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 No. 1 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 from Liverpool Cathedral, which was broadcast live on TV in the U.K.

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 perhaps fittingly 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. It was the band's first LP with Joe Walsh and last with bassist Randy Meisner, and it 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. The song 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, 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 (who 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. Curb is also a major funder of the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame, located in Kannapolis, North Carolina, near Charlotte.

Ian Fraser "Lemmy" Kilmister of the band Motörhead 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.

Guitarist Doyle Bramhall II, who has collaborated and toured with artists including Eric Clapton, Roger Waters, Sheryl Crow, Erykah Badu, T Bone Burnett, Questlove, Elton John and many others, 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.