Calendar Search Results: i were to
January 1, 1959 Johnny Cash plays one of his first jailhouse shows when he performs at San Quentin prison in San Rafael, California. Among those in the captive audience is Merle Haggard, who is serving time for burglary.More
March 24, 1958 Elvis Presley goes to the Memphis Draft Board and enters the United States Army.More
December 2, 1957 Al Priddy, a disc jockey at the Portland, Oregon, radio station KEX, is fired for playing the Elvis Presley version of "White Christmas," which the station has banned, their program manager saying it "desecrates the Spirit of Christmas and transgresses the composer's intent." The story makes national news, but it turns out to be a brilliant publicity stunt - Priddy is back on the air two weeks later, with the station claiming letters were pouring in to support the DJ. As part of the stunt, Priddy recorded the GM calling in to "fire" him for playing the song and played the conversation on his show before he left.
September 12, 1957 Hans Zimmer is born in Frankfurt, Germany. Known for his innovative style of combining electronic and traditional instrumentation, he becomes one of the most sought-after film composers in Hollywood. He lands his breakthrough gig with the 1988 movie Rain Man, starring Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman, and writes the music on a Fairlight digital synthesizer. He goes on to score hit movies like Gladiator (2000), The Dark Knight (2008), The Lion King (1994), and Dune (2021), with the latter two earning him his first Academy Award wins for Best Original Score.More
August 16, 1957 Buddy Holly's group The Crickets play the first show of a six-night engagement at Harlem's Apollo Theater. They were booked due to confusion with a black group (led by Dean Barlow) that was also called The Crickets. Nonetheless, Holly and his band win over the crowd.
July 9, 1955 Bill 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.More
March 15, 1955 Dee Snider (lead singer of Twisted Sister) is born in Astoria, Queens, New York.More
November 15, 1953 R&B singer Alexander O'Neal is born in Natchez, Mississippi. Known for '80s hits like "If You Were Here Tonight," "Criticize," and "Fake."
April 11, 1952 Singin' In The Rain, starring Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor and newcomer Debbie Reynolds, is released in the US, but barely makes a splash.More
October 7, 1951 John Mellencamp is born in Seymour, Indiana. He has Spina bifida, but survives thanks to an experimental surgery performed at Riley Children's Hospital in Indianapolis.More
May 9, 1949 Billy Joel is born in The Bronx, New York, raised in Hicksville on Long Island.More
July 8, 1947 New Mexico's Roswell Daily Record reports an alien aircraft has crashed near a local ranch with the headline "RAAF Captures Flying Saucer In Roswell Region." In the coming decades, extraterrestrials and flying saucers invade several songs, including David Bowie's "Starman," Megadeth's "Hangar 18," and Radiohead's "Subterranean Homesick Alien."More
April 16, 1944 On shore leave from the Merchant Marines, Woody Guthrie arrives at Folkway Records' studios in New York City, where he starts recording with the label's founder, Moses Asch, in what becomes known as the "Asch recordings." Among the songs recorded during these sessions is "This Land Is Your Land," which becomes an iconic populist protest anthem, covered by countless artists including Pete Seeger and Bruce Springsteen.More
June 18, 1942 Paul McCartney is born James Paul McCartney in Allerton, Liverpool, England. McCartney's father and great-grandfather also were named James, although his dad was informally known as Jim. When Paul's father was younger, he'd led a local jazz band, and could play piano and the trumpet. Jim McCartney passed down his love for music to his son.
April 24, 1942 Barbra Streisand is born in Brooklyn, New York City.More
March 10, 1937 Benny Goodman brings his swinging Jazz sound to the Paramount Theatre in New York City, where adoring (mostly teenage) fans dance in the aisles. A newspaper report says that kids were "Jitterbugging" to the music, the first time the phrase is used to describe the new dance style.
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