History Highlight:

Happy Birthday to Patti Smith, born today in 1946. Stay tuned for special programming all day on The Current in honor of Smith - singer-songwriter, musician, author, and poet. She has released 11 albums, written or been included in 25 books, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007. And on November 17, 2010, Smith won the National Book Award for her memoir Just Kids.

Also, in:

1962 - Singer Brenda Lee was hurt when she attempted to rescue her poodle, Cee Cee from her burning house. Cee Cee later died of smoke inhalation.

1967 - "Hello, Goodbye" off Magical Mystery Tour by The Beatles was the No. 1 single in the country.

1969 - Peter Tork quit The Monkees, buying himself out of his contract which left him broke. He went on to form a group called Release and played banjo on George Harrison's soundtrack to the film "Wonderwall".

1970 - Elvis Presley was given a private tour of the FBI headquarters in Washington DC. Elvis requested and was given a permit to carry a gun in every U.S. state.

1974 - Bob Dylan recorded two songs for his Blood on the Tracks album at Studio 80 in Minneapolis: "Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts" and "If You See Her, Say Hello". Blood on the Tracks is Dylan's fifteenth studio album and marked his return to Columbia Records after a two-album stint with Asylum Records. Dylan started recording the album in New York City in September 1974, but in December, shortly before Columbia was due to release the record, Dylan abruptly re-recorded much of the material in a studio in Minneapolis. The final album contained five tracks from New York and five tracks from Minneapolis.

1978 - Emerson, Lake & Palmer broke up.

1998 - Johnny Moore, lead singer for The Drifters on their 1960s hit "Under The Boardwalk", died at the age of 64.

1999 - George Harrison was stabbed repeatedly during an attempted early morning robbery at his home at Henley-Upon-Thames, near London. The 56-year-old musician and his wife Olivia struggled with the intruder and were able to hold him until the authorities got there. The couple recovered from their injuries at a nearby hospital.

2002 - The funeral of former Clash singer and guitarist Joe Strummer took place in London. Strummer had died of a suspected heart attack on December 22, at age 50.

2009 - Singer/songwriter Neil Young was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. Other Canadian musicians who have been given the award include Bryan Adams, Leonard Cohen and the members of Rush.

2013 - Bruce Springsteen's latest album High Hopes briefly appeared for download on Amazon's U.S. site for several hours, two weeks ahead of its scheduled release date. Although it was subsequently removed from sale, the record had appeared on several file-sharing sites.

2016 - A member of rap group Run-DMC filed a $50 million lawsuit accusing retailers of unlawfully using the group's name on items of clothing. Darryl "DMC" McDaniels said that products sold by Amazon, Walmart and other stores violated federal trademark and New York competition laws.

2016 - Allan Williams the first manager of The Beatles died at the age of 86. Williams worked with The Beatles from 1960 to 1961, getting the band gigs in Britain, and in Hamburg. Williams personally drove the van to take the Beatles to Hamburg in 1960, which didn't have seats; The Beatles had to sit on their amplifiers in the back of the van.

2020 - Saxophonist Alto Reed died of cancer at age 72. He is best-known as a longtime member of Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band and also worked with many artists including Grand Funk Railroad, Little Feat, Otis Rush, Spencer Davis, The Blues Brothers, The Ventures and George Thorogood.

Birthdays:

Bo Diddley was born today in 1928.

Paul Stookey of Peter Paul and Mary is 84.

Mike Nesmith of The Monkees was born today in 1942.

Davy Jones of The Monkees was born today in 1945.

Clive Bunker of Jethro Tull is 75.

Ellie Goulding is 35.

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