History Highlight:

Today in 1932, Otis Blackwell was born. Blackwell was the songwriter and producer who wrote "All Shook Up", "Return To Sender", "Don't Be Cruel", "Great Balls Of Fire" and "Fever". Though he was not well-known by the public, Blackwell was one of the leading African American figures of early rock 'n' roll.

Also, Today In:

1974 - Bob Dylan reached number one on the Billboard 200 Album Chart for the first time with his fourteenth studio album Planet Waves, which spent four weeks on the top of the chart.

1975 - Cher started her own weekly music/comedy show on CBS-TV. The singer had co-presented "The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour" with her former husband. Cher's new show featured a female guest each week.

1985 - Bruce Springsteen went to No. 1 on the U.K. Album Chart for the first time with Born in the U.S.A. The album produced a record-tying string of seven Top 10 singles.

1985 - "Careless Whisper", started a three-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. charts, credited to Wham! and featuring George Michael.

1991 - The Simpsons went No. 1 on the U.K. singles chart with "Do The Bartman". The song was written by Michael Jackson and Bryan Loren, and The Simpsons became the first cartoon characters to go No. 1 since the Archies hit "Sugar Sugar" in 1969. Jackson was a massive fan of The Simpsons and had called the producers one night offering to write Bart a No. 1 single and do a guest spot on the show.

1991 - David Lee Roth peaked at number eighteen on the Billboard 200 Album Chart with A Little Ain't Enough which went gold in the U.S.

1993 - Rod Stewart, Ronnie Wood, Ian McLagen & Kenney Jones reunited for an impromptu Faces reunion at the Brit Awards. Bill Wyman filled in on bass for Ronnie Lane who was battling Multiple Sclerosis at the time.

2003 - 50 Cent was at No. 1 on the U.S. album chart with his debut album Get Rich or Die Tryin'.

2005 - Yusuf Islam (formerly Cat Stevens) was awarded substantial damages from The Sunday Times and The Sun, after they printed articles alleging he was involved in terrorism. Both newspapers apologized for the "false and highly defamatory allegations". The papers also paid his legal bills and pledged not to repeat the allegations. The money awarded was given to Tsunami relief projects.

2015 - Lesley Gore, who had the 1963 U.S. No. 1 single "It's My Party", died of lung cancer.

Birthdays:

Sonny Bono was born today in 1935.

Ice-T (Tracy Lauren Marrow) is 59.

Andy Taylor, guitarist with Duran Duran, is 56.

The Weeknd (Abel Makkonen Tesfaye) is 27.

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