History Highlight:

Today in 2010, Micheal David Larsen, better known by his stage name Eyedea, died at age 28. He was a freestyle battle champion and songwriter from Saint Paul, Minnesota, and was first signed under Slug's independent hip-hop label Rhymesayers Entertainment before founding his own record label Crushkill Recordings.

Also, Today In:

1951 - Eighteen-year-old Richard Penniman, who was already using the stage name Little Richard, made his first recordings for RCA Camden at the studios of Atlanta radio station WGST.

1957 - "You Send Me," the song that would become Sam Cooke's biggest hit, was released by Keen Records. It would go on to sell 2.5 million copies.

1966 - Grace Slick, replacing original Jefferson Airplane vocalist, Signe Anderson (who quit to have a baby), made her first appearance with the Airplane in San Francisco.

1972 - Creedence Clearwater Revival split up following the failure of their most recent album, Mardi Gras. In a press release they said, "We don't regard this as breaking up. We look at it as an expansion of our activities."

1976 - Stevie Wonder inaugurated his new $13 million contract with Motown Records by releasing Songs In The Key Of Life. It would ultimately go Platinum, producing a trio of hit singles, "Sir Duke," "Isn't She Lovely" and "I Wish."

1976 - Disc jockey Rick Dees hit No. 1 in the U.S. with "Disco Duck," a goofy number that envisions Donald Duck enjoying the spoils of the disco era. It was the last novelty song to top the Hot 100.

1986 - Keith Richards, Eric Clapton and Robert Cray joined other artists on stage in St Louis, Mo., for Chuck Berry's 60th birthday concert.

1990 - Jazz drummer Art Blakey died of lung cancer in Manhattan, New York, at age 71.

1991 - Red Hot Chili Peppers kicked off their "Blood Sugar Sex Magik" tour with a show in Madison, Wisconsin. Their opening acts were Smashing Pumpkins and a new band called Pearl Jam.

1992 - Bob Dylan's 30th Anniversary (of his recording debut) tribute concert took place at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Guest performers include Neil Young, Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Roger McGuinn, Sinéad O'Connor, Tom Petty, Ronnie Wood and Dylan himself. O'Connor was greeted by a chorus of boos, having recently appeared on Saturday Night Live, where she famously tore up a photo of the Pope.

2001 - At his own concert in Bend, Ore., Bob Dylan was not allowed entrance backstage. Dylan had demanded that security be tighter during his post-9/11 "Love And Theft" tour. Two security guards were fired as a result.

2001 - Etta Jones ("Don't Go to Strangers", "Save Your Love for Me") died of cancer at age 72 in Mount Vernon, New York, the same day HighNote releases her album Etta Jones Sings Lady Day.

2003 - Simon & Garfunkel opened their "Old Friends" tour with a concert in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.

2006 - CBGB, the legendary New York punk club credited with discovering Patti Smith and Ramones, closed after a final gig by Smith herself. Though the club was originally named for Country, BlueGrass, and Blues, CBGB soon became a famed venue of punk rock and new wave bands. After a dispute over allegedly unpaid rent amounts, the landlord sued in 2005 and lost the case, but a deal to renew CBGB's lease, expiring in 2006, failed. CBGB Radio launched on the iheartradio platform in 2010, and CBGB music festivals began in 2012. In 2013, CBGB's onetime building, 315 Bowery, was added to the National Register of Historic Places as part of the National Bowery Historic District

2010 - Auburn University graduate student Justin Havird named a new species of fish, Lepidocephalichthys zeppelini, because the fish's pectoral fin reminded him of the double-neck guitar used by Jimmy Page. "I'm a big Led Zeppelin fan, and I was listening to them while I was working on the fish,' Havird said. 'The structure that makes this species unique just reminded me of the guitar that Jimmy Page played."

2012 - Darius Rucker is inducted into the Grand Ole Opry. He's just the third African American to join the club, following DeFord Bailey and Charley Pride.

2014 - Tim Hauser of The Criterions and The Manhattan Transfer died of a cardiac arrest at age 72.

2015 - A fan returned a bag of stolen goods to Patti Smith, 36 years after they went missing. They included a shirt worn for a 1978 Rolling Stone cover shot and a bandana given to her by her late brother. The items went missing in June 1979 when a truck, which was carrying $40,000 in amplifiers, guitars and other musical equipment, was stolen from outside a hotel after Smith and her band played a show at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago.

More Birthdays:

Songwriter and producer Bert Kaempfert was born today in 1923.

Nico of The Velvet Underground was born today in 1938.

Cordell Mosson, bassist in Parliament Funkadelic, was born today in 1952.

Fred Turner of Bachman-Turner Overdrive is 76.

Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section drummer Roger Hawkins is 74.

Bob Mould is 59.

John Mayer is 42.

Wendy Wilson of Wilson Phillips 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.