1962: “Return to Sender” by Elvis Presley was released. Written by Otis Blackwell and Winfield Scott, the single reached #1 on the Cash Box chart, #2 on the Billboard chart, and #1 on the UK chart. The script for Presley’s 1962 film Girls! Girls! Girls! was also rewritten to accommodate the inclusion of the song.

1964: After becoming their first UK #1, The Animals’ version of the folk standard “House of the Rising Son” became their first US hit when it reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100.

1964: The Animals’ self-titled debut American album entered the Billboard pop chart. It was substantially different from the group’s debut British LP of the same name, and by the end of October, reached #7 on the Billboard chart. It was the group’s only non-compilation top 10 album in the US.

1964: Manfred Mann’s #1 UK hit “Do Wah Diddy Diddy” entered the Billboard Hot 100. Six weeks later, it was the #1 single in the US and the group’s only top 10 hit in America.

1970: “Indiana Wants Me” by R. Dean Taylor entered the Billboard Hot 100. It was his only top 10 hit on the chart, peaking at #5.

1970: Joe Cocker’s first live album, Mad Dogs and Englishmen, entered the Billboard pop chart. Recorded earlier that year in late March at New York City’s Fillmore East, the album reached #2 in the US and #16 in the UK.

1971: Poco released From the Inside, the band’s third studio album and first with new lead guitarist Paul Cotton, who replaced Jim Messina.

1974: The Jackson 5 released their ninth studio album, Dancing Machine.

1975: Jethro Tull’s eighth studio album, Minstrel in the Gallery, was released in the UK. Three days later it was issued in the US. It was the band’s last album with bassist Jeffrey Hammond, who was later replaced by John Glascock.

1979: The Kinks released “Catch Me Now I’m Falling,” the third single from their eighteenth studio album, Low Budget.

1980: Kate Bush released Never for Ever, her third studio album and her first to reach #1. It was also the first album by a British female solo artist to top the UK chart as well as the first album by any female solo artist to enter the chart at #1.

1980: Gary Numan released his second solo album, Telekon. It later debuted at the top of the UK chart, making it his third consecutive and final #1 LP.

1981: Fleetwood Mac vocalist Stevie Nicks’ debut solo album, Bella Donna, went to #1 in the US. Less than a month later, the album was certified quadruple platinum. Nicks called on many of her musician friends to assist in recording, including Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Don Henley, Roy Bittan, Donald “Duck” Dunn, and Waddy Wachtel.

1981: British techno-pop duo of Soft Cell had their first #1 single and biggest hit when their cover of Gloria Jones’ “Tainted Love” backed with their cover of “Where Did Our Love Go” by the Supremes reached the top of the UK chart. In the US, the song was their highest-charting entry on the Billboard Hot 100, reaching #8, as well as on the US Dance chart, where it reached #4.

1981: Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band released Nine Tonight. The live LP was assembled from recording from shows at at Cobo Hall in Detroit, Michigan in June 1980 and at the Boston Garden in Boston, Massachusetts in October 1980.

1986: Paul Simon released “You Can Call Me Al,” the first single from his seventh studio album, Graceland.

1988: Siouxsie and the Banshees released Peepshow, their ninth studio album and first as a quintet with the addition of multi-instrumentalist Martin McCarrick and guitarist Jon Klein.

1988: The Smiths released their only live album, Rank. Recorded almost two years earlier at National Ballroom in Kilburn, London, the album was issued as a contractual obligation.

1989: Big Audio Dynamite released Megatop Phoenix, their fourth studio album and last with the group’s original line-up.

1989: Canadian band The Tragically Hip released their debut studio album, Up to Here.

1994: R.E.M. released “What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?” as the lead single from their ninth studio album, Monster. The song’s title refers to an incident in 1986 in which an individual attacked journalist Dan Rather while repeating “Kenneth, what is the frequency.” The song also slows towards its conclusion due to bassist Mike Mills experiencing appendicitis, and according to guitarist Peter Buck, “we never wound up redoing it.”

2003: The rock opera film Greendale, directed by Bernard Shakey a.k.a. Neil Young, premiered at the Toronto Film Festival following the release of the companion album of the same name in August.

2015: At a benefit for Prostate Cancer UK in Ewhurst, Surrey, England, Rod Stewart reunited with the other surviving members of Faces, Ron Wood and Kenney Jones, for their first non-awards concert since their break-up in 1975.

Birthdays Today

John Cage, influential avant-garde composer, was born in Los Angeles, CA in 1912.

Willie Woods, guitarist and songwriter with Junior Walker & The All Stars, was born in Kalamazoo, MI in 1936.

John Stewart, singer, songwriter, who was a member of the Kingston Trio in the 1960s and had a solo recording career that spanned 40 years, was born in San Diego, CA in 1939.

Joe Long, bass guitarist for The Four Seasons, was born Joseph LaBracio in Kingston, Jamaica in 1941.

Al Stewart, singer-songwriter, was born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1945.

Dean Ford, singer, songwriter, and lead vocalist for Marmalade from 1966-1974, was born in Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire, Scotland in 1946.

Freddie Mercury, singer, songwriter, record producer, and lead vocalist and keyboardist for Queen, was born Farrokh Bulsara in Stone Town, Sultanate of Zanzibar (now Tanzania) in 1946.

Loudon Wainwright III, folk singer, songwriter, humorist, and actor, was born in Chapel Hill, NC in 1946.

Buddy Miles, drummer, vocalist, composer, founding member of the Electric Flag, a member of Jimi Hendrix’s Band of Gypsys, leader of the Buddy Miles Express and the Buddy Miles Band, and lead vocalist for the California Raisins, was born in Omaha, NE in 1947.

David “Clem” Clempson, guitarist and member of several bands, including Colosseum and Humble Pie, who has also been a guest musician with numerous artists such as Jack Bruce, Roger Waters, Manfred Mann’s Earth band, Bob Dylan, John Anderson, was born in Tamworth, Staffordshire, England in 1949.

Dweezil Zappa, guitarist, singer, and son of Frank Zappa, was born Ian Donald Calvin Euclid Zappa in Los Angeles, CA in 1969.