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Events for this day
- Composer Alexander Konstantinovich Glazunov was born.
- Composer and violinist Clarence Cameron White was born in Clarksville, Tennessee.
- Scott Joplin signed a contract for a royalty of 1% on every copy sold of “The Maple Leaf Rag”, with a minimum selling price of 25 cents.
- American singer and entertainer Eddie Fisher was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
- Country singer and musician Jimmy Dean was born in Plainview, Texas.
- American singer Bobby Hatfield, a member of The Righteous Brothers, was born in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin.
- Ronnie Spector, singer, co-founder and frontwoman of the girl group The Ronettes, was born Veronica Bennett in New York City.
- American singer, guitarist and songwriter James Griffin, a member of Bread, was born in Cincinnati, Ohio.
- Mick Clarke, bassist and singer of The Rubettes, was born in Grimsby, Lincolnshire, England.
- British musician, singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Ian Anderson, best known as the frontman of Jethro Tull, was born in Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland.
- English singer, songwriter and guitarist Peter Beckett was born in Liverpool. He later became famous as the frontman of the soft rock band Player.
- American R&B, pop and jazz singer Patti Austin was born in Harlem, New York City.
- Andy Cresswell-Davis, guitarist, singer, keyboard player and drummer of the British group The Korgis, was born.
- Elvis Presley performed in Memphis, where he performed “That's All Right (Mama)” for the first time.
- Chuck Berry's “Maybellene” entered the Billboard Top 100 at No. 13, two weeks after reaching the Top 10 on the Billboard R&B chart, and later climbed to No. 5. The song is now regarded as one of the pioneering rock 'n' roll singles.
- Elvis Presley performed at Baseball Park in Gladewater, Texas, during a tour with The Browns. Approximately 20 people attended the concert.
- Doris Day began a six-week run at No. 1 on the UK chart with “Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be).”
- Elvis Presley performed three times at the Florida Theater in Jacksonville, Florida, at 3:30 p.m., 7:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. After the first concert, Judge Marion Gooding warned him to tone down his performance.
- Elvis Presley reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “A Big Hunk O' Love.” The song was recorded during Elvis’s only recording session while serving in the US Army, in four takes, with the released version assembled from the third and fourth takes.
- Fats Domino entered the Billboard singles chart with “I Want to Walk You Home,” which later climbed to No. 8. Although he had 18 million-selling singles during his career, he never reached No. 1.
- Brook Benton reached No. 1 on the R&B chart with “Thank You Pretty Baby.”
- Mark Price, drummer of All About Eve, was born.
- Four male members of The Platters were arrested in Cincinnati and charged with aiding prostitution, obscenity and immoral conduct after police found them at the Sheraton Gibson hotel at a post-concert party with four nineteen-year-old women, three of whom were white. The charges were dismissed in December, but the arrests damaged the group's career in the meantime and led to their recordings being dropped from some major radio markets.
- English singer Mark Stewart, a founding member of The Pop Group, was born.
- Fourteen-year-old Helen Shapiro became the youngest female artist to reach No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart with “You Don’t Know.” Her first four singles all reached the Top 3 in the UK.
- Jon Farriss, drummer of the Australian rock band INXS, was born in Perth, Western Australia. His brothers Tim and Andrew are also members of the band.
- British singer and songwriter Julia Fordham was born on Hayling Island in England.
- Comedian Allan Sherman released “Hello Muddah, Hello Fadda,” a comedy song based on music from Ponchielli’s “Dance of the Hours,” which first appeared on his album “My Son the Nut.” Sherman wrote the song based on his son’s real experience at Camp Champlain, where he desperately wanted to leave and later pleaded to be allowed to return. The recording reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and in 2020 was added to the United States National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress as culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.
- Thirteen-year-old Little Stevie Wonder began a three-week run at No. 1 on the US singles chart with “Fingertips Part II”. It was the first live recording to reach the top of the Billboard Pop Singles chart since Johnny Standley's 1952 comedy monologue “It's in the Book”. Stevie Wonder also became the youngest singer to reach the top of the US chart.
- Elvis Presley reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 9 on the R&B chart with “(You’re The) Devil in Disguise.” The song reached No. 1 in several other countries.
