1957, Elvis Presley scored his first UK No.1 with ‘All Shook Up’, (his tenth UK single release). It stayed at No.1 for seven weeks.
1962, The Beatles played at Hulme Hall, Port Sunlight, in Birkenhead. The show was a dance for the local golf club, the capacity of the hall was 450, but 500 people squeezed in to hear and see The Beatles.
1963, The Rolling Stones made their UK TV debut when they appeared on ‘Thank Your Lucky Stars.’ Also appearing on the show was, Mickie Most, The Cadets, Helen Shapiro and Gordon Mills. The group made a total of 13 appearances on the show between 1963 and 1966.
1966, The Kinks were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Sunny Afternoon’, the group’s third and last UK No.1.
1969, George Harrison recorded his new song ‘Here Comes the Sun’ with just two other Beatles, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr at Abbey Road in London. John Lennon was absent recovering from a car crash in Scotland.
1971, 26-year-old pop star Bjorn Ulvaeus and 21-year-old Agnetha Faltskog married in Verum, Sweden. 3000 ABBA fans arrived and in the chaos a police horse stepped on the brides foot, causing her slight injury.
1973, Billy Preston started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Will It Go Round In Circles’, his first of two US chart toppers.
1978, Talking Heads released their second studio album More Songs About Buildings And Food. The first of three Talking Heads LPs produced by collaborator Brian Eno, featured the group’s first Top 30 single, a cover of Al Green’s ‘Take Me to the River.’
1980, Led Zeppelin played their last-ever concert with drummer John Bonham when they appeared at Eissporthalle, West Berlin at the end of a European tour. The set included: ‘Black Dog’, ‘The Rain Song’, ‘Hot Dog’, ‘All My Love’, ‘Trampled Under Foot’, ‘Since I’ve Been Loving You’, ‘Kashmir’, ‘Stairway To Heaven’ and ‘Rock And Roll’. They finished the show with a 17-minute version of ‘Whole Lotta Love’.
1984, Bruce Springsteen went to No.1 on the US album chart with ‘Born In The USA’. The album went on to spend a total of 139 weeks on the US chart. Its also one of three albums (Michael Jackson’s Thriller and Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation 1814) to produce seven Top-ten US singles.
1984, Prince started a five week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘When Doves Cry’, his first US No.1 which went on to sell over 2 million copies, it made No. 4 in the UK.
1989, It was announced that for the first time compact discs were out selling vinyl albums. This week’s UK No.1 album was ‘Emergency On Planet Earth’ by Jamiroquai.
1999, It was reported that to attract young people to their mobile vans UK ice cream sellers would start to play pop hits as music instead of the traditional chimes. Spice Girls and Oasis hits would be the first to be played.
2000, Eminem’s wife, Kimberly Mathers, was hospitalised after she slit her wrists following her husband’s show as part of the Up in Smoke Tour at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. Also on this day, Eminem scored his first UK No. single with ‘The Real Slim Shady’, taken from his second album The Marshall Mathers LP the song was a No.4 hit in the US.
2003, It was reported that Britney Spears had made $500.000 profit after selling her 5 bedroom home in Los Angeles. The singer had paid £1.8m for the house 2 years ago and sold for £2.3m.
2003, Darkness released their debut studio album Permission To Land which topped the UK chart for four weeks. Five singles were released from the album including ‘I Believe in a Thing Called Love’, the most successful, reaching No.2 on the UK Singles Chart. The band won three BRIT Awards in
2004 in response to the album, Best Group, Best Rock Group and Best Album. They also won two Kerrang! awards in 2004 for Best Live Act and Best British Band.
2005, Members of The Hollies asked High Court judge to jail one of their founder members claiming bass player Eric Haydock had flouted a court order made in 1998 not to play under their name. Haydock formed the group in Manchester, England in the early 1960’s with Allan Clarke and Graham Nash (who left in 1966). Haydock was working in a group calling itself Eric Haydock’s Hollies.
2006, Syd Barrett died from complications arising from diabetes aged 60. The singer, songwriter, guitarist was one of the founding members of Pink Floyd, active as a rock musician for only about seven years before he went into seclusion. He joined Pink Floyd in 1965 but left three years later after one album. Barrett released two solo albums before going into self-imposed seclusion lasting more than thirty years, with his mental deterioration blamed on drugs.
2007, Ozzy Osbourne became the first artist to be honoured on Birmingham’s own Hollywood-style Walk of Fame. The singer, from Aston, told more than 1,000 fans on Broad Street that the brass paving star meant more to him that than any Hollywood accolade. Organisers named other local pop stars who could be joining Ozzy for the walk included Duran Duran, Jamelia, Robert Plant and UB40.
2007, Snow Patrol Keyboard player Tom Simpson was arrested in connection with a failed court appearance in Glasgow. He was later released and the band went on to headline the T in the Park festival in Scotland. Amy Winehouse pulled out of her slot from the event suffering from “exhaustion”.
2007, The Live Earth concerts took place around the world with The Police closing the days events in New Jersey. The concerts were organised by former US Vice-President Al Gore, as part of his campaign to “heal the planet”. Rock stars from around the world performed to hundreds of thousands of fans to highlight climate change. Concerts were held in Washington, Rio de Janeiro, Johannesburg, London, Hamburg, Tokyo, Shanghai and Sydney. Madonna brought London’s Live Earth concert to a close, playing a song she had written for the event. Other major acts who appeared included; Snow Patrol, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Genesis, The Beastie Boys, James Blunt, The Foo Fighters, Duran Duran, UB40, Snoop Dogg, Enrique Iglesias, Crowded House & Joss Stone.
2009, Michael Jackson’s family and fans said farewell to the pop superstar at an emotional memorial service. The singer’s coffin was placed in front of the stage during the event at the Staples Center in Los Angeles after an earlier private funeral. Jackson’s daughter Paris, 11, fought back tears to describe him as “the best father you could ever imagine”. Stevie Wonder, Lionel Richie and Mariah Carey paid tribute before the family joined a sombre finale on stage. Motown boss Berry Gordy, who signed the Jackson Five, ended his tribute with the words: “Michael, thank you for the joy, thank you for the love. You will live in my heart forever.”
2010, Paul McCartney joined Ringo Starr onstage at a concert at New York’s Radio City Music Hall to help celebrate the former Beatle drummer’s 70th birthday. With Ringo’s All Starr Band joined by Yoko Ono, Joe Walsh, Angus Young and Steven Van Zandt, Paul belted out “Birthday” and Ringo delivered “With A Little Help From My Friends”.
2015, Climate scientists from five leading universities found that 163 of Bob Dylan’s 542 songs reference the climate – almost a third – making him the musician most likely to mention the weather in his lyrics. The Beatles came in at number two, mentioning the weather in 48 of the 308 songs they wrote.
2017, The Official Charts Company overhauled the way it compiles the UK Top 40 in an effort to stop A-list artists elbowing newer acts out of the way. The move was prompted by Ed Sheeran, whose new album ÷ [Divide] proved so popular that it propelled 16 tracks into the top 20 in March.
