1961: “Hit the Road Jack” became Ray Charles’ second song to go to #1 in US. In the UK the single became his first top 10 hit, reaching #6.

1964: The Beach Boys recorded “Dance, Dance, Dance,” with Glen Campbell playing the lead guitar intro. The song became their twelfth US top 40 hit, ultimately reaching #8. It was also the first recognized writing contribution to a Beach Boys single by Carl Wilson, who wrote the song’s primary guitar riff and solo.

1965: The Beatles started four weeks at the top on the Billboard Hot 100 with their tenth US #1, “Yesterday.”

1965: “Let’s Hang On” by the Four Seasons entered the Billboard Hot 100, where it later became their fifth song to enter the top 10, reaching #3. It was also the group’s second charting record in the UK, where it made it to #4.

1967: The Yardbirds released their adaptation of Harry Nilsson’s “Ten Little Indians” as their second-to-last single. Studio musician John Paul Jones provided bass playing and the song’s orchestral arrangement.

1969: Brother and sister duo the Carpenters released their debut album, Offering. The album produced one hit single, a cover of the Beatles’ “Ticket to Ride,” but was otherwise a commercial failure. After the group’s breakthrough, the album was reissued in November 1970 with a different cover photo and was re-titled Ticked to Ride.

1970: T. Rex, formerly Tyrannosaurus Rex, released “Ride a White Swan,” their first single credited under the band’s new, shorter name. It was a standalone single in the UK and appears on the US version of their self-titled debut album.

1971: A week after reaching #1 in the US, Rod Stewart topped the UK singles chart with his single “Reason to Believe” backed with “Maggie May,” giving him the top record on both sides of the Atlantic as well as the #1 album on both charts with Every Picture Tells a Story.

1971: “Wild Night” by Van Morrison entered the Billboard Hot 100. It became his fifth single to reached the top 40 in the US and ultimately peaked at #28.

1973: Three Dog Night released their tenth studio album, Cyan.

1982: America had their first top 10 single on the Billboard Hot 100 in seven years with “You Can Do Magic,” which also ended up being the group’s last to enter the top 10 on the pop chart.

1983: Joe Walsh released his sixth studio album, You Bought It – You Name It.

1984: Devo released their sixth studio album, Shout. It was the band’s last album released through Warner Bros. until Something for Everybody in 2010.

1985: Yoko Ono dedicated Strawberry Fields, a 2.5-acre portion of New York City’s Central Park, in memory of her late husband, John Lennon, on what would have been his 45th birthday. Ono, who had donated more than $1 million towards the project and had conceived the idea, was joined by several hundred invited guests at the memorial located on Central Park West at West 72nd Street, directly opposite the Dakota building.

1987: Bruce Springsteen released his eighth studio album, Tunnel of Love.

1990: Mary Chapin Carpenter released his third studio album, Shooting Straight in the Dark.

2000: U2 released “Beautiful Day,” the lead single from their tenth studio album, All That You Can’t Leave Behind.

2001: Leonard Cohen released his tenth studio album, Ten New Songs. It was Cohen’s first album in nearly ten years and was co-written and produced by Sharon Robinson.

2015: The Zombies released their sixth and final studio album, Still Got That Hunger.

Birthdays Today

Yusef Lateef, jazz multi-instrumentalist and composer, was born in Chattanooga, TN in 1920.

Pat Burke, saxophone and flute player for The Foundations, was born in Kingston, Jamaica in 1937.

John Lennon, singer, songwriter, activist, solo artist, and member of the Beatles, was born John Winston Lennon in Liverpool, England during a World War II German air raid in 1940.

John Entwistle, singer, songwriter, film and music producer, and original bassist for the Who, was born in Chiswick, London, England in 1944.

Nona Hendryx, vocalist, record producer, songwriter, musician, author, actress, solo artist, and member of the trio Labelle, was born in Trenton, NJ in 1944.

Jackson Browne, singer-songwriter, was born Clyde Jackson Browne in Heidelberg, Germany in 1948.

Caleb Quaye, rock guitarist and studio musician best known for his work in the 1960s and 1970s with Elton John, Mick Jagger, Pete Townshend, Paul McCartney, Hall & Oates and Ralph McTell, was born in London, England in 1948.

Rod Temperton, songwriter, record producer, musician, and member of Heatwave who also wrote such hits as “Thriller” and “Off the Wall” by Michael Jackson and “Give Me the Night” by George Benson, was born in Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, England in 1949.

James Fearnley, guitarist, pianist, mandolin player, and accordion player with The Pogues, was born in Worsley, Greater Manchester, England in 1954.

Shona Laing, singer, songwriter, guitarist, and brief member of Manfred Mann’s Earth Band who contributed to their Somewhere in Afrika album, was born in New Zealand in 1955.

Thomas Wydler, drummer for Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, was born in Zurich, Switzerland in 1959.

Kurt Neumann, singer, songwriter, and guitarist for BoDeans, was born in Milwaukee, WI in 1961.

Sean Lennon, singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and son of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, was born Sean Taro Ono Lennon in New York City in 1975.