History Highlight:

Today in 1901, trumpet player and singer Louis Armstrong, one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, was born. Armstrong grew up in New Orleans, and he began performing in bands on riverboats while still a teenager. Relocating to Chicago in 1922, Armstrong joined King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band and earned enough money playing music that he was able to leave his other jobs. In 1925, Armstrong began working with Okeh Records, laying down foundational jazz recordings. Armstrong’s career continued in the emerging media of his day, from records to radio to film to television. Armstrong won a Grammy Award in 1964 for his vocal performance on “Hello, Dolly!,” a song that also spent at week at No. 1 in the Billboard Hot 100. Throughout his career, Armstrong was a tireless performer as both a touring and recording artist. He died of a heart attack at age 69 in 1971; a year later, he was awarded a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In 1988, Armstrong’s 1967 recording of “What a Wonderful World” spent 11 weeks in the Billboard Hot 100 after its inclusion in the film Good Morning, Vietnam; that song, along with 11 other Armstrong recordings dating back to 1925, have been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. Armstrong was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990, and in 2023, Rolling Stone magazine placed Armstrong at No. 39 in its list of the 200 Greatest Singers of All Time.

Also, Today In:

1958 - Billboard introduced its weekly Hot 100 singles chart, the first installment of which found Ricky Nelson at No. 1 with "Poor Little Fool."

1958 - Bobby Darin had his first hit when "Splish Splash" reached No. 3 in the United States. The song was later used on Sesame Street as a way to encourage kids to take regular baths.

1963 - The Beatles cracked the U.S. charts for the first time with "From Me To You," which bubbled under at No. 116 on the Hot 100. It was not until five months later that "I Want To Hold Your Hand" became the Beatles’ breakout hit in the U.S.

1966 - The Temptations released "Beauty Is Only Skin Deep."

1966 - The Rolling Stones recorded their longest title yet: "Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing In The Shadow?". The artwork for the single's U.S. distribution, released on Sept. 23, 1966, generated some controversy: It featured the lads in drag, posing for a photo outside 124 East 24th Street in New York, between Park Avenue and Lexington Avenue.

1967 - Pink Floyd released their debut album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, on which most songs were penned by Syd Barrett, though two tracks on the album are credited to the band collectively and one track was written by Roger Waters. The studio album borrows its name from the title of chapter seven of Kenneth Grahame's 1908 novel The Wind in the Willows, which refers to the nature god Pan, who plays his pan pipes at dawn. In 1973, the album was packaged with the band's second album A Saucerful of Secrets (1968) and released as A Nice Pair, to introduce the band's early work to new fans gained with the success of The Dark Side of the Moon (1973). In subsequent years, the record has been recognized as one of the foundational psychedelic rock albums of the 1960s. In 2012, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn was placed at No. 347 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, and at No. 253 in the 2020 edition.

1967 - The Monkees performed at the St. Paul Auditorium (now the Roy Wilkins Auditorium) in St. Paul. An apocryphal story asserts that a teenage Monkees fan stowed away on the band's private plane to St. Louis, Missouri, following the show in St. Paul.

1971 - Ringo Starr earned a Gold record for "It Don't Come Easy," an unlikely but catchy hit that he wrote and George Harrison produced. The song was Starr's first single release since the breakup of the Beatles, and was a commercial success, peaking at No. 1 in Canada and No. 4 in both the U.S. and U.K. singles charts. “It Don’t Come Easy” has remained one of Starr’s most popular hits as a solo artist, and he and Harrison performed it together in August 1971 at Harrison's Concert for Bangladesh shows in New York.

1972 - The movie Super Fly was released, along with a soundtrack by Curtis Mayfield that became a soul music landmark, taking on the drug culture portrayed in the film with vivid commentary.

1974 - Paul Simon released "Love Me Like A Rock."

1975 - Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant and his wife, Maureen Wilson, were both badly injured when the rental car Plant was driving spun off the road and crashed on the Greek island of Rhodes. Plant smashed both his ankle and his elbow, and it took nearly two years for Plant to fully recover from his injuries.

1984 - Prince started a 24-week run at the top of the U.S. album charts with Purple Rain. The album, which features hits "When Doves Cry," "Let's Go Crazy" and the title track, has sold more than 20 million copies worldwide, making it the seventh best-selling soundtrack album of all time.

