On December 2, 1972, the Temptations earned the last of their four chart- topping hits when “Papa Was A Rollin’ Stone” reaches #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Over the course of their career, the Temptations placed 38 hit records in the pop top 40—not just more than any other Motown Records artist, but more than any American pop group ever.
The Everly Brothers (Phil on the left, Don on the right) singing on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1957.
Harmony singing was a part of rock and roll right from the beginning, but the three- and four-part harmonies of doo-wop, derived from black gospel and blues traditions, would never have given us Simon and Garfunkel, the Beatles or the Byrds. To get those groups, you first had to have the Everly Brothers, whose ringing, close-harmony style introduced a whole new sound into the rock-and-roll vocabulary: the sound of Appalachia set to hard-driving acoustic guitars and a subtle backbeat rhythm. One of the most important and influential groups in the history of rock and roll, the Everly Brothers burst onto the music scene in 1957 with their first big hit, "Bye Bye Love," which was quickly followed with their first #1 song, "Wake Up Little Susie," which topped the Billboard pop chart on this day in 1957. (History.com)
Sir Roderick (Rod) David Stewart is 73 years old today.
Rod Stewart released over 60 hit singles and, in 2008, was named the 17th most successful artist on the The Billboard Hot 100 Top All-Time Artists.
In 2006, he won a Grammy Award for the best Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album for Stardust…The Great American Songbook Volume III. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame which was received in 2007.
The Drifters was a group centered around lead singer Benjamin Nelson and originally called the Five Crowns. With that group taking on the new name "the Drifters," and with Nelson changing his name to Ben E. King, a new era of success for the group began.They scored immediate hits with "There Goes My Baby" (1959) and "This Magic Moment" (1960) followed by the song that topped the Billboard pop charts on this day in 1960, "Save The Last Dance For Me."
James Douglas Morrison(December 8, 1943 – July 3, 1971) and The Doors.
The song "Light My Fire" by the Doors was recorded in August 1966 and released in January 1967 on their self-titled debut album. It was released as an edited single on April 24, 1967, it spent three weeks at at number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in late July, and one week on the Cash Box Top 100, nearly a year after its recording.