History Highlight:

Ray Charles Robinson, best known by his professional name, Ray Charles, was born in Albany, Ga., today in 1930. A singer, songwriter, musician and composer, Charles pioneered the genre of soul music during the 1950s by combining R&B, gospel and blues styles into the music he recorded for Atlantic Records. He also contributed to the racial integration of country and pop music during the 1960s with his crossover success on ABC Records, most notably with his two-volume Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music albums, released in April and October of 1962. While he was with ABC, Charles became one of the first African-American musicians to be granted artistic control by a mainstream record company. In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked Charles at number 10 on its list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time," and number two on its November 2008 list of the "100 Greatest Singers of All Time."

Also, Today In:

1957 - Buddy Holly and the Crickets went to No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "That'll Be The Day." The title of the song was inspired by a catchphrase that John Wayne uttered repeatedly in the famous John Ford film, The Searchers.

1967 - "People Are Strange" by The Doors was released. Meanwhile, The Box Tops began a four-week run at No. 1 with "The Letter."

1969 - The Northern Star newspaper of Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Ill., ran a story claiming that Paul McCartney had been killed in a car crash in 1966 and had been replaced by a lookalike. Russell Gibb of WKNR-FM in Detroit picked up on the claim and the story went worldwide. By late October 1969, the hoax was so well entrenched that McCartney came out of seclusion at his farm in Scotland to deny the story. When McCartney was asked to comment by a reporter visiting the farm, he replied, "Do I look dead? I'm as fit as a fiddle."

1980 - Bob Marley collapsed on stage during a concert at the Stanley Theater in Pittsburgh. It would be the last time Marley ever appeared on stage; he died of cancer in May 1981.

1989 - Milli Vanilli started a two-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "Girl I'm Gonna Miss You," the duo's second U.S. No. 1.

2006 - Neil Young was named artist of the year at the Americana Honors and Awards at the fifth annual event in Nashville, Tenn. The singer-songwriter had released the protest album Living With War that year.

Birthdays:

John Coltrane was born today in 1926.

Julio Iglesias is 73.

Toni Basil is 73.

Bruce Springsteen is 67.

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