1987 - Dirty Dancing: Original Soundtrack was released. It features "(I've Had) The Time of My Life" by Jennifer Warnes and Bill Medley (of the Righteous Brothers), “Hungry Eyes” by Eric Carmen, and “She’s Like the Wind” by Patrick Swayze.

1990 - Mariah Carey started a four-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "Vision Of Love," her debut release.

1992 - Gin Blossoms released their second studio album, New Miserable Experience. The album didn’t make a large impact until about a year after its release, when the song “Hey Jealousy” entered the charts. From that point, New Miserable Experience proved Gin Blossoms’ commercial breakthrough. In addition to “Hey Jealousy,” the album also includes the enduring favorites, “Allison Road,” “Until I Fall Away,” and “Found Out About You.”

2000 - Coyote Ugly, about an aspiring singer-songwriter (Piper Perabo) who takes a job at a bawdy bar, opened in theaters. LeAnn Rimes, who appears in the film, anchors the soundtrack with four new songs, including the theme, "Can't Fight The Moonlight." It became one of the best-selling soundtracks of the '00s.

2002 - Bruce Springsteen went to No. 1 in the U.S. with his album The Rising.

2003 - Snow Patrol released their third studio album, Final Straw. It features “Splitting Games,” “Run,” and “Chocolate.”

2005 - Blues singer and guitarist Little Milton died. He signed to Sun records in 1953 and had the 1965 U.S. No. 25 single, "We're Gonna Make It".

2007 - Singer-songwriter Lee Hazlewood died of cancer at age 78. Hazlewood wrote and/or produced many of Nancy Sinatra's most famous hits, including "These Boots Were Made For Walkin'," "Jackson" (written by Billy Edd Wheeler and Jerry Lieber) and "Did You Ever."

2008 - Conor Oberst released his self-titled fourth solo studio album. It features "Cape Canaveral."

2009 - Jay Reatard released his second solo studio album, Watch Me Fall.

2012 - Electric blues guitarist Johnnie Bassett dies of cancer at age 76.

2015 - Influential country producer Billy Sherrill, who worked with artists like George Jones, Charlie Rich, and Tammy Wynette and was known for pioneering the "countrypolitan" sound, died after a short illness at the age of 78. Sherrill also co-wrote many hit songs, including "Stand by Your Man" (written with Tammy Wynette).

2017 - Tyler Childers released his second studio album, Purgatory. It features “Whitehouse Road.”

Birthdays:

Louis Armstrong was born today in 1901. See highlight, above.

Singer and actress Helen Kane, best known for her 1928 recording, “I Wanna Be Loved by You,” was born today in 1904. Kane was also the inspiration for the cartoon character Betty Boop.

Jazz guitarist Herb Ellis was born today in 1921.

Elsbeary Hobbs of The Drifters was born in 1936. He passed away in 1996.

Photojournalist Burk Uzzle — whose photo of music fans Bobbi Kelly and Nick Ercoline embracing on a hillside appears on the cover of the Woodstock: Music from the Original Soundtrack and More album — is 88.

Rock and roll singer Frankie Ford, best known for his 1958 recording of “Sea Cruise,” was born today in 1939.

Wrecking Crew keyboard player and bassist Larry Knechtel was born today in 1940.

Timi Yuro — who sang “Hurt,” "What's a Matter Baby (Is It Hurting You)" — was born today in 1941.

Soul singer Cliff Nobles, known for an instrumental version of his song, “The Horse,” was born today in 1941.

David Carr of The Fortunes was born today in 1943.

Klause Schulze of Tangerine Dream was born in 1947.

Moya Brennan of Clannad, and sister of Enya, was born today in 1952.

Robbin Crosby of Ratt was born today in 1959.

Paul Reynolds of A Flock of Seagulls is 64.

Singer and guitarist John Paul White, formerly of The Civil Wars, is 54.

Marques Houston is 45.

Tom Parker of The Wanted was born in 1988. He passed away in 2022.

John O'Callaghan, front guy of The Maine, is 38.

Bobby Shmurda is 32.

Lil Skies is 28.

Highlights for Today in Music History are gathered from This Day in Music, Song Facts, Discogs, AllMusic, Billboard, Twin Cities Music Highlights, and Wikipedia.