History highlight:

Today in 1986, Queen released their 12th studio album, A Kind of Magic. The album is the unofficial soundtrack to the fantasy-action-adventure film, Highlander, and it is the first album Queen released after their highly acclaimed performance at 1985’s Live Aid. A Kind of Magic went straight to the top of the U.K. charts upon its release, and it sold more than 100,000 units in its first week. Despite its embrace by fans, critics’ reactions to the album were mixed. Nevertheless, the album featured four hit singles: "A Kind of Magic," "One Vision," "Friends Will Be Friends," and "Who Wants to Live Forever." Queen supported the album with a European tour that year, which included two sold-out shows at the original Wembley Stadium in London — a combined audience of more than 150,000 people.

Also, today in:

1962 - Ray Charles started a five-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. and U.K. singles charts with the Don Gibson-penned country ballad, "I Can't Stop Loving You." Choral backing was provided by the Randy Van Horne Singers, and the song was ranked No. 164 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

1973 - Paul McCartney had two No. 1 positions on the U.S. charts when Red Rose Speedway went to the top of the album chart and "My Love" started a four-week run as the No. 1 single.

1978 - Bruce Springsteen released his fourth studio album, Darkness on the Edge of Town. It features "Prove It All Night," "Badlands," and "The Promised Land."

1978 - Peter Gabriel released his second studio album, which is self-titled. It’s nicknamed Scratch, due to the cover art. It features “D.I.Y.”

1979 - Donna Summer started a three-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "Hot Stuff," her second U.S. No. 1. The song was her first single release from her Bad Girls album and was a bit of a departure from the disco sound that Summer had been associated with until this point. “Hot Stuff" won her the Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance in the inaugural year the award was given out.

1979 - The Cars released their second studio album, Candy-O. It features the title track plus "Let's Go," “Dangerous Type” and "It's All I Can Do." It went on to peak at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 Album Chart and would eventually sell more than four million copies in the U.S., a milestone that earned it a four-times platinum certification from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in 2001. The cover features artwork by Alberto Vargas (1896 – 1982), a famed painter of American pin-up art. The album’s producer, Ray Thomas Baker, died April 12, 2025, at age 78.

1981 - Prince made his live British debut at the Lyceum Ballroom in London. He wouldn't play the U.K. again for five years.

1987 - Gloria Estefan and Miami Sound Machine released their 10th studio album, Let It Loose. It features “Rhythm Is Gonna Get You,” "Anything for You," and "1-2-3."

1992 - The Lemonheads released their fifth album, It’s a Shame About Ray. It features the title track, “Mrs. Robinson,” “My Drug Buddy,” and “Confetti.”

1992 - Mariah Carey released the live EP, MTV Unplugged. It features “I’ll Be There.”

1992 - Saigon Kick released their second studio album, The Lizard. It features “Love Is on the Way.”

1998 - Smashing Pumpkins released their fourth studio album, Adore. It features “Perfect” and “Ava Adore.”

2002 - The wedding ring that Paul McCartney had given his fiancée Heather Mills was thrown out of the window of the hotel where the couple was staying in Miami. The hotel staff used metal detectors to find the $25,000 ring the next day. Despite the quarrel, McCartney and Mills went ahead with the wedding. They divorced in 2008.

2003 - British Sea Power released their debut studio album, The Decline of British Sea Power. It features the singles "Remember Me," "Carrion," and "Childhood Memories."

2005 - Franz Ferdinand frontman Alex Kapranos was detained by Russian police after being suspected of being a spy. Kapranos was attempting to board a plane in Moscow when the altercation took place. Traveling under his actual surname, Huntley, Alex was accused of being an MI6 agent who was previously suspected of stealing information about Russian weaponry. Unluckily for Alex, the surname Huntley was also used by an actual former MI6 agent, Richard Tomlinson, who did steal secrets in the early 1990s. The singer was freed after he pointed out to Russian authorities that the Huntley they were so concerned about was 42 years old — 13 years Kapranos' senior.

2006 - Jackson Browne, Dar Williams and Pete Seeger play a hayloft in Garrison, New York, to kickstart Orleans founder John Hall's congressional campaign.

2008 - American blues guitarist and singer Bo Diddley (Ellas Otha Bates) died of heart failure at his home in Archer, Florida, aged 79.

2014 - LP released their third studio album, Forever for Now. It features “Into the Wild.”

2016 - The limited edition vinyl pressing of the David Bowie album Changesonebowie was at No. 1 on the U.K.'s Official Vinyl Album Chart. Bowie had four other vinyl albums on the chart; Blackstar at No. 14, Hunky Dory at No. 17, The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars at No. 18 and Nothing Has Changed - The Very Best of David Bowie at No. 23. Sales of vinyl records were up 32 percent to $416 million, their highest level since 1988, according to the RIAA.

2017 - Alt-J released their third studio album, RELAXER. It features "3WW," "In Cold Blood," "Adeline," "Deadcrush," and "Pleader."

2017 - Bleachers released their second studio album, Gone Now. It features “Don’t Take the Money.”

2017 - Dan Auerbach released his second studio album, Waiting on a Song.

2017 - Dua Lipa released her debut studio album, which is self-titled. It features “New Rules,” “Be the One,” and “IDGAF.”

2018 - BTS became the first K-pop band to top the U.S. albums chart when Love Yourself: Tear debuted at No. 1.

2020 - Many in the music industry recognized "Blackout Tuesday" in response to the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer, using the hashtag #TheShowMustBePaused.

Birthdays:

Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Johnny Carter of the Flamingos and the Dells was born today in 1934.

Singer-songwriter Jimmy Jones, whose 1959 song “Handy Man” was later covered by James Taylor, was born today in 1937.

Charles Miller, saxophonist for War (“Low Rider”), was born today in 1939.

Charles Robert Watts (aka Charlie Watts, drummer for the Rolling Stones) was born on this day in 1941.

Michael “Micki” Steele of the Runaways and the Bangles is 71.

Lydia Lunch, lead singer of Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, is 67.

Singer Tony Hadley of Spandau Ballet is 66.

Australian pop singer and songwriter Merril Bainbridge, known for 1994’s “Mouth,” is 58.

Rapper B Real (Cypress Hill) is 56.

Keane pianist and backing vocalist Tim Rice-Oxley is 49.

Butterfly Boucher is 47.

Fabrizio Moretti, best-known as the drummer for The Strokes, is 46. Moretti was born on June 2, 1980, in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil but raised in New York City, where he attended high school and met future fellow band members Nick Vlaensi and Julian Casablancas. He dropped out of college, where he was studying sculpture to focus on the Strokes, but has continued to pursue mediums outside of music in the following decades, including sculpture and performance art. In 2007, Moretti formed the trio Little Joy, with Los Hermanos guitarist, singer, songwriter Rodrigo Amarante and Binki Shapiro. Since 2018, he has led a New York synth pop band and artist collective called machinegum.

Matthew Koma is 39.

Awkwafina is 38.

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