History highlight:

Today in 2016, at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta, Prince played his final concerts, with one show at 7 p.m. and another at 10 p.m. Prince began the year 2016 with his Piano & A Microphone Tour, a series of intimate shows featuring Prince playing solo versions of his songs, accompanying himself on piano. The tour began at Paisley Park in Chanhassen on January 21 before heading to Australia and New Zealand for five dates in February. The tour returned to North America for shows in Oakland, Montreal, Toronto and Atlanta. The pair of Atlanta shows were originally set for April 7 but had to be rescheduled to April 14 after Prince came down with flu. The setlist for the 10 p.m. show at the Fox Theatre included "Black Sweat," "Baby I'm A Star," "Little Red Corvette" and "I Would Die 4 U," along with a cover of Vince Guaraldi's "Linus and Lucy." The show's three encores ended with a four-song set that began with "Sometimes It Snows in April," followed by "Purple Rain," "The Beautiful Ones" and "Diamonds and Pearls." All concert attendees received a CD of Prince's album, HITnRUN Phase Two, when they exited the theater. Although Prince made a brief onstage appearance at a party at Paisley Park on April 17, the Atlanta shows marked his last full concerts prior to his death on April 21, 2016.

Also, today in:

1955 - Fats Domino's "Ain't That A Shame" was released. Pat Boone would later enjoy success with a cover version of the tune, although he had to be dissuaded from changing it to "Isn't That a Shame." Cheap Trick would later have a hit with the tune as well.

1965 - The Beatles changed the name of their second movie from Eight Arms To Hold You to Help!

1971 - The Illinois Crime Commission came out with a list of drug-oriented tunes. The songs of infamy included "White Rabbit" by Jefferson Airplane, "Let's Go Get Stoned" by Ray Charles, "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds" by the Beatles, and "A Whiter Shade of Pale" by Procol Harum.

1972 - David Bowie released "Starman" and "Suffragette City," the advance singles from his acclaimed conceptual album, The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars. Ziggy would remain on the album chart for more than a year.

1975 - Following many rumors and much speculation that Jimmy Page, Chris Spedding, Jeff Beck or even Eric Clapton would replace Mick Taylor in the Rolling Stones, it was announced that Faces guitarist Ron Wood would fill his shoes.

1976 - Motown Records and Stevie Wonder announced the largest contract renewal to date, worth $13 million.

1978 - The soundtrack album to the film Grease arrived. It features the singles "You’re the One That I Want," "Summer Nights," and "Grease."

1979 - The Doobie Brothers went to No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "What A Fool Believes," the group's second U.S. No. 1.

1980 - Iron Maiden released their self-titled debut album. It features “Sanctuary” and “Running Free.”

1980 - A New Jersey State assemblyman introduced a resolution to make Bruce Springsteen's "Born To Run" the official state song of New Jersey. The resolution passed the assembly but not the state Senate.

1982 - Van Halen released their fifth studio album, Diver Down. It features the singles "Oh, Pretty Woman" and "Dancing in the Street."

1983 - David Bowie released his 15th studio album, Let’s Dance, to massive commercial success, reaching No. 1 in numerous countries. After the release of Scary Monsters (1980), Bowie began a period of numerous musical collaborations and film appearances. By 1982, he left RCA Records out of dissatisfaction and signed with EMI America. Wanting a fresh start, he chose Nile Rodgers of the band Chic to co-produce his next record. Let’s Dance remains Bowie's best-selling album.

1986 - Cocteau Twins released their fourth studio album, Victorialand. It features the singles "Lazy Calm" and "Oomingmak."

1988 - Public Enemy's second album, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, was released. Often cited as one of the greatest hip-hop albums of all time, the album spawned such classics as "Don't Believe the Hype," "Night of the Living Baseheads," and "Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos," as well as the original version of "Bring the Noise."

1989 - Minneapolis band Soul Asylum released the EP Clam Dip & Other Delights. The title and cover art are both parodies of Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass's album Whipped Cream & Other Delights. It was a humorous nod to their new record label, A&M (the "A" standing for "Alpert"). Bassist Karl Mueller sat in as the model for hours in a foul-smelling combination of sour cream, paint, whipped cream and seafood. The album also makes fun of the A&M logo being under the title of the album, incorporating the Twin/Tone Records logo instead.

