History Highlight:

Today in 1970, Chicago blues pianist Otis Spann died at age 40 of liver cancer. HIs grave went unmarked for nearly 30 years until blues enthusiasts united to raise money for a headstone. Unveiled in 1999, it reads "Otis played the deepest blues we ever heard - he'll play forever in our hearts".

Also, Today In:

1923 - Blues guitar legend Albert King was born. One of 13 children, he was born Albert King Nelson in Indianola, Miss., and his family moved to Arkansas when he was eight years old. King made his first guitar out of a cigar box, a branch from a shrub, and a strand of broom wire; he later bought a real guitar for $1.25, which he learned to play himself, left-handed with the strings upside down. He developed a distinct, powerful string-bending style and would become known as one of the "Three Kings of the Blues Guitar" (along with B.B. King and Freddie King). Also admired for his soulful, smoky vocals, Albert King is probably best known for his 1967 single, "Born Under a Bad Sign." King died of a heart attack at home in Memphis, Tenn., in 1992. He had played his last show two days earlier, in Los Angeles.

1955 - The UN's commission on narcotics released a report stating that there is a "definite connection between increased marijuana smoking and that form of entertainment known as bebop and rebop."

1960 - Elvis Presley scores his first No. 1 single of the 1960s (and the 13th of his career) when "Stuck on You" hits the top spot.

1970 - The No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit was the Jackson 5's "ABC."

1974 - Pamela Courson, who was Jim Morrison's girlfriend and the one who found him dead in a bathtub, died of a heroin overdose.

1977 - Elvis Presley made what turned out to be the final recordings of his life. Three songs taped at a concert in Saginaw, Michigan, would appear, in extensively remixed versions, on Moody Blue, the last album released during his lifetime.

1979 - Rock & Roll High School, a film featuring The Ramones, made its debut.

1992 - "Jump" by Kris Kross hit No. 1 in the U.S., where it stayed for eight weeks.

1994 - Adam Horovitz of the Beastie Boys was sentenced to 200 hours of community service for attacking a TV cameraman during the memorial services for actor River Phoenix the previous November.

1995 - Ginger Rogers, Academy Award-winning actress and longtime dance partner of Fred Astaire, died at age 83 of a heart attack.

1996 - A pair of skin-tight trousers owned by Queen singer Freddie Mercury were sold at a pop memorabilia sale in London.

2002 - Lisa 'Left Eye' Lopes of TLC died when the vehicle she was driving in swerved off the road. Rising to fame in the early '90s, Lopes' rapping and background vocals can be heard on TLC recordings, but she also has more co-songwriting credits than the other members, and designed the outfits for the group and brought concepts to the group image, album titles, artworks and music videos. TLC won four Grammy Awards, and during her short solo career, Lopes scored two U.S. top-ten singles with "Not Tonight" and "U Know What's Up".

2003 - The parents of the late Doors frontman, Jim Morrison, sued the remaining members for touring with a new singer as "The Doors 21st Century" using the band's image and logo.

2007 - "Monster Mash" singer Bobby "Boris" Pickett died at age 69 of complications from leukemia.

2008 - Phil Collins announces his retirement from releasing albums and touring. A few years later, he would retire from the business completely to spend time with his family.

2014 - Spotify removed an album of silence by American funk band Vulfpeck from its streaming site. The band's fourth record, Sleepify, was made up of 10 tracks of silence which they encouraged fans to stream on repeat overnight. The idea was aimed at generating money so that the band could go on tour and not charge admission fees.

2016 - Motley Crue co-founder Nikki Sixx launched a campaign asking Google to pay musicians more money when their videos appeared on YouTube. The bass player was urging Google to remember its former slogan - "Don't be evil" - in its dealings with artists.

Birthdays:

Ella Fitzgerald, the Queen of Jazz, was born today in 1917.

Bjorn Ulvaeus of ABBA is 73.

Andy Bell, lead singer of Erasure, is 54.

Eric Avery, co-founder of Jane's Addiction, is 53.

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