1954, Elvis Presley recorded ‘Blue Moon of Kentucky’, (the B-side for his first single) at Sun Studio in Memphis, Tennessee. Presley had recorded the A-side ‘That’s Alright’ four days earlier.
1955, Bill Haley & His Comets went to No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Rock Around the Clock’, staying at No.1 for eight weeks and becoming one of the biggest selling singles of all time.
1956, After the June 30th trouble at Asbury Park, Bill Haley and His Comets were denied permission to play at the Roosevelt Stadium in Jersey City. A city ordnance was passed that read: “Rock and roll music encouraged juvenile delinquency and inspired young females in lewd bathing suits to perform obscene dances on the city’s beaches.”
1958, Johnny Cash signed with Columbia Records, where he would remain for the next 30 years releasing over 60 albums.
1962, Bob Dylan recorded ‘Blowin’ In the Wind’ at Columbia Recording Studios in New York City during an afternoon session. Dylan originally wrote and performed a two-verse version of the song, as in its first public performance, at Gerde’s Folk City on April 16th, 1962. Shortly after this, he added the middle verse.
1967, On a US tour supporting The Monkees, The Jimi Hendrix Experience appeared at the Convention Hall, Miami, Florida. After it became plainly apparent that the group is not suited to teenybopper audiences, the tour’s promoter Dick Clark and Hendrix’s manager Chas Chandler concoct a story saying that the conservative Daughters of the American Revolution group had complained at Jimi’s act and so the Experience left the tour after just six shows.
1969, Working at Abbey Road studios in London The Beatles recorded ‘Maxwell’s Silver Hammer.’ John Lennon returned to the studio after recovering from a car crash in Scotland, and a bed was installed in the Abbey Road studio for Yoko, who was pregnant, and who had been more seriously injured in the car accident.
1971, David Bowie started recording sessions at Trident Studios in London, for what would become the concept album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars. The character of Ziggy was initially inspired by British rock ‘n’ roll singer Vince Taylor, whom Bowie met after Taylor had had a breakdown and believed himself to be a cross between a god and an alien.
1972, Paul McCartney and Wings played their very first show in the small French town of Chateauvillon. The band included Denny Laine, Denny Seiwell, Henry McCullough and Paul’s wife, Linda. It was McCartney’s first time on the road since The Beatles quit touring in 1966. The band travelled on a double Decker London bus with a psychedelic interior.
1976, The Pretty Things, Supercharge and third on the bill the Sex Pistols all appeared at The Lyceum, London, England, tickets £1.75.
1977, Elvis Costello quit his day job at Elizabeth Arden Cosmetics to become a full time musician.
1983, The Police started an eight week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Every Breath You Take’ also No.1 in the UK. Taken from the bands album Synchronicity, Sting won Song of the Year and The Police won Best Pop Performance for the song at the 1984 Grammy Awards.
1983, Wham! went to No.1 on the UK album chart with their debut release ‘Fantastic!’, which went on to spend 116 weeks on the chart.
1988, Cheap Trick went to No.1 on the US singles chart with The Flame, the group’s only US No.1.
1988, Glenn Medeiros was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Nothing’s Gonna Change My Love For You’. The 18 year old from Hawaii was one of the youngest males to reach the top of the charts.
1989, New Edition’s production manager was charged with criminal homicide after allegedly shooting the support acts security man after they ran over their stage time.
1995, The Grateful Dead gave their last concert with leader Jerry Garcia at Chicago’s Soldier Field. Jerry would die of a heart attack a month later while in drug rehab.
1999, Elton John had a pacemaker fitted in an operation at a London hospital following reports about his ill health. Sir Elton was forced to cancel a series of concerts.
2004, David Bowie was forced to cancel a string of European shows after emergency heart surgery. The 57 year-old singer had an operation last month in Germany, where he was on tour, to treat “an acutely blocked artery”. The star’s cancellation last month of 11 European dates was originally attributed to a shoulder injury.
2006, Muse started a two week run at No.1 on the UK album chart with ‘Black Holes & Revelations’ the bands fifth album release and second No.1.
2006, Lily Allen scored her first UK No.1 single with ‘Smile’. The organ riff is a sample of Jackie Mittoo playing keyboards on ‘Free Soul’ by The Soul Brothers. Lily’s actor dad, Keith Allen, was part of the Fat Les band who had a hit with ‘Vindaloo’ in 1998.
2007, Happy Mondays’ frontman Shaun Ryder was in trouble after he smoked several cigarettes on stage during a concert at The Ritz in Manchester. Smoking had been banned in all enclosed public places in England on 1 July of this year, and anyone flouting the law faced a £50 fine. Performers were only exempt from the smoking ban if the “artistic integrity” of their act required it.
2010, During a Santana concert at First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre in Tinley Park, Illinois, guitarist Carlos Santana proposed to his girlfriend, Cindy Blackman who had just finished a drum solo during the band’s set. The couple married in December 2010.
2011, Former Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant joined three local musicians at a fundraising charity show in Monmouth Wales, where tickets cost £3. The event was a tribute to his friend, former Led Zeppelin producer Pat Moran, who died of a rare dementia in January. Plant delighted the small crowd in the Monmouthshire town with songs from his Led Zeppelin days as well as tunes from his solo career.
2013, Former Fugees singer Lauryn Hill began a three-month prison sentence in Connecticut for tax evasion. The 38-year-old was sentenced in May for failing to pay tax on $1.8m of her earnings between 2005-07. After her release, Hill would be under parole supervision for a year, with the first three months to be spent confined to her home.
2013, 32 year-old Junior Bradshaw who was involved in a plot to rob and murder soul singer Joss Stone was jailed for 18 years. Both he and Kevin Liverpool, were found guilty at Exeter Crown Court three months ago. The pair were found near the singers home with a body bag and a variety of weapons including a Samurai sword, two hammers and knives.
2015, Phil Rudd, a drummer with AC/DC was sentenced in New Zealand to eight months house detention for drug possession and making threats to kill. The court heard how Rudd had fired several employees after the failure of his solo album, Head Job, in August last year, Rudd had also called one victim saying: “I’m going to come over and kill you.” His sentence would be served at his beachfront home in Tauranga, with Judge Thomas Ingram warning he would be face jail if he breached the conditions.
2015, Transport for London, the government body that runs the metro rail system in the UK, banned posters promoting The Rolling Stones’ forthcoming exhibition, ‘Exhibitionism’, at London’s Saatchi gallery, because of its artwork. The neon advert showed Rolling Stones iconic tongue and lips design plastered over a woman’s bikini bottoms.
