Tuesday, August 11, 2015

This Date in Rock Music History: August 12

1956:  Elvis Presley received the key to the city of New Orleans, Louisiana.
1956:  The Platters performed on The Ed Sullivan Show.

1957:  Frankie Lymon left his group the Teenagers for a solo career.
1957:  Buddy Holly & the Crickets debuted on the Singles chart with their first hit record--"That'll Be The Day".
1958:  The Crests recorded "16 Candles".
1960:  Pete Best became the new drummer for the Silver Beatles.












1963:  The Ronettes released the single "Be My Baby".
1966:  John Lennon held a press conference at the Astor Tower Hotel in Chicago, Illinois to apologize for his recent remark that "the Beatles were more popular than Jesus."
1966:  The Beatles, Ronettes and Bobby Hebb performed at the International Amphitheatre in Chicago, Illinois.  It was the beginning of what would turn out to be the final U.S. tour for the Beatles.  
1967:  Ten Years After, the Crazy World of Arthur Brown, the Nice, Amen Corner, Zoot Money, Paul Jones, and Aynsley Dunbar performed on the second day of the National Jazz & Blues Festival in Windsor, Great Britain.  Pink Floyd was scheduled to perform, but had to cancel due  to the unreliability of lead singer Syd Barrett. 
1967:  Jimmy Hendrix performed at the Ambassador Theater in Washington, D.C. for the fourth of five shows.
1967:  The Supremes sang "Reflections" on American Bandstand.







1967:  "Reflections was the highest-debuting song of the week, giving the Supremes their 21st career hit.
1967:  Bobbie Gentry moved from #71 to #21 on this date with "Ode To Billie Joe".









                                                                                   Procol Harum's best--...

1967:  The Doors spent a third week at #1 with "Light My Fire".  The Beatles challenged with "All You Need Is Love" but Stevie Wonder was on his way down with "I Was Made To Love Her".  The Monkees had another big hit--"Pleasant Valley Sunday", which climbed from #9 to #4.  The rest of the Top 10:  "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" by the Buckinghams, Frankie Valli remained at 6 with "Can't Take My Eyes Off You", Procol Harum fell with "A Whiter Shade Of Pale", the Association was still in the Top 10 after 12 weeks with "Windy", the Hollies scored their third Top 10 with "Carrie-Anne" and the Young Rascals climbed in with "A Girl Like You".












1967:  Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by the Beatles had only been out eight weeks, but seven of those were at #1 on the Album chart.  Headquarters from the Monkees remained at 2 while Flowers by the Rolling Stones locked up position #3.
1968:  The four members of Led Zeppelin played together for the first time at a studio rehearsal on Gerrard Street in London's West End.  The quartet's first song was "Train Kept-A-Rollin'".
1968:  Big Brother & the Holding Company released their one and only big album, Cheap Thrills.















1970:  A promising new singer released his first single on this date--it was called "Fire And Rain" and the artist was James Taylor.  (Note:  some websites falsely say the single was released in February.  It was Taylor's album that was released in February.  The single "Fire And Rain" was released on August 12, according to the book 'Long Ago And Far Away:  James Taylor - His Life And Music' by Timothy White.  The book "Fire and Rain:  The James Taylor Story' by Ian Halperin and Taylor's official website also confirm that the song was released in August.)









1970:  Neil Diamond released the single "Cracklin' Rosie".  (Note:  one website falsely reports that the song entered the 'Billboard' chart on August 16.  The correct date is August 31, according to 'Billboard' itself.)
1970:  Derek & the Dominoes played at the Speakeasy in London.
1970:  Janis Joplin performed for the final time at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts before she died from drugs less than two months later.
1970:  The trial of Jim Morrison of the Doors for indecent exposure onstage began in Miami, Florida.  (Note:  some websites claim the trial began on August 10.  It was originally scheduled to begin that day, but the judge in the case had another trial that took precedence, and the Morrison trial began August 12th, confirmed by the newspaper 'The Examiner'.)












1971:  The Carpenters released the single "Superstar".
1972:  Jim Croce appeared on American Bandstand.
1972:  The Festival of Hope, at Roosevelt Raceway in Westbury, New York, with Jefferson Airplane and James Brown performing, became the first rock festival to raise funds for an established charity.
















1972:  ELO, Faces, and Focus were among the acts to perform on the second day of the National Jazz, Blues, Folk & Rock Festival in Reading, England.
1972:  Alice Cooper had the #1 U.K. song with "School's Out".
1972:  The great Al Green landed himself a #1 R&B song with "I'm Still In Love With You".










1972:  Gilbert O'Sullivan remained on top for a third week with "Alone Again (Naturally)".  Looking Glass held steady at #2 for the third week with "Brandy (You're A Fine Girl)".
1973:  What an incredible show this was.  The Eagles, Joni Mitchell and Neil Young in the same night at the Corral Club in Topanga, California.












1974:  A new British band released its first single on this date--Bad Company sent "Can't Get Enough" to radio stations.











1978:  Toby Beau reached #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart with "My Angel Baby".
1978:  The Little River Band had the fastest-rising song as "Reminiscing" moved from 56 to 34.
1978:  "Three Times A Lady" was the new #1 on the R&B chart for the Commodores.










