History Highlight:

Today in 1966, Tommy Stinson was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota making him 58 today. After beginning to learn the bass at the age of 11, Stinson began playing and covering songs with his half-brother, Bob Stinson, and drummer Chris Mars, who were eventually joined by Paul Westerberg to form The Replacements. Best known as the bass guitarist for The Replacements until their breakup in 1991, Stinson went on to make music with Bash & Pop, Perfect, Guns 'n' Roses and Soul Asylum. He reunited with Bash & Pop when they released the album ANYTHING COULD HAPPEN in 2017, and has also released a couple solo albums, including the critically-acclaimed One Man Mutiny.  

Also, Today In: 

1956 - Elvis Presley releases "Love Me Tender," the title song to his first movie. It goes on to become his fifth #1 hit in America. 

1964 - The Beatles spent the afternoon recording "Eight Days A Week" at Abbey Road studios in London. 

1969 - George Harrison's song "Something" was released as the A-side of a Beatles' 45, a first for Harrison. 

1972 - During sessions at RCA Studios, New York City, David Bowie recorded "The Jean Genie", which became the lead single from his 1973 album Aladdin Sane. The line "He's so simple minded, he can't drive his module" would later give the band Simple Minds their name. 

1973 - Cher started a two-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "Half-Breed," her second No. 1 hit. The song is backed by L.A. sessions musicians from the Wrecking Crew and was Cher's second U.S. solo No. 1 hit. The single was certified Gold in the U.S. for the sales of over 1 million copies, and centers around the story of a young woman who is half-white and half-Cherokee. 

1978 - Australia's King of rock 'n' roll, Johnny O'Keefe, died aged 43 of a heart attack. He was the first Australian rock performer to tour the United States, and he was Australia's most successful chart performer, with 29 Top-40 hits between 1958 and 1974. O'Keefe's 1958 hit, "Real Wild Child," was covered by Iggy Pop in 1986. 

1978 - ABBA members Benny and Anni-Frid split after three years of marriage. 

1979 - Led Zeppelin's In Through The Out Door was at No. 1 on the U.S. album chart. Six versions of the cover were released, each depicting the same bar scene photographed from one of six different angles. 

1979 - "Gotta Serve Somebody" gave Bob Dylan his 12th U.S. top 40 hit when it entered the chart for the first time. Recorded at Muscle Shoals Sound Studios in Muscle Shoals, Ala., the song won Dylan a 1980 Grammy Award for Best Rock Vocal Performance by a Male. 

1980 - The Bee Gees sue their former manager Robert Stigwood for $136 million, claiming unpaid royalties and fraud. The group alleges that contracts they signed with Stigwood in 1968 were predatory and unfair, and that they were too young to understand what they were signing. The suit is eventually settled out of court. 

1982 - Madonna began her illustrious music career with the release of her debut single, “Everybody.” The dance track was originally recorded as a demo by The Material Girl and slipped to Mark Kamins, a DJ at one of Madonna’s favorite New York City nightclubs, Danceteria. Impressed, Kamins passed it along to A&R Sire Records, who signed the budding artist for a two-song deal. 

1991 - Michael Jackson gave away the bride at Elizabeth Taylor's seventh wedding, held at Jackson's Neverland Ranch. The groom was construction worker Larry Fortensky, whom Taylor would divorce in 1997. 

1996 - Country singers Faith Hill and Tim McGraw get hitched. 

1998 - A music industry poll was published by Time Out London, naming the top stars from the past 30 years: fifth place was Marvin Gaye; fourth was James Brown; third was Bob Marley; second were The Beatles; and first place went to David Bowie. 

2004 - On his radio show, Howard Stern announces his move to satellite radio, where he will broadcast on Sirius, which gets a huge bump in subscribers. 

2010 - A set of John Lennon's fingerprints were seized by the FBI from a New York memorabilia dealer who intended to sell them for $100,000 minimum bid. The prints were taken at a New York police station in 1976 when Lennon applied for permanent US residence. 

2011 - Starship's "We Built This City" was named "the worst song of the 1980s" in a poll by Rolling Stone magazine. "The Final Countdown" by the Swedish band Europe came in second and "Lady in Red" by Chris de Burgh was third. Also, making the top (?) five were Wham!'s "Wake Me Up (Before You Go Go)" and "The Safety Dance" by Men Without Hats. 

2016 - Prince's Paisley Park compound opened to the public almost six months after his passing. Graceland Holdings, the company that has managed Elvis Presley's Graceland since 1982, announced it would organize the tours. The 65,000-square-foot complex acts as both a museum and a memorial of Prince. Inside artifacts of Prince's life are on display to be viewed on guided tours. The complex also contains two live music venues and Paisley Park Studio's which are still used by musicians to record today. Prince's intention before his death was to establish Paisley Park as a public venue like Graceland.  

2019 - Larry Junstrom, a founding member of Lynyrd Skynyrd and longstanding bassist with the band .38 Special died at the age of 70. Junstrom played bass with Lynyrd Skynyrd from its formation in 1964 until he was replaced by Leon Wilkeson in 1971. He then joined .38 Special in 1976 with Donnie Van Zant, the younger brother of the Lynyrd Skynyrd frontman Ronnie Van Zant. 

2019 - Cream founder and drummer Ginger Baker passed away on this day in 2019 at the age of 80. Baker struggled with heroin addiction throughout his life, and in February of 2016, was diagnosed with "serious heart issues" and cancelled all future gigs. Writing on his blog, he said, "Just seen doctor ... big shock ... no more gigs for this old drummer ... everything is off ... of all things I never thought it would be my heart". 

2020 - Eddie Van Halen, the revered guitarist and co-founder of the rock band Van Halen died at the age of 65, he had been receiving treatment for throat cancer. 

2020 - American singer-songwriter Johnny Nash died of natural causes age 80. He is best known for his 1972 hit “I Can See Clearly Now.” 

Birthdays: 

Millie Small (“My Boy Lollipop”) was born today in 1947.

Noise rock pioneer Glenn Branca was born today in 1948.

Bobby Farrell of Boney M was born today in 1949. He passed away in 2010. 

Thomas McClary, guitarist for The Commodores, is 75. 

REO Speedwagon frontman Kevin Cronin is 73. 

Los Lobos frontman David Hidalgo is 70. 

Richard Jobson of the Skids is 64.

Matthew Sweet is 60. 

Tommy Stinson of The Replacements is 58. 

William Butler, former member of Arcade Fire, is 42. 

Meg Myers is 38.

Addison Rae is 24. 

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