History Highlight:

Today in 2019, American songwriter Allee Willis died at age 72. Willis co-wrote hit songs including “September” and “Boogie Wonderland” by Earth, Wind & Fire, and “I'll Be There for You” by the Rembrandts, the theme from the TV sitcom Friends. Her compositions sold more than 60 million records, and she was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2018.

Also, in:

1965 - The Beatles had the number one album in the U.S. for the third Christmas in a row. Rubber Soul topped the LP chart in '65, following Beatles For Sale in 1964 and With The Beatles' in 1963. The Beatles would repeat this feat again in 1968 with The White Album and again in 1969 with Abbey Road.

1967 - The Bee Gees performed their Christmas special "live" from Liverpool Cathedral, England which was broadcast on U.K. TV.

1973 - Tom Johnson of the Doobie Brothers was arrested in California and charged with possession of marijuana. The album the band released shortly after this is ironically titled "What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits".

1976 - The Eagles sixth album, Hotel California spent the first of eight non-consecutive weeks at the top of the Billboard chart. The band's first LP with Joe Walsh and last with bassist Randy Meisner which has now sold over 16 million copies.

1977 - The Bee Gees started a three week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "How Deep Is Your Love", the group's fourth U.S. No. 1. It stayed in the top 10 for 17 weeks.

1988 - Poison started a three-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "Every Rose Has Its Thorn."

1988 - Nirvana started recording their first album Bleach using a $600 loan from an old school friend.

1994 - Pearl Jam went No. 1 on the U.S. album chart with Vitalogy. Their third studio album was first released on vinyl record, followed by a release in other formats two weeks later.

Birthdays:

Lee Dorsey, singer of "Working in the Coal Mine", was born today in 1924.

Mike Hazlewood (wrote “The Air that I Breathe,” which was later cited in a plagiarism lawsuit against Radiohead regarding similarities to “Creep”) was born today in 1941.

Mike Curb, founder of Curb Records, is 81.

Ian Fraser "Lemmy" Kilmister was born today in 1945.

Mary Ramsey, violist for 10,000 Maniacs, is 62.

Neil Turbin, the first full-time vocalist for Anthrax, is 62.

Millard Powers, bassist for Counting Crows, is 60.

Doyle Bramhall II is 57.

Ricky Martin is 54.

Ryan Seacrest is 51.

Louis Tomlinson of One Direction is 34.

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