10 ready-to-read segments for January 5, lead story first. Free to use on air; a quick credit to Today in Tunes is appreciated.
On this day in 2025, 1 years ago: Bad Bunny releases Debí Tirar Más Fotos. Bad Bunny's love letter to Puerto Rico folded plena, bomba, salsa and jíbaro sounds into reggaeton. It later became the first Spanish-language record ever named Album of the Year at the Grammys. Here's Bad Bunny with “DtMF.”
On this day in 1875, 151 years ago: Paris's Palais Garnier opera house opens. Charles Garnier's ornate opera house was inaugurated with a grand gala that included the overtures to La muette de Portici and Rossini's William Tell. Its horseshoe auditorium holds 1,979 people.
On this day in 1973, 53 years ago: Bruce Springsteen's debut album arrives. Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. came out on Columbia. Sales were modest at first and neither of its singles charted, but critics liked it and it eventually went double platinum.
On this day in 1975, 51 years ago: The Wiz opens on Broadway. Charlie Smalls's musical retelling of The Wizard of Oz opened at the Majestic Theatre with Stephanie Mills as Dorothy. It ran for 1,672 performances and won seven Tonys, including Best Musical.
On this day in 2008, 18 years ago: Flo Rida's "Low" tops the Hot 100. The T-Pain-assisted club hit was the first No. 1 of 2008 and stayed on top for ten straight weeks. It finished as Billboard's biggest song of the year.
On this day in 1923, 103 years ago: Sun Records founder Sam Phillips is born. Born on a farm near Florence, Alabama, Phillips ran a small Memphis studio where Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Howlin' Wolf and B.B. King all made early records.
On this day in 1961, 65 years ago: Singer-songwriter Iris DeMent is born in Arkansas. Her plainspoken songs drew collaborators like John Prine and Emmylou Harris. The Goo Goo Dolls even named their hit "Iris" after her when they spotted her name on a concert listing.
On this day in 1981, 45 years ago: Deadmau5 is born in Niagara Falls, Ontario. Joel Zimmerman became one of electronic music's biggest names, performing in a mouse-head helmet now made by the Jim Henson Creature Shop. In 2017 Billboard Dance ranked his track "Strobe" as his best song.
On this day in 1979, 47 years ago: Jazz bassist Charles Mingus dies at 56. The composer behind Mingus Ah Um and The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady died in Cuernavaca, Mexico, after ALS had ended his playing. His ashes were scattered in the Ganges.
On this day in 2010, 16 years ago: Memphis soul producer Willie Mitchell dies. As the guiding hand at Hi Records and Royal Studios in Memphis, Mitchell produced Al Green's 1970s hits, and the label also released records by Ann Peebles, O. V. Wright and Syl Johnson. He was 81.
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