Dean Torrence (above) along with William Jan Berry were Jan and Dean, a 
rock and roll duo, popular from the late 1950s through the mid 1960s.They
became associated with the vocal "surf music" craze that was popularized by
The Beach Boys. Berry (Jan) died March 26, 2004. Torrence tours occasionally
with The Surf City Allstars. 

Pictured Left to right…Jan and Dean

This was  #1 in July 1963 for two weeks.

Roberta Flack  is a singer, songwriter, and musician who is notable for her jazz,
soul, and folk music. Flack is best known for her Hot 100 #1 , Grammy Award
winning singles The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face (1972) and Killing Me
Softly With His Song (1973). Roberta and U2 are the only artists to win the 
award in back-to-back years.

The Midnight Special is a  musical variety series that aired during the 1970s
and early 1980s on NBC-TV. It was created and produced by Burt Sugarman. It
debuted as a special on August 19, 1972, then began its run as a  regular series
on February 2, 1973, with its last show airing on May 1, 1981. The ninety-minute
program followed the Friday night edition of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny
Carson.

The show mostly featured guest hosts, except for a period from July 1975 through
March 1976 when Helen Reddy was the regular host. Wolfman Jack served as the announcer. The theme song, a traditional folk song called "Midnight Special", was performed by Johnny Rivers. The Midnight Special was noted for featuring musical
acts performing live, rather then lip-synching to prerecorded music.

    
                 Helen Reddy hosting The midnight Special

  
                    The Wolfman on The midnight Special

George Beverly "Bev" Shea is a Grammy-Award-winning bass-baritone gospel music singer and the composer of several hymns.  Shea is considered "the first international singing ‘star’ of the gospel world," as a result of his solos at Billy Graham Crusades
and his exposure on radio, records, and television. According to the Guinness Book
of Records, Shea holds the world record for singing in person to the most people ever,
with an estimated cumulative live audience of 220 million people. Shea has been a 
musical mainstay in Graham’s crusades since 1947.

               

    From left to right, song leader Cliff Barrows, Billy Graham, and Bev Shea

                         Happy Birthday George, and may God bless!

Five-time Oscar-winning composer John Barry, who wrote music for a dozen James Bond films, including "You Only Live Twice" and "Goldfinger" and developed the twanging guitar riff in the suave spy’s theme music, has died. He was 77.

Barry died in New York, where he had lived for some time, on Sunday, his family said. The family did not release the cause of death.(AP)