History Highlight:

Today in 2021, Silk Sonic — a musical superduo comprising Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak — released their debut studio album, An Evening with Silk Sonic. Mars and .Paak first met in 2017 and became fast friends, agreeing they wanted to collaborate on a project. They started writing songs together, and they wanted to create an album that reflected the sound of 1960s and ‘70s R&B, funk and soul, with hip-hop and pop influences. With that in mind, Mars and .Paak reached out to legendary Parliament-Funkadelic bassist Bootsy Collins to provide narration and backing vocals on the album, and Collins not only agreed to do that, he ended up dubbing the duo “Silk Sonic.” After dropping the lead singles “Leave the Door Open” and “Skate,” the full album released on Nov. 12, 2021, to widespread acclaim. Several publications, including Billboard, NME, Rolling Stone and Spin, named An Evening with Silk Sonic among the best albums of 2021. The song, “Leave the Door Open,” went on to win four Grammy Awards — Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best R&B Performance, and Best R&B Song — at the 64th Grammy Awards in 2022. Given its release date, An Evening with Silk Sonic was eligible for consideration at the 65th Grammy Awards in 2023, but Mars and .Paak decided not to submit the album given the number of awards they’d already won for “Leave the Door Open,” despite word on the street the album was a serious candidate for Album of the Year. In addition to the aforementioned singles, An Evening with Silk Sonic also includes the singles "Smokin out the Window," "Love's Train," and "After Last Night."

Also, Today In:

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

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, her first No. 1 on the U.S. album chart. It was produced by Chic frontman Nile Rodgers. It features the title track plus “Material Girl,” “Into the Groove,” and “Dress You Up.”

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 - While driving home from a funeral, Rolling Stone Ron Wood and his family hit an oil patch on a rainy expressway and skidded out. Wood got out of the car to direct other cars around his vehicle when he was struck by another car. Wood’s wife and kids suffered minor injuries, but Wood broke both his legs. He was hospitalized for a week and spent three months with plaster casts on his legs during his recovery.

1991 - Genesis released their 14th studio album, We Can't Dance. It features the singles "No Son of Mine," "I Can't Dance," "Hold on My Heart," "Jesus He Knows Me," "Never a Time," and "Tell Me Why."

1991 - 2Pac released his debut studio album, 2Pacalypse Now. It features the singles "Trapped," "Brenda's Got a Baby," and "If My Homie Calls."

1996 - Lil' Kim released her debut studio album, Hard Core. It features the singles "No Time," "Crush on You (Remix)," and "Not Tonight (Ladies Night Remix)."

1996 - Snoop Doggy Dogg released his second studio album, Tha Doggfather. It features the singles "Snoop's Upside Ya Head," "Vapors," and "Doggfather."

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 - Diehard 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 - Pearl Jam released their seventh studio album, Riot Act. It features the singles "I Am Mine," "Save You," and "Love Boat Captain."

2002 - Missy Elliott released her fourth studio album, Under Construction. It features the singles "Work It," "Gossip Folks," and "Back in the Day."

2002 - Jay-Z released his seventh studio album, The Blueprint 2: The Gift & The Curse. It features the singles "'03 Bonnie & Clyde," "Hovi Baby," and "Excuse Me Miss."

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

2003 - Session drummer Tony Thompson died of cancer at age 48. He was most famous as a drummer with Chic and as a member of supergroup The Power Station along with Robert Palmer and Duran Duran’s John Taylor and Andy Taylor. Thompson also played on David Bowie's hit single "Let's Dance," and 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 host emeritus 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.

2004 - Eminem released his fifth studio album, Encore. It features “Just Lose It,” “Encore,” “Like Toy Soldiers,” “Mockingbird,” and “A** Like That.”

2008 - Beyoncé released her third studio album, I Am... Sasha Fierce. It features the singles "If I Were a Boy," "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)," "Diva," "Halo," "Ego," "Sweet Dreams," "Broken-Hearted Girl," "Video Phone," and "Why Don't You Love Me."

2010 - Rihanna released her fifth studio album, Loud. It features "Only Girl (In the World)," "What's My Name?," “S&M,” “Man Down,” and more.

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.

2020 - Jim Tucker, the original rhythm guitarist with The Turtles, died at age 74. He played with The Turtles from 1965 to 1968 and was featured on many of the band’s biggest hits, including the chart-topping 1967 classic “Happy Together,” plus “She’d Rather Be with Me” and the group’s 1965 cover of Bob Dylan's “It Ain’t Me Babe.”

2021 - Courtney Barnett released her third studio album, Things Take Time, Take Time. It features the singles "Rae Street," "Before You Gotta Go," "Write a List of Things to Look Forward To," and "If I Don't Hear from You Tonight."

2021 - Taylor Swift released her second re-recorded studio album, Red (Taylor's Version). It features the singles "I Bet You Think About Me" and "Message in a Bottle."

2021 - Idles released their fourth studio album, Crawler. It features the singles "The Beachland Ballroom," "Car Crash," "When the Lights Come On," and "Crawl!"

2021 - Damon Albarn released his second solo studio album, The Nearer the Fountain, More Pure the Stream Flows. It features the singles "The Nearer the Fountain, More Pure the Stream Flows," "Polaris," "Particles," "Royal Morning Blue," and "The Tower of Montevideo."

More Birthdays:

Pop singer Jo Stafford, who topped the singles charts in both the U.S. and the U.K. with her song “You Belong to Me” in 1952, was born today in 1917.

Bob Crewe — songwriter behind “Big Girls Don’t Cry,” “Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You,” and “Lady Marmalade” — was born today in 1930.

Mort Shuman — co-writer of “Viva Las Vegas” and many others — was born today in 1938.

Hot Chocolate frontman Errol Brown was born today in 1943.

Brian Hyland (“Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini”) is 83.

John Walker of the Walker Brothers was born today in 1943.

Booker T. Jones is 82. Jones grew up in Memphis and demonstrated musical proficiency from an early age, playing multiple instruments at school and at church. When he was 16, Jones’ professional music career began in earnest when he played saxophone in a recording session at Stax Records. Two years later, Jones formed the band Booker T. and the M.G.’s, an enduringly influential band who shaped R&B and helped create the distictive Stax sound. One of Booker T. and the M.G.’s most beloved hits is the instrumental “Green Onions.”

Neil Young is 81. He is famous for his many solo albums, his music with Crazy Horse, and for his time in Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young. Young has received several Grammy and Juno Awards, and The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted him twice: in 1995 as a solo artist and in 1997 as a member of Buffalo Springfield. Young remains active to this day, and performed in Minneapolis in September 2025 as part of the Farm Aid lineup; Young also sits on the Farm Aid board.

Blue Öyster Cult guitarist Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser is 79.

Country singer Barbara Fairchild, who enjoyed a crossover hit with 1973’s “Teddy Bear Song,” is 76.

Baaba Maal is 73.

Laurence Juber, lead guitarist with Paul McCartney in the Wings, is 74.

Les McKeown of the Bay City Rollers was born on this day in 1955.

Vic Chesnutt was born today in 1964.

David Ellefson, bassist for Megadeth and native of Jackson, Minnesota, is 62.

Kathleen Hanna, leader of Bikini Kill, is 58.

Tevin Campbell is 50.

Shaun Cooper of Taking Back Sunday is 46.

Ryan Gosling is 46.

Omarion is 42.

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