History Highlight:
On this day in 1986, Wham! played their farewell concert at Wembley Stadium in London, to an audience of more than 72,000. Both members of Wham! — George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley — were just 23. Special guests made appearances during the concert, with pop duo Pepsi & Shirlie joining Wham! for a couple of songs, as did Elton John, who played piano and sang (while wearing a Ronald McDonald costume) during Wham!’s cover of his song “Candle in the Wind.” For their last song, "I'm Your Man," Wham! were joined onstage by Simon Le Bon of Duran Duran.

Also, Today In:

1959 - Bobby Darin was at No. 1 on the U.K. singles chart with "Dream Lover." It was the American singer's first No. 1, and the song featured Neil Sedaka on piano.

1966 - The Small Faces appeared live at The Marquee Club in Wardour Street, London.

1968 - The Beatles recorded "Good Night," with Ringo Starr singing the lead vocals, at Abbey Road studios. John Lennon wrote this song as a lullaby for his 5-year-old son Julian.

1969 - Fleetwood Mac, Led Zeppelin, The Nice, Ten Years After, Taste, and several others appeared at The Bath Festival of Blues in England, hosted by DJ John Peel.

1969 - Henry Mancini started a two-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "Love Theme from Romeo And Juliet."

1970 - The gender-bending single "Lola" by The Kinks was released as a single in the U.S. The song details a romantic encounter between a young man and a person he meets in a club in Soho, London, with the narrator describing his confusion towards a person named Lola who "walked like a woman and talked like a man."

1975 - David Bowie's "Fame" was released. John Lennon had been in on the recording session, lending guitar and vocals, and Bowie felt Lennon's contributions during the recording was significant enough that he gave him co-songwriting credit. The main riff of the song was based on an improv devised by Bowie's guitarist Carlos Alomar. "Fame" became Bowie's biggest hit to that point in the U.S., as it was his first No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

1975 - Wings went to No. 1 on the U.K. chart with their fourth album Venus And Mars. The follow up to Band On The Run featured the U.S. No. 1 single "Listen What The Man Said."

1975 - The Eagles started a five-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. album chart with their fourth studio album, One Of These Nights. The album, which became their breakthrough album, released three U.S. top 10 singles, “Lyin' Eyes,” (which won a Grammy), “Take It To The Limit” and the title track.

1975 - American singer-songwriter Tim Buckley completed the last show of a tour in Dallas, Texas, playing to a sold-out crowd of 1,800 people. This was Buckley's last-ever show; he died the following day of a heroin and morphine overdose aged 28. Buckley’s son was singer-songwriter Jeff Buckley.

1980 - Paul McCartney's Coming Up became one of the few "live" recordings to reach the top of Billboard's Hot 100. American disc jockeys preferred it to the studio version on the flip side of the record.

1985 - Philadelphia soul duo Sister Sledge were at No. 1 on the U.K. singles chart with “Frankie,” the sisters’ only U.K. No. 1. Nile Rodgers from Chic produced the hit song.

1988 - Public Enemy released their second studio album, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back. It features "Rebel Without a Pause," "Bring the Noise," "Don't Believe the Hype," "Night of the Living Baseheads" and "Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos."

1993 - Notorious transgressive rock singer GG Allin died of a heroin overdose.

1994 - Rapper Da Brat released her debut album, Funkdafied. It features the hit title track.

1994 - Tony Bennett released MTV Unplugged. The performance features guest appearances by Elvis Costello and k.d. lang. The album won Album of the Year and Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance at the 1995 Grammy Awards.

1997 - Radiohead went to No. 1 on the U.K. album chart with their third album OK Computer. The British group's first self-produced album later appeared in many critics' lists and listener polls for best album of the year and also won a Grammy for Best Alternative Music Performance.

1997 - Puff Daddy and Faith Evans started a three-week run at No. 1 on the U.K. singles chart with "I'll Be Missing You." The song was released in memory of fellow Bad Boy Records artist Notorious B.I.G., who was murdered on March 9, 1997. The song sampled the melody of The Police hit "Every Breath You Take."

1997 - The classic Pink Floyd album Dark Side of the Moon spent its 1,056th week on U.S. album charts.

2004 - The Cure released their 12th studio album, The Cure. It features the single, “The End of the World.”

2005 - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah released their self-titled debut studio album. It features "The Skin of My Yellow Country Teeth."

2007 - Rod Stewart received 10 stitches in his leg after slipping onstage in Manchester, England.

2008 - During her performance at Glastonbury Festival, Amy Winehouse punched a fan she mistakenly believed had thrown a hat at her beehive.

2011 - Bluegrass duo Gillian Welch and David Rawlings released The Harrow & The Harvest, their first album in eight years.

2012 - The Flaming Lips broke the Guinness World Record for the most live shows performed in multiple cities within 24 hours. The feat was part of MTV's O Music Awards, which honors achievements in the digital music realm.

2015 - At the BET Awards, Puff Daddy reunited his Bad Boy crew — including Faith Evans, Lil' Kim, French Montana and Ma$e — for a 10-song medley of their hits. This led to the Bad Boy Family Reunion Tour the following year.

2016 - Scotty Moore, Elvis Presley's longtime guitarist, died at his home in Nashville at the age of 84.

2017 - Gary DeCarlo, singer of the 1969 hit "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye," died of cancer at age 75.

2019 - Blues-rock duo the Black Keys released their ninth studio album, ‘Let’s Rock’. The title and cover was inspired by the electric chair execution of a convicted murderer in Tennessee. His last words, according to a guard: “Let’s rock.” The self-produced album — drummer Patrick Carney called it “an homage to electric guitar” — came five years after their previous release, Turn Blue. It features the singles “Lo/Hi,” “Eagle Birds,” “Go,” and “Shine a Little Light.”

Birthdays:

Richard Rodgers, a prolific composer known for his partnership with lyricists Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein II, was born today in 1902.

Mel Brooks is 100.

David Knights of Procol Harum is 81.

Pop singer Cathy Carr was born in 1936.

Alan Pasqua, founding member of Giant and session musician who worked with Bob Dylan, Cher and others, is 74.

Clint Boon of Inspiral Carpets is 67.

Charlie Clouser, keyboards, drums, engineer, and once a member of Nine Inch Nails (1994-2000) is 63.

Bobby Bare Jr. is 60.

John Cusack is 60.

Mark Stoermer, bassist for The Killers, is 49.

Kellie Pickler is 40.

Lucy Rose, English singer-songwriter is 37.

Highlights for Today in Music History are gathered from This Day in Music, Song Facts and Wikipedia.