History Highlight:

Today in 2020, Neil Peart, drummer and lyricist for Canadian rock band Rush, died from brain cancer at age 67. Peart placed at No. 4 in Rolling Stone's list of all-time greatest drummers and was well-known for his technical proficiency and animated live performances. He was known to fans by the nickname 'The Professor', and his lyrics for Rush addressed diverse subjects including science fiction, fantasy, and philosophy. Across his lifetime, Peart wrote a total of seven nonfiction books focused on his travels and personal stories.

Also, in:

1955 - "Rock Around The Clock" by Bill Haley & His Comets entered the U.K. chart for the first time.

1971 - Black Sabbath released Paranoid, their second studio album in the U.S. The album features the band's best-known signature songs, including the title track, "Iron Man" and "War Pigs".

1980 - The final Led Zeppelin album released before the death of drummer John Bonham, In Through The Out Door, went platinum.

1980 - Foreigner's third album Head Games was certified Gold and Platinum by the RIAA and later went on to sell five million albums in the U.S. alone.

1989 - Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young peaked at number sixteen on the Billboard 200 Album Chart with their reunion album American Dream.

1993 - R.E.M. performed a Greenpeace benefit concert at a small club in Athens, Georgia. Appropriately, the show was recorded on a solar-power mobile recording studio.

1994 - Nirvana performed their final concert in the U.S. at the Seattle Center Arena.

1994 - Oasis started recording their debut album Definitely Maybe at Monnow Valley Studios in South Wales. The album marked the beginning of Oasis' success in America, selling over one million copies here despite only peaking at 58 on the Billboard 200. The album went on to sell over 10 million copies worldwide and brought widespread critical acclaim.

2001 - R&B and soul singer James Carr died at age 58. After being turned down by Stax, he made his first recordings for Goldwax Records in 1964. He released several singles for the label before achieving his first success in 1966, when "You've Got My Mind Messed Up" reached No .7 on the Billboard R&B chart.

2004 - Drummer John Guerin died of pneumonia at age 64. He worked with Joni Mitchell, Frank Zappa, Linda Rondstadt, Gram Parsons, Todd Rundgren and he also played on the original title tune for the television series Hawaii Five-O.

2016 - Singer Troy Shondell died from complications of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease at age 76. He became a transatlantic one-hit wonder, with his 1961 'This Time', which topped the charts in both U.S. and the U.K., selling over one million records. He also recorded under the name of Gary Shelton.

Birthdays:

Paul Revere of Paul Revere and the Raiders was born today in 1938.

Mike McGear, singer, brother of Paul McCartney, is 78.

Jann Wenner, co-founder and publisher of Rolling Stone magazine, is 75.

Kenny Loggins is 74.

Kathy Valentine, bass player from The Go-Go's, is 63.

Highlights for Today in Music History are gathered from This Day in Music, Song Facts and Wikipedia.