On December 12, 1963, a vinyl long-playing record (“LP”) called
John Fitzgerald Kennedy: A Memorial Album set a record for
album sales. A total of 4 million copies sold in the first six days
of its release.

The album included recordings of some of Kennedy’s most
memorable speeches, as well as memorial tributes to the
president broadcast in the aftermath of his assassination on 
November 22, 1963. The recordings included excerpts from his
inaugural address and his campaign debates with Richard Nixon
as well as highlights from speeches on a variety of topics.

Each copy of the album cost 99 cents and the proceeds went to
the Joseph Kennedy, Jr., Foundation for Mental Retardation.

Rock ‘n’ roll musician Jerry Lee Lewis is known for the hit “Great
Balls of Fire” and who married his thirteen year old cousin, Myra
Gale Brown.

Before Fame

He was expelled from Southwest Bible Institute for playing what
they termed “devil’s music.” He played music in Natchez,
Mississippi to make a living.

Trivia

He became the last living member of the Sun Records Million
Dollar Quartet (below).

Donald “Don” Everly (February 1, 1937 – August 21, 2021)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Don Everly, one-half of the pioneering
Everly Brothers whose harmonizing country rock hits impacted a generation of rock ‘n’ roll music, has died.

According to the Los Angeles Times, a family spokesperson said
Everly died at his home in Nashville, Tennessee, on Saturday. His brother,
Phil Everly, died in January 2014 at age 74.

Phil and Don

UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, Ohio (AP) — After nearly five decades of
blowin’ in the wind, a double Bob Dylan album finally has a
direction home: A man living in San Francisco has mailed the
vinyl back to an Ohio library 48 years after it was supposed to
be returned.

Howard Simon recently sent the album along with a letter to
Heights Libraries apologizing for his tardiness, according to a
news release from the library system outside Cleveland.

Simon checked out Dylan’s "Self Portrait" album in 1973 as an
eighth-grader at a University Heights middle school. Simon,
now 73, says he found it between two other Dylan albums in
his personal vinyl collection.

Bob Dylan in 1973

Bob turned 80 on May 24th.

Billy Joe Thomas (August 7, 1942 – May 29, 2021)

(AP) – B.J. Thomas, the Grammy-winning singer who enjoyed
success on the pop, country and gospel charts with such hits
as “I Just Can’t Help Believing,” “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On
My Head” and “Hooked on a Feeling,” has died.

Thomas, who announced in March that he had been
diagnosed with lung cancer, died from complications
of the disease Saturday at his home in Arlington, Texas.