History Spotlight:

On this day in 1982, St. Vincent was born, making her 42 today. Born Anne Erin Clark, she is an American singer, musician, and songwriter. St. Vincent began her music career as a member of the Polyphonic Spree and was also a member of Sufjan Stevens's touring band before forming her own band in 2006. Her debut solo album, Marry Me, was released in 2007. Following critically acclaimed albums have garnered her three Grammy Awards, and she has been listed among the best guitarists of the 21st century by multiple publications. Aside from her own music, St. Vincent produced Sleater-Kinney's 2019 album The Center Won't Hold and co-wrote Taylor Swift's "Cruel Summer." Her most recent album, Daddy’s Home, dropped in 2021.  

Also, Today In: 

1967 - Frank Zappa and wife Gail have their first child, daughter Moon Unit Zappa. 

1968 - The Beatles started a nine-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "Hey Jude." The Paul McCartney song, written about John Lennon's son Julian, gave the group their 16th U.S. No. 1 and the biggest-selling single of 1968. 

1972 - The Temptations release "Papa Was A Rollin' Stone." The single is cut to 6:58 because there's not enough vinyl on a 45 to handle the 11:46 album version. The Temptations version was a No.1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 and won three Grammy Awards in 1973. 

1974 - Bad Company went to No. 1 on the U.S. album chart with their self-titled debut album. They produced six albums together before disbanding in 1983. 

1974 - Canadian singer Andy Kim went to No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "Rock Me Gently." Kim was the co-writer of The Archies' song, "Sugar Sugar." 

1976 - Stevie Wonder released his eighteenth studio album, Songs in the Key of Life. Considered to be one of his greatest masterpieces, the double LP featured such hits as “Isn’t She Lovely,” “I Wish,” and “Sir Duke.” The album debuted at No.1, where it spent 13 consecutive weeks, and won a Grammy for Album of the Year. It has since been added to the Library of Congress’s National Recording Registry. 

1985 - Kate Bush scored her second UK No.1 album with 'Hounds Of Love'. 

1989 - Jimmy Buffett publishes his first book, a collection of short stories called Tales From Margaritaville that blends truth with confabulation. 

1991 - American jazz trumpeter, bandleader and composer Miles Davis died of a stroke and pneumonia. Throughout his wildly prolific, five-decade-long career, the revolutionary jazz composer, trumpeter, and bandleader pioneered a number of jazz subgenres, including hard bop, jazz-fusion, free jazz, and more. In addition to releasing the most popular jazz album of all time (1959’s Kind of Blue), Davis’ lengthy discography includes such groundbreaking titles as Birth of the Cool (1957) and Sketches of Spain (1960). 

1991 - Thanks to a proliferation of "New Country" radio stations and more accurate reporting, country music goes mainstream as Garth Brooks' Ropin' the Wind becomes the first country album to debut at #1 on the Billboard 200 chart. 

1991 - On the week their album, Nevermind, was released, Nirvana made an appearance at the Tower Records store in New York City and then played a show at The Marquee Club in New York. 

1995 - American singer Allen Johnson died of cancer age 55. He was a member of The Marcels who scored the 1961 US and UK No.1 with a doo-wop cover of the ballad 'Blue Moon' that began with the bass singer singing, "bomp-baba-bomp-ba-bomp-ba-bomp-bomp... vedanga-dang-dang-vadinga-dong-ding...". The record sold over one million copies and was awarded a gold disc.  

1999 - Creed released their second album, Human Clay. It features “Higher” and “With Arms Wide Open.”

1999 - Garth Brooks released Garth Brooks in...the Life of Chris Gaines.

1999 - Angie Stone released her debut album, Black Diamond. It features "No More Rain (In This Cloud)," “Life Story,” and “Everyday.”

2002 - Tina Turner's hometown — made famous in her song, "Nutbush City Limits" — named a stretch of State Highway 19 the "Tina Turner Highway." Turner lived in Nutbush, Tenn., a small town about 50 miles northeast of Memphis, until she was 17. 

2002 - Madonna was voted the greatest female singer of all-time by 75,000 music fans in a VH1 poll. 

2004 - Brian Wilson released Brian Wilson Presents Smile. The album features re-recordings of songs from the unfinished Beach Boys’ Smile sessions.

2004 - Ciara released her debut album, Goodies. It features the title track and “1, 2 Step.”

2004 - Annie released her debut album, Anniemal. It features “Chewing Gum” and “Heartbeat.”

2004 - A Beverly Hills tribute concert in honor of Ray Charles, featuring Stevie Wonder, Michael McDonald, Patti Austin and James Ingram, raises $15 million for Atlanta's African-American institution, Morehouse College. 

2004 - An editorial titled "Something Bad Has Begun" by the former Cat Stevens, now known as Yusuf Islam, is published in the Los Angeles Times. 

2005 - Franz Ferdinand released their second album, You Could Have It So Much Better. It features “Do You Want To.”

2009 - Lucy Vodden, the childhood pal of John Lennon's son Julian, passed away at the age of 46 after battling lupus. She was the inspiration for The Beatles' track, "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds," written mostly by John after Julian showed his father a nursery-school drawing he made and called "Lucy - in the sky with diamonds," depicting his classmate. 

2010 - Deerhunter released their fifth studio album, Halcyon Digest. It features “Helicopter,” “Revival,” and “Memory Boy.”

2010 - Bad Religion released their 15th full-length studio album, The Dissent of Man. 

2012 - The musical comedy Pitch Perfect, about an underdog collegiate singing group, premieres in theaters on the cusp of an a cappella revival. The resurgence includes the debut of the genre's newest phenomenon, Pentatonix. 

2015 - Frankie Ford, whose 1959 hit "Sea Cruise" reached No. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100, died of natural causes at the age of 76. 

2022 - "Gangsta's Paradise" rapper Coolio dies of an accidental overdose at 59. 

Birthdays: 

Television host Ed Sullivan was born today in 1901. He passed away in 1974. 

Koko Taylor was born today in 1928.

Tommy Collins — who had hits with “It Tickles” and “Watcha Gonna Do Now,” and wrote hit songs for George Strait, Buck Owens, and Merle Haggard — was born today in 1930.

“Country” Johnny Mathis of Jimmy & Johnny was born today in 1930.

Glenn Sutton — who wrote hits for Eddy Arnold, Tammy Wynette, Lynn Anderson, and Jerry Lee Lewis — was born today in 1937.

Ben E. King was born today in 1938. He passed away in 2015. 

Nick St. Nicholas of Steppenwolf is 81. 

Paul Burgess — drummer for 10cc, Jethro Tull, Camel, and more — is 74.

Jim Diamond — singer of “I Won’t Let You Down,” “I Should Have Known Better,” and “Hi Ho Silver” — was born today in 1951.

George Lynch — guitarist for Dokken and Lynch Mob — is 70.

Kenny Kirkland — pianist for Sting, Dizzy Gillespie, Wynton Marsalis, and more — was born today in 1955.

Jennifer Rush (“The Power of Love”) is 64.

Moon Zappa daughter of Frank Zappa is 57. 

Trish Keenan, frontwoman of Broadcast, was born today in 1968.

Sean Levert of LeVert was born today in 1968.

Joseph Arthur is 53.

Young Jeezy is 47.

St. Vincent is 42.

Daniel Platzman of Imagine Dragons is 38. 

Hilary Duff who is a singer as well as an actress is 37.

Lili Trifilio, singer and guitarist for Beach Bunny, is 28.

Frankie Jonas is 24.

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