History Highlight

Today in 1978, Keith Moon, drummer with The Who, died of an overdose of heminevrin prescribed to combat alcoholism. Moon had attended a party the night before organized by Paul McCartney for the launch of the "The Buddy Holly Story" movie. He played on all The Who albums from their debut, 1965's My Generation, to 1978's Who Are You, which was released two weeks before his death. Fun fact: Moon was a prankster - check out some of his greatest pranks.

Also, Today In:

1959 - Craig Douglas was at No. 1 on the U.K. singles chart with his version of the Sam Cooke hit "Only Sixteen". Terence Perkins was employed as a milkman before becoming a professional singer and was known as the 'Singing Milkman'.

1963 - The Beatles recorded an appearance on the BBC radio program 'Saturday Club', at the Playhouse Theatre in London. They performed "I Saw Her Standing There", "Memphis", "Happy Birthday Saturday Club", "I'll Get You", "She Loves You", and "Lucille".

1968 - Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones and John Bonham made their live debut as Led Zeppelin but billed as The New Yardbirds at Teen Club in Gladsaxe (a suburb in the outskirts of Copenhagen, Denmark).

1976 - ABBA were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Dancing Queen', the group's fourth UK No.1 single and their only US No.1 chart topper. The song was a No.1 hit in over a dozen countries and stayed at the top of the Swedish charts for 14 weeks.

1985 - David Bowie and Mick Jagger were at No. 1 on the U.K. singles chart with their version of the Martha Reeves and The Vandellas 1964 hit "Dancing In The Street". The song had been recorded as part of the Live Aid charity appeal.

1997 - Fleetwood Mac went to No. 1 on the U.S. album chart with "The Dance". The album went on sell over 5 million copies in the U.S. alone.

2001 - Michael Jackson was reunited onstage with The Jackson 5 at his 30th Anniversary Celebration in New York City's Madison Square Garden. It ended Jackson's 11-year hiatus from performing in the U.S. Jackson was joined by Eminem, Whitney Houston, Gladys Knight, Britney Spears and Destiny's Child to celebrate the 30th anniversary of his singing career.

2003 - Warren Zevon, singer-songwriter and musician, died at his home in Los Angeles.

Birthdays:

Buddy Holly was born today in 1936.

Gloria Gaynor is 67.

Chrissie Hynde is 65.

Benmont Tench is 63.

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