1957 The movie Jamboree, featuring a scene where Jerry Lee Lewis performs "Great Balls of Fire," debuts in theaters. Also appearing in the film are Fats Domino, Carl Perkins, Frankie Avalon and Connie Francis.
1956 Tommy Steele, billed as "Britain's answer to Elvis," makes his concert debut at Finsbury Park, Astoria, London.
1956 Rock! Rock! Rock!, one of the earliest Rock and Roll movies, opens in theaters. The film features the popular disc jockey Alan Freed along with Chuck Berry, Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers and LaVern Baker.
1949 Tom Waits is born in Pomona, California.
1931 Bobby Osborne (of The Osborne Brothers) is born in Leslie County, Kentucky.
1924 Pianist/composer Bent Fabric is born Bent Fabricius-Bjerre in Frederiksberg, Denmark.
1924 Rockabilly singer-songwriter Boyd Bennett is born in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Known for the 1955 hit "Seventeen."
1910 Louis Prima is born in New Orleans, Louisiana.
1889 At the Savoy Theatre, the opera The Gondoliers is first performed.
The Singing Nun's "Dominique" hits #1 for the first of four weeks.
Read more1998 The Indiana University a cappella group Straight No Chaser perform their zany rendition of "Twelve Days of Christmas" at the school. In 2006, a video of the performance is uploaded to YouTube and goes viral, earning the group a record deal and sending the song to #5 on the Adult Contemporary chart.
1991 Amplified by an innovative video with Macaulay Culkin and morphing, "Black Or White" by Michael Jackson hits #1 in America for the first of seven weeks.More
1979 "Christmas Rappin'" by Kurtis Blow becomes the first rap song released on a major label - Mercury Records. It sells about 400,000 copies and provides the template for his next single, "The Breaks," which becomes the first rap Gold record.
1973 Fleetwood Mac's manager, Clifford Davis, gets fed up with the premature cancellation of a tour and sends out his own version of the group with unknown musicians. It doesn't go well: The new band lasts just a few weeks and the real band wins the rights to their name after years of litigation.
1967 The Beatles' Apple Boutique officially opens its doors at 94 Baker Street in London. Seven months later, they close the boutique and give away the remaining merchandise.
1942 Harry Chapin is born in New York City. The folk rocker debuts in 1972 with the album Heads & Tales, featuring his first hit, "Taxi."
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