1954, Producer Sam Phillips took an acetate recording of Elvis Presley singing ‘That’s All Right’ to Memphis radio station WHBQ DJ Dewey Phillips. He played the song just after 9.30 that evening, the phone lines lit up asking the DJ to play the song again.
1958, The first Gold record album presented by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) was awarded to the soundtrack LP, ‘Oklahoma’. The honor signified that the album had reached one million dollars in sales. The first Gold single issued by the RIAA was ‘Catch a Falling Star’ by Perry Como in March of 1958. A Gold single represented sales of one million records.
1965, The Dave Clark Five had their movie, Catch Us If You Can, premiere in London. The film was renamed to Having a Wild Weekend for its US release. Songs featured by the group in the movie included ‘Catch Us If You Can,’ ‘Having a Wild Weekend’ and ‘I Can’t Stand It.’
1966, The Beatles released the ‘Nowhere Man’ 4-track EP in the UK, which included: ‘Drive My Car’, ‘Michelle’ and ‘You Won’t See Me’. All four tracks were taken from The Beatles sixth UK studio album, Rubber Soul.
1967, UK music weekly the Melody Maker ran a front-page comment condemning the 3-month jail sentence given to Rolling Stone Mick Jagger for possession of Benzedrine tablets. Jagger was later given a conditional discharge.
1967, The Monkees began a 29-date tour with The Jimi Hendrix Experience as support act. Hendrix was dropped after six shows after being told his act was not suitable for their teenybopper audience.
1968, Pink Floyd kicked off their first 20-date North American tour at the Kinetic Playground in Chicago. The club became a driving force in the music business, hosting famous rock acts such as The Doors, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Led Zeppelin, The Who, The Byrds, Janis Joplin, The Mothers of Invention, The Grateful Dead, MC5, Jethro Tull, Deep Purple, Iron Butterfly, Fleetwood, Vanilla Fudge, Muddy Waters and Jefferson Airplane.
1969, Marianne Faithfull collapsed on the set of ‘Ned Kelly’ after taking a drug overdose. She was admitted to a Sydney Hospital, (she was later dropped from the movie).
1970, The Everly Brothers Show, started an eleven-week prime time slot on ABC- TV in the US. It began as a summer replacement in 1970 for The Johnny Cash Show.
1971, Over-enthusiastic fans at a Mott The Hoople gig at the Royal Albert Hall, London, England, caused some injuries and two damaged boxes, prompting a temporary ban on rock gigs at the venue. The group paid £1,467 for damages to property.
1972, Bill Withers started a three week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Lean On Me’, his only No.1 hit, it made No.18 in the UK.
1972, Donny Osmond was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with his version of the Paul Anka song ‘Puppy Love.’ The first of three solo No.1’s for Donny.
1973, Led Zeppelin’s fifth album Houses Of The Holy was on both the US and UK album charts. The album spent a total of 39 weeks on the US chart. The cover art for Houses Of The Holy was inspired by the ending of Arthur C. Clarke’s novel Childhood’s End. It is a collage of several photographs which were taken at the Giant’s Causeway, Northern Ireland, by Aubrey Powell of Hipgnosis.
1978, Gerry Rafferty’s album City To City went to No.1 on the US chart, knocking off ‘Saturday Night Fever’, which had been at the top of the charts for almost six months.
1978, Joe Strummer and Paul Simonon from The Clash were arrested for being drunk and disorderly after a gig at the Apollo in Glasgow, both were fined.
1979, The B-52’s made their UK live debut at London’s Lyceum Ballroom, supported by The Tourists.
1984, Bob Dylan’s current European tour came to an end at Slane Castle, County Meath in Ireland. Dylan was joined on stage by Van Morrison and they duetted on It’s All Over Now Baby Blue. U2’s Bono, who was sent to interview Dylan for the Irish rock magazine Hot Press, ended up duetting with Dylan on Blowin’ In The Wind and Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat. Carlos Santana also joined Dylan on stage and played guitar on the last seven songs of the set.
1995, TLC started a seven week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Waterfalls’, the group’s second US No.1, a No.4 hit in the UK.
1999, Take That former manager Nigel Martin Smith started a new business, as an undertaker. It was reported that he was unhappy with a service he had used so he decided to buy a local funeral firm in Manchester.
2002, Michael Jackson spoke out against the music industry’s treatment of artists, alleging that the business was rife with racism. Speaking at a civil rights meeting in New York, Jackson claimed there was a ‘conspiracy’ among record companies, especially towards black artists. A spokesman for Jackson’s record label said the remarks were ‘ludicrous, spiteful and hurtful.’
2004, Mark Purseglove known as the world’s ‘biggest bootlegger’ was sentenced to 3 years 6 months jail by Blackfriars Crown Court. Purseglove had built up a £15 million pirate CD empire by bootlegging live concerts of some of the world’s biggest stars including The Beatles, David Bowie and Pink Floyd
2006, Queen guitarist Brian May made a “substantial” donation to save hedgehogs from slaughter in the Outer Hebrides. Although the exact amount was not revealed it was said to be enough to pay for the rescue of hundreds of hedgehogs from the Uists, where Scottish Natural Heritage has been culling the animals for the past four years. May’s money would go towards funding cash rewards for islanders so hundreds more hedgehogs can be saved.
2007, Prince was forced off stage by police halfway through his set at the First Avenue nightclub during a late-night gig in his home town of Minneapolis. The club was only allowed to stay open until 3.am but Prince took to the stage at 2.45am. Prince had already played two concerts in Minneapolis before his late-night club appearance; His first performance was at a department store, where he promoted his new cologne with a nine-song, 45-minute set.
2007, Chemical Brothers went to No.1 on the UK album chart with ‘We Are The Night’ the duo’s sixth studio album.
2016, Canadian rapper and singer Drake was at No.1 on the US chart with his fourth studio album Views. With Views, Drake also joined Adele, Michael Bublé and Taylor Swift as the only artists in the 2010s decade to have an album remain at No.1 on the Billboard 200 for six consecutive weeks.
