History Highlight:

Today in 2008, country artist Eddy Arnold passed away of natural causes one week before his 90th birthday. He sold more than 85 million records and had 147 songs on the U.S. charts, including 28 No. 1 hits on the Billboard Country Singles chart. Arnold had the 1965 No. 4 hit "Make The World Go Away".

Also, Today In:

1965 - The filming of the promotional film for Bob Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues" took place alongside the Savoy Hotel in London. In the film, Dylan flips through cue cards with selected words and phrases from the lyrics. Actors in the background were Allen Ginsberg and Bob Neuwirth. The film became one of the first modern promotional films and was a forerunner of the music video. Its cue-card concept has since been imitated or referenced by many artists, including INXS, the Flaming Lips, and Belle & Sebastian.

1970 - The Beatles' 12th and final album, Let It Be, was released.

1976 - Former lead singer of the Lovin' Spoonful, John Sebastian, went to No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "Welcome Back", taken from the TV show, Welcome Back Kotter.

1982 - Vangelis went to No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "Chariots Of Fire", the theme music to the movie "Chariots of Fire".

1984 - Roger Waters released his first solo album, The Pros And Cons Of Hitch Hiking, which has an iconic and slightly scandalous album cover.

1990 - Frito-Lay used a Tom Waits sound-alike in a Doritos commercial and had to pay dearly for the unauthorized move, as Waits won a $2.5 million lawsuit over the usage.

1999 - Ricky Martin went to No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "Livin' La Vida Loca." The song spent five weeks at No. 1.

2005 - Bruce Springsteen was at No. 1 on the U.S. album chart with Devils and Dust his 13th No. 1 studio album.

2006 - The Rolling Stones called off their upcoming European tour after guitarist Keith Richards underwent emergency brain surgery. The 62-year-old guitarist suffered a "mild concussion" when he fell out of a coconut tree while vacationing in Fiji.

2014 - Chuck Berry was named one of the 2014 Polar Music Prize laureates. A spokesperson from the award committee said, "In the course of three minutes he conjures up an image of the everyday life and dreams of a teenager, often with the focus on cars. Chuck Berry, born in 1926, was the first to drive up onto the highway and announce that we are born to run."

Birthdays:

Influential blues guitarist and singer Robert Johnson was born on this day in 1911.

Martha Wainwright is 42.

Enrique Iglesias is 43.

And lots of drummers have birthdays today:

T.Rex drummer Bill Legend is 74.

Talking Heads drummer Chris Frantz is 67.

Van Halen drummer Alex Van Halen is 65.

Blur drummer Dave Rowntree is 54.

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