Birthday Highlight:

Geddy Lee, vocalist, bassist and co-founding member of Rush, is 62 today. Born in Toronto, Lee's parents were Holocaust survivors who immigrated to Canada from Poland; his birth name is Gary Lee Weinrib, and he adopted the name "Geddy" after the way his mother pronounced "Gary" in her heavy Polish accent. Lee is easily one of the best-known and most highly praised bassists in rock history, and he is also known for his highly distinctive tenor voice (which, in Rush's early years, could achieve such banshee-like screeches that Lee was voted ranked 13th by Hit Parader on its list of the 100 Greatest Heavy Metal vocalists of all time). Over their careers, Lee and the other members of Rush — guitarist Alex Lifeson and drummer Neil Peart — have been acknowledged as some of the most proficient players on their respective instruments, with each band member winning numerous awards in magazine readers' polls. Rush were inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1994 and into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2013. Although Rush plan to stop large-scale touring at the end of 2015, this will not necessarily end the band.

Also, Today In:

1963 - With the U.S. charts full of "hot rod" songs, Capitol Records sent disc jockeys a list of car terms and phrases to help promote the Beach Boys' latest release, "Little Deuce Coupe."

1965 - The Beatles second feature film Help! had its U.K. premiere in London.

1966 - Bob Dylan was riding his Triumph 55 motorcycle to a garage near his home in Woodstock, N.Y., for repairs when the rear wheel locked. Dylan lost control and was thrown over the handlebars, suffering a broken neck vertebra. His recuperation led to a nine-month period of reclusive inactivity.

1966 - At a club in Manchester, Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker made their live debut as Cream.

1967 - The Doors started a three-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with an edited version of "Light My Fire." Eventually, many radio stations would start playing the full six-minute, 50-second album cut, which features a longer instrumental break.

1968 - Gram Parsons left The Byrds on the eve of a tour of South Africa, refusing to play to segregated audiences.

1972 - Gilbert O'Sullivan started a five-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "Alone Again (Naturally)."

1974 - Mamas And The Papas singer Cass Elliot died in her sleep from a heart attack after playing a sold-out show in London.

1978 - The film soundtrack to Grease, featuring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John, went to No. 1 on the U.S. album chart.

1987 - Michigan governor James Blanchard declared this day "Four Tops Day" in honor of the Motown legends.

1990 - Elton John checked into a Chicago clinic to cure bulimia and an addiction problem, taking more than a year off from touring and recording.

2007 - Heart problems forced Kiss singer and guitarist Paul Stanley to abandon a show in California. Paramedics stopped and restarted his heart to give it a regular rhythm after it spontaneously jumped to 190 plus beats per minute.

More Birthdays:

REO Speedwagon keyboardist Neal Doughty is 69.

Patti Scialfa of the E Street Band is 62.

Related

• Rush - official site