History Highlight:

Eva Narcissus Boyd, known by the stage name of Little Eva, was born today in 1943. Most famously known for the hit "The Loco-motion", Boyd's other single recordings were "Keep Your Hands Off My Baby", "Let's Turkey Trot" and a remake of the Bing Crosby standard "Swinging on a Star," recorded with Big Dee Irwin. As a teenager, she worked as a maid and earned extra money as a babysitter for songwriters Carole King and Gerry Goffin, who wrote "The Loco-Motion" for her and had her record it as a demo. The song reached No. 1 in the United States in 1962, and it sold over one million copies. She died in 2003 at age 59, 18 months after being diagnosed with cervical cancer.

Also, Today In:

1957 - The government of Iran officially banned rock and roll after declaring rock dancing "as harmful to health". The ban stayed in place until the 1990s.

1966 - Neil Diamond played American Bandstand for the first time, performing his hit "Cherry, Cherry."

1969 - The Jimi Hendrix Experience played at Mile High Stadium in Denver in what was to be their final gig together.

1970 - NBC presented the Liza Minnelli special "Liza", also starring songwriters Anthony Newley, Jimmy Webb and Randy Newman.

1975 - An upbeat Elton John turned up unannounced at a concert at the Oakland Coliseum featuring the Eagles and The Doobie Brothers; he sang with both bands.

1975 - Singer-songwriter Tim Buckley, father of Jeff Buckley, died of an overdose at the age of 28.

1976 - The Memphis City Council voted to change Elvis' home street, Highway 51 South, to "Elvis Presley Boulevard."

1979 - Lowell George, frontman for Little Feat, died of a heart attack at age 34.

1984 - Bruce Springsteen kicked off the first leg of his Born in the USA Tour with a three-night run at the St. Paul Civic Center (now the site of the Xcel Energy Center) in Minnesota's capital city. The day before the show, director Brian DePalma (Wiseguys, The Untouchables, Scarface) filmed the video for Springsteen's "Dancing in the Dark" inside the St. Paul Civic Center with the participation of 200 audience extras and a 20-year-old Courteney Cox as the young fan pulled on stage to dance with Bruce. Springsteen's Born in the USA tour would go on to comprise a total of 156 shows before concluding 15 months later on Oct. 2, 1985, in Los Angeles.

1985 - John Lennon's 1965 Rolls-Royce Phantom V limousine, with psychedelic paintwork, sold for a record sum of $3,006,385 at a Sotheby's auction in New York.

1987 - Meeting at a London pub, a group of record label executives decided to use the term "World Music" to promote their international artists. This new designation became a section in many record stores and made it much easier to classify artists that didn't fit traditional genres.

1988 - The Guardian newspaper reported that many music CDs would fade and distort over the next few years due to manufacturing faults, sending shockwaves through the music industry.

1991 - De La Soul's second album, De La Soul Is Dead, debuted at No. 24 on the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.

1993 - George Harrison announced that he would be undergoing chemotherapy for throat cancer, with assurances that, "I'm not going to die on you folks just yet." He succumbed to the disease three years later.

1994 - Barbra Streisand set a new record after grossing $16 million for a series of Madison Square Garden comeback shows.

1994 - Oasis made their debut on BBC TV's Top Of The Pops performing their new single "Shakermaker."

1995 - Ringo Starr's first-ever TV commercial, for Pizza Hut, debuted in the U.S., as did a similar spot by the newly reformed Monkees.

1996 - Record producer George Martin received a Knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II for his services to music.

2001 - "Dream A Little Dream: The Almost-True Story of the Mamas & the Papas", a stage musical penned by former Papas member Denny Doherty, premiered in Toronto.

2002 - Rosemary Clooney died of lung cancer at age 74.

2004 - Rush released their 18th studio album, Feedback, comprised of eight cover songs selected from tunes that influenced each band member in their younger years.

2007 - Lily Allen was questioned by police over an alleged assault on a photographer outside a nightclub in London. She was freed on police bail after questioning.

2007 - George McCorkle, guitarist for The Marshall Tucker Band, died shortly after a cancer diagnosis at age 59.

Birthdays:

Celebrated American singer and actor Nelson Eddy was born today in 1901.

Deep Purple drummer Ian Paice is 70.

Colin Hay, singer-songwriter and former Men at Work frontman, is 65.

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