1 January

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January 8, 1957 Rock and roll comes to Australia when Bill Haley, LaVern Baker and The Platters kick off a tour at Newcastle Stadium that continues on to West Melbourne Stadium and Sydney Stadium. It's the first rock stadium show, pre-dating the Beatles Shea Stadium concert by eight years.

January 6, 1957 Elvis Presley makes his third and final appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show, where he performs seven songs in three segments, including "Hound Dog," "Don't Be Cruel" and "Heartbreak Hotel." He is only seen from the waist up, leaving viewers to speculate as to what the screams in the audience are about.

January 4, 1957 On NBC's Steve Allen Show, former heavyweight boxing champ Joe Louis introduces the world to singer Solomon Burke, who performs Louis' song "You Can Run, But You Can't Hide."

January 4, 1957 Louis Jordan records "Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out."

December 30, 1956 Country singer Suzy Bogguss is born in Aledo, Illinois. She starts her career in 1985 by performing at a Tennessee amusement park called Silver Dollar City, soon-to-be renamed Dollywood.

December 8, 1956 Warren Cuccurullo is born in Brooklyn, New York. He joins Duran Duran in 1985 to replace guitarist Andy Taylor. He learned of the vacancy while working on Taylor's solo album - before the rest of the band had been informed.

December 8, 1956 Guy Mitchell's "Singing The Blues" hits #1.

December 7, 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.

December 6, 1956 Guitarist Randy Rhoads is born in Santa Monica, California. An early member of Quiet Riot, he makes his biggest impact as Ozzy Osbourne's guitarist, supplying the electrifying riffs on songs like "Crazy Train" and "Mr. Crowley." He dies at 25 in an airplane accident.

December 6, 1956 Peter Buck (lead guitarist for R.E.M.) is born in Berkeley, California. While attending the University of Georgia, he works at Wuxtry Records and meets future bandmate Michael Stipe.

December 4, 1956 At Sun Studio in Memphis, Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis jam together on a few tunes. Johnny Cash shows up later to get in the picture and complete what becomes known as the "Million Dollar Quartet."

December 1, 1956 Julee Cruise is born in Creston, Iowa. The singer-songwriter writes the iconic theme ("Falling") to the cult TV series Twin Peaks.

December 1, 1956 One of the first rock movies, The Girl Can't Help It, opens in America. Featuring performances by Little Richard, Eddie Cochran, Gene Vincent, The Platters and Fats Domino, the film stars Jayne Mansfield as an aspiring singer.

November 26, 1956 Tommy Dorsey, jazz trombonist and bandleader, dies at age 51 when he chokes in his sleep (he was too sedated from sleeping pills to wake up).

November 18, 1956 Fats Domino sings "Blueberry Hill" on The Ed Sullivan Show.

November 15, 1956 Elvis Presley's first movie, Love Me Tender, premieres at the Paramount Theater in New York City. The film is a Civil War drama that was going to be called The Reno Brothers, but when Elvis became a major star during the shoot, it was re-titled after his hit song, with Elvis given top billing.

November 13, 1956 The duo Buchanan and Goodman go to court over their song "Flying Saucer," which incorporates bits of other hit songs. The first use of sampling in the Rock era, the song made #3 on the Hot 100.

November 7, 1956 Elvis Presley becomes the first artist to chart an Extended Play or EP 45 rpm record when the four-song Love Me EP enters the Billboard charts.

November 3, 1956 The Wizard of Oz airs on television for the first time when it is broadcast by CBS.

November 2, 1956 A riot breaks out at Fats Domino's show in Fayetteville, North Carolina, with police resorting to tear gas to break up the unruly crowd. Fats jumps out of a window to avoid the melee; he and two other band members are slightly injured.

October 28, 1956 Elvis Presley makes his second appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. Unlike the first appearance, Sullivan himself is hosting. Elvis sings "Don't Be Cruel," "Love Me Tender," "Hound Dog" and "Love Me," and Ed presents Presley with a Gold record for "Love Me Tender."

October 21, 1956 Elvis Presley visits his favorite local movie theater, the Memphian, and is beset by an adoring crowd who, in the ensuing melee, scratch his new Cadillac. Thus begins Elvis' new habit of renting the entire theater whenever he wants to watch a movie.

October 12, 1956 Massively influential DJ Alan Freed's second film, Don't Knock The Rock, starring Little Richard, Bill Haley, and the Treniers, opens in New York.

September 29, 1956 The Gale Storm Show, starring the singer as a cruise ship director who makes lots of musical interludes, debuts on CBS.

September 26, 1956 Elvis Presley returns to his hometown of Tupelo, Mississippi, to play the Mississippi-Alabama Fair and Dairy Show. One of the many smitten teenage girls in the audience is Wynette Pugh, who goes on to stardom as Tammy Wynette. Security issues soon make small-time appearances like this impossible for Elvis.

September 26, 1956 The Cassandra column in the Daily Mirror (written by William Connor) insinuates that the pianist Liberace is homosexual.

September 23, 1956 Micky Dolenz of The Monkees begins his television career as a child actor with the premiere of NBC's Circus Boy series.

September 22, 1956 Debby Boone is born in Hackensack, New Jersey, to Pat Boone and Shirley Foley Boone (daughter of country singer Red Foley). She is the third of their four children (all girls), and becomes part of their gospel group, The Boone Family. Debby becomes an actress and recording artist like her dad, and scores the biggest hit of 1977 with "You Light Up My Life."

September 19, 1956 Singer/actor Rex Smith is born in Jacksonville, Florida. He makes his Broadway debut in 1978 playing Danny Zuko in Grease, a role John Travolta makes famous in the movie.

September 10, 1956 Johnnie Fingers (keyboardist for The Boomtown Rats) is born John Peter Moylett in Ireland.

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