Birthday Highlight:

Today in 1967, Bobbie Gentry started a four-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "Ode To Billy Joe." Gentry is known for being one of the first female country artists to compose and produce her own material. The song was a No. 1 hit in the United States, and became a big international seller. The song is a first-person narrative that reveals a family at dinnertime on the day that "Billie Joe McAllister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge."

Also, Today In:

1958 - Staten Island, N.Y., doo-wop group The Elegants went to No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with their re-worked version of the Mozart lullaby, "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star," re-titled "Little Star."

1962 - Little Eva went to No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "The Loco-motion." Songwriters Carole King and Gerry Goffin had offered the tune to Dee Dee Sharp ("Mashed Potatoes"), but she turned it down. As a result, King and Goffin asked their babysitter, Eva Boyd, to record it — and she took it to No. 1.

1967 - Brian Wilson returned to performing live with The Beach Boys in Honolulu after a two-year hiatus.

1970 - Elton John performed in the U.S. for the first time. His gig at the Troubadour Club in Los Angeles launched a 17-date tour and the first big impact Elton John would make in America.

1973 - At the Las Vegas Hilton, Bobby Darin performed his final concert. Darin died at the on Dec. 20, 1973, following open-heart surgery. He was 37 years old.

1979 - The Knack started a five-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "My Sharona," the group's only chart topper.

1986 - Paul Simon released his epic Graceland album.

1994 - Jimmy Page and Robert Plant taped a show in London for MTV's Unplugged series. It was later released as Unledded.

2009 - During a radio broadcast on BBC Radio 6 Music, Bob Dylan revealed that he was speaking to a number of car companies about becoming the voice of their GPS systems. Dylan said he thought it be would be good for drivers to hear him saying things like, "Take a left at the next street. No, a right. You know what, just go straight."

2014 - Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love" was voted the greatest guitar riff of all time by listeners of BBC Radio 2 in the U.K.

Birthdays:

Composer Leonard Bernstein (West Side Story, others) was born today in 1918.

Gene Simmons of KISS is 68.

Rob Halford of Judas Priest is 66.

Elvis Costello, born Declan Patrick Aloysius MacManus, is 63.

Billy Ray Cyrus is 56.

Guitarist Viv Campbell of Def Leppard is 55.

Norman Rogers of Public Enemy is 51.

Jeff Tweedy is 50.

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