History highlight:

Today in 1942, musician, painter and actor Ian Dury was born. Dury grew up outside of London, and at age 7, contracted polio, a condition that left him with a disability on the left side of his body. After performing in pub-rock outfit Kilburn & the High Roads, Dury emerged as a solo artist in the 1970s, releasing the timeless single, “Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll.” Signed by Stiff Records, Dury fronted the band Ian Dury and the Blockheads. After releasing three albums, Dury shifted his attention to acting; among his notable roles was that of a gangster in the 1989 crime drama film The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover. Dury returned to music in the 1990s, and he performed his last concert, alongside the Blockheads, at the London Palladium on February 6, 2000. Dury died peacefully at home in London on March 27, 2000, following a five-year battle with cancer.

Also, today in:

1958 - The Everly Brothers started a four-week run at No. 1 with "All I Have To Do Is Dream." Written by the husband-and-wife songwriting team Felice and Boudleaux Bryant, the track was recorded in just two takes.

1963 - Bob Dylan walked out of rehearsals for The Ed Sullivan Show after being told he couldn't perform his song "Talking John Birch Paranoid Blues" due to it mocking the U.S. military and segregation. CBS officials asked Dylan to substitute it for another song, but the singer reportedly said: "No, this is what I want to do. If I can't play my song, I'd rather not appear on the show."

1964 - The Beach Boys started a four-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. album chart with Beach Boys Concert, the group's first No. 1 album.

1965 - The Rolling Stones recorded "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" at RCA Hollywood studios. Keith Richards had come up with the guitar riff in the middle of the night a week earlier. It gave the Stones their first No. 1 single in the U.S.

1967 - Pink Floyd staged the first-ever rock concert with quadraphonic sound at Queen Elizabeth Hall in England.

1967 - The first Jimi Hendrix album, Are You Experienced?, was released. Songs included "Foxy Lady," "Hey Joe" and "Purple Haze."

1972 - The Rolling Stones release their 10th studio album, Exile On Main Street. Although the album met with mixed reviews at the time, it is now widely regarded as the band's best work and routinely appears on lists of the greatest albums of all time. It was the second album on their own label. It featured the hit singles "Tumbling Dice" and "Happy;" Keith Richards was featured on lead vocals on the latter. The album would prove to be one of the band's most influential.

1973 - Led Zeppelin started a three-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. album chart with their fifth album Houses Of The Holy. The group's third U.S. No. 1 album went on to spend 39 weeks on the U.S. chart. Houses Of The Holy has now been certified 11 times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for US sales in excess of 11 million copies.

1975 - Graham Russell and Russell Hitchcock met at rehearsals for a production of Jesus Christ Superstar in Sydney, Australia. They would become good friends and form Air Supply.

1977 - After being dropped by both EMI and A&M Records in less than six months, the Sex Pistols were signed by Virgin Records.

1984 - Lionel Richie started a two-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "Hello," his second U.S. solo No. 1.

1992 - Indigo Girls released their fourth studio album, Rites of Passage. It features the singles "Galileo" and "Joking."

1992 - The Black Crowes released their second studio album, The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion. It features the singles "Remedy," "Thorn in My Pride," and "Hotel Illness."

1998 - Garbage released their second studio album, Version 2.0. It features the singles "Push It," "I Think I'm Paranoid," "Special," "When I Grow Up," and "The Trick Is to Keep Breathing."

1998 - Sonic Youth released their tenth studio album, A Thousand Leaves. It features the singles "Sunday" and "Hits of Sunshine (For Allen Ginsberg)."

1998 - Soul Asylum released their eighth studio album, Candy from a Stranger. It features the singles "I Will Still Be Laughing" and "Close."

1998 - Lenny Kravitz released his fifth studio album, 5. It features the singles "Fly Away," "I Belong to You," and "Black Velveteen."

2001 - Singer and TV host Perry Como died, aged 88. He scored 14 No. 1 singles, including the singles "Magic Moments" and "Catch A Falling Star." Como was once the highest-paid performer in the history of television.

2008 - Death Cab for Cutie released their sixth studio album, Narrow Stairs. It features the singles "I Will Possess Your Heart," "Cath...," and "Grapevine Fires."

