History Highlight:

Today in 1962, Dave Gahan was born. Best known as the lead singer and one of the founders of Depeche Mode, the band formed in 1980 and has sold over 100 million records worldwide. Gahan is also an accomplished solo artist, having released Paper Monsters in 2003 and Hourglass in 2007.

Also, Today In:

1964 - Chuck Berry made his live debut in the U.K. at London's Astoria Theatre. The Animals opened for Berry.

1964 - Louis Armstrong went to No.1 on the U.S. singles chart with "Hello Dolly" making him the oldest artist to hit No.1 at the age of 62.

1965 - The Beatles and Donovan were in the audience for a new American artist named Bob Dylan. The concert was at London's Royal Albert Hall.

1969 - George Harrison released his second solo album Electronic Sound which was the final release on Zapple Records, an offshoot of The Beatles' Apple Records.

1970 - The Guess Who become the first Canadian rock group to top the Billboard Hot 100 chart with "American Woman". The song would stay on top for three weeks.

1973 - Mick Jagger tossed in $150,000 of his own money along with the $350,000 raised by The Rolling Stones' January benefit concert to aid the victims of the Nicaraguan earthquake.

1974 - Bachman-Turner Overdrive received their first Gold record for Bachman-Turner Overdrive II which contained the hit singles "Let It Ride" and "Takin' Care of Business".

1974 - Bruce Springsteen's performance in Boston, MA inspires Rolling Stone critic and future manager Jon Landau to write "I have seen rock and roll's future and his name is Bruce Springsteen".

1986 - Peter Gabriel's So was released. Many of its songs reflect a more conventional pop-writing style and became Gabriel's first radio hits, including "Sledgehammer," "In Your Eyes" and "Big Time."

1987 - Europe peaked at No. 8 on the Billboard 200 Album Chart with their third album The Final Countdown which went on to sell three million copies in the U.S.

1988 - A number of Minnesota department stores refused to stock the new Prince album, Lovesexy, due to the cover: a nude shot of the artist (with nothing naughty revealed in the photo). The album was released on May 10, 1988 and recorded in just seven weeks at Paisley Park.

1998 - Jimmy Page appeared on Saturday Night Live with P. Diddy to perform "Come With Me" which sampled the guitar riff of Led Zeppelin's "Kashmir".

1998 - Jimmy Page and Robert Plant debuted at their peak position of No. 8 on the Billboard 200 Album Chart with Walking into Clarksdale which went on to go Gold.

2013 - David Bowie's latest video, which starred Gary Oldman and Marion Cotillard, was temporarily pulled from YouTube over its graphic content. "The Next Day" featured heavy religious imagery, including Cotillard bleeding from stigmata marks. The video sees Bowie performing in a basement bar, surrounded by religious figures, while Oldman, dressed as a priest, punches a beggar before dancing with a prostitute, played by Oscar-winner Cotillard. YouTube admitted making the "wrong call" in removing the video, and reinstated it with an adult content warning.

Birthdays:

Billy Joel is 68.

Tom Petersson, Cheap Trick bassist, is 67.

Enrique Iglesias is 42.

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