Birthday Highlight:

Beyoncé was born today in 1981, making her 43 today. With Destiny's Child she had the 2000 U.S. No. 1 single with "Say My Name" and the 2001 U.S. and U.K. No. 1 single and album "Survivor". Beyonce scored the 2003 U.S. and U.K. No. 1 single "Crazy In Love" from the world-wide No. 1 album Dangerously In Love. Beyoncé is one of the world's best-selling music artists, having sold over 100 million records worldwide. She is the most nominated woman in the Grammy Awards history and has the second most wins for a woman with a total of 24. Beyoncé’s 2024 album, Cowboy Carter, was her eighth consecutive No. 1 album on the Billboard 200, and the first album by a Black woman to top the Top Country Albums chart. Lead single "Texas Hold 'Em" was Beyoncé's ninth No. 1 single in the United States and the first country song by a Black woman to top the Billboard Hot 100 and the Hot Country Songs charts. 

Also, Today In:

1954 - Elvis Presley, along with Bill Black and Scotty Moore, made his first appearance at The Grand Ole Opry. The audience reaction was so poor that the Opry's manager, Jim Denny, told Elvis that he should go back to driving a truck.

1965 - The Beatles started a three-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "Help," the title of their second film and the group's ninth U.S. No. 1.

1968 - "Street Fighting Man" by The Rolling Stones is banned in Chicago and some other cities as local officials fear it will incite riots.

1969 - The classic late-1960s counter-culture movie Easy Rider opened, starring Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper and Jack Nicholson. Songs on the film's popular soundtrack included "Born To Be Wild" by Steppenwolf, "Wasn't Born To Follow" and "The Ballad Of Easy Rider" by The Byrds, and "Don't Bogart That Joint" by the Fraternity Of Man.

1971 - Paul and Linda McCartney went to No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with the U.S.- only release, "Uncle Albert / Admiral Halsey." McCartney's first U.S. solo No. 1. Paul would later explain that "Uncle Albert" was based on his real-life uncle. "He's someone I recall fondly and when the song was coming, it was like a nostalgia thing … As for Admiral Halsey, he's one of yours, an American admiral,'' referring to Admiral William "Bull" Halsey.

1976 - The Bee Gees went to No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "You Should Be Dancing," the group's third chart-topping single.

1976 - The Sex Pistols appeared on British TV for the first time when they featured on the Manchester-based Granada TV program, So It Goes.

1987 - Drummer Mike Joyce quit The Smiths.

2000 - Bassist David Brown died due to liver and kidney failure. He was the primary bass player with Santana from 1966 until 1971 and played in Santana at Woodstock and at Altamont in 1969 and on the band's first three studio albums.

2007 - The Bob Dylan "biographical" movie, I'm Not There: Suppositions On A Film Concerning Dylan, premieres at the Venice (Italy) Film Festival.

2015 - Cuban-born Jamaican ska and reggae trombonist Rico Rodriguez died aged 80. He recorded with many artists including Karl Pitterson, Prince Buster, and Lloyd "Matador" Daley. He was known as one of the first and most distinguished ska artists, and from the early 1960s performed and recorded in Britain, with the Specials, Jools Holland, Paul Young, and others.

2020 - Declan McKenna released his second studio album, Zeros.

2023 - Steve Harwell, frontman for Smash Mouth, died at the age of 56 in Boise, Idaho.

Birthdays:

Bubba Knight, singer with The Pips, is 82.

Gene Parsons of The Byrds, The Flying Burrito Brothers, and Parsons Green is 80.

Ronald LePread bassist from funk/soul band, The Commodores is 70.

Pretenders drummer Martin Chambers is 73.

Blackie Lawless of W.A.S.P. is 68.

Kim Thayil of Soundgarden is 64.

Sami Yaffa — bassist for New York Dolls and Joan Jett & the Blackhearts — is 61.

Welsh DJ Sasha is 55.

Igor Cavalera of Sepultura is 54.

Carmit Bachar of the Pussycat Dolls is 50.

DJ and music producer Mark Ronson is 49.

Lacey Sturm of Flyleaf is 43.

James Bay 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.