History Highlight:

Today in 1965, the much loved and respected crooner/jazz singer and pianist Nat King Cole died of complications following surgery for lung cancer in Santa Monica. He was 48. First famous for his jazz piano stylings, he also had an unforgettable voice and was one of the first African Americans to host a national television variety show, "The Nat King Cole Show".

Also, Today In:

1964 - The Beatles scored their first U.S. No. 1 album with Meet The Beatles! The album stayed at No. 1 for eleven weeks.

1969 - Sly and the Family Stone's "Everyday People" zoomed to No. 1 on the singles chart. The song is one of Sly Stone's pleas for peace and equality between differing races and social groups, a major theme and focus for the band.

1971 - The Who debut a new rock opera called "Lifehouse" at the Young Vic Theatre in London. The project is shelved after a short run of shows, but some of the songs, including "Baba O'Riley," "Won't Get Fooled Again" and "Behind Blue Eyes", become Who standards after being included on the album Who's Next.

1977 - Sid Vicious replaced Glen Matlock on bass with the Sex Pistols.

1994 - A federal court jury ruled Michael Jackson did not steal the idea for his hit song "Dangerous" from a Denver woman who had sent him a demo tape.

2013 - Chubby Checker launched a $500,000 lawsuit against Hewlett-Packard for including an app on its phones and tablets that was not only named after the 71-year-old musician, but measured a man's manhood based on his shoe size.

2016 - In her Grammy acceptance speech for Album of the Year, Taylor Swift warned of "people along the way who will try to undercut your success or take credit for your accomplishments or your fame." This was in response to Kanye West, who rapped about Swift in his song "Famous."

2016 - Prince protege Vanity died at age 57 after years of health problems.

Birthdays:

Mick Avory, drummer for The Kinks, is 73.

John Helliwell, saxophonist with Supertramp, is 72.

Ali Campbell, singer with UB40, is 58.

Mikey Craig, bassist with Culture Club, is 57.

Brandon Boyd of Incubus is 41.

Ronnie Vannucci Jr., drummer with The Killers, is 41.

Conor Oberst 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.