History Highlight:

Today in 1979, Sony introduced the Walkman, the first portable audio cassette player. Over the next 30 years, Sony sold more than 385 million Walkmans in cassette, CD, mini-disc and digital-file versions. Sony led the market until the arrival of Apple's iPod and other new digital devices.

Also, Today In:

1956 - Elvis Presley recorded "Hound Dog" at RCA Studios in New York. Take 31 being the version they released. This was the first time backup singers The Jordanaires worked with Presley.

1962 - Jimi Hendrix was honorably discharged from the 101st Airborne Paratroopers after breaking his ankle during his 26th and final parachute jump.

1966 - Frank Sinatra went to No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "Strangers In The Night."

1971 - Queen appeared at the University of Surrey in England. This was the group's first gig with the lineup of Freddie Mercury (lead vocals, piano), Brian May (guitar, vocals), John Deacon (bass guitar) and Roger Taylor (drums, vocals).

1975 - David Bowie received his fourth Gold record for Young Americans, which contained two of his biggest hits, the No. 1 "Fame" and the title song.

1982 - Harmonica player DeFord Bailey died at age 82. A cast member at the Grand Ole Opry throughout the 1930s, he was the first African American inducted into the institution. In 2005, he entered the Country Music Hall of Fame.

1986 - The second Prince movie "Under the Cherry Moon" hit theaters. Unlike the first, "Purple Rain", Prince directed it himself.

1988 - Michael Jackson became the first artist to have five No. 1 singles from one album when "Dirty Diana" went to the top of the U.S. charts. The other four chart-toppers from the LP Bad were the title track, plus "I Just Can't Stop Loving You," "The Way You Make Me Feel" and "Man in the Mirror."

1991 - Axl Rose caused a riot to break out during a Guns N' Roses gig after leaping into the crowd to remove a camera from a fan at the Riverport Amphitheatre (now the Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre) in Maryland Heights, Mo. More than 50 people were injured and 15 fans were arrested.

2001 - Liverpool renamed its airport the "Liverpool John Lennon Airport".

2008 - The gravestone of former Joy Division frontman Ian Curtis was stolen. The missing memorial stone was later replaced by a new stone with the same inscription — "Ian Curtis 18 - 5 - 80 / Love Will Tear Us Apart" — but in a different typeface.

2015 - Buddy Holly's widow, Maria Elena Holly, announced that she had entrusted the publishing rights to her late husband's influential catalog to the artist's performance rights group, BMG. The company was now authorised to administer royalties worldwide of nearly all of Buddy Holly's recordings.

2018 - Alan Longmuir from Scottish pop band Bay City Rollers died at age 70 after contracting an illness while on holiday in Mexico.

Birthdays:

Dee Palmer, keyboard player for Jethro Tull, is 83.

Paul Williams of The Temptations was born today in 1939.

Keyboardist Roy Bittan of the E Street Band is 71.

Johnny Colla, sax player from Huey Lewis and the News, is 68.

Michelle Branch is 37.

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