Today in 1956, Nat King Cole became the first black man to host a TV show, on NBC:

The number one single today in 1966:

Today in 1971, Elvis Presley performed at the Met Center in Bloomington, Minn. To get the fans to leave after repeated encore requests, announcer Al Dvorin announced, “Elvis has left the building.”

Britain’s number one single today in 1977 is …

Today in 1988, the song “Locomotion” set a record by becoming the first song to reach the top five for three different artists: Little Eva …

… Grand Funk Railroad …

… and Kylie Minogue:

Birthdays start with Art Garfunkel:

Bryan Adams:

Three deaths of note: First, today in 1960, Johnny Horton:

Today in 2003, Bobby Hatfield of the Righteous Brothers, and a former Beaver Dam resident, was found dead in his hotel room:

Finally, today in 2006, Link Wray, the guitarist credited with creating fuzz guitar by punching a hole in a speaker, died at 76. Wray reached number 16 with “Rumble,” which was banned by several radio stations for allegedly encouraging juvenile delinquency.

You might ask how a song with no words encourages anything. You’ll find no answer here.

• Music