Aug 09 2026
Born Wanda LaFaye Young on August 9, 1943, in Michigan, Wanda Young became one of the defining voices of the Marvelettes, the teenage girl group whose success helped transform a small Detroit record company called Motown into a national force. She was present when “Please Mr. Postman” became Motown’s first No. 1 pop single in …
Jul 02 2026
Every July 2, World UFO Day offers a fitting excuse to revisit one of the strangest and most entertaining records to emerge from the first great explosion of rock and roll. In 1957, Arkansas-born rockabilly singer Billy Lee Riley released “Flyin’ Saucers Rock and Roll” on Sun Records. The record brought together two subjects that …
Jun 30 2026
Few songs seem to carry their own weather quite like Frank Sinatra’s “Summer Wind.” From its easy opening rhythm to the gradual swell of Nelson Riddle’s arrangement, the 1966 recording feels warm, breezy, and effortless. Yet beneath that relaxed surface is a song about something much less permanent: a romance that arrives with summer and …
Jun 29 2026
There may be no song that captures the cheerful strangeness of America’s Atomic Age quite as perfectly as Elton Britt’s “Uranium Fever.” Recorded in 1955, the country novelty song appeared at the height of a remarkable American craze. Prospectors were driving into the deserts and mountains of the West with Geiger counters in their vehicles, …
Jun 10 2026
On June 10, 1922, Frances Ethel Gumm was born in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. Within less than two decades, the world would know her as Judy Garland, the young woman in ruby slippers singing about a place somewhere over the rainbow. Dorothy Gale made Garland immortal, but The Wizard of Oz represents only one chapter in …
Jun 09 2026
Born on this day, June 9, 1915, in Waukesha, Wisconsin, Les Paul spent much of his life asking a wonderfully simple question: What if this could sound better? Sometimes “this” was a guitar that was not loud enough. Sometimes it was a recording that could capture only one performance at a time. Sometimes it was …
Jun 07 2026
Born on this day, June 7, 1917, in Steubenville, Ohio, Dean Martin became one of the defining entertainers of mid-century America. He could walk onto a nightclub stage holding a microphone, deliver a song as though singing required almost no effort at all, toss away a joke, raise an eyebrow, and somehow make everyone else …
Jun 01 2026
Born on this day, June 1, 1921, Nelson Riddle became one of the most influential arrangers and conductors in American popular music. His name appeared behind some of the most famous singers of the 20th century, including Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, Judy Garland, Peggy Lee, and, decades later, Linda Ronstadt. Riddle was …
May 30 2026
Born on this day, May 30, 1945, in Gainesville, Florida, Gladys Horton became one of the voices that helped launch the Motown era. As a teenager, she helped form the group that became the Marvelettes, then stepped to the microphone for their 1961 debut single, “Please Mr. Postman.” The record did something no Motown single …
May 29 2026
Born on this day, May 8, 1940, in Teaneck, New Jersey, Ricky Nelson grew up in one of the most famous families in American entertainment. Millions of television viewers watched him move from childhood into adolescence on The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, and when he began singing rock and roll on the family sitcom, …
