On March 11, 1903, musician and band leader Lawrence Welk 
was born.

For the generation that grew up on the big bands of the 1930s
and ’40s, The Lawrence Welk Show was a blessed island of
calm in a world gone mad for rock and roll, and it aired like
clockwork every Saturday night from 1955 to 1982.

When ABC dropped The Lawrence Welk Show in 1971, Welk independently arranged a syndication deal that kept him on
the air for another 11 years and made him one of the richest
entertainers in America.

Roy Edward Ayers Jr. (September 10, 1940 – March 4, 2025)

NEW YORK (AP) — Roy Ayers, a legendary jazz vibraphonist, keyboardist, composer and vocalist known for his spacy, funky
1976 hit “Everybody Loves the Sunshine” that has been sampled
by such R&B and rap heavyweights as Mary J. Blige, N.W.A.,
Dr. Dre, 2Pac, Mos Def and Ice Cube, has died.

The Ayers family said in a Facebook post that he died Tuesday
in a New York City hospital after suffering from a long illness.

On February 27, 1980, the long-lost glasses of rocker Buddy
Holly, who died in a deadly plane crash in 1959, were found—
filed away in a manila envelope in a court clerk’s office marked
"Charles Harden Holly".

That envelope was opened by Sheriff Jerry Allen. The glasses
were eventually returned to Holly’s widow.

A Beechcraft Bonanza carrying Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens 
and “The Big Bopper” Richardson, crashed outside Clear
Lake, Iowa, in the early morning hours of February 3, 1959.
 

NEW YORK (AP) — Jerry Butler, a premier soul singer of the
1960s and after whose rich, intimate baritone graced such
hits as "For Your Precious Love," "Only the Strong Survive"
and "Make It Easy On Yourself," has died. 

Butler’s niece, Yolanda Goff, told the Chicago Sun-Times that
Butler died Thursday from Parkinson’s disease at his home
in Chicago.

Jerry Butler, top left, and Curtis Mayfield, bottom right, in
the Impressions.

This 1958 Chevrolet Impala of Buddy’s was introduced as
the top model of the Bel Air line and quickly became a
massive hit.

Buddy Holly 
(September 7, 1936 – February 3, 1959)