1956Three days after a Navy–Marine brawl at a Fats Domino show, Newport’s naval base banned rock and roll. Domino jokingly suggested the services’ rivalry, not his music, caused the trouble.
1957Patti Page hosted the color CBS record-hop series The Big Record with Sal Mineo, Billy Ward and His Dominoes, and Tony Bennett; it lasted until June 1958.
1960On turning twenty-one, Frankie Avalon received $600,000 earned as a minor after eleven Top 40 hits, including 1959 No. 1s “Venus” and “Why.”
1960NBC premiered The Tab Hunter Show about a cartoonist’s romances. Competition from Ed Sullivan ended the sitcom in April 1961.
1961Bobby Vee earned his only U.S. No. 1 with Goffin-King’s “Take Good Care of My Baby,” his third Top 10 and a No. 3 UK hit.
1961Fifteen-year-old Hayley Mills’s “Let’s Get Together” entered the Top 40 and reached No. 8; film remained her focus and only one more single charted.
1967The Beach Boys released Smiley Smile to poor reviews and No. 41 U.S., though it reached No. 9 UK and contained hits “Good Vibrations” and “Heroes and Villains.”
1968Paul McCartney devised “Birthday” during a White Album session; the band arranged and recorded it that night, though John Lennon later dismissed it.
1970Jimi Hendrix died at 27 in London from barbiturate toxicity and asphyxiation after sleeping pills. The coroner returned an open verdict, and a 1993 police review found no new evidence.
1971ABC premiered Bobby Sherman’s Partridge Family spin-off Getting Together opposite All in the Family; the unfavorable slot helped limit it to fourteen episodes.
1976Wild Cherry’s “Play That Funky Music” topped Billboard, the first of five Hot 100 entries by the band named for cough drops.
1976Boston released “More Than a Feeling,” later No. 5 U.S. and No. 22 UK and included on major Rock Hall and Rolling Stone song lists.
1957Sixteen-year-old Harry Webb, later Cliff Richard, joined the Dick Teague Skiffle Group while working days at Atlas Lighting; the group began playing around Hertfordshire.
1960Chubby Checker’s “The Twist” topped Billboard for one week and returned to No. 1 in January 1962, the first single to lead the chart in two separate runs.
1964Chad and Jeremy’s “A Summer Song” entered the Top 40 and reached No. 7, their only U.S. Top 10 among seven Top 40 hits.
1966Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass performed for Princess Grace at Monaco’s palace after already placing nine songs in America’s Top 40.
1968Steppenwolf received Gold for million-selling No. 2 “Born to Be Wild,” also No. 18 UK. Mars Bonfire originally wrote it as a slow ballad, and its lyrics never explicitly mention motorcycles.
1969Tiny Tim announced his engagement to seventeen-year-old Victoria Budinger on The Tonight Show. Their televised wedding drew more than forty million viewers; daughter Tulip followed, but divorce proceedings began in 1972 and ended in 1977.
1969ATV won 54 percent control of the Beatles’ Northern Songs after defeating Lennon and McCartney’s counterbid. The pair then sold their remaining shares for £3.5 million.
1970Freda Payne’s initially unwanted “Band of Gold” began six weeks at No. 1 UK, reached No. 3 U.S., and sold more than a million.
1970After twelve Supremes chart-toppers, Diana Ross earned her first solo U.S. No. 1 with “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” also No. 6 UK.
1971ABC aired the Jackson 5’s Goin’ Back to Indiana special with Tommy Smothers, Bill Cosby, Bobby Darin, and Diana Ross; its soundtrack included “I Want You Back.”
1972Police seized five cannabis plants from Paul McCartney’s Scottish farm after a Swedish drug case. He pleaded guilty in 1973, paid £100, and encountered U.S. visa trouble.
1973Gram Parsons died from an overdose at 26. Manager Phil Kaufman and roadie Michael Martin stole and burned his coffin in Joshua Tree to honor his wishes, receiving suspended terms and $300 fines for casket theft.
1957Buddy Holly released “Peggy Sue,” later No. 3 U.S., No. 6 UK, and a sixteen-week chart record. Crickets Joe Mauldin and Jerry Allison played despite lacking label credit; it entered the Grammy Hall of Fame.
1964The Beatles ended their first North American tour with a New York Paramount charity concert for 3,682 fans, raising money for children’s health through tickets costing up to $100.
1969Ron Dante and studio musicians took fictional Archies single “Sugar, Sugar” to No. 1 for four weeks. Already Gold, it later led Britain for eight weeks and became bubblegum pop’s defining hit.
1969John Lennon privately told McCartney and Starr he wanted a Beatles divorce. Allen Klein secured silence to protect a new EMI/Capitol deal, leaving the public unaware until McCartney’s April 1970 announcement.
1969Creedence Clearwater Revival earned its only UK No. 1 with “Bad Moon Rising,” previously a U.S. No. 2.
1969Blind Faith’s debut topped U.S. and UK album charts and sold half a million in a month; the supergroup comprised Steve Winwood, Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker, and Ric Grech.
1970Jim Morrison was acquitted of lewd behavior but convicted of exposure and profanity over the Miami Doors concert. He appealed sentences totaling eight months’ hard labor and died before retrial; Florida pardoned him posthumously in 2010.
1973Jim Croce, guitarist Maury Muehleisen, and four others died when their charter plane struck a tree after a Louisiana concert. Croce had just completed I Got a Name; investigators cited darkness, fog, and pilot disorientation.
1975David Bowie’s “Fame,” co-written with Carlos Alomar and John Lennon, topped Billboard; Lennon also supplied guitar and falsetto backing vocals.
1975Bay City Rollers debuted on American television during Howard Cosell’s variety premiere with a Les McKeown remake of “Saturday Night,” which reached No. 1 in January 1976.
1976ABC premiered Captain and Tennille’s variety show; after twenty episodes the duo left television to concentrate on music.
1977Ringo Starr released critically rejected Ringo the 4th, which reached only No. 162 U.S., missed Britain, produced no chart singles, and contributed to Atlantic dropping him.