Events in 1956
- Look magazine reported that Elvis Presley was receiving approximately 3,000 fan letters a week.
- Kirk Brandon, English singer, songwriter, and guitarist best known for his work with Theatre of Hate and Spear of Destiny, was born in London.
- Elvis Presley performed at the Olympia Theater in Miami at 3:30 p.m., 7:00 p.m., and 9:00 p.m. He gave a total of seven performances there over the two days.
- The Platters scored their second U.S. No. 1 pop hit with "My Prayer," staying at the top for 5 weeks. The song was originally based on the 1926 French composition "Avant de Mourir."
- Elvis Presley performed at the Olympia Theater in Miami at 1:30 p.m., 3:30 p.m., 7:00 p.m., and 9:00 p.m. Other performers included The Jordanaires and The Headliners.
- Doris Day was at No. 1 on the UK singles chart with “Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Que Sera, Sera).” It was her second UK No. 1 hit.
- Elvis Presley performed twice at Fort Homer Hesterly Armory in Tampa, Florida.
- Elvis Presley performed at the Polk Theater in Lakeland, Florida, at 3:30, 7:00 and 9:00 p.m. Also appearing were Frank Connors, Phil Maraquin, Nancy Ford, The Jordanaires and The Headliners.
- Chuck Berry, LaVern Baker, Frankie Lymon and Connie Francis began work on the film “Rock, Rock, Rock!”
- Alister "Ali" Score, drummer with A Flock Of Seagulls, was born in Beverley, Yorkshire, England.
- Elvis Presley performed at the Municipal Auditorium in Orlando, Florida, at 8:00 p.m. and 10:15 p.m.
- English singer, guitarist and songwriter Christopher Foreman, also known as Chrissy Boy, was born in London. He became famous as the guitarist of the ska band Madness.
- Elvis Presley performed at the Peabody Auditorium in Daytona Beach, Florida. Due to high demand, a second show was added. He was accompanied by The Jordanaires and The Headliners, among others.
- 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.
- Richard Goodman and Bull Buchanan, recording as Buchanan and Goodman, entered the charts with “Flying Saucer.” It was the first song to use the “Break In” technique, in which excerpts of other hits are inserted into a recording. The song later reached No. 3.
- The soundtrack album to the musical drama Carousel reached No. 1 on the UK albums chart.
- Elvis Presley released the double-sided single “Don't Be Cruel / Hound Dog.” Both songs reached No. 1 on the US chart and together remained there for a record 11 weeks. The record was not broken until 1992 by Boyz II Men's “End of the Road.”
- The Washington, D.C., disc jockey founded the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Elvis Presley after reading too many articles portraying Elvis Presley as a hillbilly or a threat to society. Elvis was frequently criticized in national news coverage and described in headlines as a hillbilly and a threat to society.
- Colonel Tom Parker became Elvis's “special adviser” and effectively took over his management duties from Bob Neal.
- Elvis Presley reached No. 1 on the US pop chart with “Don't Be Cruel” and “Hound Dog,” where the songs remained for eleven weeks.
- The Platters reached No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard R&B chart with "My Prayer" for a 2-week run.
- Bassist and keyboard player Tony Garnier was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota. He is best known as Bob Dylan's longtime sideman, having played with him since 1989.
- Bill Buchanan and Dickie Goodman had the third-best-selling song in the US with their novelty song “Flying Saucer”. It sold 500,000 copies in just three weeks and eventually surpassed one million. The recording's concept involved two radio reporters asking questions that were humorously answered with excerpts from mid-1950s hits. Buchanan and Goodman were sued for copyright infringement by seventeen different record companies, but all the lawsuits were dismissed with the ruling that the parodies did not interfere with sales of the original recordings.
- Elvis Presley began the first day of filming his first movie, “The Reno Brothers”, later renamed “Love Me Tender”. The drama, set during and shortly after the American Civil War, tells the story of Clint Reno, the youngest of four brothers. Elvis originally had only a supporting role, but after his song “Love Me Tender” was added to the film, the movie was renamed after the song. It was the only Elvis film in which he was not the leading actor. He began work on the film just four days after “Don't Be Cruel” and “Hound Dog” reached No. 1 on the U.S. chart. Elvis wanted to continue his film career and gradually created his own film subgenre known as the “Presley Picture”.
