20 MARCH
In Music History
1971 Elvis Presley records "I'm Leavin'," "We Can Make The Morning," "I Shall Be Released," "It's Only Love," and "I Will Be True."
1971 Nearly six months after her death, Janis Joplin's "Me And Bobby McGee" hits #1 in the US for the first of two weeks. It is her only Top 10 hit.
1970 Elton John's "Border Song" is released, but fails to chart in the UK (it reaches #92 in the US). Nearly a year later, "Your Song" becomes his first hit.
1968 Eric Clapton jams with Buffalo Springfield members Neil Young, Stephen Stills, Jim Messina and Richie Furay at the Topanga Canyon home of Stills' girlfriend. Neighbors call the cops, and all but Stills (who escapes through a window) are charged with suspicion of marijuana use. Clapton beats the rap; Young, Messina and Furay are found guilty and fined.
1965 The first Motown package tour begins in the UK with a show in North London. On the bill are The Supremes, The Temptations, Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson, and Martha & the Vandellas.
1964 The Beatles appear for the first time on the British TV show "Ready Steady Go!," where they lip-synch "Can't Buy Me Love," "It Won't Be Long" and "You Can't Do That." The show gets its highest-ever ratings for this episode.
1961 Elvis Presley's "Surrender" hits #1 for the first of two weeks.
1961 Elvis Presley begins filming his ninth movie, Blue Hawaii, on location.
1959 Bobby Rydell makes his first TV appearance when he shows up on American Bandstand. He soon becomes a teen idol.
1957 Bobby Helms' "Fraulein" enters the Country and Western charts.
1951 Blues rocker Jimmie Vaughan (of Fabulous Thunderbirds) is born in Dallas, Texas. His younger brother, Stevie Ray Vaughan, is born in 1954.
1950 Drummer Carl Palmer is born in Birmingham, England. At age 20, he gets the gig with Greg Lake and Keith Emerson, who choose him over Mitch Mitchell for their band Emerson, Lake & Palmer.More
1944 Jance Garfat (bassist for Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show) is born Robert Jance Garfat in California.
1942 Rockabilly singer Robin Luke is born in Los Angeles, California.
1941 Vito Picone (lead singer of The Elegants) is born in South Beach, Staten Island, New York.
Glee Ends Six-Season Run
2015The series finale of Glee, titled "Dreams Come True," airs on FOX. During its six-year run, the influential musical drama made old music new again with a stream of hit covers... and broke records from Elvis Presley and The Beatles along the way.
Read more20 MARCH
Featured Events
2010 Three days after their lead singer Alex Chilton died of a heart attack, Big Star play the SXSW festival in Austin, Texas, with a number of guests joining to pay tribute to Chilton.More
2003 On the day the Iraq war begins, Bruce Springsteen opens his Melbourne, Australia, show with a quiet, acoustic version of his hit "Born In The U.S.A." and follows it, pointedly, with a cover of Edwin Starr's "War."
1997 Yanni becomes the first Western artist to play a concert at the Taj Mahal when he performs the first of three shows at the monument. Before a financial settlement is reached, farmers displaced by the spectacle threaten to immolate themselves in protest.
1993 Reggae rules as "Oh Carolina" by Shaggy hits #1 in the UK while Snow's "Informer" holds the top spot in America. It's the first #1 for both artists - Snow is Canadian; Shaggy is Jamaican-American.
1991 Eric Clapton's 4-year-old son, Conor, dies after falling out of a window at his mother's apartment. Clapton later writes "Tears In Heaven" about Conor.
1990 Near Scranton and heading for a show in Syracuse, Miami Sound Machine's tour bus is hit by a tractor trailer on a snowy highway. Gloria Estefan suffers a serious spinal injury requiring four hours of surgery.More
1982 The duo Buckner & Garcia appear on American Bandstand to perform their hit single "Pac-Man Fever," the first successful song about a video game.More
1969 John Lennon marries Yoko Ono at the Rock of Gibraltar in Spain, which is still owned by Britain. The Beatles song "The Ballad of John and Yoko" describes their ordeal finding a location for the nuptials.
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