Birthday Highlight:

Bobby Vee, a pop-music icon of the 1960s, was born today in 1943 (and passed away in October, 2016). Born Robert Velline in Fargo, N.D., Vee released his first single, "Suzie Baby," on Minneapolis-based Soma Records in 1959. He had a string of hits in the 1960s, including "Rubber Ball", "The Night Has a Thousand Eyes" and the 1961 No. 1 hit, "Take Good Care of My Baby." Bobby Vee was inducted into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame in 2011 and into the Scandinavian-American Hall of Fame in 2014.

Today in:

1957 - Elvis Presley recorded the Leiber and Stoller song "Jailhouse Rock" as featured in his motion picture of the same name.

1965 - The Kinks kicked off their first headlining tour of the British Isles. The Yardbirds opened.

1966 - The Young Rascals went to No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "Good Lovin'."

1976 - The Who's drummer Keith Moon paid nine cab drivers to block off both ends of a New York street so he could throw the contents of his hotel room out of the window.

1977 - Glen Campbell went to No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "Southern Nights", his second U.S. No. 1.

1982 - American music journalist, author and musician Lester Bangs died of a heart attack at age 33. Bangs worked for Rolling Stone, Creem and The Village Voice.

1983 - Michael Jackson started a three-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "Beat It," his fifth solo U.S. No. 1. The third single from the singer's Thriller album featured Eddie Van Halen on the song's distinctive overdriven guitar solo, but Van Halen was prevented by his record label from appearing in the music video.

1983 - One of the most influential of all Chicago bluesmen, Muddy Waters (born McKinley Morganfield), died while asleep at home in Westmont, Ill., at age 68.

1988 - An unknown Canadian singer named Celine Dion won the Eurovision Song Contest for Switzerland.

1990 - Prince played a concert at the former Rupert's nightclub in Golden Valley, Minn., in which the $100-per-person ticket proceeds all went to the family of Prince's former bodyguard Charles "Big Chick" Huntsberry, who had died from a heart attack.

1991 - Nirvana signed a recording contract with Geffen's DGC label for $290,000.

2008 - Mariah Carey married rapper and TV personality Nick Cannon at a secret ceremony in the Bahamas (and on this same day in 2011, the couple welcomed twins: daughter Monroe and son Moroccan).

2014 - Larry Ramos (guitarist, banjo player for The New Christy Minstrels, The Association) died at age 72.

2015 - Ben E. King, songwriter and singer of "Stand By Me," died at age 76.

Birthdays:

Wonder Mike (Michael Anthony Wright), rapper from The Sugarhill Gang is 61.

Ben Ayres of Cornershop is 49.

Justin Vernon, aka Bon Iver, is 37.

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