History highlight:

Today in 1963, American blues and jazz singer Dinah Washington died at age 39. Known as the "Queen of the Blues", she scored the 1959 Grammy Award-winning single "What A Diff'rence A Day Makes" and the 1961 hit "September In The Rain". Primarily a jazz vocalist, she performed and recorded in a wide variety of styles including blues, R&B, and traditional pop music, and has been cited as "the most popular black female recording artist of the '50s".

Also, in:

1963 - The Beatles played a show for their Southern Area Fan Club at Wimbledon Palais, London. To prevent damage to the stage from fans, the management of the Palais constructed a platform for The Beatles to perform on, surrounded by a steel cage.

1968 - Marvin Gaye scored his first U.S. No. 1 single when "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" started a five-week run at the top.

1969 - The Jackson Five made their first network television appearance in the U.S. when they appeared on "The Ed Sullivan Show".

1980 - Yoko Ono called on fans to observe ten minutes of silence in memory of John Lennon. 30,000 gathered outside St. George's Hall in Liverpool, while nearly 100,000 attend a memorial in New York's Central Park.

1985 - Whitney Houston scored her first U.K. No. 1 single with "Saving All My Love For You".

1991 - Michael Jackson started a four-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. album chart with his eighth studio album Dangerous. The album has sold over 32 million copies worldwide making it one of the best-selling albums of all time. Nine singles were released from the album spanning two years (1991-1993).

1997 - Garth Brooks was at No. 1 on the U.S. album chart with his seventh studio album Sevens.

2003 - Ozzy and Kelly Osbourne went to No. 1 on the U.K. singles chart with "Changes" a remake of a track first sung by Ozzy on the Black Sabbath album Volume IV in 1972. It was the first father and daughter chart topper since Frank and Nancy Sinatra in 1967.

Birthdays:

Singer Charlie Rich ("The Most Beautiful Girl") was born today in 1932.

Frank Allen of The Searchers is 73.

Singer Joyce Vincent Wilson ("'Knock Three Times") is 70.

AC/DC bass player Cliff Williams is 67.

Vanessa Hudgens (High School Musical) is 28.

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