- Chris Biondo, a guitarist and producer who worked with Eva Cassidy. Eva Cassidy is described as the only performer to have three posthumous UK No. 1 albums: Songbird (2001), Imagine (2002) and American Tune (2003). In 2001, she also had the UK No. 42 single “Over The Rainbow”.
- The Five Satins made their chart debut on the Billboard R&B chart with “In the Still of the Night”, which they recorded in the basement of a church in New Haven, Connecticut. It was originally released as the B-side of “The Jones Girl” on the small Standard label, but after significant local success it was reissued by Ember Records. The single reached No. 3 on the R&B chart and No. 24 on the pop chart and sold more than one million copies. The song is often credited with popularizing the term “doo-wop” because of its distinctive “doo-wop, doo-wah” refrain.
- Elvis Presley began filming the movie “Love Me Tender”, originally titled “The Reno Brothers”. It was his first major film role.
- Little Richard performed at the Cotton Club in Lubbock, Texas; local native Buddy Holly was among the audience.
- Elvis Presley recorded on the soundstage at 20th Century Fox in Hollywood from 1:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. Among the recordings made there with studio musicians were „We're Gonna Move“, „Poor Boy“ and „Love Me Tender“. Ken Darby wrote new lyrics to the melody of the 1861 folk song „Aura Lee“. Presley was credited as a co-writer because of the terms of his publishing contract with Hill & Range. „Love Me Tender“ appeared in the film of the same name and reached No. 1 on the Billboard Top 100 and Cashbox Top 100, No. 1 in Canada and No. 11 in the U.K.
- Little Richard performed at the Cotton Club in Lubbock, Texas, where local Buddy Holly was among the audience. Little Richard's song „Rip It Up“ was at No. 37 on the Billboard Top 100 at the time and later climbed to No. 17, where it competed with the version by Bill Haley and His Comets.
- Biologist, entomologist, sexologist and author Alfred Kinsey died at the age of 62 from heart disease and pneumonia.
- Frank Sinatra reached number one on the UK album chart with his tenth studio album “Songs for Swingin’ Lovers!”. In the US the album reached number two.
- English songwriter and producer Matt Aitken was born in Coventry, England. He was part of the Stock, Aitken and Waterman production team, one of the most successful songwriting and production teams, which created more than 100 UK Top 40 hits, including Rick Astley's “Never Gonna Give You Up”.
- The Platters' “My Prayer” was at No. 1 on the US R&B chart.
- English musician and bassist Glen Matlock, the original bassist and founding member of the punk band Sex Pistols, was born in Paddington, London. He is credited as the writer of ten of the twelve songs on their only official studio album, “Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols”. He later played with the band Rich Kids.
- Jazz saxophonist Elton Dean, a member of Soft Machine, was born.
- Elvis Presley recorded his first spoken-word single, "The Truth About Me", which was released as a flexidisc attached to magazine covers.
- All ten songs in the British singles chart Top 10 came from American artists, including Elvis Presley, The Platters, Doris Day, Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers and Gogi Grant.
- Elvis Presley shared his success with his family by buying his mother a pink Cadillac.
- Elvis Presley worked from 1:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the Radio Recorders recording studio on Santa Monica Boulevard, recording material for his second album and a new single. Because the pianist was absent, the piano parts were played either by Elvis or Gordon Stoker.
- Nineteen-year-old Jerry Lee Lewis arrived at Sun Records hoping for an audition, but owner Sam Phillips was on vacation in Florida. Producer and sound engineer Jack Clement recorded several demos with Lewis for Phillips to hear upon his return. At the beginning of December, Lewis began recording as a solo artist and session musician.
- Elvis Presley continued recording at Radio Recorders on Santa Monica Boulevard in Hollywood. The session ran from 1:00 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. and produced recordings of “Paralyzed”, “When My Blue Moon Turns To Gold Again”, “Long Tall Sally”, “Old Shep”, “Too Much” and “Anyplace Is Paradise”. RCA Victor released “Too Much” as a single on January 4, 1957, and Presley sang it two days later on The Ed Sullivan Show. The song reached number two on the Billboard Top 100, number one on the Cashbox Best Sellers chart and number three on the Billboard R&B chart.
