History Highlight:

Today in 2014, Joe Cocker died of lung cancer in Crawford, Colorado at age 70. The singer had a career lasting more than 40 years, with hits including his cover of The Beatles' "With A Little Help From My Friends", "You Are So Beautiful" and "Up Where We Belong". He received an Order of the British Empire at Buckingham Palace for services to music in 2011 and was ranked number 97 on Rolling Stone's 100 greatest singers list in 2008.

Also, in:

1956 - Elvis had the most charting singles of the year with a total count of 17. Pat Boone was a distant second with five, followed by Fats Domino, Little Richard and The Platters with three each.

1963 - The Dave Clark Five scored their only U.S. No. 1 single with "Over And Over", a No. 5 in the U.K.

1973 - Elton John started a two-week run at No. 1 on the U.K. album chart with Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. It also had an eight-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. chart.

1978 - One-time Faces drummer Kenney Jones became the permanent replacement for the recently deceased Keith Moon in The Who – a tough act to follow.

1980 - Stiff Records released an album in the U.K. called The Wit and Wisdom of Ronald Reagan. The entire disc contained 40 minutes of silence.

1984 - Madonna started a six-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. charts with "Like A Virgin," her first U.S. No. 1.

2002 - Former Clash singer and guitarist Joe Strummer, born John Graham Mellor, died of a suspected heart attack aged 50.

Birthdays:

Rick Nielson, lead guitarist and main songwriter for Cheap Trick, is 69.

Maurice and Robin Gibb, the twin brothers from the Bee Gees, were born today in 1949.

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