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Today in Music

June, 5

  • 1999 Mel Torme, the Russian-Jewish kid from the South Side of Chicago who became an international singing star with sidelines as an actor, a songwriter, an arranger, a drummer and a writer, dies from compilations of the stroke that halted his career in 1996. He is 73.
  • 1999 Ernie Wilkins, the jazz saxophonist and arranger whose charts helped revive the Count Basie band in the 1950s, dies of a stroke in Copenhagen, Denmark. He is 79.
  • 1993 Conway Twitty dies at age 59 of a ruptured stomach vessel after collapsing in his tour bus after a show in Branson, Mo. He scored 39 No. 1 Billboard country hits – including four duets with Loretta Lynn – among them “Hello Darlin’,” “You’ve Never Been This Far Before” and “Happy Birthday Darlin’.”
  • 1992 Accordionist Narciso Martinez dies of leukemia in San Benito, Texas, at age 80. The Mexico native was considered the father of what is now known as modern Tejano conjunto music. He earned a Grammy nomination in 1989.
  • 1984 No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit: “Time After Time,” Cyndi Lauper.
  • 1980 The Grateful Dead celebrates its 15th anniversary with a concert in Phoenix, Ariz.
  • 1971 Grand Funk Railroad sells out New York’s Shea Stadium within 72 hours, breaking the Beatles’ box office record there.
  • 1956 Elvis Presley performs “Hound Dog” on TV’s “Milton Berle Show,” resulting in protests by some viewers.
  • 1947 No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit: “Mam’selle,” Art Lund.