History Highlight:

Today in 1987, legendary singer-songwriter Carole King was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in New York City. King is one of the most prolific songwriters of our lifetime, having written or co-written 118 pop hits on the Billboard Hot 100 between 1955 and 1999. She has made 25 solo albums, the most successful being Tapestry, which held the record for most weeks at No. 1 by a female artist for more than 20 years. She has won four Grammy Awards, the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song (the first woman to be so honored) and is a Kennedy Center Honoree.

Also, Today In:

1964 - The Beatles filmed the last day of train scenes for the movie A Hard Day's Night. During their six days of filming aboard a moving train, The Beatles travelled a total of 2,500 miles on the rails.

1966 - The Beach Boys started recording "God Only Knows". It became a U.K. No. 2 single in 1966 and the B-side of "Wouldn't It Be Nice" in the U.S.

1970 - Having recently changed their name from Earth to Black Sabbath, Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward made their concert debut at The Roundhouse, London.

1981 - Robert Plant played a secret gig at Keele University, England with his new band, The Honey Drippers.

1985 - Dead Or Alive were at No. 1 on the U.K. singles chart with "You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)". It was the first No. 1 for the production team of Stock, Aitken and Waterman who went on to produce over 100 U.K. Top 40 hits.

1985 - REO Speedwagon started a three-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "Can't Fight This Feeling."

1987 - U2 released The Joshua Tree. It would go on to win a Grammy for Album Of The Year and go Diamond (sales of 10 million copies).

1991 - "Should I Stay Or Should I Go" gave The Clash their only U.K. No. 1 single. Although the track was originally released in 1982 as part of the Clash's Combat Rock album, "Should I Stay or Should I Go" re-entered the public consciousness after the track was used in a TV commercial for Levi's jeans, propelling the song up the charts. "Should I Stay or Should I Go" includes backing vocals sung in Spanish by Joe Strummer and by Joe Ely, who assisted on the record. Strummer got the idea to sing in Spanish while recording the track; tape operator Eddie Garcia and his mother checked the Spanish lyrics for accuracy.

1996 - Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher walked off stage during a gig at the Vernon Valley Gorge ski resort in New Jersey because his hands were too cold to play.

1996 - Take That scored their eighth and last U.K. No. 1 single (until re-forming in 2006) with their version of The Bee Gees 1977 song "How Deep Is Your Love" (originally intended for US singer Yvonne Elliman), and used as part of the soundtrack to the film Saturday Night Fever.

1997 - Notorious BIG was killed as he left a party at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles. Born Christopher Wallace, the rapper was pronounced dead on arrival at Cedars Sinai Hospital. He was 24 years old.

2004 - Tom Jones was banned from wearing tight leather pants by his son — and manager — Mark Jones. Mark told Tom it was time to "dress his age" as he was in danger of becoming a laughingstock at 63.

2012 - 76-year-old Jerry Lee Lewis married for the seventh time when he wed his caregiver Judith Brown. Lewis split from his sixth wife, Kerrie McCarver, in 2004 after twenty years of marriage. Brown, who was 14 years younger than Lewis, was previously married to the star's cousin Rusty.

Birthdays:

Country singer Mickey Gilley is 84.

John Cale of the Velvet Underground is 78.

Procol Harum guitarist Robin Trower is 75.

Ben Folds Five bassist Robert Sledge is 52.

Rapper Bow Wow is 33.

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