History Highlight:

Today in 2018, Irish musician and singer-songwriter Dolores O'Riordan from The Cranberries died unexpectedly while she was in London for a recording session. The Cranberries had the 1994 hit singles "Linger", "Dreams" and "Zombie" and the band's 1993 debut album Everybody Else Is Doing It So Why Can't We reached No. 18 on the U.S. Billboard 200 albums chart.

Also, in:

1965 - The Who had their first hit when they released "I Can't Explain" in the UK. "I Can't Explain", with Jimmy Page on guitar, was the A-side of the group's first single released under the name The Who. Their previous single, "Zoot Suit" / "I'm the Face," was released under the name The High Numbers. In a 2015 interview with Rolling Stone, Pete Townshend, the writer of the song, referred to "I Can't Explain" as "a song, written by some 18-year-old kid, about the fact that he can't tell his girlfriend he loves her because he's taken too many Dexedrine tablets."

1967 - The Rolling Stones were forced to change the lyrics of "Let's Spend The Night Together" to "Let's Spend Some Time Together" when appearing on The Ed Sullivan Show after the producers objected to the content of the lyrics.

1972 - Led Zeppelin's 'Black Dog' made its debut on the U.S. singles chart.

1976 - Bassist Paul Simonon auditioned for The London SS, the band went on to become The Clash.

1977 - The Eagles were at No. 1 on the U.S. album chart with Hotel California, the group's third US No.1 album.

1982 - Harry Casey of KC and the Sunshine Band was seriously injured in a head-on car crash.

1990 - The Sundays released their debut album, Reading, Writing and Arithmetic. It features “Here’s Where the Story Ends.”

1990 - They Might Be Giants released their third studio album, Flood. It features “Birdhouse in Your Soul” and “Istanbul (Not Constantinople).”

1992 - Dee Murray, bass player with the Elton John band, died after suffering a stroke aged 45.

1994 - Singer songwriter Harry Nilsson died in his sleep of heart failure after spending the previous day in the recording studio.

1998 - Chicago blues vocalist, harmonica player, Junior Wells died at age 63. Born Amos Blakemore, he is best-known for his signature song 'Messin' with the Kid' and his 1965 album Hoodoo Man Blues. He also worked with Muddy Waters, Van Morrison, Carlos Santana, Bonnie Raitt and The Rolling Stones.

2002 - 1980's British pop legend Adam Ant was admitted to a mental ward 24 hours after being charged by police with pulling a gun on staff in a London pub.

2008 - Ronnie Wood was recovering following an operation for a hernia after he sustained the injury during the band's recent Bigger Bang tour. The 60-year-old Rolling Stones guitarist was told to rest for two months after the procedure.

2015 - American record producer, singer and musician Kim Fowley died at the age of 75. He is best-known for his role behind a string of novelty and cult pop-rock singles in the 1960s, and for managing The Runaways in the 1970s. With Gary S. Paxton he recorded the novelty song 'Alley Oop', which reached No.1 on the charts in 1960 and was credited to the non-existent group the Hollywood Argyles.

2020 - American multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter Chris Darrow died of complications from a stroke at age 75. He was considered to be a pioneer of country rock music in the late-1960s and performed and recorded with numerous groups, including Kaleidoscope and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. Darrow played bass on Leonard Cohen's debut Songs of Leonard Cohen.

Birthdays:

Drummer Gene Krupa was born today in 1909.

Martin Luther King Jr. was born today in 1929.

Captain Beefheart was born today in 1941.

Ronnie Van Zant, singer for Lynyrd Skynyrd, was born today in 1948.

Duke Elwin Erikson of Garbage of 74.

Melvyn Gale, cellist for Electric Light Orchestra, is 73.

Tool guitarist Adam Jones is 60.

Pitbull is 44.

Skrillex is 37.

Grace VanderWaal is 21.

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