History Highlight:

Johnny Cash was born today in 1932. One of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, he is also one of the best-selling music artists of all time, having sold more than 90 million records worldwide. He traditionally began his concerts by simply introducing himself, "Hello, I'm Johnny Cash," followed by his signature song "Folsom Prison Blues". Cash's career had spanned rockabilly, country, gospel, and rock n' roll, and during the last stage of his career, Cash covered songs by several late-20th-century rock artists, notably "Hurt" by Nine Inch Nails, "Rusty Cage" by Soundgarden and "Rowboat" by Beck. Cash died in 2003 at the age of 71, four months after the passing of his beloved wife and partner, June Carter Cash.

Also, Today In:

1955 - For the first time since the 45 RPM format was introduced in 1949, Billboard reported that 45 RPM singles were outselling the earlier standard, 78s.

1965 - Guitarist Jimmy Page released a solo single called "She Just Satisfies." Page played all the instruments on it except for the drums, and produced the track, as well as singing lead vocals.

1966 - Nancy Sinatra went to No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "These Boots Are Made For Walking."

1977 - The Eagles reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart for the third time with "New Kid in Town", their first single off of Hotel California which spent one week on top.

1977 - Blues guitarist Bukka White died of cancer at age 67 in Memphis, Tennessee.

1977 - Doo wop singer Sherman Garnes (of Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers) died of a heart attack at age 36.

1980 - After seeing U2 play at Dublin's National Boxing Stadium in front of 2,400 people, Rob Partridge and Bill Stewart from Island Records offered the band a recording contract.

1983 - Michael Jackson's Thriller went to No. 1 on the U.S. album chart. It went on to become the most successful album of all time with sales exceeding 50 million copies. Along with Prince's Purple Rain, Thriller led the way in helping to break down racial barriers among music fans in the 1980s, transcending genres of R&B, soul and pop — aided in no small part by several extremely high-profile videos on MTV for songs such as "Billie Jean" and "Beat It," as well as the 10-minute epic adaptation of the title song, directed by Hollywood director John Landis (Animal House, The Blues Brothers and many others).

1985 - "What's Love Got To Do With It" by Tina Turner won Song of the Year and Record of the Year at the Grammys. The song was Turner's most successful single and came off the album Private Dancer. It was the second-biggest U.S. single of 1984 and the 17th-biggest U.K single. In 1993, "What's Love Got To Do With It" was used as the title for the biographical film about Turner's life.

1985 - Bruce Springsteen won his first Grammy, taking home the Best Male Vocal Performance award for "Dancing In The Dark."

1987 - The Beatles (aka The White Album) becomes the first Beatles album to be released on CD.

1995 - Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, who toured under the moniker Page & Plant, kicked off their first tour together in 15 years at the Pensacola Civic Center in Pensacola, FL.

1997 - Perhaps trying to make amends for giving them just four awards when they were still together, The Grammys gave The Beatles three awards: two for "Free As A Bird" and another for their Anthology video.

2001 - Daft Punk's second album, Discovery, marked a change in their musical direction from house to electronic disco. Taking a leaf from fellow European electronic artists Kraftwerk, they chose to hide their faces - performing and appearing in music videos wearing stylized robotic helmets.

2002 - The Bee Gees played what was to be their final concert, performing at Miami Beach's Love and Hope Ball, a benefit for the Diabetes Research Institute Foundation.

2011 - It was announced that Queen's "We Will Rock You" was still the most-played song at North American sporting events, according to a survey from royalty-distribution service BMI, which used data gathered from MLB, NFL and NHL games during 2009 and 2010.

2011 - Mark Tulin (bassist for The Electric Prunes) died of a heart attack at age 62 while helping at an underwater cleanup event in Avalon, California.

2019 - Andy Anderson died of cancer aged 68. He is best-known for his work with The Cure playing on the singles 'Love Cats' and 'The Caterpillar'. He also worked with many other artists including Steve Hillage, Edwyn Collins, Mike Oldfield, The Gun Club and Peter Gabriel.

Birthdays:

Fats Domino was born today in 1928.

Bob Hite of Canned Heat was born today in 1943.

Jonathan Cain, keyboardist for Journey, is 70.

Michael Bolton is 67.

Erykah Badu is 49.

Producer Max Martin is 49.

Tim Commerford of Rage Against the Machine is 52.

Corinne Bailey Rae is 41.

Nate Ruess of Fun. is 38.

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