1956 - For the first time in Billboard chart history, five singles were in both the pop and the R&B top 10. The singles were Elvis Presley's Heartbreak Hotel, Carl Perkins' Blue Suede Shoes, Little Richard's Long Tall Sally, the Platters' Magic Touch, and Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers' Why Do Fools Fall in Love. And guess what? Here they all are - now where else could you see that?
1960 - Production began on Elvis Presley's movie G.I. Blues, his first post-Army movie. Same year, same day, and Ben E. King left the Drifters to sign a deal with ATCO Records. His first solo hit single, Spanish Harlem. His next song became his signature song, Stand By Me. The song hit #1 in both the United States and UK, and around the world, and is both a Grammy Hall of Fame winner and one of the RIAA's Songs of the Century. It was also featured in the film of the same name directed by Rob Reiner in 1986.
1965 - The Rolling Stones made their second appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show. To find out more, and see this video, just go to our search engine, type in the key words, and you'll have it on your screen. We move forward 12 years, 1977, and Eric Clapton recorded Wonderful Tonight. Wonderful Tonight was first included on Clapton's 1977 album Slowhand, and released as a single the following year. Clapton wrote the song about Pattie Boyd, his wife at the time, while waiting for her to get ready to attend Paul and Linda McCartney's annual Buddy Holly. In her autobiography, Boyd would say: "For years it tore at me. To have inspired Eric, and George before him, to write such music was so flattering. Wonderful Tonight was the most poignant reminder of all that was good in our relationship, and when things went wrong it was torture to hear it." From the concert at London's Hyde Park in 1996, this is Eric Clapton.
1979 - The Who performed their first concert after the death of Keith Moon. Kenney Jones, formerly of the Faces, was the new drummer, and in this same year, The Who's movie Quadrophenia premiered in London. This is my favourite version of the song Baba O'Reilly from the movie Quadraphenia.
1980 - The South African government banned the Pink Floyd song Another Brick in the Wall (PartII), and two years later, London band Adam and the Ants disbanded. Adam Ant (born Stuart Leslie Goddard) gained popularity as the lead singer of the New Wave/post-punk group, and later as a solo artist, scoring ten UK top ten hits between 1979 and 1983, including three #1s. Goddard was also a star in America where he not only scored a string of hit singles and albums, but was once voted sexiest man in America by the viewers of MTV. He is also an actor, having appeared in two dozen films or television episodes between 1985 and 1999. Post the year 2000, Goddard was sectioned for psychiatrist reasons, when he pulled a gun on a group of people in Camden, London. I loved this guy and his band, providing true original tribal-pop music.
1992 - Bonnie Raitt received an honorary Doctor of Music Degree from Berklee College of Music during commencement cermonies in Boston. And to celebrate here's a great version of Something To Talk About. How good is Bonnie Rait?
