History Highlight:

On this day in 1953, country singer and songwriter Hank Williams died of heart failure in the back seat of a car transporting him from Alabama to a performance in Ohio. He was 29.

Also, Today In:

1997 - Country singer-songwriter Townes Van Zandt died of cardiac arrhythmia in Smyrna, Tennessee, at the age of 52.

2013 - Patti Page died in Encinitas, California, at the age of 85. Page was the best-selling female artist of the 1950s, with pop and country hits like “Tennessee Waltz,” “All My Love (Bolero),” “I Went to Your Wedding,” and “(How Much Is) That Doggie in the Window?”

2019 - Musician and activist Pegi Young died in 2019 at the age of 66. She and ex-husband Neil Young co-founded the Bridge School, and put on annual Bridge School Benefits.

2023 - Fred White, an early member of Earth Wind & Fire, died in Los Angeles at the age of 67. White was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2000 with his bandmates.

Birthdays:

Country Joe McDonald is 84.

Grandmaster Flash is 68.

Tank is 50.

Noah Kahan is 29.

Ice Spice is 26.

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