- On the third day of recording sessions at Radio Recorders Studios on Santa Monica Boulevard in Hollywood, Elvis Presley worked on songs connected with the Love Me Tender project. He worked from 2:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., and the session included recordings of “Ready Teddy”, “First In Line” and “Rip It Up”.
- Music for Elvis Presley's new film Love Me Tender was recorded on the soundstage at 20th Century Fox.
- Elvis Presley worked on vocal overdubs for the film Love Me Tender at the 20th Century Fox soundstage in Hollywood, including the song “Let Me” and additional parts of “Poor Boy.”
- Swedish guitarist, singer and songwriter Roine Stolt was born.
- American songwriter, musician and producer Diane Warren was born in Van Nuys, California. She has written more than 80 US Top 20 hits and is known, among other songs, as the writer of “I Don't Want To Miss A Thing” for Aerosmith, “How Do I Live” for LeAnn Rimes, “Un-Break My Heart” for Toni Braxton, “If I Could Turn Back Time” for Cher and “Because You Loved Me” for Céline Dion. She is also the writer of nine songs that reached No. 1 on the charts.
- Elvis Presley appeared on the cover of TV Guide for the first time.
- Chicago radio station WAIT began a 12-hour marathon of Elvis recordings at 7 a.m., repeatedly broadcasting 33 of his songs. Listeners called the station, and some postponed dentist appointments, laundry, hanging clothes, or even work because of the broadcast. The mother of a six-month-old child said that her otherwise restless baby peacefully fell asleep while listening to Elvis sing.
- Soul and R&B singer Freddie Jackson was born in Harlem, New York. He began his professional career in the late 1970s with the California funk group Mystic Merlin. He became known for the hits “Rock Me Tonight (For Old Times Sake),” “Have You Ever Loved Somebody,” and “Jam Tonight.”
- Elvis Presley released “Love Me Tender,” the title song from his first film. It later became his fifth U.S. No. 1 hit.
- Elvis Presley was released from filming the movie Love Me Tender because all work required to complete the production had been finished.
- The television program Lawrence Welk’s Top Tunes and New Talent premiered.
- The Johnny Burnette Trio appeared on Ted Mack's Amateur Hour TV show. Johnny Burnette, Dorsey Burnette and Paul Burlison won three weeks in a row, earning a series of tour dates.
- Elvis Presley's “Love Me Tender” entered the Billboard retail-sales chart, where it remained for 19 weeks, including five weeks at number one, and sold more than three million copies. The song was written for his first film, and its melody was adapted from the 1861 song “Aura Lee” from the period of the American Civil War.
- Elvis Presley arrived in Dallas by train with actor Nick Adams as part of a short tour organized by promoter Bamford. During the 71st Texas State Fair, he performed at the Cotton Bowl before an audience of 26,500. He was driven onto the playing field in a convertible. His set included "Heartbreak Hotel," "Long Tall Sally," "I Was the One," "Blue Suede Shoes," "I Got a Woman," "Love Me," "Don't Be Cruel," "Love Me Tender" and "Hound Dog." Other performers included Rex Marlowe, Howard & Wanda Bell, Phil Maraquin, Hubert Castle, The Jordanaires and Sherry Davis.
- Don’t Knock the Rock, the second film associated with radio disc jockey Alan Freed, premieres in U.S. cinemas. It features Little Richard, Bill Haley and His Comets, and The Treniers. The story follows Freed as he tries to prove to parents that rock ’n’ roll is not harmful to young people.
- Elvis Presley performs at the Heart O’ Texas Coliseum in Waco, Texas. His set includes “Heartbreak Hotel,” “I Got a Woman,” “Don’t Be Cruel,” “Money Honey,” “Blue Suede Shoes,” “Love Me Tender,” and “Hound Dog.”
- Filming began on the movie "Don't Knock the Rock", featuring Bill Haley.
- Elvis Presley performed twice at the Sam Houston Coliseum in Houston, Texas, in the afternoon and evening. According to the source, each show attracted approximately 8,000 people. The set included "Blue Suede Shoes", "Love Me Tender", "Hound Dog", and "Don't Be Cruel".
- Elvis Presley's single "Blue Moon" reached number 55 on the US chart.