History Highlight:

Today in 2008, Miriam Makeba, the South African singer who inspired Current artist Jain to write and record the song "Makeba", and who reached No. 12 on the Billboard chart in 1967 with "Pata Pata", suffered a fatal heart attack at the age of 76. Among her many notable achievements was becoming the first African woman to win a Grammy, for Best Folk Recording in 1966 with Harry Belafonte for "An Evening With Belafonte / Makeba".

Also, Today In:

1955 - The Everly Brothers made their first studio recordings, cutting four tracks in 22 minutes, at Nashville's Old Tulane Hotel studios.

1958 - Elvis Presley's "Hound Dog," exceeded sales of three million copies in the United States, becoming the first non-holiday single to sell that many. Until "Hound Dog," the only other singles to sell more than three million copies were Bing Crosby's "White Christmas" and Gene Autry's "Rudolph The Red Nose Reindeer."

1961 - Brian Epstein saw The Beatles playing live for the first time during a lunchtime session at The Cavern Liverpool. Epstein went on to be the group's manager.

1967 - The first issue of Rolling Stone magazine was published in San Francisco. It featured a photo of John Lennon on the cover, and it came with a free roach clip to hold a marijuana joint. The name of the magazine was inspired by three sources: the Muddy Waters song, the first rock 'n' roll record by Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones.

1974 - Winnipeg band Bachman-Turner Overdrive went to No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet."

1985 - Jan Hammer went to No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with the "Miami Vice Theme."

1991- Prince and the New Power Generation started a two-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "Cream."

1997 - Paul Weller was arrested and spent the night in a French jail after smashing up his hotel room. His record company paid more than $6,000 to cover the damage; Weller was released the following day.

Birthdays:

Tom Fogerty of Creedence Clearwater Revival was born today in 1941.

Former Blue Öyster Cult bassist Joe Bouchard is 69.

Former REO Speedwagon drummer Alan Gratzer is 69.

Sisqó (born Mark Andrews) is 39. He lives in Maple Grove, Minn., a suburb northwest of the Twin Cities.

Pepa of Salt-n-Pepa was born today. The internet has many different answers for how old Pepa is, but we can confidently say her age is between 47 and 53.

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