History Highlight:

Today in 2003, The Chicks, formerly as the Dixie Chicks, performed a concert at Dallas' American Airlines Center despite an anonymous threat that group member Natalie Maines would be shot on stage, (after the controversy regarding her comments about President George W. Bush and the Iraq war). Maines had a police escort to and from the show and then directly to the airport. After a hiatus, the group toured again in 2010, 2013 and 2016. More recently, the group changed their name to the "The Chicks" in order to distance themselves from a name associated with the Confederate-era South. They’ll be performing at the MN State Fair Grandstand next month, on August 25th. 

Also, Today In: 

1950 - Johnny Cash joins the US Air Force. 

1957 - John Lennon and Paul McCartney met for the first time in Woolton, Liverpool, at the St. Peter's Church Parish festival where 16-year-old Lennon's skiffle band, The Quarrymen, were appearing. McCartney impressed Lennon by playing "Twenty Flight Rock" by Eddie Cochran and "Be-Bop-A-Lula" by Gene Vincent. Lennon was even more impressed when McCartney showed Lennon and Eric Griffiths how to tune their guitars, something they'd been paying someone else to do for them. 

1963 - James Brown went to No. 2 on the U.S. album chart with Live At The Apollo. Recorded on the night of Oct. 24, 1962, at Brown's own expense, it spent 66 weeks on the Billboard Albums chart. In 2003, the album was ranked No. 25 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. 

1964 - The Beatles film A Hard Day's Night premiered at The Pavilion in London. 

1965 - Jackie Wilson released "Higher And Higher." 

1966 - Elvis Presley's "Paradise Hawaiian Style" movie opens nationwide. 

1967 - Pink Floyd appeared on the British TV show Top Of The Pops for the first time, performing "See Emily Play." 

1968 - The Rolling Stones scored their fifth U.S. No. 1 single when "Jumpin Jack Flash" reached the top of the charts. Keith Richards has recalled that he and Mick Jagger wrote the lyrics while staying at Richards' country house, where they were awoken one morning by the sound of gardener Jack Dyer walking past the window. When Jagger asked what the noise was, Richards responded: "Oh, that's Jack — that's jumpin' Jack." 

1971 - American jazz trumpeter, singer and bandleader, Louis Armstrong died. 

1971 - Bjorn Ulvaeus and Agnetha Faltskog of ABBA were married in Verum, Sweden. 

1971 - American jazz trumpeter, singer and bandleader, Louis Armstrong died. Had many hits including the 1964 US No.1 'Hello Dolly!', 1968 UK No.1 'What A Wonderful World’ plus ‘When The Saints Go Marching In’, ‘Ain't Misbehavin’, and ‘We Have All the Time in the World.’ 

1972 - David Bowie performed "Starman" on Top Of The Pops, causing an uproar among the conservative British audience by singing with his arm coquettishly draped around the shoulder of guitarist Mick Ronson - a move that made him a household name overnight. 

1974 - "Rock The Boat" by The Hues Corporation became the first disco song to top the Hot 100. 

1977 - Performing at Olympic Stadium in Montreal on the final stop of Pink Floyd's first stadium tour, Roger Waters spit on an unruly fan and criticized the crowd for setting off fireworks. The experience inspired their next album, The Wall. 

1979 - Van McCoy, known for the 1975 disco hit "The Hustle," died of a heart attack at age 39. 

1984 - The Jacksons kicked off their North American Victory tour at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City. More than two million people attended the 55 concerts, which grossed more than $75 million. Michael Jackson donated $5 million to various charities. 

1985 - Phil Collins went to No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "Sussudio," his third U.S. No. 1. 

1988 - MTV refused to play Neil Young's video for "This Note's For You," citing a policy against videos that mention products. The video was a parody of various ad campaigns, with lyrics mentioning Coke, Pepsi, Miller and Bud. 

1989 - Tom Petty's first solo album apart from The Heartbreakers, Full Moon Fever, charted at No. 3. 

1994 - Forrest Gump hit theaters. Aside from becoming the top-grossing film of the year in North America and winning multiple Academy Awards, the movie spawns a hit soundtrack with songs from Elvis Presley, Three Dog Night, The Doors, The Byrds, The Mamas & the Papas, Buffalo Springfield, and more. 

1998 - Cowboy singer and actor Roy Rogers died of heart failure in his sleep at his desert home in Apple Valley, Calif., at the age of 86. 

2003 - Skip Battin, bassist and songwriter with The Byrds, died of complications from Alzheimer's. In his life, he also played with New Riders Of The Purple Sage and The Flying Burrito Brothers. 

2003 - Beyonce featuring Jay-Z started a three-week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Crazy In Love.' The track features a sample from The Chi-Lites' 1970 'Are You My Woman (Tell Me So)'. Also 8 weeks at No.1 on the US chart. 

2004 - R&B/soul singer-songwriter Syreeta Wright died after a two-year battle with bone cancer at age 58. She teamed up with Billy Preston on the 1980 No. 1 hit "With You I'm Born Again", once worked as a secretary at Motown Records and married Stevie Wonder in 1970. 

2005 - Grammy award winning Rap star Lil' Kim who was convicted of perjury and conspiracy in March 2005, was sentenced to a year in jail for lying to a grand jury to protect friends. Kim told the court "I testified falsely to the grand jury and during the trial. At the time I thought it was the right thing to do. Now I know it was wrong." Lil' Kim, (real name Kimberley Jones), was also fined $50,000 

2016 - Drake equalled Michael Jackson's 1983 chart record after he had the No. 1 album and song in the American charts for seven consecutive weeks. "Views" and "One Dance" remained unbeaten on the Billboard charts respectively. 

2017 - Jay-Z's digital-only album 4:44 went platinum within five days - despite limits on who could access it. The music was only available on Tidal, and to customers of Sprint. 

2019 - With 13 weeks at No. 1, "Old Town Road" by Lil Nas X broke the record for longest-running hip-hop song on the Hot 100. "Lose Yourself," "Boom Boom Pow" and "See You Again" all had runs of 12 weeks. 

2019 - Bossa nova star João Gilberto died at the age of 88.

2020 - American singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Charlie Daniels died age 83 of a hemorrhagic stroke. He is best known for his contributions to Southern rock, country, and bluegrass music and scored the 1979 number-one country hit 'The Devil Went Down to Georgia.' 

2020 - Ennio Morricone — composer of scores for many films, including The Good, the Bad and the Ugly — died today at the age of 91 in Rome.

Birthdays: 

Jazz drummer Louie Bellson was born in today in 1924.

Merv Griffin was born today in 1925.

Bill Haley, considered "the first rock 'n' roll star," was born today in 1925. He passed away in 1981. 

Della Reese was born today in 1931.

Gene Chandler (“Duke of Earl”) is 87.

Jet Harris, bassist for Cliff Richard’s band the Shadows, was born today in 1939.

Jeannie Seely (“Don’t Touch Me”) is 84.

Byron Berline, American fiddle player, was born in 1944.

Phyllis Hyman (“You Know How to Love Me”) was born today in 1949. 

Michael Shrieve, drummer for Santana, is 75. 

Nanci Griffith was born today in 1953. She passed away in 2021.

Inspectah Deck of Wu-Tang Clan is 54. 

Curtis James Jackson III, better known as 50 Cent, is 49. 

Nic Cester of Jet is 45.

Joell Ortiz is 44. 

Kate Nash is 37. 

Highlights for Today in Music History are gathered from This Day in Music, Song Facts and Wikipedia.