25 MARCH
In Music History
1969 Singer-songwriter Cathy Dennis, composer of the Britney Spears hit "Toxic," is born in Norwich, Norfolk, England.
1969 Roy Orbison marries his second wife, Barbara, in Nashville.
1968 The last episode of The Monkees airs on NBC, concluding the show's two-season run. Titled "The Frodis Caper," it's a very sci-fi episode directed by Micky Dolenz. It opens with the band waking up to "Good Morning Good Morning" by The Beatles, one of the first uses of a Beatles song in a non-Beatles production.
1967 The Who play their first live gig in the US at RKO 58th Street Theater in New York City.
1966 The Beatles show up for a photo shoot with photographer Robert Whitaker, who has butcher smocks, doll parts and raw meat waiting for them. The shoot results in their "butcher cover" photo used on the Yesterday And Today album before it is recalled.
1966 Blues rocker Jeff Healey is born in Toronto. Blinded by eye cancer when he's a year old, he plays guitar with the instrument flat on his lap, fretting it from above. With his Jeff Healey Band, he has a hit in 1988 with "Angel Eyes."
1963 In Nashville, Johnny Cash records "Ring Of Fire," a song co-written by his friend and collaborator June Carter that was first recorded by her sister Anita. The song becomes one of his biggest hits, and June marries Johnny five years later.
1961 Elvis Presley plays a benefit for the USA Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, which turns out to be his last concert for eight years as he shifts his focus to movies.
1960 Steve Norman, multi-instrumentalist in Spandau Ballet, is born in Stepney, London, England.
1960 In Nashville, Roy Orbison records "Only The Lonely." His first big hit, it sets the stage for more heart-rending songs from Orbison like "Crying" and "In Dreams."
1957 Elvis Presley buys the Graceland Mansion in Memphis for $102,500.
1948 Rocker Michael Stanley is born in Cleveland, Ohio.
1947 Brinsley Schwarz is born in Suffolk, England. His self-titled band would include Nick Lowe.
1938 Singer-songwriter Hoyt Axton is born in Duncan, Oklahoma. As a solo artist, he's known for songs like "Boney Fingers" and "A Rusty Old Halo"; as a songwriter he's best known for "Joy To The World," a huge hit for Three Dog Night in 1970.
1934 Johnny Burnette (of Johnny Burnette and the Rock and Roll Trio) in Memphis, Tennessee.
25 MARCH
Featured Events
2015 Mariah Carey joins James Corden for the first installment of Carpool Karaoke.More
2003 Celine Dion begins her Las Vegas residency with the show A New Day... at Caesars Palace. With elaborate sets and a full dance troupe, it ushers in a new era of highly theatrical Vegas shows headlined by huge stars. Shania Twain, Elton John and Britney Spears all follow this path.
1997 Sixteen days after he was shot and killed, The Notorious B.I.G.'s second album, Life After Death, is released.More
1986 Guns N' Roses sign with Geffen Records, which in addition to making sure the band records an album, has to keep them alive and out of jail, which is no easy task. It pays off when Appetite For Destruction goes on to sell over 18 million copies just in America.
1972 America's first single, "A Horse With No Name," rides to #1 on the Hot 100, and the group's self-titled debut album also takes the top spot on the Albums chart. The group becomes one of the most successful acts of the decade, with subsequent hits "Sister Golden Hair," "Ventura Highway" and "Tin Man."
1967 How is the weather? Bright and sunny for The Turtles, who hit #1 in the US with "Happy Together."
1955 The movie Blackboard Jungle is released, giving new exposure to the song "Rock Around The Clock," which is featured in the film. A few months later, the song becomes the first ever #1 rock song.
1947 Elton John is born Reginald Kenneth Dwight in Pinner, Middlesex, England. His stage name, taken at age 20, comes from two members of the band Bluesology: Elton Dean and Long John Baldry.
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