History Highlight:

Mary Esther Wells (known professionally as Mary Wells) was born on this day in 1943. One of Motown's first superstars, you might best know her for her signature 1964 hit "My Guy". Smokey Robinson wrote many of her hits including that song but also "The One Who Really Loves You"", "Two Lovers" and Grammy-nominated "You Beat Me to the Punch". We have Wells to thank along with the Supremes, the Miracles, the Temptations, and the Four Tops for helping define the emerging sound of Motown in the early 1960s and getting radio stations and record shops to embrace music by black artists.

Also, Today In:

1956 - Elvis was booked into the New Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas, where he bombed. Local Booking agent Thorstein Bjorn (T.B.) Skarning decided to bring Elvis to the Twin Cities, and mortgaged everything he owned to do it, including a drug store, an apartment building, and personal property. On May 13, 1956, Elvis performed two shows in the Cities. The 2:00 show at the St. Paul Auditorium drew only 800 fans, and the show started on an ominous note when Elvis broke a guitar string and it hit him in the cheek. Skarning still held out hope that the Minneapolis show would make up for it, but the 8:00 show at the Minneapolis Auditorium drew a paltry 1,300, when he needed 20,000 to break even. Mother's Day and tornado warnings kept the crowds away. (Twin Cities Music Highlights)

1967 - The Supremes scored their tenth U.S. No. 1 single with "The Happening."

1969 - Led Zeppelin became the first major British rock group to appear in Hawaii, when they appeared at The Civic Auditorium, Honolulu.

1970 - The world premiere of The Beatles last film project, Let It Be, took place in New York City. The film was released shortly after the album of the same name.

1971 - Grace Slick of Jefferson Airplane crashed her Mercedes into a wall near the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and was hospitalized.

1971 - On his twenty-first birthday Stevie Wonder received all his childhood earnings. Despite having earned $30 million at the time, he received only $1 million.

1974 - Forty-three people were arrested and more than fifty were injured after young fans started throwing bottles outside a Jackson 5 concert at RFK stadium in Washington DC.

1978 - Yvonne Elliman went to No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with her cover of the Gibb brothers' song, "If I Can't Have You." The song was featured in the film Saturday Night Fever.

1989 - Bon Jovi went to No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "I'll Be There for You", their fourth U.S. No. 1.

1996 - Oasis became the fastest-selling band in U.K. history after all 330,000 tickets for their summer shows sold out in just nine hours.

2002 - Dionne Warwick was arrested at Miami International Airport for possession of marijuana after authorities found 11 joints in a lipstick case in the singer's hand luggage. The charges were dropped after she completed a drug program and contributed to a charity.

2003 - Michael Jackson launched a court case suing Motown Records. The lawsuit stated he hadn't been paid royalties due for the music he did with The Jackson 5 in the 60s and 70s. The singer also claimed his music has been used in TV ads without his permission.

2008 - The U.S. Postal Service issued a 42-cent postage stamp in honor of Frank Sinatra. The design featured a 1950s image of Sinatra, wearing a hat.

2011 - "Like A Rolling Stone" was voted Bob Dylan's best-ever song by Rolling Stone magazine, who had asked the opinions of a panel of writers, academics and musicians to compile a poll to mark Dylan's 70th birthday on May 24 of that year.

2013 - Donald Dunn, bassist with Booker T and the MG's died in his sleep after playing a show at the Blue Note nightclub in Tokyo the night before.

More Birthdays:

Ritchie Valens was born on this day in 1941.

Stevie Wonder is 69.

Roxy Music drummer Paul Thompson is 68.

Darius Rucker of Hootie & the Blowfish is 53.

Alison Goldfrapp — best known as the lead vocalist of the electronic music duo Goldfrapp — is 53.

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