9 JULY
In Music History
1974 In Seattle, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young play a four-hour show to kick off their reunion tour (they haven't toured together since 1970). It's the first rock stadium tour - not a great fit for the band, who aren't loud or flamboyant. After the tour, they start recording an album but part ways before it's finished.
1971 Grand Funk Railroad play to a sold-out crowd of 55,000 at Shea Stadium in New York City. They have no hit singles, but are well known in the area thanks to a block-long billboard that ran in Times Square for much of the previous year.
1970 In Bloomington, Indiana, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young wrap up their tour. The group members drift apart and don't hit the road again until 1974.
1969 John Lennon makes his solo debut on the UK charts with "Give Peace A Chance."
1964 Courtney Love is born Courtney Michelle Harrison in San Francisco, California. After a tumultuous childhood, she travels the world and forms the band Hole. In 1992, she marries Kurt Cobain of Nirvana.
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.
1959 Jim Kerr (lead singer for Simple Minds) is born in Toryglen, Glasgow, Scotland.
1957 Elvis Presley's second film, Loving You, has its US premiere (Elvis does not attend since he got a special showing the night before).
1957 Marc Almond (lead vocalist for Soft Cell) is born Peter Mark Sinclair Almond in Southport, Lancashire, England.
1954 Debbie Sledge (of Sister Sledge) is born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
1946 John "Mitch" Mitchell (drummer for the Jimi Hendrix Experience) is born in Greenwich, London, England. Before becoming a musician, he'll start his entertainment career as an actor, appearing on the children's program Jennings and Derbyshire and starring in the 1960 film Bottom's Up.
1946 Bon Scott is born Ronald Belford Scott in Kirriemuir, Scotland. He is raised in Australia, where he meets Angus and Malcolm Young and eventually becomes lead singer of their band AC/DC.
1941 Don McPherson (of The Main Ingredient) is born in Indianapolis, Indiana.
1929 Singer-songwriter Lee Hazlewood, known for his collaborations with Duane Eddy and Nancy Sinatra, is born Barton Lee Hazlewood in Mannford, Oklahoma.
1929 Bluegrass mandolinist Jesse McReynolds (of Jim & Jesse) is born in Carfax, Virginia.
Rock Around The Clock Becomes The First #1 Rock Song
1955Bill Haley & His Comets' "Rock Around The Clock" becomes the first Rock song to hit #1 on the Billboard Pop chart, where it stays for eight weeks. The song was originally released as a the B-side of "Thirteen Women," but became a massive hit after it appeared in the film Blackboard Jungle.
Read more9 JULY
Featured Events
2009 In an article published in The Guardian, "Hallelujah" writer Leonard Cohen admits the song is overplayed. "I think it's a good song, but I think too many people sing it," he says.
1995 At Soldier Field in Chicago, the Grateful Dead play their last show with Jerry Garcia, who dies a month later.
1988 Cheap Trick, hitless since the '70s, go to #1 in America with "The Flame," joining the power ballad party of the late '80s.More
1977 The Steve Miller Band hits #8 in the US with "Jet Airliner," a song written by the blind folk singer Paul Pena.
1975 Jack White (lead singer, guitarist for The White Stripes) is born John Anthony Gillis in Detroit, Michigan. He takes the name "White" when he marries his bandmate, Meg White.
1968 David Ruffin is fired from The Temptations after missing a show. The lead singer on their hits "My Girl" and "Ain't Too Proud To Beg," Ruffin clashes with his bandmates and with Motown head Berry Gordy before he is fired.
1956 In the broadcast equivalent of Lou Gehrig taking over for Wally Pipp at first base, Dick Clark replaces Bob Horn as host of the TV show Bandstand, which runs on the Philadelphia TV station WFIL. The show goes national the next year, with Clark hosting it until 1989.
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