1939Eleanor Rigby died in Liverpool at 44. The Beatles’ later song was not written about her—Paul McCartney’s first draft used the name Daisy Hawkins—but her gravestone stands near the spot at St. Peter’s Church where McCartney and John Lennon first met in 1957.
1956Elvis Presley’s “Love Me Tender” entered Billboard’s retail-sales chart for a 19-week run that included five weeks at No. 1 and more than three million sales. Written for his first film, the melody was adapted from the 1861 Civil War-era song “Aura Lee.”
1958Eddie Cochran recorded “C’mon Everybody” for Liberty, initially released as the B-side of “Don’t Ever Let Me Go.” Disc jockeys quickly favored the more energetic side, which became Cochran’s final American Top 40 hit at No. 35.
1959Motown’s first release, the Miracles’ “Bad Girl,” entered the Hot 100 at No. 98 but remained for only one week. The record later gained recognition as a doo-wop classic and appeared on multiple Miracles compilations.
1959Jerry Keller’s “Here Comes Summer” topped Britain’s singles chart just as autumn began. The song had reached No. 14 in the United States earlier in the year.
1960Larry Verne’s novelty narrative “Mr. Custer” topped the Hot 100 and reached No. 9 on the R&B chart. Verne’s version failed in Britain, but Charlie Drake scored there with a cover of the comic plea from a reluctant Little Bighorn cavalryman.
1962While filming It Happened at the World’s Fair at MGM in Culver City, Elvis Presley received Norway’s Silver Record Award for “Good Luck Charm.”
1964The Shangri-Las entered the Hot 100 with “Leader of the Pack,” which became their only No. 1 seven weeks later. It reached No. 11 in Britain despite a BBC ban prompted by its fatal motorcycle-crash storyline.
1964The Honeycombs followed their British No. 1 with an American breakthrough as “Have I the Right?” entered Billboard’s Top 40. The London quintet’s recording eventually reached No. 5 and sold more than two million copies worldwide.
1969King Crimson released In the Court of the Crimson King, often cited as the first fully realized progressive-rock album. It peaked at No. 5 in Britain and No. 28 in America and later received RIAA Gold certification.
1970Neil Diamond earned his first American No. 1 when “Cracklin’ Rosie” topped the Hot 100 for one week. The single became his UK breakthrough at No. 3 and reached the Top 10 in eight additional countries.
1976The Who and the Grateful Dead played the second of two consecutive concerts at Oakland Stadium. Despite intense promotion and both groups’ reputations as premier live acts, neither date sold out.
1955Sun Records artists Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, and Carl Perkins opened an eleven-date Southern tour at Fair Park Auditorium in Abilene, Texas. The bill joined three future icons while each was helping define rockabilly’s emerging sound.
1965Gerry Marsden married Pauline Behan, secretary of the Gerry and the Pacemakers fan club and formerly George Harrison’s girlfriend. Marsden had written “Don’t Let the Sun Catch You Crying” after one of their disagreements; they reconciled and remained married until his death in 2021.
1969Grand Funk Railroad’s debut album On Time entered Billboard’s LP chart at No. 65. Despite hostile reviews from many critics, the Michigan trio went on to become one of rock’s biggest-selling concert and recording acts.
1975Neil Sedaka’s comeback produced a second U.S. No. 1 of the year with “Bad Blood.” Within eight months he also wrote the chart-toppers “Laughter in the Rain” for himself and “Love Will Keep Us Together” for the Captain and Tennille.
1975Janis Ian performed “At Seventeen” on the premiere of NBC’s Saturday Night Live, hosted by George Carlin. Billy Preston was the other musical guest and sang his No. 1 hit “Nothing from Nothing.”
1976Casablanca released Donna Summer’s fourth studio album, Four Seasons of Love. Its five tracks occupied two sides of the LP, which peaked at No. 29 and earned U.S. Gold certification for 500,000 sales.
