History Highlight:

David Van Cortlandt Crosby was born today in 1941, making him 78 today. He is known for his solo music career but also for being a founding member of both bands the Byrds and Crosby, Stills & Nash. Crosby wrote or co-wrote the songs "Lady Friend", "Why", and "Eight Miles High" with the Byrds and "Guinnevere", "Wooden Ships", "Shadow Captain", and "In My Dreams" with Crosby, Stills & Nash. He wrote "Almost Cut My Hair" and the title track "Deja Vu" for Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young's 1970 album. Additionally he formed a jazz influenced trio with his son James Raymond and guitarist Jeff Pevar called "CPR" and he is the subject of the 2019 documentary "David Crosby: Remember My Name" which was produced by Cameron Crowe. Read Mary Lucia's recent review at thecurrent.org.

Also, Today In:

1962 - Unhappy with drummer Pete Best's role in The Beatles, the band's manager Brian Epstein and the other three members decided to let him go. Best played his last gig the following night at The Cavern, Liverpool.

1965 - Sonny & Cher started a three-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "I Got You Babe."

1967 - All U.K. offshore pirate radio stations were closed down when the marine broadcasting act came into force. A fictionalized account of these offshore stations is told in the 2009 film Pirate Radio (called The Boat that Rocked in the U.K.), featuring an ensemble cast that included Philip Seymour Hoffman, Bill Nighy, Rhys Ifans, Nick Frost, Kenneth Branagh, Chris O'Dowd, January Jones, Jack Davenport, Gemma Arterton and others.

1976 - Funded by a £400 ($620) loan, "So It Goes" by Nick Lowe became the first record released on Stiff Records.

1985 - Michael Jackson won a bid over Yoko Ono and Paul McCartney to secure the ATV Music Publishing catalogue. At a cost of $47.5 million, Jackson gained the rights to more than 250 songs written by Lennon and McCartney.

Today in 1995, Foo Fighters made their network television debut on The Late Show with David Letterman when they performed their single "This Is A Call." The band was formed in 1994 in Seattle by Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl as a one-man project after Nirvana disbanded following the death of Kurt Cobain. Four of the band's nine albums have won Grammy Awards for Best Rock Album.

2001 - A pizza-stained piece of paper signed by three of the four Beatles sold for $48,000 to an anonymous collector at an auction in Melbourne. John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison all signed the paper during their 1964 tour of Australia. Drummer Ringo Starr had laryngitis and was not on the tour.

2005 - Faith Hill was at No. 1 on the U.S. chart with "Fireflies."

2016 - Keyboard and synthesizer player James Woolley died at the age of 49. Woolley was known for playing with Nine Inch Nails as well as Rob Halford's one-time band 2wo, which also included John 5 of Marilyn Manson.

2017 - Pantone announced a new color: a purple hue in honor of Prince named after his famous symbol (Love Symbol #2).

Other Birthdays:

Actor, comedian and musician Steve Martin is 74.

Sly and the Family Stone bassist Larry Graham is 73.

Bruce Thomas, bassist for Elvis Costello and the Attractions, is 71.

Slim Dunlap is 68.

Kevin Cadogan of Third Eye Blind is 49.

Ana Matronic of Scissor Sisters is 45.

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