History Highlight:

Today in 1946, John Edward Prine was born in Maywood Illinois. Prine was an American singer-songwriter of country-folk music. After serving in West Germany with the U.S. Army, he returned to Chicago in the late 1960s, where he worked as a mailman, writing and singing songs first as a hobby and then as a club performer. He was active as a composer, recording artist, live performer, and occasional actor from the early 1970s until his death. He was known for an often-humorous style of original music that has elements of protest and social commentary.  

Also, Today In: 

1956 - Elvis Presley's "Love Me Tender" entered the U.S. chart for a 19 week stay, peaking at No. 1 for 5 weeks. The song was an adaptation from the tune of "Aura Lee" (or "Aura Lea"), a sentimental Civil War ballad. 

1902 - The Gibson Mandolin guitar company was formed. 

1962 - The BBC somehow determined that "Monster Mash," by Bobby "Boris" Pickett was offensive and banned it from their airwaves. 

1963 Cabaret singer Edith Piaf dies of liver cancer in her villa on the French Riviera, at age 47. 

1970 - The Carpenters were at No. 2 on the U.S. singles chart with "We've Only Just Begun." The song was originally written for a TV commercial advertising a bank. 

1970 - Neil Diamond went to No.1 on the U.S. singles chart with "Cracklin' Rosie", his first No.1 as an artist. 

1970 - Black Sabbath were at No. 1 on the U.K. chart with their second album Paranoid. 

1970 The head of the FCC issues a statement in rebuttal to Vice President Spiro Agnew's complaint that radio stations were playing too many songs about drugs. The statement reads: "If we really want to do something about drugs, let's do something about life... The song writers are trying to help us understand our plight and deal with it. It's about the only leadership we're getting. They're not really urging you to adopt a heroin distribution program, Mr. Vice President." 

1972 - James Brown alienates much of his audience by meeting with President Richard Nixon in the White House and endorsing him in his bid for re-election. 

1978 - Joe Perry and Steve Tyler from Aerosmith were injured after a cherry bomb was thrown on stage during a gig in Philadelphia. The group performed behind a safety fence for the rest of the tour. 

1979, - The Rose, a film loosely based on the life of Janis Joplin, with Bette Midler portraying the Janis-like title character, was screened for the first time in L.A. 

1981 - The Police went to No. 1 on the U.K. album chart with Ghost In The Machine, the band's third No. 1 album. 

1985 - Luciano Pavarotti's 1976 Christmas album 0 Holy Night becomes the first classical album certified Platinum, with sales of over a million copies in America. 

1986 The film True Stories, directed by and starring David Byrne, is released in theaters. The soundtrack serves as Talking Heads' seventh album. 

1987 - Whitesnake went to No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "Here I Go Again", a No. 9 hit in the U.K. 

1997 - Davy Jones sings "Daydream Believer" to Melissa Joan Hart on the Sabrina, the Teenage Witch episode "Dante's Inferno." 

1997 - Jimmy Osmond, who is the youngest of the singing Osmond family, welcomes his second child, Zachary, who is the 50th grandchild of George and Olive Osmond, the parents of the nine Osmond siblings. 

1999 - A charity auction selling Elvis Presley's belongings was held at The Grand Hotel in Las Vegas. A wristwatch sold for $32,500, a cigar box $25,000, an autographed baseball sold for $19,000, and a 1956 Lincoln Continental sold for $250,000. 

2001 - Under pressure to change their name because of letter attacks using anthrax germs, the metal band Anthrax issues a press release explaining they will not. "In light of current events, we are changing the name of the band to something more friendly, 'Basket Full Of Puppies,'" they state. "Actually, just the fact that we are making jokes about our name sucks." 

2002 Jay-Z releases "'03 Bonnie And Clyde," featuring Beyoncé in her first solo appearance since the breakup of Destiny's Child. It's the first hint the couple are dating, as Jay declares them "the new Bobby and Whitney" on the track. 

2002 - Twelve protesters dressed as monkeys picketed outside the north Wales holiday home of former Stone Roses singer Ian Brown. The demonstrators argued Brown was selling the five-bedroom house, in the small village of Llithfaen on the Llyn Peninsula for an inflated price which local people could not afford. The monkey costumes worn by the anonymous protesters referred to the name of Brown's recent solo album Unfinished Monkey Business. 

2006 - 21-year-old Lily Allen, who had gained fame in her native England, played for the first time in the United States, performing at the Hiro Ballroom in New York City. 

2006 Sting releases Songs From the Labyrinth, an album of 16th-century lute songs. 

2007 - Radiohead took an innovative approach with the release of their seventh studio album, In Rainbows, by offering it as a pay-what-you-want download. Most people paid nothing for the download, but the album still fared well. 

2009 - Pearl Jam went to No. 1 on the U.S. album chart with Backspacer, the group's ninth studio album. 

2010 - R&B/soul singer Solomon Burke died on an airplane at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport. Though the cause of death was not known, the singer had long struggled with his health, and his doctor suspected he had a pulmonary embolism. 

2011 - Lana Del Rey releases her first single, "Video Games," a song inspired by two fractured relationships. 

2013 - Paul McCartney and his band surprised New Yorkers by performing songs from his "New" album in a short impromptu free concert to roughly 3,000 people on a long truck parked in the middle of Times Square. 

2014 - Taylor Swift was named Billboard's Woman of the Year 2014, making her the first artist to receive the award twice. The award goes to the female artist who "has shaped and inspired the music industry with her success, leadership and innovation" over the last year. 

2015 - Tenor saxophone player Steve Mackay who worked with the Stooges, Violent Femmes, Snakefinger, Commander Cody and others died at the age of 66. 

Birthdays: 

The jazz great Thelonious Monk was born today in 1917. 

David Lee Roth is 69. 

Eric Martin of Mr. Big is 63. 

Martin Kemp of Spandau Ballet is 63. 

Mike Malinin of Goo Goo Dolls is 55. 

Mya (of 'Lady Marmalade' fame) is 43. 

Tanya Tucker is 65. 

Jerry Lacroix of Blood Sweat & Tears was born today in 1943. He passed away in 2014.  

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