History Spotlight:

On this day in 2004, Scottish rock band Franz Ferdinand released their self-titled debut in the U.K. (The U.S. release followed on March 9.) The energetic lads recorded the collection of danceable post-punk in 2003 in Sweden. Led by the infectious single “Take Me Out,” the album went on to win the 2004 Mercury Prize and be nominated for Best Alternative Album at the Grammy Awards.

Today In:

1964 - The Beatles made their live U.S. television debut on CBS-TV's The Ed Sullivan Show. They performed five songs, including their No. 1 hit at the time, "I Want To Hold Your Hand." An estimated 73 million people watched the program. Prior to the broadcast, CBS received more than 50,000 applications for the 728 seats in the TV studio.

1970 - The Doors release their fifth studio album, Morrison Hotel.

1972 - Paul McCartney made his live debut with Wings with a surprise concert at Nottingham University in the U.K.

1974 - Iggy Pop and the Stooges performed their final concert at the Michigan Palace in Detroit. Pop taunted and verbally abused the audience throughout the concert and had ice, eggs, and beer bottles thrown at him. The Stooges later reunited in 2003, and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010.

1981 - Bill Haley died of a heart attack at his home in Harlingen, Texas. Haley had sold more than 60 million records during his career. He scored the 1955 U.S. and U.K. No. 1 single with "Rock Around The Clock", and he became known as the first rock 'n' roll star.

1985 - Madonna started a three-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. album chart with Like A Virgin.

1985 - Deep Purple peaked at No. 17 on the Billboard 200 Album Chart with Perfect Strangers.

1991 - C+C Music Factory started a two-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "Gonna Make You Sweat".

1993 - Mick Jagger released his third solo album Wandering Spirit and Paul McCartney released his eighth solo album Off the Ground.

1993 - Dinosaur Jr. release their fifth studio album, Where You Been. The song "Start Choppin'" was their biggest hit, reaching number 3 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart in the U.S. It was the only Dinosaur Jr. album between 1988's Bug and 2007's Beyond to be recorded entirely with a full band. 

2010 - The White Stripes took on the U.S. Air Force, complaining that it used "Fell In Love With A Girl" in a TV ad without permission. In a statement on their website, the band said they took "strong insult and objection, with the implication that we licensed one of our songs to encourage recruitment during a war that we do not support."

2015 - Bob Dylan turned the tables on his critics during a 30-minute speech at the Musicares charity gala honoring his career. The 73-year-old, who rarely talks about his work, asked why critics complained he "can't sing" and sounds "like a frog" but did not "say that about Tom Waits?" The singer added, "Critics say my voice is shot, that I have no voice. Why don't they say those things about Leonard Cohen? Why do I get special treatment?"

2021 - Jazz composer, keyboardist, bandleader Chick Corea died age 79. His compositions 'Spain', '500 Miles High', 'Armando's Rhumba' and 'Windows' are widely considered jazz standards. As a member of Miles Davis's band in the late 1960s, he participated in the birth of jazz fusion. In the 1970s he formed Return to Forever along with Herbie Hancock, McCoy Tyner, Keith Jarrett and Bill Evans.

2022 - Snoop Dogg buys Death Row Records, the label he started with.

Birthdays:

Carmen Miranda was born on this day in 1909.

Ernest Tubb, the Texas Troubadour, was born on this day in 1914.

Billy Williamson of Bill Haley and the Comets was born on this day in 1925.

Singer-songwriter Barry Mann, who penned such 1960s pop hits as "Saturday Night At The Movies," "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling," and "Who Put The Bomp, In The Bomp, Bomp, Bomp," is 85. (Mann’s frequent songwriting partner was wife Cynthia Weil, who died June 1, 2023.)

Brian Bennett, drummer for the Shadows, is 84.

Carole King was born on this day in 1942, making her 82 years old today. King is one of the most important and celebrated songwriters of our time, having written or co-written 118 pop hits on the Billboard Hot 100 and 61 hits that charted in the U.K. She has also made 25 solo albums, the most successful being Tapestry, which held the record for most weeks at No. 1 by a female artist for more than 20 years. She has won four Grammy Awards, was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, has been inducted twice into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as a performer and songwriter, is the recipient of the 2013 Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song (the first woman to be so honored), and is also a 2015 Kennedy Center Honoree.

Barbara Lewis, R&B singer who had a hit with “Hello Stranger,” is 81.

Joe Ely, country singer who toured with The Clash in the late 1970s, is 77.

Major Harris of the Delfonics was born on this day in 1947.

Dennis Thomas, singer with Kool & The Gang, was born on this day in 1951.

Jimmy Pursey, lead singer of Sham 69, is 69.

Holly Johnson, lead singer of Frankie Goes to Hollywood, is 64.

Travis Tritt is 61.

Dave Rotheray, guitarist with English group The Beautiful South, is 61.

Rachel Bolan of Skid Row is 60.

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