History Highlight:

Today in 1923, blues guitar legend Albert King was born. One of 13 children, he was born Albert King Nelson in Indianola, Miss., and his family moved to Arkansas when he was eight years old. King made his first guitar out of a cigar box, a branch from a shrub, and a strand of broom wire; he later bought a real guitar for $1.25, which he learned to play himself, left-handed with the strings upside down. He developed a distinct, powerful string-bending style and would become known as one of the "Three Kings of the Blues Guitar" (along with B.B. King and Freddie King). Also admired for his soulful, smoky vocals, Albert King is probably best known for his 1967 single, "Born Under a Bad Sign." King died of a heart attack at home in Memphis, Tenn., in 1992. He had played his last show two days earlier, in Los Angeles.

Also, Today In:

1955 - The UN's commission on narcotics released a report stating that there is a "definite connection between increased marijuana smoking and that form of entertainment known as bebop and rebop."

1960 - Elvis Presley scores his first No. 1 single of the 1960s (and the 13th of his career) when "Stuck on You" hits the top spot.

1970 - The No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit was the Jackson 5's "ABC."

1974 - Pamela Courson, who was Jim Morrison's girlfriend and the one who found him dead in a bathtub, died of a heroin overdose.

1977 - Elvis Presley made what turned out to be the final recordings of his life. Three songs taped at a concert in Saginaw, Michigan, would appear, in extensively remixed versions, on Moody Blue, the last album released during his lifetime.

1979 - Rock & Roll High School, a film featuring The Ramones, made its debut.

1994 - Adam Horovitz of the Beastie Boys was sentenced to 200 hours of community service for attacking a TV cameraman during the memorial services for actor River Phoenix the previous November.

1996 - A pair of skin-tight trousers owned by Queen singer Freddie Mercury were sold at a pop memorabilia sale in London.

2002 - Lisa 'Left Eye' Lopes (of the band TLC) died when the vehicle she was driving in the Honduras swerved off the road, rolled several times and struck two trees. She was thrown from the vehicle, sustaining fatal neck and head trauma. She was not wearing a seatbelt at the time.

2008 - Phil Collins announces his retirement from releasing albums and touring. A few years later, he would retire from the business completely to spend time with his family.

Birthdays:

Ella Fitzgerald, the Queen of Jazz, was born today in 1917.

Bjorn Ulvaeus of ABBA is 71.

Andy Bell, lead singer of Erasure, is 52.

Eric Avery, co-founder of Jane's Addiction, is 51 today.

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