History Highlight:

Today in Today in 1965, Richard Melville Hall — best known by his artistic name, Moby — was born, making him 61. Moby was born in Harlem in New York City, but he lived most of his growing-up years in Connecticut. Moby’s interest in music began in childhood, when he took classical guitar and piano lessons. He studied philosophy and photography in college, where he also discovered electronic music and began work as a DJ, eventually quitting college after a couple years to commit himself to a musical career. Moby’s first breakthrough came in 1991 when he released a remix of his earlier track, “Go,” landing in the top 20 of charts in the U.S., U.K., and the Netherlands, and earning the attention of music publications and record-label executives. Moby’s big break came in 1999 with the release of his fifth studio album, Play, which includes the singles “Bodyrock” and “South Side.” Although Play eventually sold more than 12 million copies worldwide, the album had a modest start. “The week Play was released,” Moby told Rolling Stone magazine, “it sold, worldwide, around 6,000 copies. Eleven months after Play was released, it was selling 150,000 copies a week.” To date, Moby has released 23 studio albums, along with scores of remixes and singles. Beyond music, Moby is an animal-rights activist and a committed vegan; in 2001, he received a Humanitarian Award from the organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).

Given today’s date, it is important to note that Moby lived in New York City for nearly two decades before relocating to Los Angeles in the 2011. On Sept. 11, 2001, Moby lived in lower Manhattan, about one mile from the World Trade Center. He had been out late the night before and was awoken by his phone at 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday. Shortly afterwards, he heard a loud explosion when the second plane hit the World Trade Center. “I just woke up to the sound of an explosion and people screaming,” Moby wrote in his blog that day. “So I ran to my roof to see both buildings of the World Trade Center on fire, and now I can’t stop shaking and my apartment smells like smoke. What has happened? I don’t know what to say. What has happened?”

Also, Today In:

1952 - Producer Ahmet Ertegun began recording his newest signing, 21-year-old Ray Charles, at Atlantic Records on West 56th Street in New York City.

1965 - The Beatles started a nine-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. album chart with Help!, the group's sixth U.S. chart topper.

1970 - NME reporter Keith Allston met with Jimi Hendrix, for what would turn out to be the artist’s final interview. In the article, Hendrix spoke about a new musical phase, even detailing collaborations with Miles Davis and Paul McCartney.

1971 - The animated Jackson Five series premiered on ABC.

1973 - Bruce Springsteen released his second album, The Wild, The Innocent And The E Street Shuffle.

1976 - KC and the Sunshine Band went to No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "(Shake Shake Shake), Shake Your Booty," the group's third No. 1 hit.

1977 - One of the strangest pairings in the history of music turned out surprisingly well when David Bowie and Bing Crosby recorded their duet of "Little Drummer Boy/Peace On Earth." It was broadcast in December on Bing's posthumous TV special, A Merrie Olde Christmas, and later released on disc.

1979 - The Who made their first appearance in the U.S. without their late, great drummer, Keith Moon. Replacing him at the Passaic, New Jersey, gig was ex-Small Faces and Faces drummer, Kenney Jones.

1979 - Foreigner released their third studio album, Head Games. It features the singles "Dirty White Boy," "Head Games," "Women," "Love on the Telephone," and "I'll Get Even with You.”

1982 - John "Cougar" Mellencamp had two singles in the U.S. Top 10 as well as the No. 1 album. The singles "Jack and Diane" and "Hurts So Good" were at Nos. 4 and 8, respectively, while Mellencamp's album American Fool was at No. 1 for the first of nine weeks, and it went on to be the best-selling album of 1982.

1982 - Frank Zappa's "Valley Girl" reached its chart peak of No. 32 on the Hot 100. It's the only Top 40 hit for the eccentric singer, who released over 60 albums in his lifetime. His daughter, Moon Unit Zappa, plays the Valley Girl in the song.

1987 - Peter Gabriel's video of "Sledgehammer" was deemed best of the year by MTV.

1990 - Warrant released their second studio album, Cherry Pie. It features the hit title track and “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.”

1990 - FireHouse released their self-titled debut album, FireHouse. It features the singles "Shake & Tumble," "Don't Treat Me Bad," "Love of a Lifetime," and "All She Wrote."

1993 - Mariah Carey started an eight-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "Dreamlover."

1995 - Blur released their fourth studio album, The Great Escape. It features “Country House,” “The Universal,” and “Charmless Man.”

1996 - Noel Gallagher walked out on Oasis halfway through an American tour after a fight with his brother, Liam, in a Charlotte, North Carolina, hotel. Noel flew back to London the following day.

2000 - Goldfrapp released their debut studio album, Felt Mountain. It features “Lovely Head,” “Utopia,” and “Human.”

2000 - Huey Lewis and Gwyneth Paltrow released a cover of Smokey Robinson's "Cruisin'" as a duet. The single reached No. 1 on the Adult Contemporary chart for a week, and it also appears in the 2000 film Duets, which stars the pair.

2001 - Jay-Z released his sixth studio album, The Blueprint. It features the singles "Izzo (H.O.V.A.)," "Girls, Girls, Girls," and "Song Cry."

