History Highlight:

Today in 1964, Gord Downie of the Tragically Hip was born. Downie passed away this past October from brain cancer at the age of 53. The Tragically Hip formed in 1984 and was headed by Downie until he passed away. Downie also released six solo albums between 2001 and 2017 and is regarded as one of the most influential and popular artists in the Canadian alternative rock scene.

Also, Today In:

1958 - George Harrison joined Liverpool band The Quarrymen. The band's lineup included John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Len Garry, Eric Griffiths and John Lowe.

1965 - The Righteous Brothers started a two-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with the Phil Spector-produced "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin". The song was also No. 1 in the U.K. for the duo (who were not related in any way).

1981 - A New York Post headline proclaimed "Surviving Beatles Plan New Album As Lennon Tribute." This, as we know, never came to pass. The rumor got started when word got out that Ringo was in Montserrat working with Paul McCartney on his Tug Of War album. George Harrison was nowhere near the scene. The record did contain McCartney's tribute to his late songwriting partner, John Lennon — the song, "Here Today."

1982 - The J. Geils Band started a six-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "Centerfold", the band's only No. 1 single. On this same day, their album Freeze-Frame started a four-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. album chart.

1987 - Joan Jett made her acting debut, co-starring with Michael J. Fox in the movie "Light Of Day". Jett and Fox play a sister and brother who perform in a rock band, The Barbusters, in Cleveland. In his review for the Chicago Sun-Times, critic Roger Ebert gave the film three-and-a-half out of four stars and called out Jett's "most surprisingly good performance."

1990 - More than 200 women filed suit against Chuck Berry when they learned that he had allegedly been secretly videotaping them while they used the bathroom at a restaurant he owned.

1990 - Billy Idol suffered serious injuries when he failed to pull up at a stop sign and crashed his Harley into a car.

1998 - Beach Boy Carl Wilson died at age 51 after a long battle with lung cancer. Wilson sang lead vocal on "God Only Knows", "Good Vibrations", and "I Can Hear Music", and interestingly enough sang backing vocals on Elton John's "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me".

2014 - Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was named as the greatest song of all time by NME. "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was one of the last songs written for Nirvana's breakthrough album Nevermind, which was released in 1991. The rest of the top 5 tracks were: 5: "Last Nite", The Strokes, 4: "How Soon Is Now?", The Smiths, 3: "I Feel Love", Donna Summer, 2: "Love Will Tear Us Apart", Joy Division.

Birthdays:

John London, session bass player who worked with The Monkees, Linda Ronstadt, James Taylor and The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, was born today in 1942.

Bob Marley was born today in 1945.

Natalie Cole was born today in 1950.

Axl Rose is 56.

Rick Astley is 52.

Har Mar Superstar 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.