The Four Lads’ first hit, “Moments to Remember,” peaked at No. 4 on Billboard’s disc-jockey chart. Perry Como’s management had rejected the song, which remained listed for 25 weeks and sold more than four million copies.

Little Richard recorded “Good Golly, Miss Molly” at J&M Studio in New Orleans. Released in January 1958, it reached No. 10, became a rock-and-roll standard, and later ranked No. 92 on Rolling Stone’s 500 greatest songs list.

RCA Victor released Elvis’ Christmas Album. It spent four weeks atop Billboard’s pop-album chart and, with more than 17 million U.S. and 20 million worldwide sales, became the best-selling Christmas album ever.

Jackie Wilson recorded “Lonely Teardrops,” his first U.S. Top 10 single. The song reached No. 7 on the Hot 100 and No. 1 R&B, joined the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll, and entered the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999.

Jim Reeves recorded “He’ll Have to Go” at RCA Studio B in Nashville with musicians including pianist Floyd Cramer and the Anita Kerr Singers. The record topped the country chart and reached No. 2 on the Hot 100 the following February.

Ringo Starr substituted for Pete Best while the Beatles backed Rory Storm and the Hurricanes bassist Wally Eymond at Hamburg’s Akustik studio. Nine 78-rpm acetates of “Summertime” were pressed, though none is known to survive; Starr joined the Beatles permanently almost two years later.

Elvis Presley recorded “Good Luck Charm” at RCA in Nashville. It became his twelfth Hot 100 No. 1, also topped Cashbox and Britain’s chart, and received RIAA Platinum certification in 1992.

The Rip Chords recorded “Hey Little Cobra,” with Terry Melcher—Doris Day’s son—singing lead and future Beach Boy Bruce Johnston supplying the high harmony. It entered the Hot 100 in December and reached No. 4 in February.

An unknown Jimi Hendrix, then spelling his name Jimmy, signed an exclusive three-year PPX Enterprises contract for a one-dollar bonus and one-percent royalty. Mistaking it for routine session paperwork, he entered a restrictive deal that created major legal disputes after his rise to fame.

Beach Boys singer Mike Love married Suzanne Celeste Belcher in Las Vegas. They had two children before divorcing in December 1968.

The Four Tops earned their final American No. 1 with “Reach Out I’ll Be There,” which also topped the British singles chart.

Original Jefferson Airplane singer Signe Toly Anderson played her last concert with the band at the Fillmore Auditorium, leaving to raise her newborn daughter. Grace Slick, freshly departed from the Great Society, replaced her the next evening.

Rick Nelson left Madison Square Garden’s Rock ’n’ Roll Revival believing the crowd had rejected his newer music. The experience inspired “Garden Party,” his final Top 10 hit at No. 6; accounts later said the booing had actually targeted aggressive police treatment of disruptive fans.

The U.S. Supreme Court voted 7–2 not to review an FCC policy encouraging broadcasters to censor drug-related lyrics. Justices William Brennan and William O. Douglas dissented, arguing that government-required music censorship violated the First Amendment.

Elvis Presley entered Baptist Memorial Hospital in Memphis for two weeks with severe pneumonia, pleurisy, exhaustion, respiratory distress, and prescription-drug dependence. Linda Thompson stayed with him as physician George Nichopoulos treated what became a major warning of Presley’s declining health.

A Nice court convicted Keith Richards of using, supplying, and trafficking marijuana and heroin at Villa Nellcote. He received a 5,000-franc fine, a suspended one-year sentence, and a two-year French entry ban that forced the Stones to route French fans to Brussels shows.

Neil Young released the live album Time Fades Away. It reached No. 22 on Billboard’s album chart and went Gold for more than 500,000 American sales.

Ike and Tina Turner announced the end of their musical partnership after their marriage had collapsed in July. Their divorce was finalized in 1978, and Tina later built a solo career with thirteen Billboard Top 40 hits from 1983 through 1993.

Electric Light Orchestra released A New World Record, a multi-Platinum success in both America and Britain. “Livin’ Thing” made the Top 10 in ten countries, while “Telephone Line” sold more than a million U.S. copies.

Debby Boone’s debut “You Light Up My Life” began ten weeks at No. 1. The 21-year-old won Grammys for Best New Artist and the song, later moved into country and Christian music, and earned additional chart success and two more Grammys.

Columbia released Toto’s self-titled debut. The double-Platinum album reached No. 9 in America and No. 37 in Britain, while “Hold the Line” became a major international hit and eventually went triple Platinum in the United States.

Marvin Gaye’s “Sexual Healing” entered Billboard’s R&B chart on its way to No. 1. It also reached No. 3 pop and the British Top 10 and gave Gaye his first Grammy, for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance.

Genesis’s self-titled album became the band’s third consecutive UK No. 1. “Mama” reached No. 4 there, the group’s biggest British single, though the song peaked at only No. 73 in America.

UB40 topped the Hot 100 with its reggae version of Neil Diamond’s “Red Red Wine.” Diamond’s original 1968 recording had reached only No. 62.

Paul and Linda McCartney voiced themselves in The Simpsons episode “Lisa the Vegetarian.” McCartney agreed only after producers promised that Lisa’s decision to stop eating meat would become a permanent character trait.

Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee was charged with misdemeanor battery for shoving a television cameraman outside the Viper Room. A no-contest plea brought 24 months’ probation and anger-management counseling but no jail sentence.

Session drummer Bill Eyden, who played on Procol Harum’s “A Whiter Shade of Pale,” died after a long illness at 74. Despite the record’s millions of sales he received only a one-time fee of about £15, while maintaining a long jazz career from the 1950s into the 1980s.

Billy Joel sold his renovated 5,500-square-foot Sagaponack beachfront estate for $19 million. The Hamptons property offered 145 feet of direct ocean frontage in what was then widely described as America’s most expensive small village.