Pick a Day

Music History Events: Recordings

July 24, 1964 Marvin Gaye records "How Sweet It Is To Be Loved By You." Written by the Motown team of Holland-Dozier-Holland, the title comes from one of Jackie Gleason's catch phrases.

December 2, 1963 Connie Francis records "In The Summer Of His Years," which was inspired by the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

March 30, 1963 Lesley Gore records "It's My Party" at Bell Studios in New York. That night, her producer Quincy Jones finds out that Phil Spector has recorded the song with his group The Crystals, so Jones rush-releases it to get Gore's version to radio stations first.

February 7, 1963 Weeks before her tragic death in a plane crash, Patsy Cline wraps up her final recording sessions, including a contemporary rendition of the 1925 pop ballad "Always" and a cover of country song "Sweet Dreams."

December 6, 1962 Bob Dylan records "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall" in Studio A at Columbia Recording Studios.

July 9, 1962 Bob Dylan, not yet famous, records "Blowin' In The Wind" at Columbia Records' studios in New York City, but doesn't release it until May 27, 1963, when it appears on his second album, The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan. It eventually becomes one of Dylan's most famous songs, but the first version most listeners hear is the hit cover by Peter, Paul and Mary, which goes to #2 in the US in August 1963.

January 8, 1960 Eddie Cochran records "Three Steps To Heaven," which turns out to be his final recording session and his only #1 hit single in the UK.

December 15, 1959 The Everly Brothers record "Let It Be Me" at Bell Studios in New York, their first session outside of Nashville.

July 15, 1959 Perry Como re-records his hit Christmas song "(There's No Place Like) Home For The Holidays" for his album Season's Greetings from Perry Como. This version features the Mitchell Ayres Orchestra and the Ray Charles Singers.

September 30, 1957 The Louis Armstrong album Louis Armstrong Plays King Oliver is recorded at Radio Recorders studio in Hollywood, marking the first stereo album recorded in America.

April 21, 1957 At his first session with Atco Records, an offshoot of Atlantic Records, Bobby Darin records "Don't Call My Name," "Pretty Betty," and "So Mean."

June 27, 1956 At Master Recorders in Hollywood, Fats Domino records "Blueberry Hill," a song popularized by Gene Autry in 1940. Domino's version, with his famous piano intro, becomes his biggest hit and the definitive version of the song.

November 16, 1954 Perry Como records "(There's No Place Like) Home For The Holidays."

July 15, 1952 13-year-old Jimmy Boyd records "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus."

June 23, 1950 Gary and Bing Crosby record "Play A Simple Melody," 36 years after its debut in the Irving Berlin musical Watch Your Step.

December 10, 1949 At J&M Studio in New Orleans, Fats Domino records his first single, "Detroit City Blues," backed with "The Fat Man." The B-side becomes the hit, the first of many for Domino.

October 29, 1947 Frank Sinatra records "What'll I Do?"

January 9, 1947 Frank Sinatra records the Irving Berlin ballad "Always."

December 17, 1939 George Formby records "Mr Wu's A Window Cleaner Now."

August 31, 1939 Frank Sinatra records "All Or Nothing At All," one of his first big hits.

May 13, 1938 Louis Armstrong records an influential jazz rendition of the Black spiritual "When The Saints Go Marching In," which becomes a jazz and pop standard.

November 13, 1935 Bing Crosby records "Silent Night."

February 23, 1933 Daisy Canfield Danziger, oil heiress and estranged wife of silent screen star Antonio Moreno, dies on the way home from a party when her car careens off Mulholland Drive in Los Angeles. The music connection? Daisy allegedly haunts her former home, The Paramour Mansion, which has been the site of many album recording sessions, from My Chemical Romance's The Black Parade to Papa Roach's The Paramour Sessions.More

March 3, 1931 Cab Calloway records "Minnie The Moocher" on the Brunswick label in New York City. It would become the first jazz recording to sell a million copies.

April 30, 1930 Blind Willie Johnson, best known for "Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground," records for the very last time.

December 3, 1927 Columbia Records talent scout Frank Buckley Walker records Blind Willie Johnson, Billiken Johnson, and Coley Jones in Dallas, Texas. The recordings turn Johnson into one of the most popular musical acts of his time and capture his immortal "Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground."

October 31, 1927 Hoagy Carmichael records his most famous composition, "Star Dust."

February 26, 1926 Louis Armstrong introduces scat singing when he records "Heebie Jeebies." As Armstrong tells it, he improvised his vocals when his lyric sheet fell off the stand.

November 4, 1925 Blues guitar innovator Lonnie Johnson makes his first recording, putting down "Mr. Johnson's Blues" in a session for OKeh Records. Johnson's music fuels a blues craze throughout the rest of the decade and influences the next generation of blues and folk musicians.

August 17, 1917 The Original Dixieland Jass Band (shortly after changing "Jass" to "Jazz") makes the first recording of the standard "Tiger Rag."