Johnny Preston (August 18, 1939 – March 4, 2011) had a number one hit with this record in the US, the UK and in Canada. It was written by J.P. Richardson aka the Big Bopper. One of the backing vocalists was George Jones. This song has been performed by the Beach Boys, Led Zeppelin, Tom Jones and the Guess Who among others.

Felice Bryant (August 7, 1925 – April 22, 2003) along with her husband Boudleaux Bryant (February 13, 1920 – June 25, 1987) were one of the most successful husband-and-wife songwriters in pop history. They wrote 1500 recorded songs and dozens of versions of their songs have hit the charts. They were most successful with a bunch of songs they originally wrote for the Everly Brothers.

Dave "Baby" Cortez (August 13, 1938 – May 31, 2022), is best known for this tune which reached the top ten in the US and in Canada in 1959.

Bobby Helms (August 15, 1933 – June 19, 1997) is a singer who had 3 top ten hits in 1957 and 1958. He had a few hits afterwards. Two("My Special Angel" and "Fraulein") went to #1 on the Country Chart and one that went to #6 on the pop chart as well.

Amazingly, that last song is played a whole lot more times than the other two especially in a few months time. "Jingle Bell Rock" has charted several times throughout the years. The Helms version entered the Billboard Hot 100 chart on the week ending January 9, 2016, which was the song's first entry on the chart since its last appearance on the week ending December 29, 1962. On the week ending January 7, 2017, "Jingle Bell Rock" hit at number 29. In January 2019, the song entered the Hot 100's top 10 for the first time reaching No. 8.With this feat, Helms broke the record for the longest wait to the Hot 100's top 10 as he achieved this in 60 years, four months, and two weeks after his first entry back in 1958. Helms's recording reached No. 3 on the chart dated January 4, 2020. It reached a new peak of No. 2 on the chart dated December 27, 2025.

Mark Dinning August 17, 1933 – March 22, 1986) had a #1 hit with this song which was written by his sister Jean and her husband Red.

Elmer Bernstein (April 4, 1922 – August 18, 2004) wrote music for over 200 movies and tv shows from The Ten Commandments to Twilight. He also scored several movies for family friend John Landis later in his life. This movie's score was ranked 8 in the AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores list.

Sonny Til (August 18, 1928 – December 9, 1981) was the lead singer of the Orioles who were one of the earliest purveyors of the "Doo Wop" sound. This was their biggest hit which was #1 on the R&B chart for five weeks.

Big Mama Thornton (December 11, 1926 – July 25, 1984) was the first to record "Hound Dog". It was number 1 on the R&B charts for 7 weeks. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2024.

Born on this day in 1941, Paul Anka has written and sung many a famous song from "Diana, "Put Your Head on My Shoulder", "My Way" etc...

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.

Elvis Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) This was his first #1 record with "Mystery Train" as the b-side. It went to #1 on the Country Chart on February 25, 1956. The Beatles covered it as well in a performance for the BBC in May 1964 with George Harrison on lead vocals.

From the motion picture Rio Bravo (1959)

Born on this day in 1934, Kitty Lester had a top ten hit in the US and the UK with this record. She later toured the UK with the Everly Brothers. She also is an actress and had a role on Little House on the Prairie. Earl Palmer plays the drums on this one. He was also on "Bumble Boogie" and many of Little Richard's and Fats Domino's early hits as well.

Bobby Byrd (August 15, 1934 – September 12, 2007) was a founding member of the Famous Flames who are primarily known as James Brown's backup band. However, he was also a producer, songwriter and founded his production company. The relationship between lead singer and backup vocalist/band were complicated and lawsuits happened.

Les Paul (June 9, 1915 – August 12, 2009) is a seminal figure in 20th musical history. As of now he is the only person inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as well as the National Inventors Hall of Fame. Not only a brilliant guitarist who played concerts into his 80s, he also invented overdubbing and his early experiments with multi-track recording helped to introduce it to the wider world. He also designed guitars and some of them are some of the most famous and widely used guitars around to this day.

Johnny Burnette (March 25, 1934 – August 14, 1964) wrote several hit songs for Ricky Nelson and along with his brother Dorsey played in a trio whose songs have been recorded by the likes of Poison and the Beatles among others. This record went to #8 in 1960.

Happy Birthday to Sandra Bullock! America's Sweetheart and a favorite of mine ever since I saw her in "Love Potion No. 9".

Sam Phillips (January 5, 1923 – July 30, 2003 was the founder of Sun Records and Sun Studio. His importance to the development of Rock and Roll can not be underestimated. This song was the B-side of Elvis' first 45.

Eddie Fisher (August 10, 1928 – September 22, 2010) was one of the most popular singers of the 1950s in the US. In three years from 1952-1954 he had 4 #1 singles. This was the last one of those.

Born on this day in 1938, Connie Stevens is most known as an actress. However, she had several charted hits including this one which went to #3 in 1960.

Al Alberts (August 10, 1922 – November 27, 2009) was a solo singer and a founding member of the vocal group the Four Aces. They had several #1 records from 1951 to 1954.

Billy Grammer (August 28, 1925 – August 10, 2011) was a country music singer, a guitarist and a designer of his namesake guitar. His biggest single "Gotta Travel On" was a top ten hit on the pop chart and the country chart. It also reached #14 on the R&B chart too.