2001 - The Microphones released their third studio album, The Glow Pt. 2. It includes tracks like "I Want Wind to Blow," "The Moon," and "I Felt Your Shape," and is widely regarded as a landmark in lo-fi and experimental indie music.

2001 - Bob Dylan released his 31st studio album, Love and Theft. It features songs such as "Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum," "Mississippi," and "Summer Days," blending blues, rockabilly, and folk influences.

2001 - They Might Be Giants released their eighth studio album, Mink Car. It includes the singles "Bangs," "Man, It's So Loud in Here," and "Cyclops Rock," showcasing the band's eclectic pop style.

2001 - The Moldy Peaches released their self-titled debut album, The Moldy Peaches.

2001 - Ben Folds released his debut solo studio album, Rockin' the Suburbs. It features the singles "Rockin' the Suburbs," "Still Fighting It," and "Zak and Sara."

2001 - Nickelback released their third studio album, Silver Side Up. It features the singles "How You Remind Me," "Too Bad," and "Never Again."

2001 - Walking to work as a comic-book illustrator in New York, Gerard Way witnessed the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center. The day's events inspired him to start a band, which became My Chemical Romance.

2001 - Rhett Miller of the band Old 97’s was living three blocks from the World Trade Center in New York and was forced to flee his home during the September 11 attacks. He wrote about the experiences in a journal, which were published in The Atlantic magazine 10 years later.

2006 - The Fratellis released their debut studio album, Costello Music. It features the singles "Henrietta," "Chelsea Dagger," "Whistle for the Choir," "Flathead," "Baby Fratelli," and "Ole Black 'n' Blue Eyes."

2007 - Kanye West released his third studio album, Graduation. It features the singles "Can't Tell Me Nothing," "Stronger," "Good Life," "Flashing Lights," and "Homecoming."

2009 - Punk musician Jim Carroll of the Jim Carroll Band died of a heart attack in New York City at age 60. Carroll’s best-known song is his 1980 single, “People Who Died.” He was also a writer; his 1978 memoir The Basketball Diaries inspired the 1995 film of the same name.

2009 - Muse released their fifth studio album, The Resistance. It features the title track, “Uprising,” “Undisclosed Desires,” and “Exogenesis: Symphony.”

2012 - The Avett Brothers released their seventh studio album, The Carpenter. It features the singles "Live and Die" and "February Seven."

2014 - Cosimo Matassa, who recorded Little Richard and Fats Domino at his New Orleans studio, died at age 88.

2014 - Songwriter, singer, manager, and record producer Bob Crewe died at age 83. Crewe wrote a string of Top 10 singles for the Four Seasons, including "Big Girls Don't Cry", "Walk Like a Man", and "Rag Doll." He also had hit recordings with Lesley Gore, Michael Jackson, Bobby Darin, Roberta Flack, Peabo Bryson, Patti LaBelle, Barry Manilow and others.

2015 - Minnesota band Low released their 11th studio album, Ones and Sixes. The album was recorded at Justin Vernon's April Base studio in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, where Low worked with producer and engineer BJ Burton. "We've been able to work with a lot of great people," Low frontman Alan Sparhawk told The Current during a studio session recorded just days after the album’s release. "That, in a lot of ways, is sort of a key. You kind of always need to find a new way, a new filter to try to see what you do will end up being." Drummer Mimi Parker added, “We did branch out and do a little electronic drums sometimes because there's so much cool stuff out there that sounds really, really great. … Working with BJ, he kind of has his ear to that type of stuff, so we knew that he would really be willing and able to incorporate different sounds than we would normally use ourselves." Ones and Sixes includes the tracks “What Part of Me,” “Congregation,” and “No Comprende.”

2019 - Songwriter and artist Daniel Johnston died of a suspected heart attack at his home in Texas at the age of 58. Kurt Cobain once described him as “the best songwriter on earth” and famously wore one of Johnston's T-shirts to the 1992 MTV Awards. Other musicians who have covered Johnston's songs include Pearl Jam, Tom Waits, Wilco, Death Cab for Cutie, Sufjan Stevens and Yo La Tengo.

2020 - The Flaming Lips released their 16th studio album, American Head.

2020 - Toots Hibbert, frontman of the legendary reggae band Toots and the Maytals, died at the age of 77. Hibbert was one of Jamaica’s most influential musicians, helping to popularize reggae in the 1960s with songs like “Pressure Drop,” “Monkey Man,” and “Funky Kingston.” Hibbert was such a seminal figure in the rise of reggae music that he is widely recognized as the artist who coined the term in the first place, via his 1968 single, “Do The Reggay.”

Birthdays:

Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead is 83.

Jazz guitarist Leo Kottke is 81.

Dennis Tufano of the Buckinghams is 80.

John Martyn was born today in 1948.

Tommy Shaw of Styx is 73.

Moby is 61. See highlight, above.

Harry Connick Jr. is 59.

Taraji P. Henson is 56.

Richard Ashcroft of The Verve is 55.

Coldplay guitarist Jonny Buckland is 49.

Ludacris is 49.

Charles Kelley of Lady A is 45.

Kygo is 35.

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