History Highlight:

U2 guitarist David Evans (a.k.a. "The Edge") is 53 today. A member of the group since its inception, he has recorded 12 studio albums with the band and has released one solo record. As a guitarist, The Edge has crafted a minimalistic and textural style of playing. His use of a rhythmic delay effect yields a distinctive ambient, chiming sound that has become a signature of U2's music.

Also, Today In:

1967 - The Killer, aka Jerry Lee Lewis, worked the crowd into such a frenzy at the Sunberry Blues & Jazz Festival in Britain that he was asked to leave the stage.

1969 - Photographer Iain MacMillan shot the cover for The Beatles' Abbey Road just outside the studios of the same name where the band recorded most of its classic songs.

1970 - Janis Joplin bought a headstone for the grave of her greatest influence Bessie Smith at the Mont Lawn Cemetery in Philadelphia.

1975 - Hank Williams, Jr. nearly met his doom when he fell 500 feet down Ajax Mountain in Montana. He survived, but with facial scars that he would often cover with a hat, beard, and sunglasses

1988 - N.W.A's debut album Straight Outta Compton was released.