History highlight:

On this day in 1953, Chaka Khan was born, making her 73. Her career began in the 1970s as the frontwoman of the funk band Rufus. In the course of her solo career, Khan has achieved three gold singles, three gold albums and one platinum album with I Feel for You, its title track written by Prince. With Rufus, she achieved four gold singles, four gold albums, and two platinum albums. Widely known as the Queen of Funk, Khan has won ten Grammys and has sold an estimated 70 million records worldwide.

Also, today in:

1956 - Fats Domino headlined the first day of a three-day concert organized by DJ Alan Freed in Hartford, Connecticut. Over the course of the shows, 11 fans were arrested by overzealous police. It was a litmus test for rock concerts and their effect on young people, as psychiatrist Francis Braceland testified afterwards that rock music is "a communicable disease with music appealing to adolescent insecurity and driving teenagers to do outlandish things. It is cannibalistic and tribalistic."

1963 - Ruby and the Romantics went to No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "Our Day Will Come."

1972 - The film of The Concert For Bangladesh, featuring George Harrison, Bob Dylan, and Eric Clapton, premiered in New York. The event was the first benefit concert of this magnitude in world history. The concert, which was administered by UNICEF, raised $243,418.51 (worth $1.9 million in 2026) to aid victims of famine and war in Bangladesh. To this day, sales of the album and DVD continue to benefit the George Harrison Fund for UNICEF.

1973 - U.S. immigration authorities ordered John Lennon to leave the United States within 60 days. Lennon then began a long battle to earn his permanent resident card (aka “green card”), which he was finally granted on July 27, 1976.

1977 - Elvis Presley appeared at the Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona, the first show in a 49-date, three-month U.S. tour, which proved to be Presley's final tour.

1978 - A&M Records signed a young new band called The Police.

1978 - Bob Marley and the Wailers released their 10th studio album, Kaya. It features the singles "Is This Love" and "Satisfy My Soul."

1979 - Van Halen released their second studio album, Van Halen II. It features the singles "Dance the Night Away," "Beautiful Girls," and "Somebody Get Me a Doctor."

1979 - Journey released their fifth studio album, Evolution. It features the singles "Just the Same Way," "Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'," and "Too Late."

1983 - ZZ Top released their eighth studio album, Eliminator. It features the singles "Gimme All Your Lovin'," "Sharp Dressed Man," "TV Dinners," and "Legs."

1985 - Former Creedence Clearwater Revival frontman John Fogerty went to No. 1 on the U.S. album chart with Centerfield. The title track remains a fan favorite in U.S. baseball stadiums to this day.

1985 - Billy Joel married the "Uptown Girl" Christie Brinkley. They remained married for nine years.

1988 - Bobby McFerrin released his second studio album, Simple Pleasures. It features the single, "Don't Worry, Be Happy."

1992 - The Charlatans released their second studio album, Between 10th and 11th. It features the singles "Weirdo" and "Tremelo Song."

1993 - Butthole Surfers released their sixth studio album, Independent Worm Saloon. It features the singles "Who Was in My Room Last Night?" and "Dust Devil."

1993 - P.M. Dawn released their second studio album, The Bliss Album...? (Vibrations of Love and Anger and the Ponderance of Life and Existence). It features the singles "I'd Die Without You," "Looking Through Patient Eyes," "More Than Likely," and "So On and So On."

1997 - U2 were at No. 1 on the U.S. album chart with Pop, the band's fifth U.S. No. 1 album.

2000 - Sixty-year-old Tina Turner launched her Twenty Four Seven tour at Target Center in Minneapolis. The tour took in $80 million, making it the top-grossing tour of 2000. The campaign promoted her final studio album Twenty Four Seven (1999). 

2004 - Iron & Wine released their second studio album, Our Endless Numbered Days.

2004 - Madvillain (MF Doom and Madlib) released their debut, Madvillainy. It features “Money Folder” and “All Caps.”

2004 - Joanna Newsom released her debut album, The Milk-Eyed Mender. It features “Sprout and the Bean.”

2004 - Blonde Redhead released their sixth studio album, Misery is a Butterfly. It features “Elephant Woman” and “Equus.”

2004 - Eagles of Death Metal released their debut studio album, Peace, Love, Death Metal.

2008 - Jack Johnson was at No. 1 on the U.S. album chart with his fifth album, Sleep Through The Static. The album spent three weeks at the top of the charts.

2011 - Guitarist Pete Townshend told Uncut magazine that he regretted ever forming the band, The Who. "What would I have done differently? I would never have joined a band," Townshend was quoted as saying. "Even though I am quite a good gang member and a good trooper on the road, I am bad at creative collaboration."

2012 - Madonna released her 12th studio album, MDNA. It features the singles "Give Me All Your Luvin'," "Girl Gone Wild," "Masterpiece," and "Turn Up the Radio."

2014 - Canadian musician Dave Brockie, best known as the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Gwar, died of an apparent heroin overdose.

2015 - Laura Marling released her fifth studio album, Short Movie.

2015 - Earl Sweatshirt released his second studio album, I Don't Like S**t, I Don't Go Outside.

2016 - Gloria Gaynor's hit "I Will Survive" was selected to enter the U.S. National Recording Registry. A top-selling song after its initial release, it sold 14 million copies worldwide, has had more than 200 cover versions released in more than 20 different languages worldwide, and has been certified platinum.

2018 - Jack White released his third solo studio album, Boarding House Reach. It features the singles "Connected by Love," "Respect Commander," "Corporation," "Over and Over and Over," and "Ice Station Zebra."

Birthdays:

German singer-songwriter Lale Andersen, who transcended national boundaries and the horror of war with her transnational 1942 hit, “Lili Marleen,” was born today in 1905.

Jimmy Miller — producer of the Rolling Stones’ Beggars Banquet (1968), Let It Bleed (1969), Sticky Fingers (1971), Exile on Main St. (1972) and Goats Head Soup (1973) — was born today in 1942.

Ric Ocasek of the Cars was born on this day in 1944.

Mandolinist David Grisman, who regularly collaborated with Jerry Garcia, is 81.

Phil Lanzon of Uriah Heep is 76.

Chaka Khan (born Yvette Stevens) is 73. (See highlight, above)

John Strohm of the Lemonheads is 59.

Damon Albarn is 58. The English-Icelandic musician, singer-songwriter and composer is the frontman of the rock band Blur and the co-creator and primary musical contributor of the virtual band Gorillaz.

Brett Eldredge is 40.

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