1960: As rock and roll came to dominate the music scene, popular country radio program Louisiana Hayride was broadcast for the last time on Shreveport, Louisiana station KWKH before its cancellation. KWKH continued to use the Louisiana Hayride name for packaged music tours throughout the 1960s.

1964: “Have I the Right,” the debut single by The Honeycombs, went to #1 on the UK singles chart. The record also hit the top of the charts in Australia, Canada, and Sweden. In the US, it reached #5.

1965: During their time off in the middle of their North American tour, The Beatles made a late night visit to Elvis Presley’s Bel-Air home, per an invitation from Presley’s manager, “Colonel” Tom Parker. They were instructed to tell no one of the visit, and that there would be no press, pictures, or recordings. Though it was difficult to break the ice at first, conversion became easier after Presley brought out guitars for an informal jam session. It was the only time the band and the singer ever met.

1965: “Look Through Any Window” by The Hollies was released in the UK. The follow-up to their first #1 UK single, “I’m Alive,” it was later released in the US in September and became the group’s first top 40 hit on the Billboard chart.

1966: “Sunny” by Bobby Hebb went to #1 on the Cash Box chart. The single peaked at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100.

1966: Stevie Wonder went to the top of the Billboard R&B chart with his cover of the Bob Dylan song “Blowin’ in the Wind.”

1967: Stevie Wonder released his eleventh studio album, I Was Made to Love Her.

1967: After meeting the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi three days earlier, the Beatles, along with John’s wife Cynthia, George Harrison’s wife Pattie, her sister Jenny, engineer Alex Madras, Mick Jagger, and Marianne Faithfull, attended a ten-day conference on Transcendental Meditation in Bangor, Wales. After being fully inducted into Transcendental Meditation by the Maharishi earlier that day, the Beatles learned of the death of their manager, Brian Epstein. They then immediately made plans to return to London.

1971: The Moody Blues released “The Story in Your Eyes” from their seventh studio album, Every Good Boy Deserves Favour.

1971: The Who’s fifth studio album, Who’s Next, was released in the UK two weeks after its release in America.

1976: Eric Clapton released his fourth solo studio album, No Reason to Cry.

1976: Manfred Mann’s Earth Band released their seventh studio album, The Roaring Silence.

1977: Jackson Browne recorded “Running on Empty,” “The Road,” “The Load-Out,” and “Stay,” the first two and final two songs from his fifth album, Running on Empty, at Merriweather Post Pavillion in Columbia, Maryland.

1979: Pat Benatar released her debut studio album, In the Heart of the Night.

1980: The B-52s released their second studio album, Wild Planet.

1980: McVicar, starring Who singer Roger Daltrey in the titular role, had its world premiere in London. The film was based on the autobiographical book by armed robber John McVicar, who had escaped from prison in the 1960s before his final re-arrest in 1970.

1983: “King of Pain” by The Police entered the Billboard Hot 100. It was the group’s last top 10 hit, peaking at #3, and their last song to enter the top 40 on the US pop charts.

1988: Tracy Chapman topped the Billboard pop chart with her self-titled debut LP.

1991: Seattle band Pearl Jam released their debut studio album, Ten.

1991: The Jerry Garcia Band released their self-titled second album and first live album.

1991: Procol Harum released their tenth studio album and first in fourteen years, Prodigal Stranger. The LP was dedicated to Barrie James “B.J.” Wilson, the drummer on all of the group’s previous albums, who had died in 1990.

1991: Bob Seger released The Fire Inside, his seventeenth studio album and sixth with the Silver Bullet Band. It was Seger’s first album of entirely new music since 1986 and features contributions from Joe Walsh, Bruce Hornsby, Roy Bittan, Steve Lukather, Don Was, Waddy Wachtel, Rick Vito, Mike Campbell, Patty Smyth, Lisa Germano, and Kenny Aronoff.

1995: Neil Young and Pearl Jam wrapped up an eleven-day tour of Europe in support of their recently released collaborative album, Mirror Ball, at the Reading Festival in Britain.

1996: R.E.M. released “E-Bow the Letter” as the lead single from their tenth studio album, New Adventures in Hi-Fi.

1996: Pearl Jam released their fourth studio album, No Code.

2001: New Order released Get Ready, their seventh studio album, first in eight years, and last to feature the group’s classic lineup.

2002: Coldplay released their second studio album, A Rush of Blood to the Head.

2012: Just as his new hits collection, The Singer, was being released, Art Garfunkel announced that he had regained his voice after experiencing trouble singing in 2010. Nine shows were scheduled to support the new compilation album, but they were ultimately canceled due to continued problems with his vocal chords. Two years later, in an interview with Rolling Stone, Garfunkel stated that his voice was “96%” recovered.

Birthdays Today

Léon Theremin, inventor of the theremin, one of the first electronic musical instruments and the first to be mass-produced, was born Lev Sergeyevich Termen in Saint Petersburg, Russia in 1896.

Harold Lucas, singer and member of The Clovers, was born in Washington, D.C. in 1932.

J.D. Crowe, bluegrass banjo player and leader of the New South, was born James Dee Crowe in Lexington, KY in 1937.

Phil Shulman, vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, and co-founder of Simon Dupree and the Big Sound and Gentle Giant, was born in The Gorbals, Glasgow, Scotland in 1937.

Edward Patten, R&B singer and member of Gladys Knight & The Pips, was born in Atlanta, GA in 1939.

Daryl Dragon, musician, songwriter, keyboardist for the Beach Boys best known as “Captain” from the pop musical duo Captain & Tennille with his then-wife, Toni Tennille, was born in Los Angeles, CA in 1942.

Tim Bogert, bassist, vocalist, and frequent collaborator with Carmine Appice, who together were members of Vanilla Fudge, Cactus, and Beck, Bogert and Appice, was born in New York City in 1944.

Malcolm “Duke” Allured, drummer and original member of Showaddywaddy, was born in 1945.

John Turnbull, guitarist, singer, and member of The Blockheads who has played with Skip Bifferty, Nick Lowe, Dave Stewart and the Spiritual Cowboys, Eurythmics, Talk Talk, Bob Geldof, and World Party, was born in Newcastle upon Tyne, England in 1950.

Kevin Kavanaugh, keyboardist for Southside Johnny & the Asburry Jukes, was born in West Orange, NJ in 1951.

Laurie Wisefield, guitarist and vocalist for Wishbone Ash from 1974-1985, was born Laurence Mark Wisefield in East Longon, England in 1952.

Sarah Neufeld, violinist, solo artist, and member of Arcade Fire, was born in British Columbia, Canada in 1979.