An eclectic group of music anniversaries today:

1963: The number one song is Ray Baretto’s “El Watusi”:

1967: The Beatles release “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”:

1968: The number one song is Simon & Garfunkel’s “Mrs. Robinson”:

1970: The number one song is Ray Stevens’ “Everything is Beautiful”:

1973: Paul McCartney and Wings release “Live and Let Die,” from my favorite James Bond movie:

1975: Ron Wood celebrates his 28th birthday by replacing Mick Taylor on guitar for the Rolling Stones:

1985: The number one song is David Lee Roth’s “Just a Gigolo/I Ain’t Got Nobody”:

Birthdays today include band leader and composer Nelson Riddle, a name famous even for those who didn’t listen to his five decades of composing because he wrote these two songs:

(What, other than Riddle, do those two shows have in common? Martin Milner, who starred in “Route 66” and then “Adam-12,” whose character made an appearance in the “Emergency!” pilot.)

Keyboardist and bassist Mike Levine of Triumph:

Alan Wilder of Depeche Mode:

Alanis Morrisette:

Today is also the anniversary of the death of Temptations singer David Ruffin of a drug overdose at 50: