In 1939, Kate Smith recorded "God Bless America," a 1918 Irving Berlin composition that he had revised and she had introduced on her radio show in November 1938.
In 1941, singer Paula Kelly joined Glenn Miller's band. She originally performed solo, but soon became the female lead of Miller's vocal group, the Modernaires.
On this day in 1955, "The Ballad of Davy Crockett" by Bill Hayes was the #1 song.
In 1956, rock 'n' roll pioneer Carl Perkins received four broken ribs and a broken shoulder in a car accident that killed his brother Jay while the two were on their way the way to appear on The Perry Como Show in New York. Perkins would spend several months in the hospital and by the time he is well, Elvis Presley had covered his song, "Blue Suede Shoes."
In 1956, one week after its Washington DC premiere, "Rock Around The Clock," starring Alan Freed, Johnny Johnston, Lisa Gaye, and John Archer, with musical performances by Bill Haley and His Comets, the Platters, the Ernie Freeman Combo, Ernie Maresca, and Freddie Bell and His Bell Boys, opened in movie theaters throughout North America.
In 1961, the Beatles, with Pete Best on drums, played their first evening show at Liverpool's Cavern Club, opening for an act called the Bluegenes, who later renamed themselves the Swinging Blue Jeans.
In 1963, Billy J. Kramer And The Dakotas entered Abbey Road studios to record the Lennon / McCartney tune "Do You Want To Know A Secret," which will reach #1 in the UK, topping the Beatles themselves.
In 1964, the Beatles replaced one Billboard chart topper with another when "She Loves You" took over from "I Want To Hold Your Hand".
In 1964, folksinger Judy Collins made her debut at New York's Carnegie Hall.
In 1965, on CBS-TV's "The Ed Sullivan Show," Gary Lewis & the Playboys performed "This Diamond Ring" and "Count Me In," Tony Bennett sang "If I Ruled The World" and "Who Can I Turn To," and Connie Francis also appeared singing "For Mama."
In 1967, John Lennon took his first major LSD trip and freaked out while recording backing vocals on the track "Getting Better." Producer George Martin, not realizing the effects of the drug, took Lennon to the roof of Abbey Road Studios to get some fresh air. Paul and George, upon learning where John was, rushed up to get him down. The group worked on a piano track for "Lovely Rita" instead.
In 1970, the Faces, featuring newcomers Rod Stewart and Ron Wood, released their debut LP, 'First Step.'
In 1973, the BBC banned all teenybopper acts appearing on UK TV show Top Of The Pops, after a riot following a David Cassidy performance.
In 1976, David Bowie, Iggy Pop and several others are arrested in New York and charged with possession of marijuana.
Also in 1976, singer Claudine Longet shot her boyfriend, world skiing champion Vladimir "Spider" Sabich. Despite her claim that the gun discharged accidentally as Sabich was showing her how it worked, the former wife of Andy Williams was arrested for manslaughter but convicted of the lesser charge of misdemeanor criminal negligence and sentenced to pay a small fine and spend 30 days in jail.
In 1981, although they had been making records for ten years, REO Speedwagon enjoyed their first taste of success when "Keep On Loving You" became the top tune in the US. The band would go on to place twelve more songs in the Top 40.
In 1987, 35 year old Dean Martin Jr. of Dino, Desi and Billy, died when his F-4 Phantom fighter-jet crashed into California's San Bernardino Mountains during a snowstorm about 100 kilometers east of Los Angeles. Dino was serving in the Air National Guard at the time. He was married and divorced from ice skater Dorothy Hamill and actress Olivia Hussey.
In 1987, U2 released the single "With Or Without You." The song was the group's most successful single at the time, becoming their first #1hit in both the US and Canada. In 2010, Rolling Stone magazine placed the song at #132 on their list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time."
In 1991, Leo Fender, who pioneered the electric guitar, passed away at the age of 81. He started mass producing solid body electric guitars in the late 40s and when he sold his guitar company in 1965, sales were in excess of $40 million a year.
In 1992, former model Vanessa Williams started a five week run at the top of the US singles chart with "Save The Best To Last", a #3 hit in the UK.
In 2001, Michael Jackson's interior decorator told the London Times that the singer kept 17 life-size dolls, adult and child sizes, all fully dressed, in his bedroom for "company."
In 2002, John "Speedy" Keene, vocalist and drummer for Thunderclap Newman died at the age of 56. The band's biggest hit came in 1969 with "Something In The Air".
In 2002, rockabilly/country music songwriter/guitarist/fiddler/record producer/label owner Tommy Hill died at age 72.
In 2004, Johnny Bristol, who had a 1973 hit with "Hang On In There Baby," died of natural causes at the age of 65.
In 2006, three South African women whose father, Solomon Linda, wrote "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" in 1939, won a six-year court battle that gives them 25 per cent of all past and future royalties from the song. The court ruled that the song, which the Tokens adapted from a Pete Seeger song called "Wimoweh," was actually Linda's 1939 adaptation of a native folk song. Linda, who died in 1962, had nothing to leave to his family, which was destitute at the time of the ruling.
In 2010, Phil Spector was allegedly beaten at the state prison in Corcoran, California, after mouthing off to another inmate. The 70-year-old record producer, who was jailed in 2009 for murdering actress Lana Clarkson, wound up with bruises, a black eye and a couple of missing teeth.
In 2011, a lost David Bowie album called 'Toy,' which went unreleased since 2001, mysteriously appeared on several file-sharing websites. The collection of mostly re-recorded tracks from Bowie's early years, had been locked in a dispute with Virgin Records.
In 2011, Loleatta Holloway, best known for the 1980 Disco hit "Love Sensation," died of heart failure at the age of 64.
In 2011, blues pianist/singer Willie "Pinetop" Perkins died of cardiac arrest at the age of 97.
