History highlight:

Stevland Hardaway Morris, known professionally as Stevie Wonder, was born on this day in 1950, making him 72 today. A child prodigy once called Little Stevie Wonder, he is one of the most successful songwriters and musicians in the history of music and the only artist to have won the Album of the Year Grammy with three consecutive album releases. He has sold over 100 million records worldwide and won 25 total Grammys, and he made his mark on history forever by campaigning to make Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday a holiday in the United States. Read all about his “Happy Birthday” MLK tribute on The Current blog.

Also, today in:

1956 - Elvis performed his first two shows in the Twin Cities on May 13. The 2 p.m. show at the St. Paul Auditorium drew only 800 fans, and the show started on an ominous note when Elvis broke a guitar string and it hit him in the cheek. The 8 p.m. show at the Minneapolis Auditorium drew a paltry 1,300, when the booking agent needed 20,000 to break even. Mother's Day and tornado warnings kept the crowds away. (Twin Cities Music Highlights)

1967 - The Supremes scored their tenth U.S. No. 1 single with "The Happening."

1969 - Led Zeppelin became the first major British rock group to appear in Hawaii, when they appeared at the Civic Auditorium in Honolulu.

1970 - The world premiere of The Beatles last film project, Let It Be, took place in New York City. The film was released shortly after the album of the same name.

1971 - Grace Slick of Jefferson Airplane crashed her Mercedes into a wall near the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and was hospitalized.

1971 - On his twenty-first birthday, Stevie Wonder received his childhood earnings. Despite having earned $30 million at the time, he received only $1 million.

1974 - Forty-three people were arrested and more than 50 were injured after young fans started throwing bottles outside a Jackson 5 concert at RFK stadium in Washington, D.C.

1978 - Yvonne Elliman went to No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with her cover of the Gibb brothers' song "If I Can't Have You." The song was featured in the film Saturday Night Fever.

1989 - Bon Jovi went to No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "I'll Be There for You," their fourth U.S. No. 1.

1996 - Oasis became the fastest-selling band in U.K. history after all 330,000 tickets for their summer shows sold out in just nine hours.

2002 - Dionne Warwick was arrested at Miami International Airport for possession of marijuana after authorities found 11 joints in a lipstick case in the singer's hand luggage. The charges were dropped after she completed a drug program and contributed to a charity.

2003 - Michael Jackson launched a court case suing Motown Records. The lawsuit stated he hadn't been paid royalties he was owed for the music he did with the Jackson 5 in the 1960s and 1970s. The singer also claimed his music had been used in TV ads without his permission.

2008 - The U.S. Postal Service issued a 42-cent postage stamp in honor of Frank Sinatra. The design featured a 1950s image of Sinatra, wearing a hat.

2011 - "Like A Rolling Stone" was voted Bob Dylan's best song by Rolling Stone magazine, who had asked the opinions of a panel of writers, academics and musicians to compile a poll to mark Dylan's 70th birthday on May 24 of that year.

2012 - Donald Dunn, bassist with Booker T and the M.G.'s, died in his sleep after playing a show at the Blue Note nightclub in Tokyo the night before.

2019 - Doris Day died at age 97.

More Birthdays:

Ritchie Valens was born on this day in 1941.

Roxy Music drummer Paul Thompson is 71.

Motown superstar Mary Wells was born on this day in 1943.

Darius Rucker of Hootie & the Blowfish is 56.

Alison Goldfrapp — best known as the lead vocalist of the electronic music duo Goldfrapp — is 56.

Michael Madden of Maroon 5 is 43.

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