be Alberto's inspiration for the song titled "De Sol a Sol (A Mis Padres)" - English translation, "From Sun Up to Sun Down (To My Parents)".