History Highlight:

Today in 2006, Amy Winehouse released her second and final studio album, Back to Black, in her native U.K. (the U.S. release would follow in March 2007, just prior to Winehouse’s appearance at SXSW in Austin, Texas, and a month prior to her performance at Coachella). Back to Black spawned five singles: "Rehab," "You Know I'm No Good," "Back to Black," "Tears Dry on Their Own" and "Love Is a Losing Game." Back to Black was shortlisted for the 2007 Mercury Prize, and the album and its songs won five awards at the 50th Annual Grammy Awards, including Best Pop Vocal Album and the vaunted Record of the Year and Song of the Year awards for “Rehab.” Numerous publications, including The New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, and TIME named Back to Black one of the year’s best albums. Worldwide, Back to Black has sold more than 20 million copies.

Also, Today In:

1960 - Ben E. King, one-time lead vocalist for The Drifters, recorded his first singles as a soloist, two of which turned out to be timeless classics and bestsellers: "Stand By Me" and "Spanish Harlem."

1963 - Peter, Paul and Mary held down the two top spots on the pop album chart with In The Wind and Don't Think Twice, both of which featured songs by Bob Dylan.

1964 - The Supremes released "Come See About Me."

1964 - Salvatore Philip Bono married Cherilyn Sarkisian LaPiere. For a time they performed together as Caesar and Cleo before changing the name of their act to Sonny and Cher.

1969 - Muddy Waters was seriously injured in a car crash in Champagne, Illinois. Three people were killed in the accident.

1972 - Eight months after releasing Music Of My Mind, the very prolific Stevie Wonder put out Talking Book, an innovative album where he created most of the sounds himself using a Clavinet and a custom-made synthesizer. Tracks include "Superstition" and "You Are The Sunshine Of My Life."

1973 - Gladys Knight and the Pips started a two-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with “Midnight Train To Georgia.”

1975 - Bruce Springsteen made the cover of both Time and Newsweek. The magazines were embarrassed at having the same person on the cover, but the coverage further stoked Springsteen’s career.

1979 - During a U.S. tour, Elton John collapsed onstage at Hollywood's Universal Amphitheater, suffering from exhaustion.

1980 - Steve Took, original percussionist of T. Rex, died in Notting Hill, London, at age 31. Although he had taken drugs, his official cause of death was asphyxiation after inhaling a cocktail cherry.

1982 - Devo released their fifth studio album, Oh, No! It's Devo. It features the singles "Peek-a-Boo!" and "That's Good."

1982 - Prince released his fifth album, 1999. It was a breakthrough, selling well over 5 million copies worldwide, thanks to "Little Red Corvette" and the title track. Following Prince's death in 2016, the album re-entered the Billboard 200 and peaked at No. 7, besting its original performance on the chart 33 years earlier. A re-release and remaster of the album, including 35 previously unreleased recordings, was released in November 2019.

1983 - Bob Dylan released his 22nd studio album, Infidels. It features “Sweetheart Like You” and “Jokerman.”

1983 - Night Ranger released their second studio album, Midnight Madness. It features the singles "(You Can Still) Rock in America," "Sister Christian," "When You Close Your Eyes," and "Rumours in the Air."

1986 - XTC released their ninth studio album, Skylarking. It features the singles "Grass," "The Meeting Place," "Dear God," and "Earn Enough for Us."

1986 - Aretha Franklin released her 31st studio album, Aretha. It features the singles "Jumpin' Jack Flash," "Jimmy Lee," "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)," "Rock-A-Lott," and "If You Need My Love Tonight."

1988 - U2's film, Rattle And Hum, received its global premiere in Dublin, the band's hometown.

1992 - SWV released their debut studio album, It's About Time. It features the singles "Right Here," "I'm So into You," "Weak," "Downtown," "Right Here / Human Nature," "You're Always on My Mind," and "Anything."

1992 - The Aladdin soundtrack was released. It features “A Whole New World” by Peabo Bryson and Regina Belle.

1998 - The Afghan Whigs released their sixth studio album, 1965. It features the singles "Somethin' Hot" and "66."

1998 - Lauryn Hill released her first single as a solo artist, "Doo Wop (That Thing)."

2000 - Lonnie Donegan went to Buckingham Palace to receive his MBE — Member of the British Empire, an order of chivalry for British democracy — for his services to music. Donegan pioneered the skiffle genre in the 1950s, inspiring a generation of teenagers to start bands, including John Lennon of the Beatles and Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin. Donegan’s most-remembered song is his cover of “Rock Island Line.”

2002 - American record producer Tom Dowd died of emphysema. He recorded albums by many artists, including Eric Clapton, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Derek and the Dominos, Rod Stewart, Aretha Franklin, Cream, Lulu, Chicago, The Allman Brothers Band, The J. Geils Band, Meat Loaf, Sonny & Cher, The Rascals, Willie Nelson, Diana Ross, Kenny Loggins, Dusty Springfield, The Drifters and Otis Redding.

2006 - Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth premiered her film, Perfect Partner, at Montclair State University in New Jersey.

2012 - Barbra Streisand's album Release Me hit No. 7 in the U.S., making her the first artist to have multiple albums in the Top 10 during every decade from the 1960s to the 2010s (her 2011 album What Matters Most made No. 4). Streisand is the woman artist with the most Top 10 charting albums in history.

2013 - Lou Reed died at the age of 71. Well-known as the guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of the Velvet Underground, his solo career, which began in 1972, spanned five decades. Reed was known for his distinctive deadpan voice, poetic lyrics and for pioneering and coining the term "ostrich guitar tuning" — that is, tuning all six strings to the same note. In 2003, Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time included two albums by Reed as a solo artist: Transformer and Berlin.

2014 - The Last Ship, Sting's musical about shipbuilding in north-east England, opened on Broadway. The former frontman of The Police described watching the opening night as "an out-of-body experience." Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen and Blondie's Deborah Harry were among the first-night audience at the Neil Simon Theatre.

2014 - Taylor Swift issued her fifth studio album, 1989. The first two singles are monster hits: "Shake It Off" and "Blank Space.”

2015 - Twitter discontinues Vine, the short-form video hosting service that launched the music careers of Shawn Mendes and "Lost Boy" singer Ruth B.

2017 - Julien Baker released her second studio album, Turn Out the Lights. It features the singles "Appointments" and "Turn Out the Lights."

Birthdays:

Bonnie Lou, a country singer who crossed over to becoming one of the first woman rock ‘n’ roll singers, was born today in 1924.

Pianist Floyd Cramer, whose most notable hit is the instrumental “Last Date” and who is a member of both the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, was born today in 1933.

John Cleese is 87.

Dallas Frazier was born today in 1939.

Lee Greenwood is 84.

Garry Tallent, bass player with the Bruce Springsteen E Street Band, is 77.

Former Judas Priest guitarist KK Downing is 75.

Simon Le Bon of Duran Duran is 68.

Scott Weiland of Stone Temple Pilots was born today in 1967.

Kelly Osbourne is 42.

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