Today in Rock n' Roll History

[TimothyBFan]

2006 The surviving members of Led Zeppelin met at a secret rehearsal space in England to run through songs for the forthcoming 02 Arena benefit tribute to Atlantic Records co-founder, the late Ahmet Ertegun. It was the first time the three members had been in the same room with instruments since their four-song set at Led Zeppelin's 1995 induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

Oh to have been a fly on the wall!!!!

[Koala]

1960 Drummer Tommy Moore makes the fateful decision to quit The Beatles and return to his job of driving a forklift at Garston bottle works. He would briefly be replaced by Norman Chapman, who was called into National Service after just three gigs. After going drummerless and mostly jobless for a few weeks, the band would hire Pete Best on August 12th, only one day before they were to go to Hamburg to play a string of club dates.

1966 European radio stations mistakenly report that The Who's lead singer Roger Daltrey is dead. Actually, it was guitarist Pete Townshend who had been injured in a car accident a few days earlier.

1988 Nelson Mandellas 70th birthday tribute took place at Wembley Stadium, London, featuring Whitney Houston, Phil Collins, Dire Straits, Stevie Wonder, Tracy Chapman, George Michael, Eric Clapton, UB40, The Eurythmics and Simple Minds. The event was broadcast live on BBC 2 to 40 different countries with an estimated audience of 1 billion.

1993 “What’s Love Got To Do With It”, the film biography of Ike and Tina Turner, opens nationally in America.

2005 Jimmy Page, Led Zeppelin founding member and guitarist, was awarded an OBE in the Queen of England's Birthday Honours list and Queen guitarist and founding member Brian May was awarded a CBE.

[Koala]

1964 The Beatles arrived in Adelaide, Australia and were greeted by an estimated 250,000 fans, (the biggest welcome the band would ever receive), who lined the ten mile route from the airport to the city centre. The group gave their first four shows in Australia at the Centennial Hall, Adelaide over two nights, playing: I Saw Her Standing There, I Want To Hold Your Hand, All My Loving, She Loves You, Till There Was You, Roll Over Beethoven, Can't Buy Me Love, This Boy, Long Tall Sally and Twist And Shout. Temporary member Jimmy Nicol was standing in for Ringo on drums who was recovering from having his tonsils removed.

1982 Bruce Springsteen, James Taylor, Jackson Browne, Linda Ronstadt and Gary 'US' Bonds all appeared at a rally for nuclear disarmament in Central Park, New York to over 450,000 fans.

1993 UB40 had their third UK No.1 single with ('I Can't Help), Falling In Love With You', a No.1 hit for Elvis Presley in 1962.

2005 Pink Floyd announced they would reunite with former bassist Roger Waters, who left the band in 1985, on July 2 for the Live 8 London concert. This would be the first time the band had played together as a quartet since The Wall tour in 1981.

[Koala]

1951 Howard Lees, Heart, is born.

1964 Louis Armstrong started a six week run at No.1 on the US album chart with 'Hello Dolly!'

1967 The Bee Gees appeared live on the UK TV show 'As You Like It'. The group were promoting their debut single 'New York Mining Disaster 1941.'

1972 Clyde McPhatter, original lead vocalist with The Drifters, died of a heart attack in New York. Joined Billy Ward & the Dominoes in 1950, formed The Drifters in 1953 had several solo hits including 1962 'Lover Please,' was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.

1975 John Lennon made his last ever TV appearance when he appeared on 'Salute To Sir Lew Grade', performing 'Slippin And Slidin', and 'Imagine'.

1988 The biggest charity Rock concert since Live Aid three years earlier took place at London's Wembley Stadium, to denounce South African apartheid. Among the performers were Sting, Stevie Wonder, Bryan Adams, George Michael, Whitney Houston and Dire Straits. Half the money raised went towards anti-apartheid activities in Britain, the rest was donated to children's charities in southern Africa.

1992 Erasure started a five-week run at No.1 in the UK with the 'Abba-Esque EP'. The release featured four covers of Abba hits and Vince Clark & Andy Bell dressed up as the two Abba girls for the videos.

2000 A roadie who worked for The Spice Girls, Oasis, Elton John and Whitney Houston was arrested and charged with smuggling millions of pounds worth of Ecstasy into the UK.

[Koala]

1964 12-year-old Carol Dryden was discovered by railway workers packed in a tea chest on a station platform addressed to The Beatles.

1971 Roxy Music is formed.

1986 Bob Geldof was named in HRH The Queen's Birthday Honours List, receiving an honorary Knighthood in recognition of his humanitarian activities.

1986 Queen scored their 5th UK No.1 album with 'A Kind Of Magic', featuring the single 'One Vision'.

1995 Irish guitarist Rory Gallagher died after a chest infection set in following a liver transplant. Had been a member of Taste before going solo, sold over 30m albums worldwide. Voted Melody Maker's Top Musician of the Year in 1972, auditioned for The Rolling Stones following the departure of Mick Taylor. Gallagher made his final performance on 10 January 1995 in the Netherlands.

