History Highlight:

Today in 1995, Joan Jett sang the National Anthem before the Baltimore Orioles game against the California Angels. The game marked Orioles shortstop Cal Ripken's 2,131st consecutive game, breaking the record held by Lou Gehrig. Jett, a huge Orioles fan and friend of Ripken, watched the rest of the game alongside a host of baseball legends, including Willie Mays and Joe DeMaggio.

Also, Today In:

1968 - Eric Clapton stepped in to record the famous guitar solo on the Beatles' "While My Guitar Gently Weeps."

1969 - The "hardest working man in show business," James Brown, pleaded exhaustion and declared his intention to retire from live performing. He was a little stressed at the time, battling a paternity suit filed by a one-time president of his fan club.

1975 - Glen Campbell started a two-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "Rhinestone Cowboy," his first No. 1 after 13 Top 40 hits.

1976 - For the first time in the history of Fleetwood Mac, they topped the album chart with their new self-titled album. It was the second self-titled release from the band (their first being the band's debut from 1968). This was the first Fleetwood Mac album to feature Lindsey Buckingham as guitarist and Stevie Nicks as vocalist; up until the release of this album, Fleetwood Mac's albums generally sold around 300,000 - 350,000 copies apiece. This album helped launch them as musical superstars with an almost constant radio presence. In 2003, the album was ranked No. 182 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

1980 - Entering the album chart on this day were One Trick Pony by Paul Simon, Panorama by the Cars, Reach For The Sky by the Allman Brothers, and Playing For Keeps by Eddie Money.

Birthdays:

Roger Waters, founding member of Pink Floyd, is 73 today.

Macy Gray is 49.

Dolores O'Riordan, lead singer for The Cranberries, is 45.

Nina Persson, lead singer of The Cardigans, is 42.

Rapper Foxy Brown is 38.

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