Birthday Highlight:

Dame Shirley Veronica Bassey, known as Shirley Bassey is 81 today. The original voice of James Bond soundtracks "Goldfinger" (1964), "Diamonds Are Forever" (1971), and "Moonraker" (1979), she was the first Welsh person to gain a No. 1 single and in 2000, Bassey was made a Dame for services to the performing arts.

Also, in:

1966 - The Beatles started a six-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. album chart with Rubber Soul, the group's seventh chart topper, which went on to spend 56 weeks on the chart.

1973 - Yoko Ono released Approximately Infinite Universe as a double album. She told the press, "I figured if George Harrison can put out a triple album, then I can put out a double album."

1975 - Three Led Zeppelin concerts at Madison Square Garden sold out in a record four hours.

1977 - Queen reached No. 1 on the U.K. Album Chart with A Day at the Races which spent one week on top of the chart. It reached number five in the Billboard 200 Album Chart.

1979 - Canadian rock band Rush was named the country's official Ambassadors Of Music by the Canadian government.

1991 - Steve Clark, guitarist with Def Leppard, was found dead at his Chelsea apartment by his girlfriend after a night of heavy alcohol consumption combined with prescription drugs.

2001 - A woman who believed that Axl Rose communicated with her via telepathy was arrested for stalking the Guns N' Roses singer for a second time.

2016 - David Bowie released his twenty-fifth and final studio album Blackstar, on Bowie's 69th birthday and two days before his death. It became his first and only album to reach No. 1 on the Billboard 200 album chart in the U.S.
2016 - R&B and soul singer Otis Clay died at age 73. Clay who started in gospel music scored R&B hits in the late 60's and 70's. He recorded the original version of "The Only Way Is Up" in 1980 which later became a chart-topping single for Yazz and the Plastic Population.

Birthdays:

The King, Elvis Aaron Presley, was born today in 1935.

Robby Krieger, guitarist for The Doors, is 72.

Terry Sylvester, guitarist for The Hollies, is 71.

David Bowie was born today in 1947.

Tony Kaye, keyboardist for Yes, is 66.

R. Kelly is 51.

Andrew Wood, lead singer of Mother Love Bone whose members would later form Pearl Jam, was born today in 1966.

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