- Peter, Paul & Mary spent their second week at No. 1 on the US chart with “Blowin’ In The Wind”.
- Acker Bilk, Chris Barber, Ronnie Ross, Cyril Davies, Long John Baldry and The Rolling Stones performed at the third Richmond Jazz Festival in Richmond, England. The festival took place over two days, and a weekend ticket cost 20 shillings.
- The 100th episode of the British television show “Thank Your Lucky Stars” was broadcast. Performers included Cliff Richard, The Shadows, The Searchers, Brian Poole and the Tremeloes, Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, and Alma Cogan.
- The Browns became members of the Grand Ole Opry.
- Rapper, singer and songwriter Neneh Cherry was born in Stockholm, Sweden.
- The Beatles reissued four singles in the United States: “Do You Want To Know A Secret”, “Please, Please Me”, “Love Me Do” and “Twist And Shout”.
- Mick Jagger was stopped in Liverpool and fined £32 for speeding and driving without insurance. He was on his way to visit two fans who had been injured in a traffic accident.
- Guitarist Todd Nichols of Toad the Wet Sprocket was born in Los Angeles, California.
- Paul Revere & the Raiders performed before the largest audience in the 115-year history of the Illinois State Fair. The concert drew 27,000 people.
- Mason Williams reached No. 1 on the Cashbox chart with his song “Classical Gas”. Williams was the head writer of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour and the following year won three Grammy Awards. In 1991, he received an RIAA Citation of Achievement for more than five million broadcast uses of the song.
- American singer, rapper and manager Michael “Biv” Bivins, a member of New Edition and Bell Biv DeVoe, was born in Boston, Massachusetts.
- Tom Jones reached No. 1 on the UK albums chart with “Delilah”. The lyrics were written by Barry Mason and the music by Les Reed.
- Herb Alpert remained at No. 1 on the Easy Listening chart for a tenth week with “This Guy’s In Love with You.”
- Jimi Hendrix performed at the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago.
- Leigh Marklew, bassist of the English rock band Terrorvision, was born.
- The second day of the National Jazz & Blues Festival at Kempton Park Racecourse in Sunbury-on-Thames, England, featured Alan Haven, Deep Purple, Ginger Baker, Jeff Beck Group, Joe Cocker, Mike Westbrook, Ronnie Scott, T. Rex, Ten Years After, The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, The Don Rendell & Ian Carr Quintet, and The Nice.
- The Dells reached No. 1 on the R&B chart with “Stay In My Corner”.
- The Who released the song “Magic Bus”.
- Led Zeppelin performed at the San Diego Sports Arena during their North American tour. Jethro Tull and Seattle's The Surprise Package appeared as support acts.
- Elvis Presley performed an evening and midnight concert at the International Hotel in Las Vegas. Both concerts had a capacity of 2,200.
- The three-day National Jazz and Blues Festival in Sussex, England, concluded with performances by The Nice, Pentangle, and Long John Baldry.
- Elvis Presley opened the first night of his four-week engagement at the Showroom of the International Hotel in Las Vegas. He performed an evening show and, on most of the following nights, performed two shows, with the program continuing in a dinner-and-midnight-show format.
- Frank Zappa released “Weasels Ripped My Flesh,” the second album credited to The Mothers of Invention after the group’s breakup in 1969. The album contains various live recordings and improvisations by the group dating from 1967, including “My Guitar Wants to Kill Your Mama.”
- The trial of Jim Morrison began over an alleged onstage exposure at the Dade County Courthouse in Miami. Morrison was found guilty, and Judge Goodman sentenced him to six months of hard labor and a $500 fine for public exposure, plus another 60 days of hard labor for profanity. His lawyer immediately filed an appeal, and Morrison was released on $50,000 bail. Morrison died in Paris on July 3, 1971, before the legal issues were resolved. In December 2010, the Florida Clemency Board granted him a full pardon. Members of The Doors' team maintained that Morrison had never actually exposed himself.
- Neil Diamond released the single “Cracklin’ Rosie”.
- Simon and Garfunkel's album “Bridge Over Troubled Water” was at No. 1 on the UK albums chart. The Beatles were second with “Let It Be” and Bob Dylan was third with “Self Portrait”.
