History Highlight:

Today in 2014, prolific R&B singer, songwriter, musician and producer Bobby Womack died from various cancers at age 70. In the early 60s, Womack sang with his family musical group the Valentinos and was also Sam Cooke's backing guitarist. He would go on to play various genres of music throughout the next 60 years and pen hits such as the Rolling Stones' "It's All Over Now" and New Birth's "I Can Understand It". His biggest singles as a singer were "Lookin' For a Love", "That's The Way I Feel About Cha", "Woman's Gotta Have It", "Harry Hippie", "Across 110th Street", and his 1980s hits "If You Think You're Lonely Now" and "I Wish He Didn't Trust Me So Much".

Also, Today In:

1968 - Elvis Presley appeared on an NBC TV show that was billed as his "comeback special". The show featured the king performing on a small, square stage, surrounded by a mostly female audience. Presley was outfitted in black leather and performed many of his early hits.

1968 - Working at Abbey Road studios in London The Beatles recorded seven takes of "Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey" for their forthcoming White Album.

1970 - The Jackson 5 started a two week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "The Love You Save", the group's third No. 1 of the year.

1970 - The newly formed Queen featuring Freddie Mercury on vocals, guitarist Brian May, drummer Roger Taylor and Mike Grose on bass played their first gig at Truro City Hall, Cornwall, England. They were billed as Smile, Brian and Roger's previous band, for whom the booking had been made originally. Original material at this time included an early version of "Stone Cold Crazy".

1971 - New York venue Fillmore East was closed down after only three years in business. Owned by legendary concert promoter Bill Graham, the club was opened as the companion to the original Fillmore in San Francisco and was succeeded by the Fillmore West, also in San Francisco. Many live albums were recorded in this space by the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Frank Zappa, Love, Miles Davis, and others.

1986 - Black Flag played their final gig in Detroit, Michigan. The band went on to confirm their split two months later, in August 1986. Considered to be one of the first hardcore punk bands, they are often regarded as pioneers in the movement of underground do-it-yourself record labels.

1987 - Whitney Houston became the first women in U.S. history to enter the album chart at No. 1 with Whitney. She also became the first woman to top the singles chart with four consecutive releases when "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" hit No. 1.

1988 - MCA Records bought Motown Records for $61 million.

1994 - Aerosmith became the first major band to let fans download a full new track free from the internet.

2002 - One day before the first show of The Who's 2002 US tour, bass player John Entwistle died in his hotel room at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. He was 57-years old. When The Who first arrived on the scene, Entwistle's style featured a then-unusual trebly sound (which he described as "full treble, full volume") which influenced many players, and in 2011, a Rolling Stone reader poll selected him as the Greatest Bassist of All Time. We played The Who's "My Generation," a song containing one of the earliest bass solos (if not the first) captured on a rock record.

2015 - Chris Squire, the bass guitarist and co-founder of 1970s British progressive rock band Yes, died at the age of 67 after battling leukemia. He was the only member to appear on each of their 21 studio albums, released from 1969 to 2014.

Birthdays:

Beach Boy Bruce Johnston is 75.

Singer Leigh Nash (Sixpence None The Richer) is 41.

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