History highlight:

On this day in 1922, jazz great Charles Mingus was born. One of the 20th century’s leading bassists and bandleaders, Mingus grew up in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles and performed alongside musicians such as Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, and Dizzy Gillespie. He composed explicitly political music, and after experiencing and witnessing racial discrimination, he founded his own label — one of the first musicians ever to do so. According to pianist and music journalist Leonard Feather, Mingus linked “older, half-forgotten [jazz] styles” with “the free improvisation of the ‘60s.” After being diagnosed with ALS, Mingus died of a heart attack in 1979.

Also, today in:

1966 - The Troggs' cover of "Wild Thing" (originally performed by The Wild Ones) was released in the U.S. on both the Atco and Fontana labels. The song would eventually reach No. 1 in June of that year; the Troggs' version of "Wild Thing" became a major influence on garage rock and punk rock.

1969 - During a brief legal proceeding conducted on the roof of the Apple Records building in London, John Lennon changed his middle name from Winston to Ono.

1969 - The Who gave their first unabridged live performance of the rock opera Tommy at the Bolton Institute of Technology (now the University of Bolton) in England.

1978 - Bob Marley and the Wailers performed at the "One Love Peace Concert" in Jamaica. It was Marley's first public appearance in Jamaica since being wounded in an assassination attempt a year and a half earlier.

1978 - John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd performed as the Blues Brothers for the first time on Saturday Night Live, opening the show with "Hey Bartender."

1979 - As part of reparations for his 1977 Canadian drug bust, Keith Richards played a benefit concert in Oshawa, Ont., for the Canadian National Institute for the Blind.

1989 - Madonna started a three-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with “Like A Prayer,” the singer's seventh US No. 1, which also hit No. 1 in the U.K.

1991 - The Dave Matthews Band played their first-ever live show when they appeared at the Earth Day festival in Charlottesville, Virginia.

1999 - Sinead O'Connor was ordained in Lourdes, France, as the first woman priest in the Latin Tridentine Church, a dissident Roman Catholic group.

2003 - Songwriter Felice Bryant died of cancer. She wrote many hits with her husband Boudleaux, including the Everly Brothers’ “Bye Bye Love,” “All I Have To Do Is Dream,” and “Wake Up Little Susie,” plus Buddy Holly’s hit “Raining In My Heart.” Other acts to record their songs include Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Tony Bennett, Simon and Garfunkel, Sarah Vaughan, Grateful Dead, Dolly Parton, Elvis Presley, Beach Boys, Roy Orbison, Elvis Costello, Count Basie, Dean Martin, Ruth Brown, Cher, R.E.M. and Ray Charles.

2013 - Richie Havens, the folk singer who opened the legendary 1969 Woodstock rock festival, died of a heart attack at 72.

Birthdays:

Bettie Page was born today in 1923.

Laurel Aitken, the “godfather of ska,” was born today in 1927.

Glen Campbell was born today in 1936.

Jack Nitzsche — collaborator with Phil Spector, the Rolling Stones, Neil Young, Buffy Sainte-Marie (“Up Where We Belong”), and more — was born today in 1937.

R&B singer Mel Carter (biggest hit was “Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me”) is 85.

John Waters is 78.

Peter Frampton is 74.

Pete Carr, best-known as part of the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, was born today in 1950.

Kenny Lyon of the Lemonheads is 68.

Shavo Odadjian of System of a Down is 50.

Daniel Paul Johns of Silverchair is 45.

Machine Gun Kelly is 34.

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