Week in Music History

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.

Elvis Presley reached No. 6 on the UK singles chart with “Love Letters.”

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.

Cream’s third album “Wheels Of Fire” reached No. 1 on the Billboard Top LPs & Tape chart. The double album contained one studio-recorded disc and one live disc. It also reached No. 3 in the UK, while the lead single “White Room” reached No. 6 in the US and No. 28 in the UK.

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 1910 Fruitgum Co. from Linden, New Jersey, entered the Billboard Top 40 with “1, 2, 3, Red Light”. During its thirteen-week chart run, the single climbed to No. 5 and was certified for sales of one million copies in September of the same year.