Today's birthdays include the late Roebuck "Pops" Staples, patriarch of the Staple Singers, who was born in 1915; Johnny Otis in 1924 (age 78); Charles Neville of the Neville Brothers in 1938 (age 64); Edgar Winter in 1946 (age 56); Eastbeats bassist Dick Diamond in 1947 (age 55); and Alex Chilton of the Box Tops in 1950 (age 52).

Today's musical milestones:

In 1947, blues singer Wynonie Harris recorded the hit song "Good Rockin' Tonight." It was a hard-driiving blues number that popularized the word "rock" and associated it with the fast, exciting blues-based music that would dominate the charts in the 1950s.

In 1957, Danny and the Juniors' "At the Hop" topped the charts.

In 1968, the three-day Miami Pop Festival -- the first big East Coast rock festival -- opened in Miami. On the bill: Procol Harum, 3 Dog Night, Chuck Berry, the McCoys, Fleetwood Mac, Pacific Gas and Electric, Steppenwolf, Marvin Gaye, the Grateful Dead, Joni Mitchell, Iron Butterfly and the Turtles.

Also in 1968, the Beatles' "white album" topped the charts.

In 1971, The Who's Keith Moon emceed a Sha Na Na show at New York's Carnegie Hall.

In 1975, Ted Nugent was threatened while performing in Spokane, Wash., by a man in the audience who pointed a .44-magnum at the rocker. Police overpowered the gunman.

In 1983, Beach Boys drummer Dennis Wilson drowned while diving at Marina Del Rey, Calif. He was 39. An autopsy later found he'd been drinking.

Also in 1983, the "Making Michael Jackson's 'Thriller'" video was certified gold and platinum. It was the first music video to reach either sales plateau.

And in 1983, Tracy Ullman married Allan McKeown.

In 1990, only 10 months after being sent to an Ohio prison for shooting a man in a tavern, country singer Johnny Paycheck asked Gov. Richard Celeste to pardon him. Less than a month later, the governor did.

In 1992, Paul Simon's wife, New Bohemian Edie Brickell, gave birth to their first child, a boy they named Adrian Edward Simon.

Also in 1992, Kenny Rogers and former Kentucky Gov. John Brown -- co-owners of the Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based restaurant chain Roasters Limited -- were hit with a $10 million trademark infringement lawsuit by Cluckers Wood Roasted Chicken.

In 1993, Tammy Wynette was hospitalized in Nashville with what doctors described as a "sudden major infection."

Also in 1993, Billy Ray Cyrus married his longtime companion, Leticia Finley, in Nashville.

In 1994, Pollstar reported the Rolling Stones was the top moneymaker for the year, as the concert industry raked in a record $1.4 billion dollars in ticket sales.

Also in 1994, a man convicted of stalking Madonna was sentenced to six months in jail.

Today's musical quiz:

Edgar Winter and his brother, Jonathan, have what genetic anomaly? Answer: They're albinos, meaning they lack pigmentation in their skin and hair. Both Winter brothers are very, very fair-skinned and have whitish hair.