Birthday Highlight:

Richard Ashcroft, of The Verve, is 46 today. The Verve, HUGE in the U.K., formed in 1990 and split in 1999, and are best known for their hits "Bitter Sweet Symphony", "The Drugs Don't Work" and "Lucky Man". Outside of the band, Ashcroft has released three solo albums that have been at the top 3 in the U.K. album charts. Fun fact: Ashcroft is friends with members of Oasis, and provided backing vocals on the Oasis song "All Around the World" and album Be Here Now.

Also, Today In:

1952 - Producer Ahmet Ertegun began recording his newest signing, 21-year-old Ray Charles, at Atlantic Records on West 56th Street in New York City.

1965 - The Beatles started a nine-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. album chart with Help!, the group's sixth U.S. chart topper.

1971 - The animated Jackson Five series premiered on ABC.

1976 - KC and the Sunshine Band went to No. 1 on the US singles chart with "(Shake Shake Shake), Shake Your Booty," the group's third No. 1 hit.

1977 - One of the strangest pairings in the history of music turned out surprisingly well when David Bowie and Bing Crosby recorded their duet of "Little Drummer Boy/Peace On Earth." It was broadcast in December on Bing's posthumous TV special, A Merrie Olde Christmas, and later released on disc.

1979 - The Who made their first appearance in the U.S. without their late, great drummer, Keith Moon. Replacing him at the Passaic, N.J., gig was ex-Small Faces and Faces drummer Kenney Jones.

1982 - John "Cougar" Mellencamp became the only male artist to have two singles in the U.S. Top Ten as well as the No. 1 album. The singles "Jack and Diane" and "Hurts So Good" were at Nos. 4 and 8, respectively, while Mellencamp's album American Fool was at No. 1 for the first of nine weeks.

1987 - Peter Gabriel's video of "Sledgehammer" was deemed best of the year by MTV.

1993 - Mariah Carey started a eight week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "Dreamlover."

1996 - Noel Gallagher walked out on Oasis halfway through an American tour after a fight with his brother, Liam, in a Charlotte, N.C., hotel. Noel flew back to London the following day.

2001 - Walking to work as a comic-book illustrator in New York, Gerard Way witnessed the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center. The day's events inspired him to start a band, which became My Chemical Romance.

More Birthdays:

Moby is 52.

Harry Connick Jr. is 50.

Coldplay guitarist Jonny Buckland is 40.

Ludacris 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.