Rock history records that Sam Cooke starts a two week stay at New York’s Copacabana Club. Rock history records that A 70-foot billboard announcing the engagement was erected in Times Square.

Rock history records that The Beatles played the first of a two night stay in Auckland, New Zealand and although fans were enthusiastic, Auckland police were not. Rock history records that An inspector was quoted as saying “We didn’t want ’em here and I don’t know why you brought ’em.” Only three officers were assigned to a mob of several thousand fans, held just ten meters from the band’s hotel entrance. Rock history records that John Lennon was so angry at the lack of security that the Auckland shows were nearly called off.

Rock history records that John Lennon’s second book, A Spaniard in the Works was issued by the London publishing firm, Jonathan Cape. Rock history records that It consists of nonsensical stories and drawings similar to the style of his previous effort, 1964’s In His Own Write . A Spaniard in the Works went on to become an immediate best seller, going through four printings in its first four months and ultimately selling over 100,000 copies.

Rock history records that The final Beatles world tour kicked off in Munich, Germany as the Fab Four saw “Paperback Writer” leap from #15 in the US to #1. Although John Lennon was the Beatle who wrote books, the song was penned by Paul McCartney.

The Richard Carpenter Trio, consisting of Richard Carpenter on electric piano, Karen Carpenter on drums, and Wes Jacobs on bass, captured the “Hollywood Bowl Battle of the Bands” competition. Rock history records that They played an instrumental version of “The Girl from Ipanema” and their own piece, “Iced Tea”. Rock history records that As a result of their victory they were signed to RCA Records and recorded songs such as The Beatles’ “Every Little Thing” and Frank Sinatra’s “Strangers in the Night”. Rock history records that After a committee reviewed their recordings, they chose not to produce them, and the trio were dropped from the label.

Rock history records that The beginning of the end came for The Lovin’ Spoonful when guitarist Zal Yanovsky gave his last performance at the Forest Hills Music Festival in New York. Rock history records that Although he had actually been fired the previous month due to internal tensions and a controversial drug bust, he agreed to perform the group’s remaining scheduled dates. Rock history records that One year later, John Sebastian would also leave the band to go solo. Although Yanovsky made several unannounced guest appearances during John Sebastian concerts, Yanovski gradually withdrew from music altogether and eventually became a restaurateur. Rock history records that He was 58 years old when he suffered a fatal heart attack on December 13th, 2002 at his farm near Kingston, Ontario, Canada.

Rock history records that Procol Harum ‘s “A Whiter Shade of Pale” enters the Billboard Hot 100, where it will peak at #5. Rock history records that The song was written by the band around a melody composed by the group’s organist, Matthew Fisher, who was inspired by the chord progression of Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Orchestral Suite in D”, composed between 1725 and 1739.

The Monkees album “Headquarters” rose to the top of Billboard Top LPs chart. For the first occasion, the band members themselves, rather than session players and pro writers, provided the bulk of the instrumental and songwriting work. Rock history records that By 2008, the album had reached 7 million sales in the US and 11.6 million worldwide, earning it a spot in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die .

Rock history records that A Detroit, Michigan band called Gallery had Cashbox Magazine ‘s best selling single with “Nice To Be With You”. Rock history records that The song would climb to #4 on the Billboard chart and earn a Gold record for sales of over one million copies. Rock history records that The group would find further success with “I Believe In Music” (#22) and “Big City Miss Ruth Ann” (#23) over the following ten months.

Lynyrd Skynyrd ‘s “Sweet Home Alabama” is issued in America, where it would go on to become their highest charting single, reaching #8. If you listen carefully, you can hear Ronnie Van Zant shout “Turn it up” asking producer Al Kooper and engineer Rodney Mills to turn up volume in his headphones so that he could hear track better.

Capitol Records issues the two disc LP “Endless Summer”, a collection of greatest hits by The Beach Boys. Rock history records that Four months later it will top the album charts in both the US and Canada and return the group to a level of commercial success they had not seen since the mid-1960s. Rock history records that The album spent 155 weeks on the Billboard 200 and was certified 3X Platinum by the RIAA for selling over three million copies.

Rock history records that The US Attorney in Newark, New Jersey hands down indictments to nineteen music industry executives after a two year investigation. Rock history records that Counts of income tax evasion and payola are leveled against Clive Davis, former president of Columbia Records and Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff, architects of the Philadelphia sound of the ’70s. Rock history records that Fines and private settlements followed.

