Today in 1959, the four members of the Platters, who had been arrested in Cincinnati Aug. 10 on drug and prostitution charges, were acquitted.

Still, unlike perhaps today, the acquittal didn’t undo the damage the charges caused to the group’s career.

The number one single on both sides of the Atlantic today in 1964:

The number one single on both sides of the Atlantic today in 1966:

The number one British album today in 1983 was the first “Now That’s What I Call Music” compilation:

The short list of birthdays begins with Chad Stuart of Chad and Jeremy:

Ralph Tavares of Tavares:

Producer and one-hit-wonder Paul Hardcastle:

Two deaths of note: Sam Cooke, killed in a motel at 33 today in 1964 …

… and Otis Redding, Jimmy King, Ron Caldwell, Phalin Jones and Carl Cunningham of the Bar-Kays, whose plane crashed into Lake Monona in Madison the afternoon before their scheduled concert today in 1967, leaving trumpet player Ben Cauley as the lone survivor:

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