Birthday Highlight:

Curt Smith, of Tears for Fears, is 55 today. The band had planned to reunite and head out on the road for an 18-stop tour this summer, but due to family illness, the tour is rescheduled for the fall. In one formation or another, the band has been performing on and off since 1981, and has sold over 30 million albums worldwide, including more than 8 million in the U.S.

Also, Today In:

1965 - John Lennon's second book of poetry and drawings, A Spaniard in the Works, was published.

1967 - The Monkees went to No. 1 on the U.S. album charts with Headquarters, the group's third chart topper. The album was the first with substantial songwriting and instrumental performances by members of the group itself, rather than by session musicians and professional songwriters. As of 2008, Headquarters had sold seven million copies in the United States and achieved global sales of 11.6 million. It is included in the 2006 book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

1989 - Paul McCartney scored his seventh U.K. No. 1 solo album with Flowers in the Dirt.

1994 - Weezer released "Undone - The Sweater Song," the first single from their debut album, Weezer (aka The Blue Album).

1995 - Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder left the stage due to illness after only seven songs during an outdoor concert in San Francisco. To the delight of some, but mostly dismay to the younger fans, Neil Young stepped up to finish the show.

1999 - Eric Clapton put 100 of his guitars up for auction at Christie's in New York City to raise money for his drug rehab clinic, the Crossroads Centre in Antigua. His 1956 Fender Stratocaster — named Brownie, which was used to record the electric version of "Layla" — sold for a record $497,500. The auction helped raise nearly $5 million for the clinic.

2000 - Kiss auctioned off $888,000 worth of costumes, instruments and tour memorabilia, including Gene Simmons' Psycho Circus tourwear (including codpiece), which went for $32,200.

2007 - The White Stripes went to No. 1 on the U.K. album chart with Icky Thump, the duo's sixth and final studio album. Icky Thump won a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album in 2008.

2012 - The crypt in which Elvis Presley was first buried was withdrawn from a Los Angeles auction after protests it should be kept as a shrine.

2014 - A working draft of Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone" set a record at auction after selling for $2 million at Sotheby's. The manuscript, said to be the only known draft of the final lyrics, was written in pencil in 1965 by the 24 year-old Dylan.

Birthdays:

The God of Hellfire, Arthur Brown, is 74.

Legendary guitarist Jeff Beck (Yardbirds, Jeff Beck Group) is 72.

Colin Blunstone, lead singer of the Zombies, is 71.

Mick Fleetwood of Fleetwood Mac is 69.

Andy McCluskey of Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark is 57.

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