History Highlight:

Today in 1993, MTV aired Nirvana's "Unplugged" session for the first time. The album featured an acoustic performance taped at Sony Music Studios in New York City on November 18, 1993. Unlike many artists who appeared on the show, Nirvana filmed its entire performance in a single take with the band's fourteen-song set list including six cover versions.

Also, in:

1960 - 17-year-old George Harrison was deported from Germany for being too young to perform with The Beatles.

1965 - The Beatles released a two-hit single with "Day Tripper" on one side and "We Can Work It Out" on the other.

1966 - The Jimi Hendrix Experience released their first single, "Hey Joe".

1974 - Mick Taylor revealed in a press release that he was departing The Rolling Stones after a five-year run, stating that he "felt it was the time to move on and do something new."

1974 - Mott The Hoople (Ian Hunter, Mick Ralphs and company) announced that they were over as a band.

1981 - Ray Charles received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1983 - Hoping to jumpstart her flagging acting career after the box-office bomb Xanadu, Olivia Newton-John reunited with Grease co-star John Travolta in the fantasy film Two of a Kind. It flopped, but yielded the Top 10 hit "Twist Of Fate."

1983 - The Who issued a statement making their breakup official, a formality considering they called their last shows in 1982 their "Farewell Tour." Though it was far from the end, as they reunited for a seemingly unending series of "reunions," starting with Live-Aid in 1985.

1988 - American soul and disco singer Sylvester James died of complications from AIDS in San Francisco at age 41. James scored the 1978 U.S. No. 36 single "You Make Me Feel, Mighty Real" and sang backup vocals for Aretha Franklin on her 1985 Who's Zoomin' Who Album.

1989 - Billy Joel went No. 1 on the U.S. album chart with his 11th studio release Storm Front. The album featured "We Didn't Start the Fire" and "Leningrad", Joel's take on the end of the Cold War.

1991 - Chubby Checker filed a lawsuit against McDonald's in Canada seeking $14 million for the unauthorized use of a simulation of his voice in a commercial.

2007 - Singer/songwriter Dan Fogelberg died at his home in Maine at the age of 56. Emerging out of the '70s soft rock scene, he made his mark with sensitive records like "Leader Of The Band" and "Same Old Lang Syne."

Birthdays:

Ludwig van Beethoven was born today in 1770.

The Hollies guitar player Tony Hicks is 74.

Benny Andersson of ABBA is 73.

Billy Gibbons, guitarist and lead singer of ZZ Top, is 70.

Michael McCary of Boyz II Men is 48.

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