History Highlight:

Today in 1977, Stevie Wonder won the Grammy for Album Of The Year for Songs In The Key Of Life. His eighteenth album, Songs In The Key Of Life is an ambitious double LP with a four-song bonus EP. With songs like "Isn't She Lovely", "Joy Inside My Tears" and "Village Ghetto Land", it is one of the best-selling and most critically acclaimed albums of Wonder's career.

Also, Today In:

1958 - Carl Perkins, whose rockabilly classic "Blue Suede Shoes" had been one of the biggest hits of 1957, followed the example of Elvis and Johnny Cash and split from Sun Records to sign with a major label. Perkins went with Columbia and released "Pink Pedal Pushers" two weeks later.

1964 - A British company shipped a half-ton of Beatle wigs to the United States. An American reporter later asked John Lennon, "How do you feel about teenagers imitating you with Beatle wigs?" John replied, "They're not imitating us, because we don't wear Beatle wigs."

1972 - Harry Nilsson started a four-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with his version of the Badfinger song "Without You."

1977 - Manfred Mann's Earth Band scored a No. 1 single in the U.S. with their cover of the Bruce Springsteen song, "Blinded By The Light." The track was the first single from Bruce Springsteen's 1973 debut album Greetings from Asbury Park N.J. Manfred Mann's version features several changed lyrics; most notably, Springsteen's "cut loose like a deuce" is replaced by "revved up like a deuce."

1982 - Ozzy Osbourne was arrested in San Antonio, Texas, for urinating on the Alamo.

1998 - The Stray Cats reunited for a single performance at L.A.'s House Of Blues to benefit the Carl Perkins Foundation.

2004 - Johnny Cash's family blocked an attempt by advertisers to use his hit song "Ring of Fire" to promote a hemorrhoid medication. Cash's daughter Rosanne said the family "would never allow the song to be demeaned like that."

Birthdays:

Smokey Robinson turns 76 today.

Bobby Rogers, one of Smokey Robinson's fellow Miracles, also turns 76 today.

Tony Iommi, guitarist for Black Sabbath, is 68 today.

Dave Wakeling is 59.

Henry Samuel — better known as Seal — is 53.

Highlights for Today in Music History are gathered from This Day in Music, Paul Shaffer's Day in Rock, and Wikipedia.