History Highlight:

Mark E. Smith, lead singer of The Fall, was born today in 1957. He just passed away on January 24, 2018 at the age of 60 after a long illness with lung and kidney cancer. The Fall released their first album in 1978, and remained active in various configurations until Smith's death, with their most recent album dropping just last year.

Also, Today In:

1955 - Elvis Presley made his TV debut when he appeared on the weekend show Louisiana Hayride on KWKH TV, broadcast from Shreveport Auditorium in Shreveport, La.

1963 - The Beatles recorded what would be their third single, "From Me to You", just five days after John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote the song.

1963 - Country singer Patsy Cline (along with singers Cowboy Copas and Hawkshaw Hawkins) was killed in a private-plane crash near Camden, Tenn. Cline was 30 and at the height of her career. One of the most influential, successful and acclaimed female vocalists of the 20th century, Cline was part of the early 1960s' Nashville Sound, and later successfully crossed over to pop music. Ten years after her death, in 1973, she became the first female solo artist inducted to the Country Music Hall of Fame.

1965 - The Yardbirds released "For Your Love".

1977 - Barbra Streisand started a three week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "Love Theme From A Star Is Born", her second U.S. No. 1.

1982 - Actor/comedian and Blues Brother John Belushi died of an overdose in Los Angeles. He was only 33.

1983 - Michael Jackson started a seven-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "Billie Jean."

1992 - R.E.M. cleaned up in The Rolling Stone Music Awards, winning Album of the Year for Out Of Time, Artist of the Year, Best Single and Best Video for "Losing My Religion," and the Best Band, Best Guitarist and Best Songwriter awards.

1994 - Grace Slick was arrested for pointing a shotgun at police at her Tiburon, Calif., home. Cool heads prevailed. The following June, she was sentenced to 200 hours of community service and mandatory attendance at a long series of Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.

2002 - The first episode of The Osbournes aired on MTV.

2012 - Sony admitted that a number of Michael Jackson tracks had been stolen after its website was hacked.

Birthdays:

Eddy Grant, whose single "Electric Avenue" went Platinum and sat at No. 2 in the Billboard Hot 100 for five weeks in 1983, is 71.

Dire Straits keyboardist Alan Clark is 67.

The youngest Bee Gee, Andy Gibb, was born today in 1958.

Editors' bassist Russell Leetch is 37.

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