History highlight:

Today in 2019, Jenny Lewis released her third solo album (and fourth overall), On the Line. It features “Heads Gonna Roll,” “Wasted Youth,” and “Red Bull & Hennessy.” Lewis collaborated with Beck, Ringo Starr, Don Was, Benmont Tench, and more. Lewis recorded the album in her hometown of Los Angeles, but wrote the record's songs in various locations around the U.S., including Minnesota. She said that having family in Wisconsin and Minnesota has given her roots in the upper Midwest. Lewis's father lived in Hastings and passed away in Minnesota.

Also, today in:

1956 - Carl Perkins was almost fatally injured in an automobile accident near Wilmington, Delaware, while on his way to New York City to appear on The Ed Sullivan Show. Perkins had to spend several months in the hospital. By the time he was well enough to resume his career, Elvis Presley had covered his hit "Blue Suede Shoes," and Perkins’ trajectory never really rebounded.

1963 - The Beatles released their debut studio album, Please Please Me in the UK. Other than the material already present in their singles, the Beatles recorded the album in one day at EMI Studios on 11 February 1963, with Martin adding overdubs to "Misery" and "Baby It's You" nine days later. Please Please Me remained in the UK Top 10 for over a year, a record for a debut album that stood for half a century. It was not released in the US, but after the emergence of Beatlemania, Vee-Jay Records released a mild abridgment of the album as Introducing... The Beatles in early 1964, while EMI's American label Capitol Records divided the material from Please Please Me across multiple albums.

1965 - Bob Dylan releases his fifth studio album, Bringing It All Back Home.

1969 - Two days after their wedding in Gibraltar, John Lennon and Yoko Ono began their "bed-in," inviting members of the media into their Amsterdam hotel room where they were promoting peace with songs, signs and dialogue. These events were outlined in the song "The Ballad of John and Yoko."

1976 - While campaigning for U.S. President, Jimmy Carter tells NARM (the National Association of Record Merchandisers) that he listened to Bob Dylan, the Grateful Dead, and Led Zeppelin while governor of Georgia.

1978 - The Beatles' parody 'The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash' aired on NBC with Eric Idle, Neil Innes, etc. Coming out a full four years before This Is Spinal Tap, it was considered the first rock mockumentary.

1986 - Heart had a No. 1 Billboard hit with "These Dreams."

1993 - Depeche Mode became the first alternative British band to go to No. 1. on the Billboard 200 album chart, with Songs of Faith and Devotion.

1994 - The Brian Setzer Orchestra released their self-titled debut album.

2001 - Loretta Lynn was hospitalized with pneumonia. She rebounded and published her second best-selling autobiography shortly after.

2001 - Singer Earl T. Beal with the Silhouettes died. The doo wop/R&B group's single "Get A Job" was a No. 1 hit on the Billboard R&B singles chart and pop singles chart in 1958. The doo-wop revival group Sha Na Na derived their name from the song's lyrics. "Get A Job" is included in the soundtracks of the film American Graffiti, Trading Places, and Stand By Me.

2005 - Rod Price, former member of Black Cat Bones and a founding member of Foghat, passed away after suffering a heart attack. The 57-year-old English guitarist played on Foghat's 1976 U.S. single "Slow Ride.”

2013 - Australian singer-songwriter Vance Joy releases his debut EP, God Loves You When You're Dancing.

2016 - Dave Grohl leapt to the defense of a teenage heavy metal band from Cornwall, England after their local council said they were too loud. The Black Leaves of Envy were told they would have to stop practicing in a family garage after noise complaints from neighbors. Foo Fighters frontman Grohl wrote an open letter to the authorities after the band contacted the Cornwall Council asking them to "reconsider the restrictions.”

2016 - Phife Dawg of A Tribe Called Quest died at the age of 45 from complications resulting from diabetes.

2019 - Scott Walker of the Walker Brothers died at the age of 76 in London, England.

2019 - Orville Peck released his debut album, Pony.

2020 - American-born, British-based folk recording artist Julie Felix died at age 81. She had two U.K. Singles Chart hits in 1970. The first was "If I Could (El Condor Pasa)," while the second, "Heaven is Here," was written by Errol Brown and Tony Wilson of Hot Chocolate.

Birthdays:

Stephen Sondheim was born on this day in 1930. In his lifetime, this American composer and lyricist won an Academy Award, eight Tony Awards, eight Grammys, a Pulitzer, and the 2015 Presidential Medal Of Freedom.

Roger Whittaker was born today in 1936.

Angelo Badalamenti, Twin Peaks theme composer, was born today in 1937.

Jeremy Clyde, half of Chad & Jeremy, is 83.

Jorge Ben Jor is 82.

George Benson is 81.

Keith Relf, lead singer of The Yardbirds, was born today in 1943.

Harry Vanda, of the Easybeats, is 78.

Andrew Lloyd Webber is 75.

Stephanie Mills is 67.

Susan Ann Sulley, of the Human League, is 61.

Aaron Wright North, guitarist from Nine Inch Nails and the Icarus Line, is 45.

Mims is 43.

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