Music History

Art Todd, half of the singing duo Art and Dotty Todd, died in Honolulu, Hawaii, at the age of 93 from heart failure. He was known for the 1950s hits “Broken Wings” and “Chanson D'Amour.”

Radiohead independently released their seventh studio album, In Rainbows, offering it as a download at a price listeners could choose themselves. Most people paid nothing for the download, yet the album achieved major commercial success and reached number one in the charts in the UK, U.S., France, Canada and Ireland, helped in part by pre-orders of special “discbox” editions. The album surpassed the commercial performance of its predecessor, Hail to the Thief.

Sting topped a Blender magazine poll of the worst lyricists. The criticism included references to Vladimir Nabokov in The Police song “Don't Stand So Close to Me” and other literary allusions. Neil Peart of Rush came second and Scott Stapp of Creed third.

The album Magic reached number one on the UK chart. It was Bruce Springsteen's seventh album to top the UK chart.

Country group Rascal Flatts’ album Still Feels Good reached number one on the US Billboard 200.

Tom Dawes, bassist for The Cyrkle, died at the age of 64 from complications following a stroke after carotid artery surgery. The group had two US Billboard Top 20 hits in 1966: “Red Rubber Ball” and “Turn-Down Day.”