- Elvis Presley performed an evening and midnight concert at the Hilton Hotel in Las Vegas. Each concert had a capacity of 2,200.
- The Who performed at Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
- Elvis Presley performed an evening and midnight concert at the Hilton Hotel in Las Vegas. Each concert had a capacity of 2,200.
- Emerson, Lake & Palmer performed at the Hollywood Sportatorium in Hollywood, Florida.
- Paul and Linda McCartney, along with Wings drummer Denny Seiwell, were arrested backstage at Scandinavium Hall in Gothenburg, Sweden, for possession of marijuana. Earlier that day, the McCartneys had collected a package addressed to Seiwell at the hotel that contained marijuana. They were released after paying a fine, and the tour continued.
- Elvis Presley performed an evening and midnight concert at the Hilton Hotel in Las Vegas. Each concert had a capacity of 2,200.
- KISS performed at the Hotel Diplomat in New York City.
- A promotional film for Roger Daltrey's performance of “I’m Free” with the London Symphony Orchestra was broadcast on “Top Of The Pops”. The film was shot at Daltrey's farm.
- Roberta Flack reached her third US No. 1 with “Feel Like Makin’ Love”. After her producer left while she was working on her fifth album, she mixed the song herself and was credited as producer under the name Rubina Flake. The song became the first track produced by a female solo artist to reach the top of the US chart.
- John Denver's eighth studio album “Back Home Again” spent one week at No. 1 on the Billboard Top LPs & Tape chart. It included the hits “Annie's Song” (US #1, UK #1), “Back Home Again” (US #5), and “Thank God I'm A Country Boy” (US #1). The album was certified gold in England and triple platinum in America.
- The Allman Brothers Band performed at the August Jam festival at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Charlotte, North Carolina. The lineup also included Emerson Lake & Palmer, Foghat, Black Oak Arkansas and Marshall Tucker Band.
- The vocal group The Manhattan Transfer began a summer replacement variety show, “Manhattan Transfer”, on CBS. The show ran for four episodes.
- Elton John played the first of a series of sold-out concerts at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The concert series grossed $1.25 million and surpassed The Rolling Stones’ 1975 record. Elton John was promoting his current single with Kiki Dee, “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart,” and the live album “Here and There.”
- Eric Clapton performed at the Apollo Theatre in Glasgow, Scotland.
- Neil Diamond performed at the Capital Centre in Landover, Maryland.
- Aaron Kamin, lead guitarist of The Calling, was born in Studio City, California.
- Elvis Presley screened several films at General Cinemas in Whitehaven, including “The Spy Who Loved Me.”
- Sixteen years after its release, Ricky Nelson's single “Travelin' Man” received RIAA gold certification for sales of 500,000 copies. Jerry Fuller wrote the song with Sam Cooke in mind, but Cooke's manager rejected the demo. Nelson's version reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was released on Imperial Records as a double A-side with “Hello Mary Lou”, which reached No. 9. In the UK, the two songs jointly reached No. 2, and “Travelin' Man” became Nelson's biggest British hit.
- Yes performed at the Springfield Civic Center in Springfield, Massachusetts.
- Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend and Keith Moon each arrived separately at Universal Studios in Hollywood for a press launch of the new album “Who Are You”. The party was held on the set of the television series “Battlestar Galactica”.
- Thin Lizzy performed at the Mid-South Coliseum in Memphis, Tennessee.
- Michael Jackson released his fifth studio album “Off the Wall” on Epic Records. The album reached No. 3 in the US and No. 5 in the UK, driven by four Top 10 singles: “Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough” (US #1, UK #3), “Rock With You” (US #1, UK #7), “Off the Wall” (US #10, UK #7), and “She's Out of My Life” (US #10, UK #3). Despite the album's great success, it received only two Grammy nominations, and Jackson won Best Male R&B Vocal Performance for “Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough”.
- Van Halen performed at the Cumberland County Civic Center in Portland, Maine.
- Black Sabbath performed at the Civic Center in Hartford, Connecticut.
- Kansas performed at Pine Knob Music Theatre in Clarkston, Michigan.
- Queen performed at the Coliseum in New Haven, Connecticut, during their North American tour.
- Frank Zappa and Moon Unit Zappa performed “Valley Girl” on “Late Night with David Letterman.”
