History Highlight:

Chris Mars was born today in 1961, making him 58 today. He is best-known for being the drummer for The Replacements from 1979 to 1990 and then he joined the informal supergroup Golden Smog before beginning a solo career. In the late 90s, Mars mostly dropped out of the music business to devote himself full time to painting. His art has been displayed in many galleries around the U.S. and Canada, including the Minneapolis Institute of Art.

Also, Today In:

1969 - "Oh Happy Day" by The Edwin Hawkins Singers entered the Hot 100 at No. 72, becoming the first gospel song to make that chart.

1977 - New York's legendary disco and party central, Studio 54, opened up for business.

1978 - Ringo Starr's TV special, Ringo, a musical version of The Prince And The Pauper, was shown on American TV. Ringo portrayed both characters, with former bandmate George Harrison narrating. The show tanked.

1978 - The Last Waltz, director Martin Scorsese's acclaimed documentary of The Band's star-studded last concert, opened in theaters. The film featured performances by Neil Young, Eric Clapton, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, Neil Diamond, The Staple Singers and Dr. John.

1990 - Nirvana appeared at the Pyramid Club in New York City. The band's label Sub Pop filmed the show and the performance of "In Bloom" was later used as a video.

1995 - Courtney Love turned down Playboy magazine's $1 million offer to pose nude.

2008 - Amy Winehouse spent the night in custody after being arrested on suspicion of assault.

2013 - U.S. country singer George Jones who had a string of number one songs between the 1950s and 1990s, died at age 81. Nicknamed "Possum", his signature song was "He Stopped Loving Her Today", a track about love and death. He was married to Tammy Wynette between 1969 and 1975 and the pair recorded several songs together in the 1970s.

2016 - A list of tracks by a death metal band was accidentally printed on the back of a new album by U.K. comedian Bernie Clifton. The 80-year-old (who is famous for riding a yellow ostrich), said he was "fuming and furious" about the error, which saw songs by the group Abhorrent Decimation printed on his new CD.

2017 - Father John Misty released his video for "Total Entertainment Forever," which stars Macaulay Culkin as a crucified Kurt Cobain.

Birthdays:

Duane Eddy is 81.

Bobby Rydell ("Wild One") is 77.

Gary Wright, best known for his hits "Dream Weaver" and "My Love Is Alive," is 76.

Roger Taylor, drummer with Duran Duran, is 59.

Tionne Watkins, a.k.a. T-Boz of TLC, is 49.

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