Westwood One Celebrates 'Happy Pepper Day'

Happy Pepper Day!  Rolling Stone named it the “Best Album of All Time,” and today the Beatles legendary Sgt. Peppers’ Lonely Hearts Club Band turns 50 years old. Westwood One, in partnership with Universal, proudly celebrates today’s golden anniversary of the groundbreaking Beatles album with a two-hour music special airing on stations nationwide. The Beatles: Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band features producer Giles Martin, who mixed the 50th anniversary album, and veteran WLS-FM/Chicago personality Jeff Davis. .

Westwood One’s two-hour event includes a full play of the album and insider moments from producer Giles Martin, son of the original album’s producer, Sir George Martin, who is often referred to as “the fifth Beatle.” The special also features exclusive archive audio from the Fab Four themselves – John, Paul, George, and Ringo.

Released in the U.S. on June 2, 1967, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band was the Beatles’ 8th studio album and spent 15 weeks at #1 on the U.S. charts. It was a critical and commercial success, winning four GRAMMY Awards in 1968. The landmark LP also won the GRAMMY Award for “Album of the Year,” the first rock album to receive that honor. Sgt. Pepper featured such classic songs as “With a Little Help from My Friends,” “Getting Better,” “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,” “When I’m Sixty-Four,” and “A Day in the Life.” It is considered by many as one of the most important albums in music history. As Giles Martin himself says, “For something to live on like that is extraordinary.”