History Spotlight:

Today in 1981, Bill Haley died of a heart attack at his home in Harlingen, Texas. Haley had sold more than 60 million records during his career. He scored the 1955 U.S. and U.K. No. 1 single with "Rock Around The Clock", and he became known as the first rock 'n' roll star.

Also, Today In:

1964 - The Beatles made their live U.S. television debut on CBS-TV's The Ed Sullivan Show; they performed five songs, including their No. 1 hit at the time, "I Want To Hold Your Hand." An estimated 73 million people watched the program. Prior to the broadcast, CBS received more than 50,000 applications for the 728 seats in the TV studio.

1967 - The Beatles recorded "Fixing a Hole" at Regent Sound Studio in London.

1972 - Paul McCartney made his live debut with Wings with a surprise concert at Nottingham University in the U.K.

1974 - Iggy Pop and the Stooges performed their final concert at the Michigan Palace in Detroit. Pop taunted and verbally abused the audience throughout the concert and had pieces of ice, eggs, and beer bottles thrown at him. The Stooges later reunited in 2003, and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010.

1985 - Madonna started a three-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. album chart with Like A Virgin.

1985 - Deep Purple peaked at No. 17 on the Billboard 200 Album Chart with Perfect Strangers.

1991 - C+C Music Factory started a two-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "Gonna Make You Sweat".

1993 - Mick Jagger released his third solo album Wandering Spirit and Paul McCartney released his eighth solo album Off the Ground.

2010 - The White Stripes were taking on the U.S. Air Force, complaining that it used "Fell In Love With A Girl" in a TV ad without permission. In a statement on their website, the band said they took "strong insult and objection, with the implication that we licensed one of our songs to encourage recruitment during a war that we do not support."

2015 - Bob Dylan turned the tables on his critics during a 30-minute speech at the Musicares charity gala honoring his career. The 73-year-old, who rarely talks about his work, asked why critics complained he "can't sing" and sounds "like a frog" but do not "say that about Tom Waits?" The singer added, "Critics say my voice is shot, that I have no voice. Why don't they say those things about Leonard Cohen? Why do I get special treatment?"

Birthdays:

Singer-songwriter Barry Mann, who penned such 1960s pop hits as "Saturday Night At The Movies", "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling", and "Who Put The Bomp, In The Bomp, Bomp, Bomp", is 78.

Carole King is 75.

Joe Ely, country singer who toured with The Clash in the late 1970s, is 70.

Dennis Thomas, singer with Kool & The Gang, is 66.

Dave Rotheray, guitarist with English group The Beautiful South, is 54.

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