History Spotlight:

Born on April 10, 1959, in Massapequa, New York, Brian Robert Setzer is 65. Setzer is best known as the frontman for the rockabilly group Stray Cats and the swing revival group the Brian Setzer Orchestra. He has released dozens of albums with these two acts, as well as several rockabilly solo records. These days, he calls suburban Minneapolis his home. The reunited Stray Cats will play their first shows in five years this summer, including a date in Moorhead on Aug. 8 and St. Cloud on Aug. 9.

Also, Today In:

1956 - Nat King Cole was attacked on stage by a group of five racial segregationists during a show at the Municipal Hall in Birmingham, Alabama.

1962 - Stu Sutcliffe, original bass guitarist for The Beatles, dies at age 21 of a brain aneurysm.

1967 - Marvin Gaye recorded his version of "I Heard It Through The Grapevine". The song was first recorded by The Miracles and had also been a million-seller in 1967 for Gladys Knight and the Pips.

1970 - Elton John released his self-titled second studio album, which included his breakthrough single "Your Song."

1970 - At a concert in Boston, Jim Morrison paused to ask the audience, "Does anyone want to see my genitals?" Apparently, he had some takers. Theater management quickly switched off the power, and Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek dragged Morrison off stage.

1970 - In a press release announcing his imminent debut solo album, Paul McCartney quit The Beatles. McCartney was released 10 days later.

1976 - Peter Frampton went to No. 1 on the U.S. album chart with Frampton Comes Alive. It was the best-selling album of 1976, selling more than 6 million copies in the U.S., and was voted Album of the Year in a 1976 Rolling Stone readers' poll. It stayed on the chart for 97 weeks.

1985 - Madonna began her first tour, the Virgin Tour, in Seattle.

1990 - A jury awarded Tom Waits $2.5 million in punitive damages following his suit against Doritos chips for unauthorized usage of a Waits sound-alike singer in a commercial.

1993 - Depeche Mode entered the U.S. album chart at No. 1 with Songs Of Faith And Devotion.

1998 - Three days after being arrested in a Los Angeles park for lewd conduct, George Michael comes out as gay in an interview with CNN. "I have no problem with people knowing that I'm in a relationship with a man right now," he says.

2001 - Bruce Springsteen won a court battle to keep the rights to his early songs.

2003 - Eva Narcissus Boyd, better-known as the pop singer Little Eva, died at age 59, 18 months after being diagnosed with cervical cancer. Most famously known for the hit "The Loco-motion", Boyd's other single recordings were "Keep Your Hands Off My Baby", "Let's Turkey Trot" and a remake of the Bing Crosby standard "Swinging on a Star," recorded with Big Dee Irwin. As a teenager, she worked as a maid and earned extra money as a babysitter for songwriters Carole King and Gerry Goffin, who wrote "The Loco-Motion" for her and had her record it as a demo. The song reached No. 1 in the United States in 1962, and it sold over one million copies.

2005 - The final episode of The Osbournes was aired on MTV in the U.K. The show reached a peak audience of eight million at its height during its three-year run. Ozzy Osbourne was at a loss to explain its popularity, saying, "I suppose Americans get a kick out of watching a crazy Brit family like us make complete fools of ourselves every week."

2007 - The Hendersonville, Tennessee, house once owned by Johnny Cash burns to the ground. It had been purchased after Cash's death by Barry Gibb of The Bee Gees, who planned to renovate it.

2013 - Kate Bush received her CBE — Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, an order of chivalry — for her services to music, presented by Queen Elizabeth II at an investiture ceremony at Windsor Castle. The singer-songwriter, who was catapulted to fame in 1978 when Wuthering Heights topped the charts, said she was "incredibly thrilled", and she dedicated the award to her family and joked that it would have pride of place at the top of her Christmas tree.

Birthdays:

Martin Denny was born on this day in 1911.

Sheb Wooley (“The Purple People Eater”) was born today in 1921.

Bobby Smith, lead singer for the Spinners, was born today in 1936.

Bunny Wailer was born today in 1947.

Eddie Hazel, guitarist for Parliament-Funkadelic, was born today in 1950.

Steve Gustafson, bassist for 10,000 Maniacs, is 67.

Babyface is 65.

Katrina Leskanich, lead singer of Katrina and the Waves, is 64.

Mark Oliver Everett, better known as E., the creative force behind the band Eels, celebrates his 61st birthday today. Born in Virginia, Everett moved to Los Angeles in the late 1980s to begin his music career. In 1992, he made his major-label debut with the album A Man Called E, released on Polydor Records. In 1995, Everett formed the band Eels. That band’s debut album, Beautiful Freak, came out in 1996 and included the hit single “Novocaine for the Soul,” which hit No. 1 on Billboard’s Modern Rock Tracks chart. Eels have released a total of 14 studio albums to date, their most recent being 2022’s Extreme Witchcraft.  

Warren DeMartini, lead guitarist for Ratt, is 61.

Alan 'Reni' Wren, drummer for The Stone Roses, is 60.

Tim Alexander, drummer for Primus, is 59.

Kenny Lattimore is 54.

Mike Mushok of Staind is 54.

Q-Tip of A Tribe Called Quest is 54.

Aidan Moffat of Arab Strap is 51.

Chris Carrabba of Dashboard Confessional is 49.

Sophie Ellis-Bextor is 45.

Bryce Soderberg of Lifehouse is 44.

Liz McClarnon of Atomic Kitten is 43.

Andrew Dost of Fun. is 41.

Mandy Moore is 40.

Maren Morris is 34.

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