Birthday Highlight:

Booker T. Jones was born today in 1944, making him 75. He is best-known as the frontman of the band Booker T. & the M.G.'s. which was influential in shaping the sound of soul music as we know it. The band played on hundreds of recordings by artists such as Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, Bill Withers, Sam & Dave, Carla Thomas, Rufus Thomas, Johnnie Taylor and Albert King. They also released instrumental records under their own name, of which the best known is the 1962 hit single "Green Onions". Jones was inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992, and was honored with a Grammy Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2007.

Also, Today In:

1962 - The Beatles appeared at the Star Club, Hamburg, Germany, sharing the bill with Little Richard.

1965 - The Velvet Underground made their live debut when the played at Summit High School in New Jersey. The band was paid $75 for the gig.

1966 - The Monkees debut album started a 13-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. album chart, selling over 3 million copies in three months.

1970 - In New Orleans, The Doors performed what would be their last show with Jim Morrison. The surviving members of the band recalled Morrison seemingly losing all of his energy as their final concert together came to a close.

1977 - The Sex Pistols went to No. 1 on the U.K. album chart with their debut LP Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols, the punk group's only No. 1 album.

1983 - Lionel Richie started a four-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "All Night Long." The song became Motown's biggest seller to date.

1984 - Madonna released her Like A Virgin album.

1988 - U2 started a six-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. album chart with their sixth studio album, Rattle And Hum, which went on to sell more than 14 million copies.

1990 - Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood broke both his legs after his car crashed on an expressway in England. Wood was trying to wave other cars past his when he was run over.

2000 - Destiny's Child started an 11-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "Independent Women Part 1."

2001 - The three living former Beatles met for the last time at George Harrison's hotel in New York City for lunch. Harrison died two weeks later at a friend's home in Los Angeles on November 29, 2001, at the age of 58.

2002 - Die-hard Beatles fans were enraged after Paul McCartney altered the song writing credits on his Back In The US 2002 album, changing them to "McCartney/Lennon" from the original "Lennon/McCartney."

2002 - The city of Atlanta declared this day as "TLC day" to remember Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes who was killed in a car crash on 26th April 2002 aged 30.

2003 - American session drummer Tony Thompson died of cancer aged 48. He was most famous as the drummer with The Power Station along with Robert Palmer, and John Taylor and Andy Taylor of Duran Duran and Chic. He also played on David Bowie's hit single "Let's Dance". Thompson also played drums with Led Zeppelin (along with Phil Collins) at Live Aid in 1985.

2004 - The funeral of legendary BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel (who was an inspiration to The Current's own Mark Wheat) took place at St. Edmundsbury Cathedral in Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, England. Pulp's Jarvis Cocker, Undertones singer Feargal Sharkey and The White Stripes were among the mourners, and Sir Elton John left a wreath of yellow roses.

2014 - After a high-profile move by Taylor Swift to pull her entire back catalogue from the song-streaming service Spotify, the company's chief executive Daniel Ek defended its business model, saying it had paid out $2 billion to the music industry to that date.

2016 - Robbie Williams broke the record for the most No. 1 albums by a British solo artist. The singer's album The Heavy Entertainment Show was his 12th album to hit No. 1 and pushed him ahead of David Bowie who has 11 No. 1 albums to his name.

More Birthdays:

Neil Young is 74.

Blue Öyster Cult guitarist Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser is 72.

Laurence Juber, lead guitarist with Paul McCartney in the Wings, is 67.

Les McKeown of the Bay City Rollers is 64.

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