[Koala]

1963 Kyu Sakamoto started a three week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Sukiyaki’, the first-ever Japanese song to do so. It made No.6 on the UK chart in 1963 and was also a No.10 UK single for Kenny Ball in the same year.

1967 Guitarist Peter Green quit the John Mayall Band. Green went on to form Fleetwood Mac.

1974 Abba's debut album 'Waterloo' entered the UK chart for the first time peaking at No.28.

1977 The Sex Pistols held a party on a boat as it sailed down The River Thames in London. The Pistols performed 'Anarchy In The UK' outside The Houses Of Parliament resulting in members from the party being arrested when the boat docked later that day.
1985 Bryan Ferry went to No.1 on the UK album chart with 'Boys And Girls' his first solo No.1 LP.

1985 Dire Straits started a nine-week run at No.1 on the US album chart with, 'Brothers In Arms'.

[Freypower]

1985 Dire Straits started a nine-week run at No.1 on the US album chart with, 'Brothers In Arms'.

Those were the days. Nine weeks! The album remains as perfect now as it was then.

[Koala]

1965 Bob Dylan recorded ‘Like A Rolling Stone’ at Columbia Recording Studios in New York City.

1966 Cliff Richard joined evangelist Billy Graham on stage at Earls Court London and talked about his discovery of the Christian faith.

1966 The Beatles made a surprise live appearance on the UK television program Top of the Pops, performing ‘Paperback Writer’ and ‘Rain’. It became The Beatles' last live musical television appearance, with the sole exception of the June 1967 worldwide transmission of ‘All You Need Is Love’.

1970 Mungo Jerry were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'In The Summertime'. It went on to become the best selling UK single of 1970 spending seven weeks at No.1 and was a hit in 26 other countries.

1977 Kenny Rogers was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Lucille'. It was the American Country music singer's first of two UK No.1's.

1990 Roxette started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'It Must Have Been Love'. The song, taken from the film 'Pretty Woman' became the duo's third US No.1 and a No.3 hit in the UK.

2002 46 years after his first hit, Elvis Presley started a four week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'A Little Less Conversation', (Elvis vs. JXL), giving Elvis a total of 18 UK No.1 singles, the most by any artist in chart history. This also set a new record for the longest span of No.1 hits with 44 years, 11 months and 9 days. His first UK No.1 single was 'All Shook Up' in 1957.

[Koala]

1965 Elvis Presley was at No.1 in the UK with 'Crying In The Chapel' his 15th UK No.1 single.

1965 The Kinks and the Moody Blues made their US concert debut at the Academy of Music in New York City.

1971 Carole King went to No.1 on the US album chart with ‘Tapestry’ for the first of 15 consecutive weeks. The album contained ‘It's Too Late’, ‘I Feel the Earth Move’, ‘Will You Love Me Tomorrow?’ and ‘You've Got a Friend’.

1978 Andy Gibb became the first solo artist in the history of the US charts to have his first three releases reach No.1, when ‘Shadow Dancing’ hit the top of the chart. Spending seven weeks at No.1 it became the best selling single in the US in 1978.

1981 Pink Floyd gives its 24th and final performance of 'The Wall,' in Dortmund, Germany.

1999 A teenage girl was crushed to death during a gig by Hole at the Hultsfred Festival, Sweden.

[Koala]

1942 Paul McCartney is born.

1964 Touring Australia The Beatles played at Sydney Stadium in Sydney. This was Paul McCartney’s 22nd birthday and after the show his guests included 17 girls who were winners of the Daily Mirrors “Why I would like to be a guest at a Beatles birthday party” competition.


1966 This weeks Top 5 UK singles: No.5, Percy Sledge, 'When A Man Love's A Woman', No.4, The Mersey's, 'Sorrow', No.3, The Mamas and the Papas, 'Monday Monday', No.2, The Beatles, 'Paperback Writer', No.1, Frank Sinatra, 'Strangers In The Night.'

1976 Abba gave a special live performance in Stockholm for Sweden's King Carl XVI Gustaf and Silvia Sommerlath on the eve of their wedding.

1977 Fleetwood Mac went to No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Dreams', the group's first and only US No.1, it made No.24 in the UK.

1980 – The Blues Brothers, starring Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi as the deadpan R&B team, premieres in New York.

2002 U2 lost a bid to prevent the demolition of Hanover Quay studio in Dublin. Over 8,000 fans signed an online petition to preserve the studio, where the group recorded ‘All That You Can't Leave Behind’ and some of their ‘Pop’ album.

2004 Ray Charles’ funeral is held at the First AME Church in Los Angeles. Among the performers at the service are Stevie Wonder, Willie Nelson, and B.B. King. Also in attendance are Little Richard, Berry Gordy Jr. and Jesse Jackson.

2010, John Lennon's handwritten lyrics to The Beatles song 'A Day In The Life' sold for $1.2m (£810,000) at an auction at Sotheby's in New York. The double-sided sheet of paper with notes written in felt marker and blue ink also contained some corrections and other notes penned in red ink.