1976ABBA released Arrival, featuring “Dancing Queen,” “Money, Money, Money,” and “Knowing Me, Knowing You.” The album topped Britain’s chart, reached No. 20 in America, became the UK’s best-selling LP of 1977, earned RIAA Gold status, and was selected for the U.S. National Recording Registry in 2024.
1978Billy Joel released his sixth studio album, 52nd Street. It spent eight nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1, produced “My Life,” “Big Shot,” and “Honesty,” won Grammys for Album of the Year and Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, and became one of the first fifty titles issued on compact disc in 1982.
1989Michael Jackson attended the dedication of an auditorium bearing his name at Hollywood’s Gardner Street Elementary School. Officials covered the name after his 2003 arrest, but following Jackson’s death a fan petition led the district to restore it.
1997Elton John reached No. 1 in America with “Candle in the Wind 1997,” his eighth solo chart-topper. Written in memory of Princess Diana, it sold an estimated 33 million copies worldwide, ranking behind only Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas” in Guinness sales records.
2003Mojo readers selected Elvis Presley’s July 1954 recording of “That’s All Right” as rock history’s most pivotal moment. Bob Dylan going electric ranked second, followed by the Clash’s “White Riot,” the Beatles on Ed Sullivan, and the Rolling Stones’ “Jumpin’ Jack Flash.”
2008Liverpool singer Russ Hamilton died in North Wales at 76. His 1957 hit “Rainbow” made him the first Liverpool performer to break the American market, reaching No. 4 after U.S. distributors accidentally promoted it instead of the intended A-side “We Will Make Love.”
1957Johnny Mathis topped Cashbox with “Chances Are,” then No. 7 on Billboard’s disc-jockey chart. The single sold more than two million copies and entered the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998.
1957While touring Australia, Little Richard renounced rock and roll and threw four diamond rings valued at $8,000 into the Hunter River after a bandmate challenged his faith. He soon began a gospel career, but returned to secular rock five years later.
1962One week after releasing “Love Me Do,” the Beatles opened for their idol Little Richard at the Tower Ballroom in Wallasey. Backstage photographs captured them with Richard and his young touring keyboard player Billy Preston.
1963Jimmy Gilmer and the Fireballs topped Billboard with “Sugar Shack.” The million-selling single became the year’s biggest U.S. record, while reaching No. 45 in Britain.
1963The Ronettes’ “Be My Baby” reached No. 2 during a ten-week Top 40 run. Phil Spector required 42 takes before accepting the recording, an exhausting process engineer Larry Levine later described as evidence of Spector’s musical genius.
1965At Abbey Road, the Beatles recorded “Run for Your Life” and an early version of “This Bird Has Flown” for Rubber Soul. They rebuilt the latter recording nine days later and retitled it “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown).”
1968Big Brother and the Holding Company’s Cheap Thrills began eight nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1 and became the year’s best-selling album with more than a million copies. The Library of Congress added it to the National Recording Registry in 2013.
1971Rockabilly singer Gene Vincent died from a bleeding ulcer at 36. Best remembered for “Be-Bop-A-Lula,” he had four Billboard Top 100 entries but enjoyed even greater British success with eight Top 40 hits from 1956 to 1961.
1972Diana Ross made her feature-film debut as Billie Holiday in Lady Sings the Blues, alongside Billy Dee Williams, Richard Pryor, James T. Callahan, and Scatman Crothers. The film earned five Academy Award nominations, including Best Actress for Ross, who lost to Liza Minnelli for Cabaret.
1974Olivia Newton-John topped America’s album chart with If You Love Me, Let Me Know. Its title track reached No. 5, while “I Honestly Love You” became her first Hot 100 No. 1 and won the following spring’s Grammy for Record of the Year.
1974John Denver’s “Annie’s Song,” written for then-wife Annie Martell Denver, reached No. 1 in Britain after topping the American chart in July.
1978Nancy Spungen, Sid Vicious’s 20-year-old girlfriend, was found fatally stabbed in their Chelsea Hotel room. Vicious was charged and released on bail but died from a heroin overdose in February 1979 before trial, after which New York police closed the case.
