In 1952, Hank Williams made his only network television appearance, singing "Hey, Good Lookin,'" on NBC-TV's "The Kate Smith Evening Hour."
In 1955, at the Capitol Recording Studio in Hollywood, the Platters recorded four songs, including "Only You (And You Alone)," at their first session for Mercury Records. This version of "Only You (And You Alone)" was a re-recording of the song they first recorded for the Federal label in May 1954.
On this day in 1956, "Heartbreak Hotel" by Elvis Presley was the #1 song.
In 1957, calypso star Harry Belafonte re-signed with the RCA Victor label for an unprecedented $1 million.
In 1958, in Chicago, Alan Freed's "Big Beat Show" concert tour played two shows at the Civic Opera House, with performances by Buddy Holly and the Crickets, Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry, Danny & the Juniors, Frankie Lymon and The Teenagers, the Diamonds, Billy & Lillie, the Chantels, Dicky Doo and the Don'ts, Jo Ann Campbell, Larry Williams, Ed Townsend, the Pastels, and Screamin' Jay Hawkins.
In 1960, production begins on Elvis Presley's first post-Army movie, G.I. Blues in Los Angeles.
In 1963, Frankie Avalon inks a deal to appear in the Hollywood movie, 'Beach Party,' where he and Annette Funicello would sing, battle a motorcycle gang led by Eric Von Zipper and dance to Dick Dale And The Del Tones.
In 1964, the Beatles, Rolling Stones and the Dave Clark Five headlined the NME poll winner's concert at Wembley Empire Pool, London.
In 1965, Bob Dylan made his first visit to England to promote his album, 'Bringing It All Back Home.' Filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker chronicled the tour for the documentary "Don't Look Back."
In 1966, the New York Times reported that Ray Charles would undergo court-ordered testing in Boston to determine if he had abstained from the use of heroin.
In 1966, Dusty Springfield was at #1 on the UK singles chart with "You Don't Have To Say You Love Me," the singers only UK #1.
In 1967, 16 year old Janis Ian sings "Society Child" on the CBS-TV show, Inside Pop - The Rock Revolution. A year before, the song was banned by many radio stations because of its interracial love affair theme. Following her television appearance, the record shot into the US Top Twenty.
The original Cast of 'Hair' started a 13-week run at #1 on the US album chart in 1969.
In 1969, during the band's second North American tour Led Zeppelin played the second of two nights at The Winterland Ballroom, San Francisco in California. It was during this show that 'Whole Lotta Love' was played live for the first time.
In 1969, the fortunes of Canada's Guess Who were about to change as their latest single "These Eyes" entered the Billboard Top 40. It would climb to #6 and was followed by twelve more hits over the next five years. Lead singer Burton Cummings would later recall; "We fought RCA tooth and nail not to release that as a single because we wanted to be a Rock band."
In 1969, "Get Back," credited to the Beatles with Billy Preston, went to #1 on the UK singles chart.
In 1971, John Lennon, Ringo Starr and George Harrison officially end their plans to appeal Paul McCartney's efforts to legally dissolve The Beatles.
In 1975, B.J. Thomas had the longest title of a number one song at the top of the "Billboard" popular music chart. The song was "(Hey Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song."
In 1977, in New York City, the disco boom really got rolling with the opening of Steve Rubell's new ultra-exclusive club, Studio 54. Among the guests invited to opening night: Mick Jagger and wife Bianca, Cher, Donald and Ivana Trump, Debbie Harry, Halston, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Liza Minnelli, Salvador Dali, Martha Graham, Brooke Shields, Margaux Hemingway, Jerry Hall, and Robin Leach.
In 1978, Ringo Starr's TV special, Ringo, a musical version of The Prince and the Pauper airs on American television. Ringo played both characters. George Harrison provides the narration, but the effort still finishes 53rd out of 65 shows.
In 1980, the Carpenters' fifth television special "Music Music Music," with guest stars Ella Fitzgerald and John Davidson, aired on ABC.
In 1980, Blondie were at #1 on the UK singles chart with “Call Me,” the group's fourth UK #1, that was featured in the Richard Gere movie American Gigolo .The track was also a #1 in the US.
In 1982, out on a day's shopping, Rod Stewart was robbed by a gunman of his $50,000 Porsche on Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles.
In 1984, Mike McCartney unveiled the £40,000 statue of The Beatles by John Doubleday at the new £8 million Cavern Walks shopping centre in Liverpool, England. John's first wife, Cynthia, was also in attendance.
In 1986, Van Halen started a three-week run at #1 on the US album chart with '5150'.
In 1988, Mick Jagger appeared in White Plains, New York, Federal Court in the copyright infringement case brought by reggae singer Patrick Alley, who claimed the Mick Jagger solo track Just Another Night was a plagiarism of his own song of the same name. Alley was claiming $7m in profits from the track. During the case Sly Dunbar played drums to the court to show how the beats were different in each song and Mick sang and played demos of his song to show the court the development of the track. At the end of the week-long trial, Jagger won the case.
In 1990, Nirvana appeared at The Pyramid Club, New York City. The band’s label, Sub Pop, film the show and the performance of “In Bloom” was later used as a promo clip.
In 1994, Grace Slick pleaded guilty to pointing a shotgun at police in her California home. She claimed she was under stress because her home had burned down the previous year. She was later sentenced to 200 hours of community service and told to attend four Alcoholics Anonymous meetings a week for three months.
In 1995, Courtney Love reportedly turned down an offer of $1m from Playboy to pose nude for the magazine.
In 1997, Ernest Stewart, keyboard player with KC and the Sunshine Band, died of an asthma attack.
In 2005, Bruce Springsteen released his 19th album, 'Devils and Dust.' The acoustic flavored set featured songs Springsteen performed live including "The Hitter" and "Long Time Comin'."
In 2007, during opening statements in Phil Spector's murder trial, defense attorney Bruce Cutler told the jury that before police even had a cause of death, they had murder on their mind. "Fame and success come back to haunt you." After months of testimony, jurors would announce a deadlock of ten for guilty and two for not guilty. The judge then declared a mistrial and a new trial was slated to begin in August, 2008. Spector was convicted on April 14th, 2009.
In 2008, Leona Lewis was at #1 on the US album chart with her debut album 'Spirit'.
In 2011, Phoebe Snow, the velvet voiced singer / songwriter who reached #5 in the US in 1975 with "Poetry Man", died of complications from a stroke at the age of 60.
birthday wishes to Maurice Williams (75), Duane Eddy (75), Bobby Rydell (71), Gary Wright (69), Roger Taylor (Duran Duran) (53) and Joey Jordison (Slipknot) (38)