History Highlight:

Today in 2013, Lou Reed died at the age of 71. Well-known as the guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of the Velvet Underground, his solo career, which began in 1972, spanned five decades. Reed was known for his distinctive deadpan voice, poetic lyrics and for pioneering and coining the term "ostrich guitar tuning". In 2003, Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time included two albums by Reed as a solo artist, Transformer and Berlin. 

Also, Today In: 

1960 - Ben E. King, one-time lead vocalist for The Drifters, recorded his first sides as a soloist, two of which turned out to be timeless classics and bestsellers: "Stand By Me" and "Spanish Harlem." 

1963 - Peter Paul & Mary held down the two top spots on the pop album chart with In The Wind and Don't Think Twice, both of which featured songs by Bob Dylan. 

1964 The Supremes release "Come See About Me." 

1964 - Salvatore Philip Bono married Cherilyn Sarkisian La Piere. For a time they performed together as Caesar and Cleo before changing the name of their act to Sonny and Cher. 

1969 - Muddy Waters was seriously injured in a car crash in Champagne, Illinois. Three people were killed in the accident. 

1972 Eight months after releasing Music Of My Mind, the very prolific Stevie Wonder puts out Talking Book, an innovative album where he creates most of the sounds himself using a Clavinet and a custom-made synthesizer. Tracks include "Superstition" and "You Are The Sunshine Of My Life." 

1973 - Gladys Knight and the Pips started a two-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with Midnight Train To Georgia. 

1975 - Bruce Springsteen made the cover of both Time and Newsweek. The magazines were embarrassed, but the coverage further stoked the boss's career. 

1979 - During a U.S. tour, Elton John collapsed on stage at Hollywood's Universal Amphitheater, suffering from exhaustion. 

1980 - Steve Took, original percussionist of T. Rex, dies in New Kensington, London, at age 31. Although he had taken drugs, his official cause of death was asphyxiation after inhaling a cocktail cherry. 

1982 - Prince released his fifth album, 1999. It was a breakthrough, selling well over 5 million copies worldwide, thanks to "Little Red Corvette" and the title track. Following Prince's death in 2016, the album re-entered the Billboard 200 and peaked at number seven, besting its original performance on the chart thirty-three years earlier. A re-release and remaster of the album, including 35 previously unreleased recordings, was released in November 2019. 

1988 - U2's film, Rattle And Hum, received its global premiere in Dublin, the band's hometown. 

1998 - Lauryn Hill released her first single as a solo artist, "Doo Wop (That Thing)." 

2000 - Lonnie Donegan went to Buckingham Palace to receive his MBE -Member of the British Empire, an order of chivalry of British democracy - for his services to music. Donegan pioneered the skiffle genre in the 1950s, inspiring a generation of teenagers to start bands, including John Lennon of the Beatles and Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin. 

2002 - American record producer Tom Dowd died of emphysema. He recorded albums by many artists including Eric Clapton, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Derek and the Dominos, Rod Stewart, Aretha Franklin, Cream, Lulu, Chicago, The Allman Brothers Band, The J. Geils Band, Meat Loaf, Sonny & Cher, The Rascals, Willie Nelson, Diana Ross, Kenny Loggins, Dusty Springfield, The Drifters and Otis Redding. 

2006 Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth premieres her film Perfect Partner at Montclair State University in New Jersey. 

2006 -Amy Winehouse released her second and final studio album, Back to Black, in her native U.K. (the U.S. release would follow in December). Back to Black spawned five singles: "Rehab," "You Know I'm No Good," "Back to Black," "Tears Dry on Their Own" and "Love Is a Losing Game." The record won Best Pop Vocal Album at the 50th Annual Grammy Awards. Worldwide, Back to Black has sold more than 20 million copies. 

2012 Barbra Streisand's album Release Me hits #7 in the US, making her the first artist to have multiple albums in the Top 10 during every decade from the 1960s to the 2010s (her 2011 album What Matters Most made #4). Streisand is the female artist with the most Top 10 charting albums in history. 

2014 - "The Last Ship", Sting's musical about shipbuilding in north-east England, opened on Broadway. The former frontman with The Police described watching the opening night as "an out-of-body experience". Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen and Blondie's Deborah Harry were among the first night audience at the Neil Simon Theatre. 

2014 - Taylor Swift issues 1989, her biggest-selling album. The first two singles are monster hits: "Shake It Off" and "Blank Space.” 

2015 - Twitter discontinues Vine, the short-form video hosting service that launched the music careers of Shawn Mendes and "Lost Boy" singer Ruth B. 

Birthdays: 

Bonnie Lou, one of the first woman rock ‘n’ roll singers (“Seven Lonely Days”), was born today in 1924.

Floyd Cramer (“Last Date”) — in both the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame — was born today in 1933.

John Cleese is 85.

Dallas Frazier was born today in 1939.

Lee Greenwood is 82.

Garry Tallent, bass player with the Bruce Springsteen E Street Band, is 75. 

Former Judas Priest guitarist KK Downing is 73. 

Simon Le Bon of Duran Duran is 66. 

Scott Weiland of Stone Temple Pilots was born today in 1967. He passed away in 2015. 

Kelly Osbourne is 40. 

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