1978:  The Commodores registered their first #1 song with "Three Times A Lady".  "Grease" by Frankie Valli and "Last Dance" from Donna Summer each moved up one to fill the void left when "Miss You" by the Rolling Stones dropped to #4.  Foreigner was up to 5 with "Hot Blooded".  The rest of the Top 10:  A Taste of Honey raced up from #17 with "Boogie Oogie Oogie", Pablo Cruise had song #7--"Love Will Find A Way", Barry Manilow enjoyed his 12th hit and 8th Top 10 song with "Copacabana (At The Copa)", Walter Egan reached the Top 10 with "Magnet And Steel" and Andy Gibb climbed from 16-10 with "An Everlasting Love".








1981:  Christopher Cross released the single "Arthur's Theme".











1981:  Dan Fogelberg released the single "Hard To Say".
1982:  Joe Tex ("I Gotcha'" from 1972) died of a heart attack at the age of 49 in Navasota, Texas.  (Note:  some websites report he died on August 13.  He died prior to midnight on August 12, according to his official death certificate and the website 'Texasescapes.com'.)
1984:  Lionel Richie closed the Los Angeles Olympic Summer Games by singing "All Night Long".
1985:  Syu Sakamoto was killed in a plane crash when his flight, JAL #123 (a 747 jet), crashed on a mountain about 60 miles northwest of Tokyo.  Sakamoto was the first Japanese artist to reach #1 in the United States with "Sukiyaki".  He was 43.
1986:  Paul Simon released his amazing album Graceland(Some websites claim Paul Simon released the album August 25.  According to Paul's official website, he released the LP August 12.)








1987:  Heart released the single "Who Will You Run To".  (Note:  some websites report the song was released August 15.  "Who Will You Run To" debuted on the Singles chart on August 17.  For that to occur, it had to be released before the reporting deadline of August 14 in order to make the chart that week.)



1987:  John Mellencamp released the single "Paper In Fire".  (Note:  some websites report the song was released August 15.  "Paper In Fire" debuted on the Singles chart on August 17.  For that to occur, it had to be released before the reporting deadline of August 14 in order to make the chart that week.)
1989:  The Rolling Stones played a secret club concert at Toad's Place in New Haven, Connecticut.
1989:  Bon Jovi, Motley Crue, the Scorpions, Ozzy Osbourne and Skid Row performed at the two-day Moscow Music Peace Festival at Lenin Stadium in Moscow, Russia.  This was the first concert in which the audience was allowed to stand up and dance.  This wasn't 800 years B.C., but it really happened in Russia in 1989.  And if Putin had his way, he'd stop you Russians from dancing today.
1989:  Prince owned the top R&B song with "Batdance".








1989:  Richard Marx stepped up to #1 with "Right Here Waiting".
1991:  Bryan Adams had a firm hold on #1 in the U.K. with "(Everything I Do) I Do It For You".






1992:  Don Henley & Patty Smyth released the single "Sometimes Love Just Ain't Enough".
1992:  The Grateful Dead canceled five shows so Jerry Garcia could recover from exhaustion.
1993:  Jesse Tobias replaced guitarist Arik Marshall in the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
1995:  Michael Stipe of R.E.M. had an operation for a hernia.










1995:  A mass wake was held for Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, California.
1995:  TLC dominated again with "Waterfalls" at #1 for the sixth week.  Seal was going to make it interesting, though, with his new song "Kiss From A Rose", which was up to #2.
1996:  Alanis Morissette was in concert at the Darien Lake Performing Arts Center in Buffalo, New York.  Radiohead opened for her.
1996:  The Spice Girls mined gold when their first release "Wannabe" reached #1.
1998:  Scott Weiland of the Stone Temple Pilots pleaded guilty to felony heroin possession.
2000:  Robbie Williams scored a #1 song in the U.K. with "Rock DJ".
2001:  Alicia Keys had the #1 song with the great "Fallin'".
2006:  LeToya had the #1 album with LeToya.
2007:  Cary, North Carolina proclaimed the date "Chicago Day" in honor of the great group from the windy city.
2010:  Carl Perkins was inducted into the Memphis Beale Street Walk of Fame posthumously.

Born This Day:

1918:  Sid Bernstein, producer and promoter who brought the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Moody Blues, Herman's Hermits and the Kinks to the United States, and organized concerts for Sly & the Family Stone, Frank Sinatra, Jimi Hendrix, Laura Branigan, Lenny Kravitz and Melanie, among others, was born in New York City; died August 20, 2013 in Manhattan.  (Note:  some websites claim Sid died August 21, but according to the newspaper 'The New York Times', he died August 20.)
1926:  Joe Jones ("You Talk Too Much" from 1960) was born in New Orleans, Louisiana; died after quadruple bypass surgery in Los Angeles on November 27, 2005.
1949:  Mark Knopfler, guitarist, singer and founder of Dire Straits, was born in Glasgow, Scotland.
1950:  Kid Creole (Thomas August Darnell Browder) was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.  (Note:  some websites insist Browder was born in the Bronx, New York, but according to 'Billboard' magazine, Thomas was born in Montreal, then raised in the Bronx.)
1953:  Jerry Speiser, a founding member and drummer of Men at Work
1958:  Jurgen Dehmel, bassist and songwriter of Nena ("99 Luftballoons") was born in Berlin, West Germany.
1961:  Roy Hay, guitarist and keyboardist of Culture Club, was born in Southend, Essex,  England.
1963:  Sir Mix-A-Lot was born in Seattle, Washington

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