1992 - L7 released their third studio album, Bricks Are Heavy. It features the singles "Pretend We’re Dead," "Everglade," and "Monster."

1992 - "Weird Al" Yankovic released his seventh studio album, Off the Deep End. It features the singles "Smells Like Nirvana," "You Don’t Love Me Anymore," and "Taco Grande."

1997 - Depeche Mode released their ninth studio album, Ultra. It features the singles "Barrel of a Gun," "It’s No Good," "Home," and "Useless."

1997 - Creed released their debut studio album, My Own Prison. It features the singles "My Own Prison," "Torn," "What’s This Life For," and "One."

1998 - The very first VH1 Divas special debuted on the music channel as a benefit concert for VH1's Save The Music Foundation. Headliners were Aretha Franklin, Mariah Carey, Celine Dion, Gloria Estefan, and Shania Twain, with a guest appearance by Carole King.

2003 - M83 released their second studio album, Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts. It features the singles "Run Into Flowers" and "America." (The U.S. release followed on July 27, 2004.)

2009 - Former Beatle George Harrison was honored with a posthumous star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles. Sir Paul McCartney attended the unveiling outside the landmark Capitol Records building, joining Harrison's widow Olivia and son Dhani. Tom Petty, along with actors Eric Idle and Tom Hanks, also attended the ceremony.

2009 - Silversun Pickups released their second full-length album, Swoon. It features “Panic Switch” and “Substitution.”

2013 - Justin Bieber caused outrage after writing a message in a guest book at the Anne Frank Museum, which stated he hoped the Holocaust victim would have been a fan. The 19-year-old wrote: "Truly inspiring to be able to come here. Anne was a great girl. Hopefully she would have been a belieber." It provoked fierce online criticism of the Canadian singer, who was in Amsterdam as part of a tour.

2014 - Jazz percussionist Armando Peraza died of pneumonia at the age of 89. He was a member of Santana from 1972 until the early ‘90s, appearing on over 15 of the group's albums. Born in Lawton Batista, Havana, Cuba, Pereza played congas, bongos, and timbales.

2015 - Today in 2015, American R&B and soul singer Percy Sledge died of liver cancer at his home in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, at age 73. The inspiration behind his 1966 U.S. No. 1 hit "When a Man Loves a Woman" came when Sledge's girlfriend left him for a modeling career after Sledge was laid off from a construction job in late 1965.

2017 - Kendrick Lamar released his fourth studio album, DAMN. It features the singles "HUMBLE.," "DNA.," and "LOYALTY."

2018 - Beyoncé, who had to cancel the previous year because of her pregnancy, headlined Coachella in lavish fashion, with over 70 performers and a reunion of Destiny's Child. She became the first Black woman to headline the festival.

2023 - Mark Sheehan, guitarist for the Script, died at the age of 46.

Birthdays:

Gospel singer Inez Andrews, who sang lead on “Mary Don’t You Weep” with the Caravans, was born today in 1929.

Country legend Loretta Lynn was born today in 1932

Ritchie Blackmore of Deep Purple is 81.

Kenny Aaronson — bassist for Bob Dylan, Rick Derringer, Billy Idol, Joan Jett, and more — is 74.

Barrett Martin — drummer for Screaming Trees and Mad Season — is 59.

Martyn LeNoble — bassist for Porno for Pyros — is 57.

Britt Daniel, frontman for Spoon, is 55. Daniel grew up in Temple, Texas, and he went on to attend the University of Texas at Austin, where he played in a couple of bands. One of those bands, a rockabilly outfit called The Alien Beats, included drummer Jim Eno. After the dissolution of The Alien Beats, Daniel and Eno formed the band Spoon, named after a song by the German band Can that appears in the 1985 film Jagged Edge, which stars Glenn Close and Jeff Bridges. To date, Spoon have released 10 studio albums, the most recent one being 2022’s Lucifer on the Sofa. Beyond Spoon, Britt Daniel was also a member of the band Divine Fits, whose 2012 song “Would That Not Be Nice” includes the lyric, “I wish that I was in Minneapolis.”

Da Brat is 52.

JD McPherson is 49.

Win Butler of Arcade Fire is 46.

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