- The Grateful Dead played their only performance on this date at the University of Iowa Fieldhouse in Iowa City.
- Kajagoogoo dismissed their lead singer Limahl, who subsequently began a solo career. The band had previously reached No. 1 in the UK with the single “Too Shy”.
- Red Hot Chili Peppers released their self-titled debut album, produced with Andy Gill of Gang of Four.
- Aerosmith performed at the Cumberland County Civic Center in Portland, Maine.
- Bryan Adams reached No. 1 on the US Albums Chart with his album “Reckless.” The album sold more than 12 million copies worldwide, and all six singles reached the Top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100.
- Dire Straits’ “Money for Nothing” reached No. 4 on the UK Singles Chart. The song also became famous for its groundbreaking music video and the participation of Sting, who sings the opening falsetto and backing vocals and is credited as a co-writer alongside Mark Knopfler.
- Simon Le Bon of Duran Duran was trapped with five other crew members during a yacht race after their boat “Drum” capsized. Le Bon remained trapped beneath the hull for approximately twenty minutes before he and the other crew members were rescued. After the keel was repaired, the boat continued in the Whitbread Round the World Yacht Race 1985/86, finishing third.
- Wilson Pickett was found guilty of threatening bar patrons in New Jersey with a loaded shotgun after a fight inside the establishment. He was sentenced to two years' probation and fined $1,000.
- Luciano Pavarotti reached his third No. 1 on the UK albums chart with his album “The Essential Pavarotti II”.
- The 5th Dimension received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
- Def Leppard began the North American leg of their 248-date world tour, Seven Day Weekend, at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
- Billy Joel released “River of Dreams,” his final album of pop songs.
- Jimmy Buffett hosted President Bill Clinton's birthday celebration at the White House and also performed during the event.
- Oasis played the first of two concerts at Knebworth in Hertfordshire, England. Each night drew 125,000 people, and approximately one in every twenty people in the UK applied for tickets. The concerts became the biggest performances of their era and the high point of Britpop.
- It was announced that Oasis rhythm guitarist Paul “Bonehead” Arthurs had left the band after completing his guitar parts for their fourth album “Standing on the Shoulder of Giants”.
- Scottish singer and songwriter Darius began a two-week run at No. 1 on the UK chart with his debut single “Colourblind.”
- Bruce Springsteen reached No. 1 on the UK Albums Chart with his twelfth studio album “The Rising.” The album also reached No. 1 in eleven other countries, including the US, and won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Album.
- Lisa Marie Presley, daughter of Elvis Presley, married actor Nicolas Cage at a resort in Hawaii. Cage filed for divorce after 108 days of marriage, and the union was officially dissolved on May 26, 2004. Lisa Marie Presley had previously been married to musician Danny Keough and later to Michael Jackson.
- Michael Houser, founding member and lead guitarist of Widespread Panic, died at the age of 40 from complications related to pancreatic cancer, which had been diagnosed earlier that year.
- The iTunes Music Store became the first store with a catalog containing more than one million songs.
- Charlie Watts, drummer of The Rolling Stones, confirmed that he was undergoing treatment for throat cancer. He underwent radiotherapy, and the disease later went into remission.
- James Blunt was at No. 1 on the UK singles chart with “You're Beautiful”.
- The Rolling Stones held a surprise warm-up concert at the Phoenix Concert Theatre in Toronto ahead of the A Bigger Bang tour. Tickets cost $10 and the club had a capacity of approximately 1,000 people.
- American R&B singer Barbara George, who reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “I Know (You Don't Love Me No More)” in 1961, died at the age of 63 in Chauvin, Louisiana, from a lung infection related to liver disease and hepatitis C. Although two more of her songs reached the Hot 100 the following year, she never repeated the success of her first hit and largely withdrew from the music industry in the early 1980s.
- Anthony Wilson, the British music entrepreneur behind some of Manchester’s most successful bands, died of kidney cancer at the age of 57. He was a television presenter, co-owner of Factory Records, an artist manager, and the founder of the Haçienda and Dry Bar. In 2000, he also helped launch Music33, one of the first digital music stores.
- Emma Bunton of the Spice Girls gave birth to a son, Beau, at the Portland Hospital private hospital in London. His father was her partner Jade Jones, a former member of the boy band Damage.