2008 - Singer-songwriter Neil Young had a spider named after him - the "myrmekiaphila neilyoungi." College biologist Jason Bond discovered a new species of trapdoor spider in Alabama and decided to name it after his favorite musician.

2014 - The Black Keys released their eighth studio album, Turn Blue. It features “Fever,” the title track, “Bullet In the Brain,” “Gotta Get Away,” and “Weight of Love.”

2015 - The Tallest Man on Earth released their fourth studio album, Dark Bird Is Home. It features “Sagres,” the title track, and “Darkness of the Dream.”

2017 - Harry Styles released his debut studio album, Harry Styles. It features the singles "Sign of the Times," "Two Ghosts," and "Kiwi."

2017 - Paramore released their fifth studio album, After Laughter. It features the singles "Hard Times," "Told You So," "Fake Happy," and "Rose-Colored Boy."

2017 - Kendrick Lamar was at No. 1 on the U.S. album chart with his fourth studio album DAMN. It became the Billboard Year-End No. 1 album of 2017 and was nominated for Album of the Year and won Best Rap Album at the 60th Annual Grammy Awards. The album also won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Music, making it the first non-jazz or classical work to earn the accolade.

2017 - To commemorate the 30th anniversary of their acclaimed 1987 album, The Joshua Tree, U2 embarked upon the Joshua Tree Tour 2017, which opened in Vancouver, Canada. On the tour, the band played the entire Joshua Tree album, including rare treats "Exit" and "Trip Through Your Wires," which they hadn't performed since the '80s, plus the set list debut of "Red Hill Mining Town."

2024 - Jazz saxophonist David Sanborn died at the age of 78.

Birthdays:

Burt Bacharach was born today in 1928.

Norman Whitfield — songwriter who co-wrote and produced Motown hits such as "Ain't Too Proud to Beg," "(I Know) I'm Losing You," "I Heard It Through the Grapevine," "Cloud Nine," "I Can't Get Next to You," "War," "Ball of Confusion (That's What the World Is Today)," "Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me)," "Smiling Faces Sometimes," and "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone" — was born today in 1940.

British New Wave singer/frontman Ian Dury (The Blockheads) was born today in 1942.

Today in 1945, keyboardist Ian McLagan was born in the London borough of Hounslow. Best-known for his work with the Small Faces and the Faces, McLagan also worked with the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Bonnie Raitt, Joe Cocker, Billy Bragg and Bruce Springsteen. A Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee, McLagan passed away on Dec. 3, 2014, in Austin, Texas, at age 69 due to complications from a stroke. McLagan's visit to The Current in 2014 remains a favorite among the staff of the station, whom McLagan impressed not only with his musical chops but also with his charm, his friendship and his sincere warmth.

Steve Winwood is 77.

Billy Squier is 75.

Kiss drummer Eric Singer is 67.

Ray Gillen of Badlands and Black Sabbath was born today in 1959.

Brett Gurewitz — owner of Epitaph Records and co-founder and guitarist for Bad Religion — is 63.

British guitar player Billy Duffy (The Cult) is 64.

Matt Mangano of the Zac Brown Band is 49.

Alex Ebert, frontman for Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros, is 47. Ebert was born in Los Angeles, and is the son of actress Lisa Richards (Dark Shadows, Fantasy Island, CHiPs) and psychotherapist Michael Ebert. Before launching Edward Sharpe, Ebert formed Ima Robot with friend Tim Anderson in the late ‘90s and released a few albums in the mid-aughts. Ebert then transitioned to growing the bohemian rock collective Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros, which played their first show in 2007, and released their debut, Up from Below, in 2009. That album birthed the hit song “Home,” a duet with former band member Jade Castrinos, which has appeared in TV shows, movies, and went viral on TikTok in late 2020. In addition to his work in Edward Sharpe, Ebert has also released two solo albums under his own name.

Rami Malek, who portrayed Queen frontman Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody and won the Academy Award for Best Actor, is 44.

Jessica Lee Dobson, frontwoman and guitarist for Deep Sea Diver, is 41.

Highlights for Today in Music History are gathered from This Day in Music, Paul Shaffer's Day in Rock, Song Facts, All Music, Ian Dury’s official website, and Wikipedia.