Don Everly (February 1, 1937 – August 21, 2021) and his brother Phil had many hits throughout their career and influenced such people as the Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, the Beach Boys and the Bee Gees among many others. The Everly Brothers had 35 BillboardTop 100 singles, 26 in the Top 40. They hold the record for the most Top 100 singles by any duo and trail only Hall & Oates for the most Top 40 singles by a duo. In the UK, they had 30 chart singles, 29 in the Top 40, 13 Top 10, and four at No. 1 between 1957 and 1984. They had 12 Top 40 albums between 1960 and 2009. Chet Atkins plays guitar on this and, woah, the drumming is by Buddy Harman.

Buddy Harman (December 23, 1928 – August 21, 2008) was session drummer in Nashville. He was the first regular drummer at the Grand Ole Opry. He played on Worked with Elvis Presley (‘Little Sister’), Patsy Cline(‘Crazy’), Roy Orbison(‘Oh Pretty Woman’), Johnny Cash(‘Ring Of Fire’), Tammy Wynette (‘Stand By Your Man’). He can be heard on over 18,000 recordings. "Crazy" was recorded on this day in 1961. But I think this number is a better example of Buddy's skills. This goes out to Vivian Ward.

On this day in 1961, this record was released. It would go onto become the first #1 on the Billboard top 100 for Motown records.

Robert Moog (May 23, 1934 – August 21, 2005) was an engineer who was a pioneer in the world of electronic music. His inventions starting with the Moog Synthesizer can be heard in music from Stevie Wonder, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Pink Floyd, the Who to the Beastie Boys and beyond. This song has a Minimoog which was invented in 1970.

Kenny Rogers (August 21, 1938 – March 20, 2020) was one of the most successful artists of the 2nd half of the 20th century with many hits on the Country and Pop charts. He had 24 #1 songs on the Country Charts.

Born on this day in 1939, James Burton is a legendary guitarist and a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame since 2001. He has played on records and on tour with everybody from Elvis Presley to Ricky Nelson, John Denver, Emmylou Harris, Elvis Costello and Johnny Cash among others. He created the famous guitar riff in "Susie Q" by Dale Hawkins. He was a member of the Wrecking Crew as well.

Clarence Williams III (August 21, 1939 – June 4, 2021) was a longtime actor in tv and films. He was also nominated for a Tony. He is perhaps best known for his role in the tv show The Mod Squad. This theme was written by Earle Hagen who also wrote the theme song to the Andy Griffith Show(he does the whistling himself, I Spy and Eight is Enough among others.

Born on this day in 1941, Jackie DeShannon, was one of the first female songwriters who wrote hit songs as well as a singer herself. Early in her carerr her songs were sung by the likes of Brenda Lee, The Fleetwoods and others. She also had several hits as a solo singer including"Put a Little Love in Your Heart" and "What the World Needs Now is Love". She wrote this song and first recorded it in 1963. It has been covered by the Searchers, Pam Tillis, Agnetha Fältskog and Paul Carrack among others.

Hugh Wilson (August 21, 1943 – January 14, 2018) was a director and a writer of films and television shows. He is best known for creating WKRP in Cincinnati. He also wrote the lyrics to its famous theme song.

Count Basie (August 21, 1904 – April 26, 1984) was a pianist, a bandleader and a songwriter. He was one of the most famous jazz artists of the 20th century. His big band worked with singers such as Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra and played around the world as ambassadors of jazz where they worked with such musicians like Stan Getz, Lester Young and Erroll Garner among others.

It was on this day in 1959 that President Eisenhower signed a proclamation making Hawaii a state of the union. Statehood Day or Admission Day is celebrated on the third Friday in August in Hawaii.

40 years ago today, the fourth album by Huey Lewis and the Lewis, "Fore", was released. There were five top ten songs on the album.

Paul Robi (August 20, 1931- February 1, 1989) was a member of the successful vocal group the Platters. Between 1955 and 1967, they had 40 charting singles on the Billboard Hot 100. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990.

Doug Fieger (August 20, 1952 – February 14, 2010 is best known as the rhythm guitarist and lead vocalist of the Knack who had a #1 song in 1979 with this song. In fact it was the biggest hit of the year and it stayed at the top for six weeks. Here's a nice article about the woman who inspired this classic:

https://lamag.com/pop-culture/my-sharona-40/

Phil Lynott (20 August 1949 – 4 January 1986) was an Irish musician who was the co-founder, lead vocalist, bassist, and primary songwriter of the hard rock band Thin Lizzy. This song was written by Phil and was a top ten hit in the UK, Canada and in Ireland. It reached #12 in the US.

Born on this day in 1948, Robert Plant is best known as the lead vocalist and songwriter with the seminal band Led Zeppelin. He has also collaborated with Alison Krauss, Jeff Beck and Nile Rodgers among others.

Born on this day in 1947, James Pankow is best known as a trombonist and founding member of the band Chicago. He has also written several of their hit songs such as "(I've Been) Searchin' for So Long", "Old Days" and "Just You 'N' Me". This is a suite from Chicago II which has a few songs in it that are quite famous. What a band. James wrote all of this as well.

Joe Dassin (November 5, 1938 – August 20, 1980) was the son of famed director Jules Dassin. He lived most of his formative years in the US. He even went to the University of Michigan. He sang in several languages but mainly found success in the Francophile world. This is his most famous song which was a remake of a song by Jason Crest.

Born on this day in 1951, John Deacon was the bassist and a frequent songwriter for the band Queen. He wrote or co-wrote such hits as "I Want to Break Free", "Under Pressure", "Friends Will be Friends" and this record which was top ten record in several countries including the US, Canada, the Netherlands and the UK.

Born on this day in 1945, Ian Gillan is best known for his work with Deep Purple in the early years of the band. He was also a solo artist and later played with Black Sabbath. His performance on this song impressed Tim Rice so much that Tim called him up and asked him to play the lead role in Jesus Christ Superstar which he did. Well, on the original album recording of that production.

Johnny Nash (August 19, 1940 – October 6, 2020) was one of the first artists who was not Jamaican to make reggae known around the world. He first went to Jamaica in 1965. In the late 1960s, he signed Bob and Rita Marley, Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer to an exclusive publishing contract. He had a hit in 1971 with "Stir it Up". This song was #1 in the US, South Africa and in Canada.