History Highlight:

On this day in 2015, Leon Bridges released his debut album, Coming Home. Less than a year earlier, Bridges was still washing dishes at a restaurant in Fort Worth, Texas, and playing at open mics in his spare time. One night he caught the attention of fellow Fort Worth musicians Austin Jenkins and Joshua Block of the rock band White Denim. Meeting Bridges gave Jenkins and Block an excuse to pursue their passion project and outfit their own studio with vintage equipment from the '40s and '50s. They recorded two demos with Bridges, one of them being "Coming Home." When the songs dropped on Soundcloud, they went viral and sent record labels across the country into a frenzy to sign the retro-soul singer. Bridges went with Columbia Records, home to Adele and John Legend, and recorded the rest of the throwback tunes that comprise his debut, including "Smooth Sailin'," which ends up on President Obama's summertime playlist. Coming Home was considered by Rolling Stone to be one of the 50 Best Albums of 2015 and was nominated for Best R&B Album at the 2016 Grammy Awards. 

Also, Today In: 

1962 - Ray Charles started a 14-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. album chart with Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music. 

1962 - The film soundtrack to 'West Side Story' went to No.1 on the UK charts for the first time. It spent a total of 13 weeks at No.1 on seven different occasions. 

1965 - Smokey Robinson and The Miracles' classic "The Tracks Of My Tears" was released by Motown. 

1965 - The Kinks played a show in Springfield, Illinois that they later learned was organized by John Wayne Gacy, who later became a notorious serial killer. 

1966 - The Rolling Stones departed London for their third U.S. tour just two weeks after Mick Jagger was hospitalized for exhaustion following extensive tours of Australia and Europe. 

1967 - Arthur Conley received a Gold record for his memorable "Sweet Soul Music," his first and biggest hit. 

1967 - Aretha Franklin records "Chain of Fools." 

1973 - George Harrison started a five-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. album chart with Living in the Material World, his second No. 1. 

1975 - Alice Cooper broke six ribs after falling off the stage at a concert in Vancouver, B.C. 

1976 - At the conclusion of the Paul McCartney "Wings Over America" tour in Los Angeles, Ringo Starr appeared onstage to present former band mate Paul with a bouquet. 

1980 The Rolling Stones release Emotional Rescue. 

1984 - Duran Duran started a two-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "The Reflex," the group's first No. 1 single in the U.S. 

1986 - The Smiths' The Queen Is Dead was released in the U.S. 

1987 - 16-year-old Tiffany started her Mall Tour at Paramus Park Mall in New Jersey, performing her No. 1 hit, "I Think We're Alone Now." Tiffany's producer came up with the mall tour idea when it became clear that her record company, MCA, was not going to promote her effectively.  

1989 - George Michael received the Silver Clef Award for outstanding achievements to British Music. 

1990 - Gary Busey, who had portrayed Buddy Holly in the film, The Buddy Holly Story, paid in the neighborhood of $240,000 for one of Holly's guitars at a New York auction. 

1995 - Dan Rather appeared onstage with R.E.M. for a photo session at Madison Square Garden as the band rehearsed "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?" The song was, of course, a reference to the bizarre incident several years earlier where the veteran CBS news anchor was mugged when he couldn't come up with an answer to that question when asked by his assailants. 

2000 - Michael Jackson is sued by a German promoter for $21 million after the singer cancels two once-in-a-lifetime millennial New Year's concerts. 

2002 - Yoko Ono, accompanied by her son, Sean, showed up at Club Universe in San Francisco, where she deejayed well into the morning. The day before, Ono had hosted the opening of her exhibition, Yes Yoko Ono, at the San Francisco Museum Of Modern Art. 

2004 - St. Andrews University in Scotland presented Bob Dylan with an honorary doctorate in Music. 

2006 - Kevin Richardson of Backstreet Boys leaves the group to pursue other interests. 

2010 - Gregg Allman, aged 62 at the time, underwent a successful liver transplant operation at the Mayo Clinic's Jacksonville, Fla., location. 

2013 - Blues and soul legend Bobby "Blue" Bland died at the age of 83. Bland was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1981, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992, and received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1997. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame described him as "second in stature only to B.B. King as a product of Memphis's Beale Street blues scene" 

2016 - Bluegrass artist Ralph Stanley who was known for his distinctive singing and banjo playing, died at age 89. With his brother Carter, he helped popularize the bluegrass genre. Stanley won new fans when his work featured in the Coen brothers film "O Brother, Where Art Thou?". 

2019 - Dave Bartholomew died of heart failure at the age 100. Many musicians recorded Bartholomew's songs, but his partnership with Fats Domino produced some of his greatest successes. In the mid-1950s they wrote more than forty hits for Imperial Records, including the Billboard No.1 pop chart hit "Ain't That a Shame". Bartholomew's other hit songs as a composer include 'I Hear You Knocking', 'Blue Monday', 'I'm Walkin'', 'My Ding-A-Ling', and 'One Night.' 

2021 - Britney Spears asks a court to end her conservatorship, which is controlled by her father. "This conservatorship is doing me way more harm than good," she says. "I deserve to have a life." Despite her passionate plea, her request is denied, but she gets her wish five months later when her conservatorship is terminated. 

Birthdays: 

Bob Fosse — winner of an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, three Primetime Emmy Awards, and 9 Tony Awards — was born today in 1927.

June Carter Cash was born today in 1929. She passed away on May 15, 2003. In her lifetime, she played many instruments including the guitar, banjo, harmonica, and autoharp, and was a film and television actress as well. She won five Grammys and was ranked number 31 in CMT's 40 Greatest Women in Country Music in 2003. 

Niki Sullivan, guitarist in Buddy Holly’s backing band the Crickets, was born today in 1937.

Adam Faith (“What Do You Want?”) was born today in 1940.

Stu Sutcliffe, the Beatles' original bassist, was born today in 1940. Sutcliffe died of a brain hemorrhage in 1962, at age 22. 

Robert Hunter, a Grateful Dead collaborator, was born today in 1941.

Glenn Danzig is 69. 

Randy Jackson is 68. 

Sonic Youth drummer Steve Shelley is 62. 

Paul “Bonehead” Arthurs, formerly of Oasis, is 59.

Chico DeBarge of DeBarge and a solo artist (“Talk to Me”) is 58.

Yann Tiersen, musician behind the Amelie soundtrack, is 54.

KT Tunstall is 49. 

Jason Mraz is 47.

Memphis Bleek is 46. 

Duffy is 40. 

Chet Faker is 36.

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