History Highlight:

Today in 1990, Mitski was born, making her 33 today. Born Mitski Miyawaki, she is a Japanese-American singer-songwriter who quickly rose to fame as an indie artist. Mitski self-released her first two albums, Lush (2012), and Retired from Sad, New Career in Business (2013), while studying at Purchase College's Conservatory of Music as student projects. After graduating, she released her third studio album, Bury Me at Makeout Creek (2014), through Double Double Whammy. It was followed by Puberty 2 (2016) and Be the Cowboy (2018), released on Dead Oceans. Following the release of her fifth studio album, Mitski announced a hiatus from music, performing, and social media for the foreseeable future. By early 2020, Mitski had changed her mind and decided to return to music, partly because she owed her label another album and partly for herself. Laurel Hell was released in 2022, followed by the recently released, The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We. 

Also, Today In: 

1964 - The Beach Boys made their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show where they performed "I Get Around" and "Wendy". 

1973 - After becoming a devotee of the guru Sri Chinmoy, Carlos Santana starts using the name Devadip, which means "the Lamp of the Light Supreme." 

1975 - John Denver's "I'm Sorry" hits #1, giving him his second chart-topper of the year, following "Thank God I'm A Country Boy." 

1979 - Blondie released Eat To The Beat, which contained the hit "Dreaming." The album was certified Platinum in the United States where it spent a year on the Billboard album chart peaking at No. 17. It also reached No. 1 on the United Kingdom album chart. 

1980 - David Bowie scored his fourth U.K. No. 1 album with Scary Monsters And Supercreeps. The album featured the singles "Ashes to Ashes" and "Fashion". 

1980 - Kurtis Blow becomes the first rapper to perform on national television when he does "The Breaks" on Soul Train. Host Don Cornelius is flummoxed. "It doesn't make sense to old guys like me," he tells Kurtis in the interview segment. 

1984 - Alphaville releases "Forever Young." 

1986 - The pioneering rap/rock version of "Walk This Way" by Aerosmith and Run-D.M.C. hit the Top 5. 

1986 - The Beatles track "Twist and Shout" re-entered the U.S. singles chart over twenty-five years after it first appeared, when the song was featured in the film Ferris Bueller's Day Off. 

1990 - Marvin Gaye received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. 

1994 - The Dave Matthews Band release their first album, Under The Table and Dreaming. The band is road-tested, with a huge fanbase in the Virginia area, where they have been playing live since 1991. They earn a legion of new fans when the tracks "What Would You Say" and "Ants Marching" get airplay across America, helping the album sell over 6 million copies. 

1997 - Bob Dylan played "Knocking On Heaven's Door" and "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall" for Pope John Paul II and an audience of 300,000 at the World Eucharist Congress in Bologna, Italy. For the 77-year-old Pope, it was a chance to connect with young people, and the pontiff did so by invoking Dylan's song "Blowin' In The Wind" during his sermon.  

2000 - Quincy Jones' Listen Up Foundation donates $25,000 to five South Central Los Angeles youth organizations. 

2003 - Carly Simon sues the owners of New York's famous Dakota apartment complex, claiming they kept her $59,000 down payment after rejecting her rental application. 

2004 - Legendary record producer Phil Spector was formally charged with murder in the February 3rd, 2003 shooting of actress Lana Clarkson. 

2005 - The White Stripes were reportedly the first to webcast a concert when their show at the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Maryland was streamed on NPR.org. With opening act M. Ward, the shows were included in NPR Music's live concert series from All Songs Considered. 

2011 - Tony Bennett became the oldest living person to top the U.S. album chart when the 85-year-old's Duets II album went to No. 1. The record, which featured collaborations with Amy Winehouse and Lady Gaga, was also his first U.S. No. 1 in his 60 year career. The previous oldest performer to top the chart was Bob Dylan in 2009 with Together Through Life. At the time he was 67-years old. 

2012 - birthday boy Lil Wayne became the new champion of the Billboard Hot 100 by placing his 109th song on the chart as an artist. Though Wayne remains one of the most prolific solo rap artists in the history of the genre, it was thanks to Weezy’s feature on The Game’s “Celebration”– which also featured Chris Brown, Tyga, and Wiz Khalifa – that earned the MC his record-holding status. The Louisiana legend broke the record established by Elvis Presley, who tallied 108 turns on the Hot 100. Wayne is, according to that run, more commercially successful with other artists than he is on his own. As a solo artist, he churned out 42 charting records, while as a featured artist, he assisted on 67. 

2016 - Bruce Springsteen publishes his autobiography, Born To Run. He started working on it after his 2009 performance at the Super Bowl halftime show. 

2018 - Singer, songwriter Marty Balin died at the age of 76. He was best-known as the founder and one of the lead singers of Jefferson Airplane and Jefferson Starship who had the 1967 U.S. No. 18 single "White Rabbit". Balin played with Jefferson Airplane at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967 and at the Woodstock Festival in 1969.  

Birthdays: 

Meat Loaf was born on this day in 1947. He passed away in January of 2022 at the age of 74. 

Randy Bachman of Guess Who is 80. 

Stephan Jenkins of Third Eye Blind is 59. 

Lil Wayne is 41. 

Alexis Krauss who fronts the band Sleigh Bells, is 38. 

Mitski is 33. 

Avril Lavigne is 39. 

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