History Highlight:

Today in 1968, the animated Beatles film Yellow Submarine was released in the United States. Initial press reports stated that the Beatles themselves would provide their own character voices; however, aside from composing and performing the songs, the real Beatles participated only in the closing scene of the film, while their cartoon counterparts were voiced by other actors. Paul McCartney's voice, for example, was performed by actor Geoffrey Hughes — who would later become well-known to BBC and PBS audiences for his role as Onslow on the comedy series Keeping Up Appearances. We were lucky enough to have Ron Campbell, legendary animator, who did animations for Yellow Submarine feature on the morning show.

Also, Today In:

1964 - Decca Records released the Rolling Stones' "Little Red Rooster." Written by Willie Dixon (as The Red Rooster), and previously recorded by Howlin' Wolf and Sam Cooke, the single was recorded at Chess Studios in Chicago.

1968 - Brian Jones of The Rolling Stones purchased Cotchford Farms in Sussex, England, where A.A. Milne had written Winnie The Pooh. Statues of various Pooh characters decorate the estate.

1976 - Rod Stewart started an eight-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "Tonight's The Night," his second U.S. No. 1. The track features whispers from actress Britt Ekland, who was Stewart's girlfriend at the time.

1982 - Australian band Men At Work started a 15-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. album chart with their debut album Business As Usual, which went on to sell more than five million copies in the United States.

1990 - Madonna released her first greatest hits collection, The Immaculate Collection. It features “Justify My Love,” “Rescue Me,” and her best-loved songs from the first decade of her career.

1992 - Elton John performed his first concert in Mexico at the Estadio Azteca stadium in Mexico City in front of an audience of 90,000.

2000 - The Beatles launched their first official website, www.thebeatles.com. The site went live on the same day as the release of their retrospective Compilation 1 album.

2000 - Sade released their fifth studio album, Lovers Rock. It features “By Your Side” and “King of Sorrow.”

2004 - Rapper and founding member of the Wu-Tang Clan Ol' Dirty Bastard (Russell Jones), collapsed and died at a Manhattan recording studio in New York at the age of 35.

2009 - Them Crooked Vultures — Josh Homme, John Paul Jones, and Dave Grohl — released their self-titled debut album. It features “New Fang” and “Mind Eraser, No Chaser.”

2012 - The original collage that was reproduced and included in copies of The Beatles' 1967 Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band record sold for $87,720. The piece, which was designed by Peter Blake, was sold to an unnamed bidder as part of an auction of modern British art at Sotheby's in London.

2015 - Alessia Cara released her debut studio album, Know-It-All. It features “Here,” “Wild Things,” and “Scars to Your Beautiful.”

2016 - Leon Russell died in Nashville at the age of 74. He led Joe Cocker's band Mad Dogs & Englishmen, and appeared at George Harrison's 1971 Concert for Bangladesh. Many of his songs became hits for others, among them "Superstar" (written with Bonnie Bramlett) for the Carpenters, "Delta Lady" for Joe Cocker and "This Masquerade" for George Benson. More than 100 acts have recorded "A Song for You", which Russell said he wrote in 10 minutes.

2020 - Chris Stapleton released his fourth studio album, Starting Over. It features the title track, “Cold,” “You Should Probably Leave,” and “Joy of My Life.”

Birthdays:

Baby Washington (“That’s How Heartaches Are Made”) is 84.

Timmy Thomas (“Why Can’t We Live Together”) was born today in 1944.

Toy Caldwell, lead guitarist for the Marshall Tucker Band, was born today in 1947.

Terry “Superlungs” Reid — whose songs have been recorded by the Raconteurs, the Hollies, Cheap Trick, Chris Cornell, and Crosby Stills & Nash — is 75.

Bill Gibson, drummer from Huey Lewis and the News, is 73.

Andrew Ranken of The Pogues is 71.

Aldo Nova is 68.

Jimmy Kimmel is 57.

Steve Zahn — Marshall, Minnesota-born actor who played the Wonders’ lead guitarist in That Thing You Do! — is 57.

Bassist Nikolai Fraiture of The Strokes is 46.

Julia Michaels is 31.

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