After Orbison finished writing the song, he went into a room in his house, sat on the bed, said a prayer, and cried tears of joy.

Cecil Brower, who brought classical jazz violin to Western swing, died unexpectedly on this day in 1965. He was 50 years old.

In 1989, composer Sammy Fain, who wrote some of the most enduring hits of the century, died in Los Angeles at age 87. Fain wrote "Love is a Many-Splendored Thing," "I’ll Be Seeing You," "That Old ...