1957, Buddy Holly and the Crickets appeared on ‘The Ed Sullivan Show’, performing ‘That’ll Be The Day’ and ‘Peggy Sue’. Sam Cooke was also a guest on the same show performing ‘You Send Me’.
1958, The Teddy Bears were at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘To Know Him is to Love Him.’ The title of the Phil Spector song came from words on his father’s tombstone.
1961, The Beatles performed a lunchtime show at the The Cavern in Liverpool. That night they headlined a six-group Big Beat Session at the Tower Ballroom, New Brighton in Wallasey. Between 1961 -1963, The Beatles played at The Tower Ballroom on 27 occasions.
1964, The Who played the first of 22 consecutive Tuesday night gigs at The Marquee Club in London, the band were paid £50 for each gig. The Marquee Club saw the rise of some of the most important British artists in the 60’s such as Jimi Hendrix, David Bowie, Cream, Manfred Mann, The Nice, Yes, Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull, King Crimson and many others who all appeared at the club.
1966, Tom Jones was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with his version of ‘Green Green Grass Of Home.’ It stayed at No.1 for seven weeks giving Decca records its first million selling single by a British artist. Also a No.11 hit in the US.
1967, Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, The Move, Nice, Outer Limits and Amen Corner played at the Central Hall, Chatham. The Chatham Standard later reported: ‘Hendrix opened his act with the Beatles’ number Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, and the three-piece group made as much of an impression as a studio full of musicians. Once upon a time this sort of noise could not be reproduced outside a studio. He did several of his own numbers, including unfaultable versions of Hey Joe and Purple Haze and The Troggs Wild Thing.
1973, The Carpenters went to No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Top Of The World’, becoming the duo’s second of three No.1 singles, following ‘(They Long to Be) Close to You’ and preceding ‘Please Mr. Postman.’ Country singer Lynn Anderson covered the song and her version became her first hit when it reached No.2 on the US country singles charts in mid-1973.
1976, The Sex Pistols appeared on ITV’s live early evening ‘Today’ show (in place of Queen who had pulled out following a trip to the dentists by Freddie Mercury). Taunted by interviewer Bill Grundy who asked the band to say something outrageous, guitarist Steve Jones says: ‘You dirty bastard…you dirty fucker…what a fucking rotter!’ Grundy died of a heart attack aged 69 on 9th Feb 1993.
1983, Neil Young was sued by Geffen Records because his new music for the label was ‘not commercial in nature and musically uncharacteristic of his previous albums’. His latest album Everybody’s Rockin’ featured a selection of rockabilly songs (both covers and original material) which ran for just 25 minutes, Young’s shortest album.
1984, Jim Diamond was at No.1 in the UK singles chart with ‘I Should Have Known Better.’ The song was displaced after one week by Band Aid’s charity single ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas’’. Diamond publicly requested that people not buy his single, but instead buy Do They Know It’s Christmas?
1987, A Kentucky teacher lost her appeal in the US Supreme Court over her sacking after showing Pink Floyd’s film The Wall to her class. The court decided that the film was not suitable for minors with its bad language and sexual content.
1989, Sly Stone was sentenced to 55 days after pleading guilty to a charge of driving under the influence of cocaine, (two weeks later he also pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine and was sentenced to spend 9-14 months in rehab).
1990, Vanilla Ice started a four-week run at No.1 in the UK with the single ‘Ice Ice Baby’. The track sampled the bass intro to the Queen and David Bowie No.1 ‘Under Pressure’. ‘Ice Ice Baby’ was initially released as the B-side to the rapper’s cover of ‘Play That Funky Music’, and became the A-side after US DJ’s started playing it.
1997, Kenny G set a new world record when he held a note on his saxophone for 45 minutes and 47 seconds. (The record has since been broken by Geovanny Escalante, who held a note for 1 hour, 30 minutes and 45 seconds, using a technique that allows him to blow and breathe at the same time).
2006, An Oasis fan enjoyed “the best day of his life” when Noel Gallagher popped round to his house in Poynton, Cheshire to play an intimate gig. Ben Hayes had won a BBC Radio 1 competition to have the star play in his front room as part of a week of gigs compered by DJ Jo Whiley. 15 people packed into his lounge for the tiny gig – with his mother on hand making cups of tea for the crew.
2008, Wham’s Last Christmas was the most played festive track of the last five years. The Performing Right Society put the 1984 hit at the top of their chart of seasonal songs, just ahead of Band Aid’s Do They Know It’s Christmas? The Pogues came third with Fairytale of New York, recorded with the late Kirsty MacColl and first released in 1987. Other featured artists include Slade, Mariah Carey and Bruce Springsteen.
2012, Shakira was being sued for $100m by a former boyfriend who acted as her business manager for six years. Antonio de la Rua claimed he was the “principal architect” of a business plan that turned the singer into a global superstar. He was seeking to “recover his share of past and future partnership profits,” according to papers filed in New York.
2013, Bob Dylan was placed under judicial investigation in France for allegedly provoking ethnic hatred of Croats. It followed a legal complaint lodged by a Croat association in France over a 2012 interview Dylan gave to Rolling Stone magazine. In the interview Dylan allegedly compared the relationship between Jews and Nazis to that of Serbs and Croats.
2014, Phil Rudd the drummer of rock band AC/DC pleaded not guilty to charges of threatening to kill and possession of drugs. Phil Rudd was excused from appearing in New Zealand’s Tauranga District Court, with his lawyer entering his plea. The 60-year-old Australian-born musician was originally charged with attempting to procure the murder of two men.
2016, Drake was named Spotify’s most-streamed artist of 2016, with his single ‘One Dance’ the site’s biggest song of the year. The Canadian had 4.7 billion streams in this year, more than half of which were for his album Views. ‘One Dance’ alone was streamed 960 million times. Played consecutively, that would take more than 5,200 years.
