History Highlight:

Today in 2014, Lucinda Williams released her 11th studio album, Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone. The album was the first Williams’ released on her own label, Highway 20 Records. The album includes a song (“Compassion”) that was inspired by the poem written by her father, the academic Miller Williams. It also includes the much lauded track, “East Side of Town.” Highly acclaimed by fans and critics alike, Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone went on to reach No. 1 in Billboard’s U.S. Folk Albums and U.S. Independent Albums charts, and it took the prize for Album of the Year at the 2015 Americana Honors & Awards.

Also, Today In:

1955 - James Dean was killed in a car accident at age 24. Dean dies around the same time rock and roll comes alive (the No. 1 song the day he dies: Pat Boone's cover of "Ain't That A Shame").

1965 - Donovan made his U.S. television debut on Shindig! along with The Hollies, The Turtles and the Dave Clark Five. Initially emerging from the British folk scene, Donovan reached fame in the U.K. with live performances on the pop TV series, Ready Steady Go!. His most successful singles were the early U.K. hits "Catch the Wind", "Colours" and "Universal Soldier" in 1965.

1971 - Isaac Hayes releases "Theme From Shaft." This was the soul and funk-styled theme song to the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film Shaft. The theme was shortened and released as a single that went to number two on the Billboard Soul Singles chart (behind "Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)" by Marvin Gaye) and to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States in November 1971. The following year, "Theme from Shaft" won the Academy Award for Best Original Song, with Hayes becoming the first African American to win that honor - or any Academy Award in a non-acting category - as well as the first recipient of the award who both wrote and performed the winning song. Since then, the song has appeared in numerous television shows, commercials, and other movies, including the 2000 sequel Shaft, for which Hayes re-recorded the song.

1974 - Police were called to a Lynyrd Skynyrd and Blue Öyster Cult concert after a fight broke out between two sound engineers. The kerfuffle began when the Skynyrd tech claimed that the sound had been deliberately turned off during the band's set.

1977 - Mary Ford — one-half of the musical team she formed with her husband, Les Paul — died from cancer after being in a diabetic coma for 54 days. Between 1950 and 1954, Les Paul and Mary Ford had 16 top-ten hits; in 1951 alone, they sold six million records.

1978 - Exile started a four-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "Kiss You All Over."

1985 - Tom Waits released his ninth studio album, Rain Dogs. It features "Jockey Full of Bourbon," "Hang Down Your Head," and “Downtown Train.”

1988 - John Lennon is awarded a posthumous star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1750 Vine St.

1988 - Neil Young played "Rockin' In the Free World" as the musical guest on Saturday Night Live. Young, who was 43 at the time, came onstage wearing a leather jacket, Elvis T-shirt and faded jeans stitched with Toronto Maple Leafs motifs; he was backed by Charlie Drayton on bass, Steve Jordan on drums, and longtime sideman Frank "Poncho" Sampedro on second guitar.

1989 - Bette Midler was awarded $400,000 in her lawsuit against the Ford Motor Company, which featured her former backing singer Ula Hedwig sing Midler's hit "Do You Want To Dance" in a 1985 commercial for the Mercury Sable. The verdict meant that companies can't purposely imitate the vocals of a famous singer in advertisements without consent.

1991- Liza Minnelli receives a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame at 7000 Hollywood Blvd.

1992 - Steve Earle was arrested in Nashville, Tenn., after he failed to report for jury duty.

1993 - Kate Pierson of The B-52's was charged with criminal mischief and trespassing during an anti-fur protest at Vogue magazine's New York City offices.

1995 - Mariah Carey made chart history when she started an eight-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "Fantasy," making her the first woman to enter the chart in the No. 1 spot.

2002 - The Rolling Stones released Forty Licks.

2003 - Rockabilly performer Ronnie Dawson died of throat cancer in Dallas, Texas, at age 64.

2006 - Justin Timberlake started a two-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. album chart with his second solo album, FutureSex/LoveSounds. It also became the biggest album ever for pre-orders on iTunes.

2008 - Disney releases Nightmare Revisited, a cover album of songs from The Nightmare Before Christmas. The new album commemorates the fifteenth anniversary of the film's original 1993 release and features new arrangements by KoRn, Amy Lee of Evanescence, and Marilyn Manson.

2011 - Guitarist and songwriter Marv Tarplin died at age 70. He was best-known as the guitarist for the Miracles from the 1950s through the early 1970s, and he co-wrote several of their biggest hits, including "The Tracks of My Tears". Tarplin also worked with Marvin Gaye, The Marvelettes and The Supremes.

2021 - Tony Bennett, 95, releases an album of standards with Lady Gaga called Love For Sale, making him (according to Guinness) the oldest person to release an album of new material.

Birthdays:

Buddy Rich was born today in 1917.

Cissy Houston, singer and mother of Whitney Houston, is 91.

Singer Johnny Mathis is 89.

Dewey Martin, drummer for Buffalo Springfield, was born today in 1940.

Gus Dudgeon, producer for Elton John, was born today in 1942.

Frankie Lymon, singer, Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers, was born today in 1942. He passed away in 1968.

Marilyn McCoo, singer for the 5th Dimension, is 81.

Sylvia Peterson of The Chiffons was born today in 1945.

Marc Bolan, frontman of T. Rex, was born today in 1947. He died in 1977.

John Lombardo, founding member of the alternative rock outfit 10,000 Maniacs, is 72.

Matt Abts of Gov’t Mule is 71.

Deborah Allen (“Baby I Lied”) is 71.

Basia (“New Day for You”) is 70.

Patrice Rushen (“Forget Me Nots,” sampled in Will Smith’s “Men In Black”) is 70.

Gibby Haynes of Butthole Surfers is 67.

Marty Stuart is 66.

Miki Howard (“Ain’t Nobody Like You”) is 64.

Marley Marl is 62.

David Barbe of Sugar (and producer for Drive-By Truckers and Son Volt) is 61.

Trey Anastasio of Phish is 60.

Marion Cotillard, who won an Oscar for her portrayal of French singer Édith Piaf in La Vie en Rose (2007), is 49.

T-Pain is 40.

Ben Lovett, keyboardist for Mumford and Sons, is 38.

Highlights for Today in Music History are gathered from This Day in Music, Song Facts and Wikipedia.