History Highlight:

Emily Haines of Metric is 50. Born Jan. 25, 1974, in New Dehli, India, Haines grew up in Ontario, Canada. She founded Metric with James Shaw in 1998, and the core lineup — featuring Shaw, Joshua Winstead, and Joules Scott-Key — has been together since 2002. They’ve released nine studio albums, including Formentera in 2022 and Formentera II in 2023. Metric have won four Juno Awards, including Alternative Album of the Year for Synthetica. Haines has also recorded with Broken Social Scene several times, and released solo material as Emily Haines & the Soft Skeleton.

Also, in:

1978 - Bob Dylan's Renaldo and Clara, a semi-documentary of his famous Rolling Thunder Revue tour, premieres in Los Angeles.

1975 - A year and a half after its initial release, Lynyrd Skynyrd peaked at number 19 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart with "Free Bird," which became the band's anthem.

1975 - The Carpenters went to No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with their version of The Marvelettes' 1961 hit "Please Mr. Postman."

1978 - Joy Division made their live debut when they played Pips in Manchester, England. Originally named Warsaw, the band was made up of singer Ian Curtis, guitarist and keyboardist Bernard Sumner, bass player Peter Hook, and drummer Stephen Morris. Curtis, who suffered from epilepsy and had trouble performing live, grew increasingly depressed over the band's few active years and took his own life the night before their first American tour, at the age of 23.

1980 - The BET network goes on the air, providing a showcase for music videos by Black artists.

1983 - The Allman Brothers Band bassist Lamar Williams died of lung cancer at age 34. He joined the band in 1972 after the death of original bassist Berry Oakley.

1985 - Phil Collins released his third solo studio album, No Jacket Required.

1986 - Dire Straits reached No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart with "Walk of Life," their final top ten single in the U.S.

1991 - Paul McCartney recorded his Unplugged concert for MTV, where he performed such Beatles songs as "Here, There and Everywhere" and "And I Love Her". Unlike other artists who appeared on the show with acoustic instruments plugged into amplifiers, McCartney played the show with all instruments actually unplugged. Microphones were placed close to the instruments to pick up the sound. The performance was released as an album: Unplugged (The Official Bootleg).

1992 - U2 peaked at number nine on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart with "Mysterious Ways" which was their fourth top ten single in the U.S.

1993 - Belly released their debut album, Star. The album was an unexpected success. The single "Feed the Tree" became a number one hit on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart, as well as a surprise pop hit, peaking at number 95 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in the late spring of 1993. The music video for "Feed the Tree" was a smash MTV hit and was nominated for Best Alternative Video VMA and Best New Artist VMA in 1993. On February 21, 1994, the album was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America.

1994 - Meat Puppets released their eighth studio album, Too High to Die, which included the hit single "Backwater."

1994 - Alice In Chains released Jar of Flies. It is the first EP in music history to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, with the first week sales exceeding 141,000 copies in the United States. The self-produced EP was written and recorded over the course of just one week at the London Bridge Studio in Seattle. The tracks "No Excuses", "I Stay Away" and "Don't Follow" were released as singles to promote the album. Jar of Flies was nominated for two Grammy Awards in 1995: Best Recording Package and Best Hard Rock Performance for "I Stay Away."

1999 - The Rolling Stones kicked off their No Security Tour at the Oakland Arena. This was their first arena tour in twenty years.

2000 - D'Angelo releases his second album, Voodoo. It features “Devil’s Pie,” “Left & Right,” “Untitled (How Does It Feel),” “Send It On,” and “Feel Like Makin’ Love.”

2003 - Thanks to a raft of Grammy nominations, Norah Jones' debut album Come Away With Me goes to #1 in America 11 months after it was released. It stays on top for three weeks, then returns the week of March 15 after winning the Grammy for Album of the Year.

2005 - Low released their seventh studio album, The Great Destroyer. It features “California,” “Monkey,” “Cue the Strings,” “When I Go Deaf,” and “Silver Rider.”

2005 - Bright Eyes released their sixth and seventh albums on the same day. The rootsier I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning features “Lua,” “First Day of My Life,” and “Road to Joy.” The electronic-tinged Digital Ash in a Digital Urn features "Take It Easy (Love Nothing)" and “Easy/Lucky/Free.”

2005 - Bonnie “Prince” Billy and Matt Sweeney released their collaborative album, Superwolf. It features “My Home Is the Sea,” “Lift Us Up,” and “Beast for Thee.”

2006 - Motley Crue received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for their achievements in music.

2011 - A former Miss Canada finalist became the first person in the world to graduate with a Masters degree in The Beatles.

2015 - Greek singer Demis Roussos, who sold more than 60 million albums worldwide, died at age 68 in hospital in Athens. In the 1970s he was a member of Aphrodite's Child, a progressive rock group that also included Vangelis. He was best known for his solo hits in the 1970s and 80s, including 'Forever and Ever, Goodbye' and 'Quand je t'aime'.

2016 - Neil Young performed "Till the Morning Comes" live for the first time in his career while playing a private concert for French billionaire Édouard Carmignac. Young did the song as a medley with "Cripple Creek Ferry."

Birthdays:

Antônio Carlos Jobim, bossa nova pianist featured on Getz/Gilberto and composer of “The Girl from Ipanema,” was born today in 1927.

Swedish songwriter, producer and ABBA's manager Stig Anderson was born on this day in 1931.

Etta James was born in 1938.

Robert Finch, cofounder of KC and the Sunshine Band, is 70.

Andy Cox of The Beat is 68.

Gary Tibbs, bassist for Roxy Music is 65.

Alicia Keys is 43.

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