History Highlight:

Dolores O'Riordan, lead singer for The Cranberries, was born today in 1971. The Cranberries rose to international fame in the 1990s with their debut album, Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We?. The band played together for 13 years then took a hiatus until they reunited in 2009. O'Riordan's first solo album Are You Listening? was released in May 2007 and was followed up by No Baggage in 2009.

Also, Today In:

1968 - Eric Clapton stepped in to record the famous guitar solo on the Beatles' "While My Guitar Gently Weeps."

1969 - The "hardest working man in show business," James Brown, pleaded exhaustion and declared his intention to retire from live performing. He was a little stressed at the time, battling a paternity suit filed by a one-time president of his fan club.

1974 - George Harrison launches his Dark Horse record label.

1975 - Glen Campbell started a two-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "Rhinestone Cowboy," his first No. 1 after 13 Top 40 hits.

1976 - For the first time in the history of Fleetwood Mac, they topped the album chart with their new self-titled album. It was the second self-titled release from the band (their first being the band's debut from 1968). This was the first Fleetwood Mac album to feature Lindsey Buckingham as guitarist and Stevie Nicks as vocalist; up until the release of this album, Fleetwood Mac's albums generally sold around 300,000 - 350,000 copies apiece. This album helped launch them as musical superstars with an almost constant radio presence. In 2003, the album was ranked No. 182 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

1978 - Record producer Tom Wilson died. He worked with various US acts including Bob Dylan (The Times They Are a-Changin', Another Side of Bob Dylan, and Bringing It All Back Home), Frank Zappa (Freak Out!), Simon and Garfunkel (Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M.) and The Velvet Underground, (White Light/White Heat).

1980 - Entering the album chart on this day were One Trick Pony by Paul Simon, Panorama by the Cars, Reach For The Sky by the Allman Brothers, and Playing For Keeps by Eddie Money.

1989 - Motley Crue frontman Vince Neil punches Guns N' Roses guitarist Izzy Stradlin in the face during the MTV Video Music Awards.

1995 - Joan Jett sang the National Anthem before the Baltimore Orioles game against the California Angels. The game marked Orioles shortstop Cal Ripken's 2,131st consecutive game, breaking the record held by Lou Gehrig. Jett, a huge Orioles fan and friend of Ripken, watched the rest of the game alongside a host of baseball legends, including Willie Mays and Joe DeMaggio.

1997 - Elton John recorded a new version of 'Candle In The Wind' after performing the song live at Diana Princess of Wales funeral. An estimated 2.5 billion people around the world watched Elton play the special tribute to Diana. The track went on to become the second biggest selling single of all-time.

2011 - PJ Harvey becomes the first artist to win the Mercury Prize twice when her album Let England Shake earns the prestigious award. Her first win was in 2001 for Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea.

2016 - Barbra Streisand extended her U.S. chart record after she scored her 11th U.S. No. 1 album Encore: Movie Partners Sing Broadway. The star had already notched up more chart toppers than any other female artist, and extended her lead over Madonna, who has eight. She also overtook Elvis Presley, who has 10, to tie with Bruce Springsteen.

Birthdays:

Roger Waters, founding member of Pink Floyd, is 75.

Macy Gray is 51.

Born on this day, Claydes Smith of Kool & The Gang

Nina Persson, lead singer of The Cardigans, is 44.

Rapper Foxy Brown 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.