1956, Elvis Presley made chart history by having 10 songs on Billboards Top 100 for week ending Dec 19th.
1962, During his first visit to the UK Bob Dylan performed at The Troubadour in London.
1964, The Liverpool Youth Employment Service announced that some school leavers were finding it difficult to get jobs because their ‘Beatle’ style haircuts and clothing were unacceptable to employers.
1966, The Jimi Hendrix Experience made their debut on the UK TV show Top Of The Pops performing ‘Hey Joe’.
1966, Working at Abbey Road studios, London, Paul McCartney began work on his new song ‘Penny Lane’, recording six takes of keyboard tracks and various percussion effects. The song’s title is derived from the name of a street near John Lennon’s house, in the band’s hometown, Liverpool. McCartney and Lennon would meet at Penny Lane junction in the Mossley Hill area to catch a bus into the centre of the city.
1967, British guitarist and singer Dave Mason quit Traffic after differences of musical opinion. Mason wrote ‘Hole in My Shoe’, a psychedelic pop song that became a hit in for Traffic in 1967.
1968, Led Zeppelin appeared at the Civic Auditorium, Portland on their first North American tour opening for Vanilla Fudge.
1973, Jim Croce scored his second No.1 US single of the year when ‘Time In A Bottle’ went to the top of the charts. Croce was killed in a plane crash on the way to a concert on September 20th 1973.
1980, American singer, songwriter Tim Hardin died of a heroin overdose. Hardin wrote the songs ‘If I Were A Carpenter’ (covered by Bobby Darin, Johnny Cash and June Carter, The Four Tops, Leon Russell, Small Faces, Robert Plant and Bob Seger,) and ‘Reason To Believe’, (covered by Rod Stewart). Hardin appeared at the 1969 Woodstock Festival.
1984, Band Aid were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with Do They Know It’s Christmas? and Madonna was at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Like A Virgin.’
1999, Three ferrets named Beckham, Posh Spice and Baby Spice were used to lay power cables for a rock concert being held in Greenwich, London, England, (workers were not allowed to dig up the turf at the Royal Park). Organizers found that rods could not push the cables through the tiny tunnels, which frequently bend and dog-leg. The ferrets were eased into tiny nylon harnesses with wires which where then attached to a rope, the animals ran into a series of ducts which were under the stage like rabbit runs, leading the cables with them. The ferrets instinctively make for any hole in the ground and are enticed to the end of the duct by a slab of smelly meat. The New Years Eve concert featured Simply Red, Eurythmics and Bryan Ferry.
2001, Aretha Franklin was suing a US newspaper which alleged that the star had alcohol problems. The singer’s lawyers filed a federal lawsuit against the Florida-based Star claiming she was defamed by an article in the paper in December 2000 and were seeking $50m in damages.
2010, Pollstar reported that Bon Jovi were the highest earning touring act of the year, taking in over $200 million. Australian rockers AC/DC landed at number two for the second year in a row, with tickets sales from their recent trek totaling $177m. U2 which was the top worldwide act in 2009, came in at third place, with ticket sales totaling $160.9m. Lady Gaga followed in fourth place, with Metallica at number five.
2011, Robert Lee Dickey, who performed as Bobby Purify in the ’60s Soul duo James And Bobby Purify, passed away at the age of 72. The pair are most often remembered for their 1966, Billboard Top 10 hit, ‘I’m Your Puppet’.
2012, According to sales data, Adele’s 21 had overtaken Oasis’ (What’s The Story) Morning Glory? to become the UK’s fourth biggest selling album of all-time. Latest data confirmed that, Oasis’ 1995 second album had sold 4,555,000 copies to date, while Adele’s 21 has surged ahead with sales of over 4,562,000 copies. The news came just over a year since 21 overtook Amy Winehouse’s Back To Black to become the UK’s biggest selling album of the 21st Century.
2013, A one-of-a-kind signed hardback copy of Autobiography by Morrissey, the only copy of the full-colour hardback signed by the author, sold on eBay for £8,300, with all proceeds going to PETA as a New Year’s present to help prevent the slaughtering of animals for meat. Morrissey signed only one copy of the book – the cover of which pictures the singer-songwriter bare-chested in a swimming pool.
2013, American guitarist, drummer, and songwriter Benjamin Curtis died age 35. He was a founding member of the bands Secret Machines, School of Seven Bells, and UFOFU. He was also drummer for the band Tripping Daisy from 1997 to 1999. It was announced in late February 2013 that he had been diagnosed with T-cell lymphoblastic lymphoma.
