2025: Steve Martin and Alison Brown top Billboard's bluegrass chart with Safe, Sensible and Sane. It gave the comedian and banjo player his seventh number one on the Bluegrass Albums chart, decades after his comedy records like A Wild and Crazy Guy hit the pop charts in the late 1970s.
2021: Carole King, Tina Turner, Jay-Z, Foo Fighters and the Go-Go's enter the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Todd Rundgren and LL Cool J were also honored at the ceremony in Cleveland. King and Turner became just the second and third women inducted twice.
2016: Eddie Vedder leads Wrigley Field in “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” during the World Series. The Pearl Jam singer and lifelong Cubs fan handled the seventh inning stretch as Chicago hosted its first World Series games since 1945. The Cubs went on to win their first title since 1908.
2007: The Eagles release Long Road Out of Eden, their first studio album in 28 years. It topped the charts in the US and UK and far outsold Britney Spears' Blackout, released the same day. Its single “How Long” won a Grammy for best country performance by a duo or group.
2007: Singer Robert Goulet dies at 73. Goulet was awaiting a lung transplant in Los Angeles. He rose to fame as Lancelot in Broadway's Camelot and reached the Top 20 in 1964 with “My Love, Forgive Me.”
2002: Run-DMC's Jam Master Jay is shot and killed in Queens at 37. Jason Mizell was the DJ behind the pioneering hip-hop trio's sound on hits like “It's Tricky” and their “Walk This Way” remake with Aerosmith. The group retired after his death.
2002: Warren Zevon is the only guest on Late Show with David Letterman. Facing terminal cancer, the “Werewolves of London” singer played three songs in what became his last public performance and told viewers to “enjoy every sandwich.” He died the following September.
1999: Santana's Supernatural hits number one in America. Powered by “Smooth” with Rob Thomas, it was the band's first chart-topping album in 28 years and went on to win the Grammy for Album of the Year.
1987: George Michael releases his first solo album, Faith. It reached number one in the US and UK, produced four number one American singles including “Faith” and “Father Figure,” and won the Grammy for Album of the Year.
1984: Michael Jackson's Thriller becomes the first album certified for 20 million US sales. The RIAA created a new “Double Diamond” award to mark the milestone for the best-selling album of all time.
1982: Men at Work's “Who Can It Be Now?” hits number one. The Australian band's debut US single knocked John Cougar's “Jack and Diane” from the top spot. Their next single, “Down Under,” also went to number one.
1975: Bob Dylan launches his Rolling Thunder Revue in Plymouth, Massachusetts. The Minnesota native's traveling show opened at the War Memorial Auditorium with a rotating cast that included Joan Baez and Roger McGuinn, playing mostly small venues across New England.
1971: John Lennon's Imagine is the number one album in both the US and UK. The title song became the most famous of his solo career, and the album remained his signature solo record.
1968: Marvin Gaye releases “I Heard It Through the Grapevine.” Recorded before Gladys Knight and the Pips' 1967 hit version, Gaye's take spent seven weeks at number one and became Motown's biggest selling single up to that time.
1960: Elvis Presley records gospel songs in Nashville for His Hand in Mine. The session at RCA's Nashville studio produced 14 songs for his first full gospel album, which reached number 14 on the pop albums chart and was later certified platinum.
Born on This Day
1978: Matthew Morrison, American singer and actor Turns 48. Best known as glee club director Will Schuester on TV's Glee and for Broadway roles in Hairspray.
1969: Snow, Canadian reggae singer and rapper Turns 57. Spent seven weeks at number one in 1993 with “Informer.”
1965: Gavin Rossdale, English singer and guitarist (Bush) Turns 61. Fronted Bush on 1990s rock radio hits “Glycerine” and “Comedown.”
1954: T. Graham Brown, American country singer Turns 72. Scored 1980s country hits including “Hell and High Water” and the number one “Darlene.”
1954: Jeannie Kendall, American country singer (The Kendalls) Turns 72. Sang with her father Royce in the duo behind the Grammy winning “Heaven's Just a Sin Away.”
1947: Timothy B. Schmit, American singer and bassist (Eagles) Turns 79. Replaced Randy Meisner in both Poco and the Eagles and sang lead on “I Can't Tell You Why.”
1946: Chris Slade, Welsh drummer (AC/DC) Played drums for AC/DC on The Razors Edge and also with Manfred Mann's Earth Band and Uriah Heep.
1941: Otis Williams, American singer (The Temptations) Turns 85. Founding member and longtime leader of the Motown group behind “My Girl” and “Just My Imagination.”
1939: Grace Slick, American singer (Jefferson Airplane) Turns 87. Sang “Somebody to Love” and “White Rabbit” and later fronted Starship on “We Built This City.”
1939: Eddie Holland, American songwriter and producer Turns 87. One third of Motown's Holland, Dozier and Holland team that wrote “Baby Love” and “Stop! In the Name of Love.”
1930: Clifford Brown, American jazz trumpeter A leading trumpet voice of 1950s jazz, known for “Joy Spring,” who died in a car crash at 25.
1919: Illinois Jacquet, American jazz saxophonist Famous for his tenor sax solo on Lionel Hampton's 1942 hit “Flying Home.”
1908: Patsy Montana, American country singer Her 1935 hit “I Want to Be a Cowboy's Sweetheart” made her one of country music's first female stars.
