History highlight:

Today in 1965, The Beatles released their 6th album Rubber Soul. Taking a new experimental direction, the band introduced a sitar to their sound and recorded the album in just over four weeks to make the Christmas market. The album title was reportedly a nod to "plastic soul" — a name African American musicians used to call Mick Jagger (a white musician singing soul music). The album is regarded by some as one of the greatest albums in popular music history, and in 2012, Rolling Stone ranked it as No. 5 in the magazine's list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time".

Also, in:

1956 - Guy Mitchell was at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with his version of "Singing The Blues", which spent nine weeks at the top of the charts. Two other versions of the song were released almost simultaneously with Mitchell's, one by Tommy Steele and the other by country singer Marty Robbins.

1964 - The animated TV special Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer debuted on CBS, with Burl Ives as the voice of Sam the Snowman. The special was based on the 1949 song, which has become a perennial favorite.

1965 - Keith Richards was knocked unconscious by an electric shock on stage at the Memorial Hall In Sacramento, when his guitar made contact with his microphone.

1966 - Ray Charles was given a five year suspended prison sentence and a $10,000 fine after being convicted of possessing heroin and marijuana.

1969, The Rolling Stones recorded "Brown Sugar" at Muscle Shoals studios. The single went on to be a U.K. and U.S. No. 1.

1976 - An attempt was made on Bob Marley's life when seven gunmen burst into his Kingston home, injuring Marley, his wife Rita and manager Don Taylor. The attack was believed to be politically motivated.

1979 - A concert by The Who at The Riverfront Coliseum in Cincinnati turned to disaster when 11 members of the audience were trampled to death after a stampede to claim unreserved seats, and another 23 fans were injured. The concert was using festival seating where seats are available on a first-come, first-served basis.

1983 - Songwriter Irving Taylor died in Los Angeles. He co-wrote "Everybody Loves Somebody," which later became a hit for Dean Martin.

1988 - Carole King and Gerry Goffin received a Lifetime Achievement award from the U.S. National Academy of Songwriters.

1994 - Adam Sandler performed "The Chanukah Song" on the Weekend Update segment of Saturday Night Live, enlightening us to the fact that Harrison Ford, Paul Newman and David Lee Roth (among many others) are, in fact, Jewish. Released as a single the following year, the song reached No. 10 in the U.S. and remains a seasonal favorite to this day.

1994 - Boyz II Men knocked themselves off the No. 1 position on the U.S. singles chart when "On Bended Knee" started a six week run a No. 1. The group's "I'll Make Love To You" had been at No. 1 for a record-breaking 14 weeks.

1999 - U2 singer Bono had his missing laptop computer returned after losing it. A young man who had bought it for 300 euros discovered he had the missing laptop, which contained tracks from the forthcoming U2 album.

2007 - Diana Ross and the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson both collected awards for "contributions to U.S. culture" at a ceremony in Washington, attended by President Bush. Hootie and the Blowfish paid tribute to Brian Wilson with a medley of some of the Beach Boys' best-known songs.

2014 - Sonny Bivins, leader of The Manhattans, died at age 78.

2014 - Ian McLagan (keyboardist for Small Faces, Faces) died at age 69.

2014 - Ed Sheeran was named the most-streamed artist in the world by Spotify. The 23-year-old had racked up more than 860 million streams on the service, beating Eminem and Coldplay who came second and third respectively. Katy Perry was the year's most streamed female artist, with Ariana Grande second and Lana Del Rey third.

2015 - Scott Weiland died at age 48. He was found in cardiac arrest on his tour bus in Bloomington, Minnesota, just before he was scheduled to go on stage with his band The Wildabouts. He was 48 years old. Weiland was best known as the lead singer for Stone Temple Pilots from 1986 to 2013, as well as Velvet Revolver from 2003 to 2008.

2015 - Jamaican pianist, keyboard player, and singer, Gladstone Anderson (also known by his nickname "Gladdy") died at age 81. He played a major part in the Jamaica's musical history, helping define the ska sound and the rocksteady beat, and playing on hundreds of recordings and as leader of Gladdy's All Stars who scored the instrumental song hit with 'The Liquidator' in 1969 and 1980.

2015 - Crosby, Stills & Nash, which formed in 1968, imploded at the White House National Christmas Tree Lighting concert when Stephen Stills threw a pick at David Crosby for talking over him. They got though a performance of "Silent Night," but never played together again.

2016 - Due to a spike in sales following his death, Leonard Cohen's original version of "Hallelujah" entered the Hot 100 at #59, giving Cohen his first entry on the chart.

Birthdays:

"Moon River" crooner Andy Williams was born today in 1927.

John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne is 73.

Mickey Thomas of Jefferson Starship is 72.

Kimberley Rew of Katrina And The Waves is 70.

Montell Jordan is 53.

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