Events in 1960
- Johnny Kidd & The Pirates were at No. 1 on the UK singles chart with “Shakin' All Over.”
- Graham Massey, keyboardist with 808 State, was born.
- Elvis Presley was fitted with brown contact lenses for his role as Pacer Burton in the film “Flaming Star,” intended to change his naturally blue eyes to brown. He ultimately did not use them in the film.
- Johnny Kidd & The Pirates began their run at No. 1 on the UK singles chart with “Shakin' All Over.”
- Stuart Croxford Neale, a member of Kajagoogoo, was born.
- Chubby Checker made his first television appearance with “The Twist.” The song later reached No. 1 on the U.S. chart and sparked a major dance craze.
- Johnny Kidd and the Pirates reached No. 1 on the UK singles chart with “Shakin’ All Over.”
- The soundtrack album to the 1958 film “South Pacific” reached No. 1 on the UK album chart.
- The Beatles went to assess drummer Pete Best at the Casbah Coffee Club in Liverpool. Pete Best was then playing with The Blackjacks and was the daughter of club owner Mona Best.
- Zpěvačka a skladatelka Jacquie O'Sullivan, která se v roce 1988 připojila ke skupině Bananarama, se narodila v Hendonu v Londýně.
- Brian Hyland reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and the Cash Box Best Sellers chart with "Itsy Bitsy, Teenie Weenie, Yellow Polka Dot Bikini". In the U.K., the song reached No. 8.
- Elvis Presley recorded four songs at Radio Recorders studio in Hollywood for the film "Flaming Star" during an overnight recording session.
- Johnny Horton recorded “North To Alaska” at Quonset Hut Studio in Nashville, Tennessee.
- English singer Mark Stewart, a founding member of The Pop Group, was born.
- Cliff Richard & The Shadows reached No. 1 on the UK singles chart with “Please Don't Tease.” The song also topped the charts in India, Ireland, New Zealand and Norway that year.
- Guitarist Paul Gendler of Modern Romance was born. The group had the UK No. 4 hit “Best Years Of Our Lives” in 1982.
- Pete Best became the new drummer of The Silver Beetles, replacing Norman Chapman.
- Cobo Arena, with a capacity of 12,000, opened in Detroit. It later became a major venue for concerts and live album recordings, hosting artists including Kiss, J. Geils Band and Bob Seger.
- With the song “It's Now or Never”, he began a five-week run at No. 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and also reached No. 1 in the UK. The song was based on the Italian song “O Sole Mio” and was his first postwar number-one hit. More than 20 million copies were sold worldwide.
- Principal photography began on Elvis Presley's film Flaming Star at Conejo Movie Ranch in Thousand Oaks, California.
- Drummer Chris Pedersen, known for his work with Camper Van Beethoven and Monks of Doom, was born in Great Lakes, Illinois.
- The Beatles performed under this name for the first time at the Indra Club on Grosse Freiheit in Hamburg. It was the first of a total of 48 nights during their first Hamburg engagement. Club owner Bruno Koschmider demanded “Mach Shau”, meaning a proper show, which led to their wild stage performances.
- A preview screening of Elvis Presley's film G.I. Blues was held in Dallas, Texas.
- English composer, multi-instrumentalist and producer Stuart Matthewman was born. He became known as the guitarist and saxophonist of Sade and is also a member of Sweetback.
- The Beatles gave their first public performance at the Indra club in Hamburg.
- The film “Flaming Star” was released during Elvis Presley’s Hollywood career.
- Connie Francis began work on her acting debut when MGM began filming the movie “Where the Boys Are” in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The film became a box-office success, but the planned sequel “Where the Girls Are” was never made.
- In the United Kingdom, the song “It's Now or Never” was released after the necessary copyright clearances had been obtained. It was an English-language version of the Neapolitan standard “O Sole Mio”, which had been made famous by Enrico Caruso in 1916. The song reached No. 1 on the British chart and received a Silver Record for sales of more than 200,000 copies in the United Kingdom.
- Elvis Presley was photographed by Don Cravens at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel for Life magazine.
- The Shadows reached number one on the UK singles chart with their version of Jerry Lordan's “Apache”. It was the first of their five UK number-one singles.
- American saxophonist, bandleader and composer Branford Marsalis was born in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana, into a family of musicians. He played saxophone and various percussion instruments on Sting's 1985 solo debut album “The Dream of the Blue Turtles”.
- American jazz pianist, keyboardist, composer, arranger and producer Jim Beard was born. He worked with Steely Dan, Wayne Shorter, John McLaughlin and Pat Metheny, among others.
- The instrumental song “Apache”, credited to The Shadows, replaced Cliff Richard and The Shadows' “Please Don't Tease” at No. 1 on the UK chart. Cliff Richard contributed by playing the Chinese drum at the beginning and end of the recording.
- The radio show Louisiana Hayride, known as “The Cradle of the Stars”, broadcast its final performance on KWKH in Shreveport after nearly 12 and a half years on the air.
- Barry White was sentenced at the age of 16 to four months in prison for stealing tires worth $30,000. He was released on parole after three months. While in prison, he heard Elvis Presley singing “It’s Now or Never”, which inspired him to devote his life to music. He left his street gang, joined the group The Upfronts, and later became a singer and producer. He sold more than 100 million records worldwide and earned numerous gold and platinum singles.
- Elvis Presley's song "It's Now or Never" was in its third week at No. 1, while "Kiddio" by Brook Benton took the No. 1 spot on the Easy Listening chart.