History Highlight:

Today in 2013, blues and soul legend Bobby "Blue" Bland died at the age of 83. Bland was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1981, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992, and received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1997. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame described him as "second in stature only to B.B. King as a product of Memphis's Beale Street blues scene".

Also, Today In:

1962 - Ray Charles started a 14-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. album chart with Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music.

1965 - Smokey Robinson and The Miracles' classic "The Tracks Of My Tears" was released by Motown.

1965 - The Kinks played a show in Springfield, Illinois that they later learned was organized by John Wayne Gacy, who later became a notorious serial killer.

1966 - The Rolling Stones departed London for their third U.S. tour just two weeks after Mick Jagger was hospitalized for exhaustion following extensive tours of Australia and Europe.

1967 - Arthur Conley received a Gold record for his memorable "Sweet Soul Music," his first and biggest hit.

1973 - George Harrison started a five-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. album chart with Living in the Material World, his second No. 1.

1975 - Alice Cooper broke six ribs after falling off the stage at a concert in Vancouver, B.C.

1976 - At the conclusion of the Paul McCartney "Wings Over America" tour in Los Angeles, Ringo Starr appeared onstage to present former band mate Paul with a bouquet.

1984 - Duran Duran started a two-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "The Reflex," the group's first No. 1 single in the U.S.

1986 - The Smiths' The Queen Is Dead was released in the U.S.

1987 - 16-year-old Tiffany started her Mall Tour at Paramus Park Mall in New Jersey, performing her No. 1 hit, "I Think We're Alone Now." Tiffany's producer came up with the mall tour idea when it became clear that her record company, MCA, was not going to promote her effectively.

1990 - Gary Busey, who had portrayed Buddy Holly in the film, The Buddy Holly Story, paid in the neighborhood of $240,000 for one of Holly's guitars at a New York auction.

1995 - Dan Rather appeared onstage with R.E.M. for a photo session at Madison Square Garden as the band rehearsed "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?" The song was, of course, a reference to the bizarre incident several years earlier where the veteran CBS news anchor was mugged when he couldn't come up with an answer to that question when asked by his assailants.

2002 - Yoko Ono, accompanied by her son, Sean, showed up at Club Universe in San Francisco, where she deejayed well into the morning. The day before, Ono had hosted the opening of her exhibition, Yes Yoko Ono, at the San Francisco Museum Of Modern Art.

2004 - St. Andrews University in Scotland presented Bob Dylan with an honorary doctorate in Music.

2010 - Gregg Allman, aged 62 at the time, underwent a successful liver transplant operation at the Mayo Clinic's Jacksonville, Fla., location.

2016 - Bluegrass artist Ralph Stanley who was known for his distinctive singing and banjo playing, died at age 89. With his brother Carter, he helped popularize the bluegrass genre. Stanley won new fans when his work featured in the Coen brothers film "O Brother, Where Art Thou?".

Birthdays:

June Carter Cash was born today in 1929.

Stu Sutcliffe, the Beatles' original bassist, was born today in 1940. Sutcliffe died of a brain hemorrhage in 1962, at age 22.

Randy Jackson is 61.

Sonic Youth drummer Steve Shelley is 55.

KT Tunstall is 42.

Jason Mraz is 40.

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