History Highlight:

On this day in 2009, Bat for Lashes — the English musician Natasha Khan’s songwriting and production project — released her second studio album, Two Suns. Leading up to writing and recording the album, Khan visited Joshua Tree Desert in California. She emerged with a concept centered on a desert-born character named Pearl. The imagery for the first single, “Daniel,” features references to the The Karate Kid’s main character, Daniel LaRusso. “Daniel” became Bat for Lashes’ biggest hit to date, and it won the Ivor Novello Award for Best Contemporary Song. Two Suns was shortlisted for the Mercury Prize.

Also, Today In:

1956 - Elvis Presley appeared on ABC-TV's The Milton Berle Show live from the flight deck of the USS Hancock in San Diego, Calif. Presley performed "Heartbreak Hotel", "Shake Rattle And Roll" and "Blue Suede Shoes." It was estimated that one out of every four Americans saw the show.

1961 - The Marcels started a three-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with the Rodgers and Heart song "Blue Moon."

1968 - Simon & Garfunkel release their fourth studio album, Bookends.

1970 - Joe Cocker played the first ever show at legendary music club First Avenue.

1971 - The Temptations scored their second U.S. No. 1 with "Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)".

1976 - A then-unknown Sex Pistols opened for The 101ers at The Nashville Room in London. (The 101ers were a pub rock band, notable as being the band that Joe Strummer left to join The Clash).

1976 - Johnnie Taylor started a four-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "Disco Lady", his 10th U.S. Top 40 hit.

1990 - Jazz singer Sarah Vaughan died of lung cancer.

1998 - With the big "alternative" acts now squarely in the mainstream, the Lollapalooza festival is officially cancelled, with Green Day, Radiohead and Foo Fighters among the bands turning down offers to headline.

2007 - Keith Richards denied that he snorted the ashes of his late father during a drugs binge. Jane Rose, Richards' manager, told MTV News the remarks were made "in jest", and she could not believe they had been taken seriously.

2008 - Morrissey accepted a public apology in court from the now-defunct monthly music magazine The Word, after it suggested he was a racist and a hypocrite.

2011 - Adele broke the record for the longest time at No. 1 in the UK album chart by a female solo artist after her second album, 21, spent 10 consecutive weeks at the top of the chart. The previous record was held by Madonna with her first greatest-hits album, The Immaculate Collection, in 1990.

2014 - Arthur Smith, one of postwar country music's finest guitar pickers, dies at age 93 of natural causes. His 1949 instrumental "Guitar Boogie" was one of the first to showcase the electric guitar and as such had a major influence on the development of rockabilly and rock in general.

2015 - Bob Burns, the drummer who was in the original lineup of Lynyrd Skynyrd, died in a car crash in Georgia. He appeared on the band's "Sweet Home Alabama," "Gimme Three Steps" and "Free Bird".

Birthdays:

Songwriter Ervin Drake (“It Was a Very Good Year”) was born today in 1919.

Actress and singer Doris Day was born today in 1922, and passed away in May of 2019. Her best-known musical hit is the 1956 Academy Award-winning single, "Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Que Sera, Sera)", which she sang in Alfred Hitchcock's "The Man Who Knew Too Much", which was her 10th movie at the time to be in the Top 10 at the box office. Day has received many, many awards including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and a Legend Award from the Society of Singers. In 1960, she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress, and in 1989 was given the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement in motion pictures. In 2004, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George W. Bush followed in 2011 by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association's Career Achievement Award.

Don Gibson (“I Can’t Stop Loving You”) was born today in 1928.

Jeff Barry ("Do Wah Diddy Diddy," "Da Doo Ron Ron," "Then He Kissed Me," "Be My Baby," "Chapel of Love") is 86.

Jan Berry of Jan and Dean was born today in 1941.

Philippé Wynne of the Spinners was born today in 1941.

Wayne Newton is 82.

Billy Joe Royal (“Down in the Boondocks”) was born today in 1942.

Richard Manuel of the Band was born today in 1943.

Tony Orlando is 80. His best-known hits include the 1971 No. 1 single "Knock Three Times" and the 1973 No. 1 single "Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round The Old Oak Tree."

Dee Murray, bassist for Elton John, was born today in 1946.

Richard Thompson, of Fairport Convention and Richard and Linda Thompson, is 75. One of his best-known songs is "1952 Vincent Black Lightning.”

Mel Schacher, bassist for Grand Funk Railroad, is 73.

Eddie Murphy is 63.

Simon Raymonde of Cocteau Twins is 62.

Mike Ness of Social Distortion is 62.

Sebastian Bach is 56.

Leona Lewis is 39.

Paris Jackson is 26.

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