15 AUGUST
In Music History
1960 The 12,000-seat Cobo Arena opens in Detroit. It's home to the NBA's Pistons, but also a great place to hear music. Kiss (Alive!), J. Geils Band (Blow Your Face Out) and Bob Seger (Live Bullet) all record live albums there.
1958 Buddy Holly marries Maria Elena Santiago at his childhood home in Lubbock, Texas.
1957 Notorious Californian groupie Sable Starr is born. As well as counting Alice Cooper, Rod Stewart and David Bowie among her conquests, she is the muse for Iggy Pop's 1996 song "Look Away."
1956 "Colonel" Tom Parker, actually a Dutch immigrant who merely played at being a Southern aristocrat, becomes "special adviser" to Elvis Presley, effectively taking over management duties from Bob Neal, who knew managing the King was about to become a full-time job.
1953 Perry Como's "No Other Love" hits #1.
1951 Jazz/Soul singer Bobby Caldwell is born in Manhattan, New York.
1948 Tom Johnston (frontman for The Doobie Brothers) is born in Visalia, California.
1946 Singer/songwriter/composer Jimmy Webb is born in Elk City, Oklahoma.
1942 Pete York (drummer for The Spencer Davis Group) is born in Redcar, Yorkshire, England.
1941 Country musician Don Rich (of The Buckaroos, Buck Owens' backing band) is born in Olympia, Washington.
1941 Ben Bernie records "Au Revoir, Pleasant Dreams."
1940 Mark Marush, saxophonist for the Fabulous Wailers, is born.
1939 After five directors, several script drafts, and endless casting changes, the movie musical The Wizard Of Oz premieres at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.
1933 Floyd Ashton (of The Tams) is born. Known for the UK hit "Hey Girl Don't Bother Me."
1933 Country singer Bobby Helms is born in Bloomington, Indiana.
Beatles Play Shea In First-Ever Stadium Rock Concert In America
1965The Beatles play Shea Stadium in New York - home of The Mets - marking the first time a rock band headlines a stadium in America. With Beatlemania in full force, the screaming girls drown out the band in a less-than-intimate, but very memorable performance in front of a sold-out crowd of 56,000.
Read more15 AUGUST
Featured Events
2009 On the first UK gig of their 360 tour, U2 breaks the Wembley Stadium Attendance record when 88,000 show up. Their "claw" set design allows more fans to fit in the stadium and breaks Rod Stewart's record of 83,000 set in 1995.
2000 The estate of Jimi Hendrix acquires jimihendrix.com, which was registered in 1996 by a domainer who is using it to sell email addresses (yourname@jimihendrix.com). This is one of many cases that rules against registrants who are squatting names of famous people.
1995 Spanish pop duo Los del Rio release the single "Macarena" in the US. Inspired by a beautiful flamenco dancer, the song lights a fire in Miami beach clubs and spreads across the country, igniting the '90s hottest dance craze.More
1992 Boyz II Men and TLC, both on the 2 Legit 2 Quit tour opening for MC Hammer, claim the top two spots in the US with "End Of The Road" and "Baby-Baby-Baby." Both songs were written and produced by Babyface, L.A. Reid and Daryl Simmons.
1983 Paul Simon marries Carrie Fisher, famous for playing Princess Leia in the Star Wars series. Saturday Night Live producer Lorne Michaels is Simon's best man; Penny Marshall is Fisher's maid of honor. Guests include Robin Williams, Billy Joel and his wife Christie Brinkley, Randy Newman and George Lucas. The couple split up a year later, but resume their relationship in less formal terms throughout much of the '80s.
1980 George Harrison becomes the first Beatle to release an autobiography when his book I Me Mine is published.
1979 Led Zeppelin release their eighth and final studio album, In Through The Out Door. It's the last album released by the band while drummer John Bonham is still alive.
1969 It's Day 1 of the Woodstock festival on Max Yasgur's 60-acre farm in Bethel, New York (the festival was originally going to be in Woodstock, New York, so they kept the name). Day 1 doesn't have the biggest names, but massive crowds make it clear that something's happening here. Artists to appear this day include Richie Havens, Joan Baez, Tim Hardin and Arlo Guthrie.
1964 Proving there is room to croon during the British Invasion, Dean Martin's "Everybody Loves Somebody" knocks The Beatles' "A Hard Day's Night" from the #1 spot on the Hot 100.
©2024 Songfacts®, LLC