1957: Buddy Holly and the Crickets started three weeks at the top of the UK chart with their first hit single, “That’ll Be the Day.”

1959: Smokey Robinson married Miracles member Claudette Rogers, the inspiration for Robinson’s song “My Girl,” which was made famous by The Temptations in 1964. Produced by Robinson, it was The Temptation’s first #1 record.

1961: “Check Yourself” by The Temptations was released. Written and produced by Motown president Berry Gordy, Jr., it was the group’s second and last single released on Motown subsidiary label Miracle Records, which soon after changed its name to Gordy Records.

1963: The Beatles made their only visit to Ireland as a group, performing two shows in Dublin at the Adelphi Cinema.

1969: The Rolling Stones opened their first US tour in three years at Colorado State University with new guitarist Mick Taylor.

1969: “Whole Lotta Love” by Led Zeppelin was released by Atlantic Records as a single in the US and several other countries except for the UK. Atlantic initially released the album version of the song, but soon after issued a shorter, edited version to earn more radio airplay. It became the band’s first hit in America, peaking at #4 on the pop charts, and was certified gold by the spring of 1970. To celebrate the band’s thirtieth anniversary in 1997, the song was released as the band’s first UK single.

1969: Pink Floyd released their fourth studio album, the double LP Ummagumma, which consists of both live recordings from concerts at Mothers Club in Birmingham and the College of Commerce in Manchester in addition solo compositions by each member of the band recorded at the Abbey Road Studios. The album reached #5 on the UK chart and #74 in the US.

1969: Jazz fusion band Manfred Mann Chapter Three released their self-titled debut album and one of the first albums released on the Vertigo record label.

1970: “Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?,” the third single from Chicago’s debut album, entered the Billboard Hot 100. The song peaked at #7 on the Hot 100 and #5 on the Cash Box chart.

1972: Neil Young released Journey Through the Past, the soundtrack to the 1974 film of the same name that was also directed by Young.

1975: Yes bassist Chris Squire released his debut solo album, Fish Out of Water. Some of the musicians Squire hired for the project included former Yes drummer Bill Bruford, current Yes keyboardist Patrick Moraz, and King Crimson saxophonist Mel Collins.

1980: Elvis Costello and the Attractions released Ten Bloody Marys & Ten How’s Your Fathers, an album comprising B-sides and previously unreleased tracks. It was initially only released in the UK on cassette.

1981: Hall & Oates achieved their third US #1 single with “Private Eyes,” the title track from their tenth album. Over the next three years, they had three more chart-topping songs.

1982: Grace Jones released Living My Life, her sixth studio album and the last of three albums she recorded at the Compass Point Studios in the Bahamas.

1983: Yes released their eleventh album, 90125. After disbanding two years earlier, bassist Chris Squire and drummer Alan White formed the group Cinema with guitarist and singer-songwriter Trevor Rabin, original Yes keyboardist Tony Kaye, and former Yes singer Trevor Horn as their producer. After Yes singer Jon Anderson accepted the invitation to record lead vocals during the album’s mixing stage, the band’s name was changed from Cinema to Yes. 90125 became the group’s seventh and final top 10 LP in the US, reaching #5.

1983: The Rolling Stones released their seventeenth British and nineteenth American studio album, Undercover. The album featured many guest musicians and it was the band’s last released during the lifetime of founding member Ian Stewart.

1983: Tina Turner released her cover of Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together.” It was her second collaboration with British group Heaven 17 and the British Electric Foundation production team and proved to be a comeback hit, reaching #26 in the US and #6 in the UK. At the time, it was Turner’s most successful solo single and was included on her fifth solo studio album, Private Dancer.

1987: David Sylvian released his fourth solo studio album, Secrets of the Beehive.

1989: Eric Clapton released his eleventh studio album, Journeyman.

1990: Cher’s version of “The Shoop Shoop Song (It’s In His Kiss),” a song originally recorded by Better Everett in 1963, was released as the lead single from the soundtrack to the film Mermaids. It was also included on her twelfth studio album, Love Hurts.

1995: Bonnie Raitt released her first live album, Road Tested. Guests on the album include Bryan Adams, Charles Brown, Ruth Brown, Jackson Browne, Bruce Hornsby, and Kim Wilson.

1988: R.E.M. released their sixth studio album, Green.

2003: David Gilmour of Pink Floyd was presented with a Commander of the British Empire award by Queen Elizabeth II.

2006: J.J. Cale and Eric Clapton released the collaborative studio album, The Road to Escondido. Several high-profile artists contributed to the album including Derek Trucks, Taj Mahal, John Mayer, Doyle Bramhall II. The album also contains the final recordings of keyboardist Billy Preston.

2014: The fifteenth and final studio album by Pink Floyd, The Endless River, was released. The group’s third album led by David Gilmour, it consists almost entirely of instrumental and ambient music based on material written, recorded, and produced with keyboardist Richard Wright during sessions for their previous album, The Division Bell, released in 1994.

Birthdays Today

Al Hirt, trumpeter and bandleader best known for his million-selling hit “Java,” was born Alois Maxwell Hirt in New Orleans, LA in 1922.

Jimmie Haskell, composer and arranger for hundreds of popular artists such as Simon & Garfunkel, Bobbie Gentry, Chicago, Rick Nelson, Bobby Darin, Steely Dan, and Sheryl Crow, was born Sheridan Pearlman in Brooklyn, NY in 1936.

Dee Clark, R&B and soul singer, was born Delectus Clark in Blytheville, AR in 1938.

Johnny Rivers, singer, songwriter, guitarist, and record producer, was born John Henry Ramistella in New York City in 1942.

Joni Mitchell, singer-songwriter, was born Roberta Joan Anderson in Fort MacLeod, Alberta, Canada in 1943.

Liam Ó Maonlaí, vocalist, keyboardist, guitarist, and co-founder of Hothouse Flowers, was born in Monkstown, Ireland in 1964.