Birthday Highlight:

Joseph Ward Simmons, aka Joey Simmons/"Run"/"Reverend Run"/"Rev Run"/"DJ Run", of Run-DMC, is 53 today. Simmons is one of the founding members of hip hop group Run-D.M.C. and is also a practicing minister. In 2005, he was introduced to a new nationwide audience through MTV's reality show Run's House, which chronicled his family life and home in New Jersey.

Also, Today In:

1954 - Rock & Roll arrived as Bill Haley & The Comets made the Top Ten with "Shake, Rattle & Roll."

1960 - Ray Charles went to No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "Georgia On My Mind", a No. 24 hit in the U.K.

1969 - "Sugar Sugar" by The Archies was at No. 1 on the U.K. singles chart. The single became the longest running One Hit Wonder in the UK with eight weeks at the top of the charts. It was the first No. 1 performed by cartoon characters.

1990 - Record producer Frank Farin fired Milli Vanilli singers Rob Pilatus and Fabrice Morvan because they were insisting on singing on their new album.

1995 - The Rolling Stones released their acoustic live album Stripped .

1995 - Blur brought chaos to traffic in central London, England when over 3,000 fans turned up for a signing at "Book's Etc." in Charring Cross Road.

2013 - Paul McCartney posted a letter on his website calling on Russian President Vladimir Putin to release 30 Greenpeace activists whom Russian authorities arrested during a protest over Arctic oil drilling in September. All the activists involved had their charges dropped in late December of this year.

Birthdays:

Singer/songwriter/guitarist Brendan Benson is 47.

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