History highlight:

William “Billy” Martin Joel was born on May 9, 1949, in New York City. He is 75. Often nicknamed “Piano Man,” Joel is one of the best-selling musicians in the world. He has released 13 studio albums, including four that hit No. 1. After nearly two decades, Joel released a new single in early 2024, “Turn the Lights Back On.”

Also, today in:

1964 - Chuck Berry made his live debut in the U.K. at London's Astoria Theatre. The Animals opened for Berry.

1964 - Louis Armstrong went to No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "Hello Dolly." He was 62, and the musical tune made him the oldest artist to hit No. 1.

1965 - The Beatles and Donovan were in the audience for a new American artist named Bob Dylan. The concert was at London's Royal Albert Hall.

1969 - George Harrison released his second solo album Electronic Sound, which was the final release on Zapple Records, an offshoot of the Beatles' Apple Records.

1970 - The Guess Who became the first Canadian rock group to top the Billboard Hot 100 chart with "American Woman." The song would stay on top for three weeks.

1973 - Mick Jagger tossed in $150,000 of his own money, along with the $350,000 raised by The Rolling Stones' January benefit concert, to aid the victims of the Nicaraguan earthquake.

1974 - Bachman-Turner Overdrive received their first gold record for Bachman-Turner Overdrive II, which contained the hit singles "Let It Ride" and "Takin' Care of Business.”

1974 - Bruce Springsteen's performance in Boston, Mass., inspired Rolling Stone critic (and Springsteen’s future manager) Jon Landau to write, "I have seen rock and roll's future, and his name is Bruce Springsteen.”

1986 - Peter Gabriel's So was released. Many of its songs reflect conventional pop-writing style and became Gabriel's first radio hits, including "Sledgehammer," "In Your Eyes," and "Big Time." So was nominated for the Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 1987 but lost to Paul Simon's Graceland. It has continued to appear in lists of the best albums of the 1980s and was included at No. 187 in Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time — and it’s No. 560 on The Current’s 893 Essential Albums list, as voted by you.

1987 - Europe peaked at No. 8 on the Billboard 200 Album Chart with their third album The Final Countdown, which went on to sell three million copies in the U.S.

1988 - A number of Minnesota department stores refused to stock the new Prince album, Lovesexy, due to the cover: a nude shot of the artist (with nothing naughty revealed in the photo). The album was released on May 10, 1988 and recorded in just seven weeks at Paisley Park.

1994 - The Pretenders released their sixth studio album, Last of the Independents. It features the singles “I’ll Stand By You” and “Night In My Veins.”

1998 - Jimmy Page appeared on Saturday Night Live with P. Diddy to perform "Come With Me," which sampled the guitar riff of Led Zeppelin's "Kashmir.”

1998 - Jimmy Page and Robert Plant debuted at their peak position of No. 8 on the Billboard 200 Album Chart with Walking into Clarksdale, which went on to go gold.

2013 - David Bowie's latest video, which starred Gary Oldman and Marion Cotillard, was temporarily pulled from YouTube over its graphic content. "The Next Day" featured heavy religious imagery, including Cotillard bleeding from stigmata marks. The video sees Bowie performing in a basement bar, surrounded by religious figures, while Oldman, dressed as a priest, punches a homeless person before dancing with a prostitute, who is played by Oscar-winner Cotillard. YouTube admitted making the "wrong call" in removing the video, and reinstated it with an adult content warning.

2017 - Swiss-born Italian record producer, composer, musician and DJ Robert Miles died in Ibiza, Spain at the age of 47 after a nine-month battle with stage 4 metastatic cancer. He was best-known for his 1996 hit "Children," which reached No. 1 in more than 12 countries.

2020 - Little Richard, one of the original voices of rock ‘n’ roll, died of an illness connected to bone cancer at the age of 87 in Tullahoma, Tennessee.

Birthdays:

Hank Snow was born today in 1914.

Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Nokie Edwards of the Ventures was born today in 1935.

Sonny Curtis — a member of Buddy Holly’s band, the Crickets, and writer of “Walk Right Back,” “I Fought the Law,” and “Love is All Around” from The Mary Tyler Moore Show — is 87.

Dave Prater of Sam & Dave was born today in 1937.

Pop singer Tommy Roe (“Sheila”) is 82.

Richie Furay — founding member of Buffalo Springfield and Poco — is 80.

Steve Katz of Blood, Sweat & Tears is 79.

Tom Petersson, Cheap Trick bassist, is 74.

Dave Gahan of Depeche Mode is 62.

Ghostface Killah is 54.

R&B singer Tamia is 49.

Paul 'Guigsy' McGuigan of Oasis is 53.

Pierre Bouvier of Simple Plan is 45.

Andrew W.K. is 45.

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