10 ready-to-read segments for January 20, lead story first. Free to use on air; a quick credit to Today in Tunes is appreciated.
On this day in 1979, 47 years ago: Chic's "Le Freak" returns to No. 1. Chic's disco smash climbed back to the top of the Hot 100 and held it for three more weeks into February. Here's Chic with “Le Freak.”
On this day in 1726, 300 years ago: Bach premieres his cantata BWV 13 in Leipzig. As Leipzig's Thomaskantor, Bach led the first performance of Meine Seufzer, meine Tränen at the Thomaskirche, written for the second Sunday after Epiphany.
On this day in 1964, 62 years ago: Capitol releases Meet the Beatles! in the US. The band's first American album on Capitol opened with "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and held the No. 1 spot on the album chart for eleven weeks.
On this day in 1982, 44 years ago: Ozzy Osbourne bites the head off a bat in Des Moines. Someone threw a bat onstage at Veterans Memorial Auditorium, and Ozzy bit its head off thinking it was rubber. He said later he needed rabies shots.
On this day in 1855, 171 years ago: Ernest Chausson is born in Paris. The French composer left a small but treasured body of work, including a single symphony and the Poème, a staple of the violin repertoire.
On this day in 1923, 103 years ago: Slim Whitman is born in Tampa, Florida. The yodeling country crooner's "Rose Marie" spent eleven weeks at No. 1 in the UK in 1955, a record that stood until Bryan Adams broke it in 1991.
On this day in 1971, 55 years ago: Questlove is born in Philadelphia. The Roots' drummer and co-leader also directed Summer of Soul, about the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, which won the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature.
On this day in 1996, 30 years ago: Baritone sax great Gerry Mulligan dies. Mulligan wrote and arranged for Miles Davis's Birth of the Cool sessions and led a famous pianoless quartet with Chet Baker in the early 1950s.
On this day in 2012, 14 years ago: Etta James dies in Riverside, California. Her version of "At Last," released in 1961, became her signature song and the best-known recording of the tune.
On this day in 2022, 4 years ago: Meat Loaf dies in Nashville at 74. His 1977 album Bat Out of Hell is estimated to have sold 43 million copies around the world, 15 million of them in the United States.
Every segment comes from a fact checked against the source linked with it. Spot a problem? Email hello@todayintunes.com.