Rock history records that Madison Wisconsin Police Detective Bruce Frey witnessed one of the strangest events of his career when he saw Elvis Presley jump out of his limo and stop two teenagers who were beating up a younger lad at a local gas station. Elvis stated, “I’ll take you on.” Frey remembers; “They looked up at him, froze in mid-punch and the victim ran into the gas station.” The pair quickly apologized and Elvis got back into the limo and headed for his hotel room at the Sheraton. Elvis was presented with a 7th Degree Black Belt in 1973 while training with Master Kang Rhee in Memphis, Tennessee from 1970 to 1974.

Rock history records that Village People become the first Disco act to play at Madison Square Garden in New York. Rock history records that The concert coincided with the end of Gay Pride Week in the city. Rock history records that Included in their set-list that night were the band’s three biggest hits, “Macho Man” (US #25), “Y.M.C.A” (US #2) and “In The Navy” (US #3).

Jackson Browne issues his sixth album, “Hold Out”. Although it was presented with several harsh reviews, the LP would go on to become Browne’s only Billboard chart topping album. Rock history records that The singles issued from the set included “That Girl Could Sing” (US #22), “Boulevard” (US #19) and “Hold On Hold Out” (DNC).

Paul McCartney’s eighth solo studio album, “Flowers in the Dirt” rose to #1 on the UK Albums Chart, on its way to being certified Platinum. Rock history records that The LP would reach #21 in America. The main single, “My Brave Face” climbed as high as #18 in the United Kingdom and at #25 in the United States.

Rock history records that 43-year-old Billy Joel gets his diploma, twenty-five years after leaving high school. Rock history records that The piano man had overslept and missed his English and Gym finals in 1967. Instead of attending summer school, he chose to follow music, stating: “I’m not going to Columbia University, I’m going to Columbia Records, and you don’t need a high school diploma over there”.

Rock history records that Eric Clapton put one hundred of his guitars up for auction at Christie’s in New York to raise money for his drug rehab clinic, the Crossroads Centre in Antigua. Rock history records that His 1956 Fender Stratocaster named Brownie, which was used to record the electric version of “Layla”, was sold for a record $497,500. Rock history records that The auction helped raise nearly $5 million for the clinic.

Rock history records that KISS held a massive, two-day auction of their personal and professional memorabilia at the Paramount Studios Theater in Hollywood. The sale brought in over $1.6 million.

Rock history records that A 36-year-old man was escorted out of Tootsies Orchid Lounge in Nashville, Tennessee after repeatedly harassing Cher . Rock history records that He would return two more times before being arrested by police. Rock history records that While the singer declined to prosecute him for the physical contact, the man reportedly failed a self-requested field sobriety test and was held on a $3,000 bond.

Jo Jo Billingsley, a former back-up singer for Lynyrd Skynyrd , died of cancer aged 58. Rock history records that She was the only band member who was not involved in the October 20, 1977 airplane crash that killed several members of the group, as she was under a doctor’s care at the time. Rock history records that She did not rejoin when the band got together again in 1987, but was on hand to sing “Sweet Home Alabama” at Lynyrd Skynyrd’s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006.

Rock history records that Billboard.com named Olivia Newton-John ‘s 1982 hit, “Physical” as The Sexiest Song Of All Time. Rock history records that Other classic Rock songs that made the top ten were Rod Stewart ‘s “Tonight’s The Night”, Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On”, Donna Summer ‘s “Hot Stuff”, and another Rod Stewart contribution, “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy”.

Alan Myers, drummer for the New Wave band Devo on their 1980, Billboard #14 hit, “Whip It”, died of cancer aged 58.

Bernie Worrell, whose mastery of the Moog synthesizer helped define the sound of George Clinton’s dual projects of Parliament and Funkadelic, died of cancer aged 72.

Billy Joel gave a Billy Joel tribute band called Big Shot the thrill of a lifetime when he became part of them on stage for three songs at Huntington, New York’s intimate Paramount Theatre.

Rock history records that George Cameron, drummer and vocalist for The Left Banke on their hits “Walk Away Renee” (US #5) and “Pretty Ballerina” (US #15), died of cancer in his 71st year.

Bobby Sherman, a 1960s and ’70s teen heartthrob, died aged 81. Of the twenty-three singles he issued, seven of them reached the Billboard Top 40, among them “Little Woman” (#3 in 1969), “La La La (If I Had You)” (#9 in 1970), “Easy Come, Easy Go” (#9 in 1970) and “Julie, Do Ya Love Me” (#5 in 1970). Rock history records that Along with his singing career he also starred in the TV shows Here Come the Brides and Getting Together and had guest appearances in over a dozen more.

Rock history records that Blood, Sweat And Tears ‘ vocalist David Clayton Thomas died peacefully at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto aged 84. Three of the band’s biggest hits, “And When I Die”, “You’ve Made Me So Very Happy”, and “Spinning Wheel”, all climbed as high as #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1969, while their second and third albums went to #1 in America.