Birthday Highlight:

Stephanie Lynn Nicks (known professionally as Stevie Nicks) was born on this day in 1948, making her 72 today. Stevie, best-known for her work with Fleetwood Mac and her solo career, has collectively produced over forty Top 50 hits and sold over 140 million albums. She was deemed "The Reigning Queen of Rock and Roll" and one of the "100 Greatest Singers of All Time" by Rolling Stone, and, as a member of Fleetwood Mac, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998. As a solo artist, she has garnered eight Grammy Award nominations and, with Fleetwood Mac, five.

Also, Today In:

1962 - The original "Twist and Shout" by The Isley Brothers was released. Less than nine months later, the Beatles covered it for their first album.

1964 - Marianne Faithful recorded the Mick Jagger and Keith Richards song "As Tears Go By", accompanied by future Led Zeppelin members Jimmy Page on guitar and John Paul Jones on bass.

1966 - The Beatles recorded "Yellow Submarine" at Abbey Road studios in London. The track features John Lennon blowing bubbles in a bucket of water, shouting, "Full speed ahead, Mister Captain!"

1968 - Blues artist Little Willie John died in prison after being convicted of manslaughter. He co-wrote and was the first to record "Fever" (covered by Peggy Lee), and "Need Your Love So Bad" (covered by Fleetwood Mac). James Brown recorded a tribute album to Little Willie John called Thinking Of Little Willie John... And A Few Other Nice Things.

1972 - Mott The Hoople, on the verge of breaking up, were offered help from David Bowie, who allowed them to record two songs he wrote. They passed on "Suffragette City" but cut "All The Young Dudes," which became their biggest hit and revived their career.

1976 - Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, apparently intoxicated, verbally accosted first-class passengers on a transatlantic flight. Actors Telly Savalas and Dudley Moore, passengers on the same flight, gave statements about the Zeppelin men's misbehavior.

1977 - O'Jays singer Billy Powell died of cancer. The O'Jays had the 1973 No. 1 hit, "Love Train."

1984 - Deniece Williams, a former backup singer with Stevie Wonder, started a two-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "Let's Hear It For The Boy," a song from the Footloose film soundtrack.

1990 - For the first time ever, the top five positions on the U.S. singles chart were held by female artists: Madonna was at No. 1 with "Vogue", Heart were at No. 2 with "All I Wanna Do Is Make Love To You", Sinead O'Connor was at No. 3 with her cover of Prince's "Nothing Compares 2 U", Wilson Phillips were at No. 4 with "Hold On" and Janet Jackson was at No. 5 with "Alright".

1994 - Michael Jackson married Lisa Marie Presley, daughter of Elvis Presley. The couple divorced in 1995.

2008 - Yale University awarded Paul McCartney an honorary Doctorate of Music.

Birthdays:

Miles Davis was born today in 1926.

Mick Ronson was born today in 1946.

Hank Williams Jr. is 71.

Lenny Kravitz is 56.

Oasis drummer Alan White 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.