History Highlight:

Happy 45th birthday to Eminem. Marshall Bruce Mathers III, born in 1972, is a rapper, songwriter, record producer, and actor and has had 10 number-one albums on the Billboard 200 and five number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100. He has sold more than 172 million albums, making him one of the world's best-selling artists. In November 2002, he starred in the movie 8 Mile, which won the Academy Award for Best Original Song for "Lose Yourself", which made him the first rap artist to win the award.

Also, Today In:

1962 - The Beatles made their first TV appearance in Britain on Granada Television's People & Places. They sang "Love Me Do."

1969 - Despite problems obtaining permits from the American Federation of Musicians as a result of drinking and fighting onstage at previous engagements, The Kinks finally launched their first US tour in four years.

1981 - Thieves attempting to steal Rolling Stones tickets in Maryland shot one man dead and wounded another.

1986 - Sid and Nancy, the biopic of Sex Pistols bass player Sid Vicious and his girlfriend Nancy Spungen, graced the silver screen for the first time.

2004 - At the ARIA (Australian Recording Industry Association) Music Awards, Jet dominated the competition, winning awards for six of their seven nominations, including Album of the Year, Single of the Year, Best Group and Breakthrough Artist.

2008 - Four Tops singer Levi Stubbs died at his Detroit home, aged 72.

Birthdays:

Rico Rodriguez, trombone player from The Specials, was born today in 1934.

Jim Seals of Seals & Croft is 76.

Jim Tucker of The Turtles is 71.

Michael McKean (David St. Hubbins of Spinal Tap and wacky neighbor Lenny Kosnowski in Laverne & Shirley) is 70.

Alan Jackson is 59.

Ziggy Marley is 49.

Wyclef Jean is 48.

Chris Kirkpatrick of NSYNC is 46.

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