| 87 years ago (1932) | “Little Richard” Penniman is born. |
| 81 years ago (1938) | Singer/songwriter J. J. Cale, who would grow up to write several huge hits for guitarist Eric Clapton, like After Midnight and Cocaine, is born. |
| 72 years ago (1947) | Jim Messina, guitarist for Loggins and Messina and Buffalo Springfield, is born. |
| 64 years ago (1955) | At the BMI Annual Awards Dinner in New York City, R&B songs win an unprecendented eleven (out of 23) awards. Among the feted songs are: Maybeline, I Hear You Knockin', Pledging My Love, Sincerely, Earth Angel, Dance With Me, Henry and Only You. |
| 59 years ago (1960) | Billboard reports five “answer records” to Elvis Presley's Are You Lonesome Tonight? have been released. Four of them are versions of the same song, Yes, I'm Lonesome Tonight. The other is the standard Oh How I Miss You Tonight. |
| 54 years ago (1965) | The Goo Goo Dolls' John Rzeznik is born. |
| 51 years ago (1968) | Graham Nash quits the Hollies. He announces the formation of Crosby, Stills and Nash three days later. |
| 51 years ago (1968) | Five months after its originally scheduled release date, the Rolling Stones unveil Beggar's Banquet in an uncontroversial white cover designed to resemble a formal invitation. A London party to celebrate the release lives up to the album title when a custard pie fight breaks out. |
| 44 years ago (1975) | Gratitude, a double album by Earth, Wind & Fire becomes their fifth album to go gold. |
| 44 years ago (1975) | Fleetwood Mac's tenth album goes gold and is on its way to platinum. This is the first album by the regrouped band, including founders Mick Fleetwood and John McVie, veteran Christine McVie, and newcomers Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham. The album contains the tunes Rhiannon, Say You Love Me and Over My Head. |
| 12 years ago (2007) | More than 1,000 items from all three of Luther Vandross' homes are auctioned off to fans this day and the next. Luther had been called the black Elton John for the sometimes over-the-top trappings of his lifestyle. The collection is valued at $600-800 thousand. |
| 2 years ago (2017) | Dead & Company guitarist John Mayer is rushed to a New Orleans hospital for an emergency appendectomy, forcing postponement of the band’s concert scheduled later that night. |