- Laura Marling performed alongside Crystal Castles and Mystery Jets at the first Underage Festival in Victoria Park, London. The festival was open exclusively to attendees aged 13 to 17.
- Jon Foreman, frontman of Switchfoot, announced that the band had left Columbia Records. Switchfoot subsequently founded their own label, lowercase people records.
- Pioneering American singer, songwriter and musician Isaac Hayes was found dead at his home in Memphis, Tennessee, at the age of 65 after an apparent stroke. He won an Oscar and a Grammy for “Theme From Shaft,” was a major creative force at Stax Records, and co-wrote the iconic songs “Soul Man” and “Hold On, I'm Comin'.” He was also known as the voice of Chef on “South Park”.
- Katy Perry reached No. 1 on the UK singles chart with her debut single “I Kissed A Girl”. The song reached No. 1 in more than 20 countries and remained at the top of the US Billboard Hot 100 for seven weeks.
- Olivia Newton-John was appointed an Officer of the General Division of the Order of Australia in Canberra.
- The Monkees canceled the remaining nine concerts of their tour, citing “business issues”. Three original members of the group, Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones and Peter Tork, had reunited for the tour after a ten-year break.
- Insane Clown Posse protested against the FBI's classification of their fans, collectively known as “Juggalos,” as a criminal gang in its “2011 National Gang Threat Assessment Report.” At the annual Gathering of the Juggalos in Illinois, they announced their intention to sue the FBI. Despite this, the FBI continued to classify Juggalos as an organized gang in later years.
- Neil Diamond received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1750 N. Vine Street, directly in front of the iconic Capitol Records building.
- Eydie Gorme, a respected nightclub and television singer, died at Sunrise Hospital & Medical Center at the age of 84 after a short, unspecified illness. She was survived by her husband Steve Lawrence, to whom she had been married for 56 years, and her son, songwriter David Nessim Lawrence. She was best known for her 1963 hit “Blame It on the Bossa Nova,” which reached No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100. Between 1956 and 1964, she had six more songs on the Hot 100 and won Grammy and Emmy Awards.
- Jody Payne, guitarist for The Family, Willie Nelson's backing band, died at the age of 77 from heart complications in Stapleton, Alabama.
- Katy Perry's single “Roar” was released to US radio stations.
- Welsh operatic duo Richard & Adam began a four-week run at No. 1 on the UK chart with “The Impossible Dream”.
- Columbia House, the mail-order music club that originally offered customers eight albums for one dollar, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after nearly two decades of declining sales. The company was founded in 1955 by CBS’s Columbia Records division, and its sales gradually declined first because of Napster and later because of iTunes, Amazon and Netflix. BMG, a longtime competitor, bought the company in 2005, and it ended its mail-order business in 2009.
- Chance the Rapper took part in the #SoGoneChallenge and posted a video in which he rapped about his pregnant girlfriend over the instrumental of Monica's 2003 hit “So Gone”. The video was quickly retweeted more than 250,000 times, and the challenge went viral.
- Ed Sheeran faced a lawsuit in the United States over claims that his song “Thinking Out Loud” copied parts of Marvin Gaye’s “Let's Get It On.” The heirs of co-writer Ed Townsend sought a jury decision on possible damages.
- Arcade Fire reached No. 1 on the UK Albums Chart with their fifth studio album “Everything Now.” The album also reached No. 1 in Belgium, Ireland, Portugal and the US that year.
- American rapper Nathan Feuerstein, known as NF, reached No. 1 in the US with his fourth studio album “The Search”.
- Split Enz reached No. 1 in New Zealand with the 40th-anniversary reissue of the album “True Colours”.
- Billie Eilish was at No. 1 on the UK Albums Chart with her second studio album “Happier Than Ever.” The album also reached No. 1 in the US.
- American singer, songwriter and musician Bobby Whitlock died after a short illness at his home in Texas at the age of 77. He worked with Sam & Dave, Booker T. & the M.G.’s, Delaney & Bonnie, Dr. John and Joe Cocker. In 1970, he co-founded Derek and the Dominos with Eric Clapton and contributed to half of the songs on the album “Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs.” He also worked on George Harrison’s album “All Things Must Pass.”