Birthday Highlight:

Today in 1944, Booker T. Jones was born, making him 80. Jones grew up in Memphis and demonstrated musical proficiency from an early age, playing multiple instruments at school and at church. When he was 16, Jones’ professional music career began in earnest when he played saxophone in a recording session at Stax Records. Two years later, Jones formed the band Booker T. and the M.G.’s, an enduringly influential band who shaped R&B and helped create the distictive Stax sound. One of Booker T. and the M.G.’s most beloved hits is the instrumental “Green Onions.”

Also, Today In:

1962 - The Beatles appeared at the Star Club, Hamburg, Germany, sharing the bill with Little Richard.

1966 - The Monkees debut album started a 13-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. album chart, selling over 3 million copies in three months.

1970 - In New Orleans, The Doors performed what would be their last show with Jim Morrison. The surviving members of the band recalled Morrison seemingly losing all of his energy as their final concert together came to a close.

1977 - The Sex Pistols went to No. 1 on the U.K. album chart with their debut LP Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols, the punk group's only No. 1 album.

1983 - Lionel Richie started a four-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "All Night Long." The song became Motown's biggest seller to date.

1984 - Madonna released her Like A Virgin album, her first No. 1 on the U.S. album chart. It was produced by Chic frontman Nile Rodgers. It features the title track, “Material Girl,” “Into the Groove,” and “Dress You Up.”

1988 - U2 started a six-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. album chart with their sixth studio album, Rattle And Hum, which went on to sell more than 14 million copies.

1990 - Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood broke both his legs after his car crashed on an expressway in England. Wood was trying to wave other cars past his when he was run over.

2000 - Destiny's Child started an 11-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "Independent Women Part 1."

2001 - The three living former Beatles met for the last time at George Harrison's hotel in New York City for lunch. Harrison died two weeks later at a friend's home in Los Angeles on November 29, 2001, at the age of 58.

2002 - Die-hard Beatles fans were enraged after Paul McCartney altered the song writing credits on his Back In The US 2002 album, changing them to "McCartney/Lennon" from the original "Lennon/McCartney."

2002 - The city of Atlanta declared this day as "TLC day" to remember Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes who was killed in a car crash on 26th April 2002 aged 30.

2003 - American session drummer Tony Thompson died of cancer aged 48. He was most famous as the drummer with The Power Station along with Robert Palmer, and John Taylor and Andy Taylor of Duran Duran and Chic. He also played on David Bowie's hit single "Let's Dance". Thompson also played drums with Led Zeppelin (along with Phil Collins) at Live Aid in 1985.

2004 - The funeral of legendary BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel (who was an inspiration to The Current's own Mark Wheat) took place at St. Edmundsbury Cathedral in Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, England. Pulp's Jarvis Cocker, Undertones singer Feargal Sharkey and The White Stripes were among the mourners, and Sir Elton John left a wreath of yellow roses.

2004 - Eminem released his fifth studio album, Encore. It features “Just Lose It,” “Encore,” “Like Toy Soldiers,” “Mockingbird,” and “A** Like That.”

2010 - Rihanna released her fifth studio album, Loud. It features "Only Girl (In the World)," "What's My Name?," “S&M,” “Man Down,” and more.

2014 - After a high-profile move by Taylor Swift to pull her entire back catalogue from the song-streaming service Spotify, the company's chief executive Daniel Ek defended its business model, saying it had paid out $2 billion to the music industry to that date.

2016 - Robbie Williams broke the record for the most No. 1 albums by a British solo artist. The singer's album The Heavy Entertainment Show was his 12th album to hit No. 1 and pushed him ahead of David Bowie who has 11 No. 1 albums to his name.

2020 - Jim Tucker, the original rhythm guitarist with The Turtles, died at age 74. He played with The Turtles from 1965 to 1968 and was featured on many of the band’s biggest hits, including the chart-topping 1967 classic 'Happy Together,' plus 'She’d Rather Be with Me' and the group’s 1965 cover of Bob Dylan's 'It Ain’t Me Babe.'

More Birthdays:

Jo Stafford (“You Belong to Me”) was born today in 1917.

Bob Crewe — songwriter behind “Big Girls Don’t Cry,” “Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You,” and “Lady Marmalade” — was born today in 1930.

Mort Shuman — co-writer of “Viva Las Vegas” and many others — was born today in 1938.

Hot Chocolate frontman Errol Brown was born today in 1943.

Brian Hyland (“Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini”) is 81.

John Walker of the Walker Brothers was born today in 1943.

Booker T. Jones is 80.

Neil Young is 79. He is famous for his many solo albums, his music with Crazy Horse, and for his time in Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young. Young has received several Grammy and Juno Awards, and The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted him twice: in 1995 as a solo artist and in 1997 as a member of Buffalo Springfield.

Blue Öyster Cult guitarist Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser is 77.

Barbara Fairchild (“Teddy Bear Song”) is 74.

Baaba Maal is 71.

Laurence Juber, lead guitarist with Paul McCartney in the Wings, is 72.

Les McKeown of the Bay City Rollers was born on this day in 1955.

Vic Chesnutt was born today in 1964.

David Ellefson, bassist for Megadeth and native of Jackson, Minnesota, is 60.

Kathleen Hanna, leader of Bikini Kill, is 56.

Tevin Campbell is 48.

Shaun Cooper of Taking Back Sunday is 44.

Ryan Gosling is 44.

Omarion is 40.

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