Calendar Search Results: na songs
March 25, 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."
February 3, 1960 Frank Sinatra launches the first fully artist-owned label, Reprise Records (pronounced "repreeze"), so he can own his own masters. Some of his cohorts, including Dean Martin and Rosemary Clooney, join the label, which is sold to Warner Brothers in 1963, where it becomes home to a number of famous acts, including Jimi Hendrix, Joni Mitchell and Green Day.
January 5, 1960 Phil Thornalley, "Torn" songwriter and producer of The Cure's Pornography album, is born in Worlington, near Mildenhall, Suffolk, England.
November 19, 1959 An unnamed RCA executive tells reporters that, when he returns from the Army, Elvis Presley's music will be very different than the rock and roll he performed previously. Manager Colonel Tom Parker rushes to issue an official denial to fans.
October 23, 1959 "Weird Al" Yankovic is born Alfred Matthew Yankovic in Downey, California, and raised in Lynwood. He's an architecture student at California Polytechnic State University in 1979 when he gets the idea to spoof The Knack hit "My Sharona" as "My Bologna," leading to a career as the top parody artist in history.More
October 19, 1959 ABC airs The Frank Sinatra Timex Show, the first of four Timex-sponsored TV specials hosted by the singer. Bing Crosby, Dean Martin and Mitzi Gaynor sing "High Hopes" with Frank to open the show.
October 5, 1959 Bobby Darin's swinging version of "Mack the Knife," a song about a killer from The Threepenny Opera, hits #1 on the Hot 100 and stays there for an astonishing nine weeks. Darin, who is known for lighter fare like "Splish Splash," gains a more adult following, putting him on par with Frank Sinatra.More
August 13, 1959 Danny Bonaduce (of The Partridge Family) is born in Broomall, Pennsylvania.
August 13, 1959 In Nashville, Brenda Lee records "Sweet Nothin's," a song about young love, appropriate as she's just 15.
July 29, 1959 John Sykes (guitarist for Whitesnake, Thin Lizzy) is born in Reading, Berkshire, England.
July 17, 1959 While under arrest for illegal possession of narcotics, Billie Holiday dies at age 44 at Metropolitan Hospital in New York City, where she has been since June 12. Years of drug and alcohol abuse took their toll on the singer, who suffered from cirrhosis of the liver.
July 10, 1959 Sandy West is born Sandy Pesavento in Long Beach, California. Together with Joan Jett, she is a founding member of the teenage all-female rock band The Runaways, playing drums. After the band splits she leaves the music industry, and dies at the age of 47 from lung cancer.
April 24, 1959 After running on Saturday nights on radio for 24 years and TV for the last nine, the final installment of the musical countdown show Your Hit Parade airs on NBC. The final Top Five: Elvis Presley, "I Need Your Love Tonight" (#5), Brook Benton, "It's Just A Matter Of Time" (#4), Ricky Nelson, "Never Be Anyone Else But You" (#3), Dodie Stevens, "Pink Shoe Laces" (#2), and the Fleetwoods at #1 with "Come Softly To Me."
March 16, 1959 Flavor Flav is born William Jonathan Drayton, Jr. He becomes a rapper with Public Enemy and also a reality TV star.
March 13, 1959 An emergency plane landing in a South Bend, Indiana, field nearly kills The Kingston Trio's band members.
February 3, 1959 Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson are killed in a plane crash. Don McLean would call it "The Day the Music Died" in his 1971 hit "American Pie."More
January 28, 1959 Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin perform together in Vegas for the first time, joining forces at the Sands hotel. They become regular performers at the venue, often joined by fellow "rat pack" members Sammy Davis, Jr., Joey Bishop and Peter Lawford.
January 17, 1959 Susanna Hoffs is born in Los Angeles, California. She forms the Bangles after answering an ad placed by the sisters Debbi and Vicki Peterson.
December 22, 1958 The Chipmunks hit #1 on the Hot 100 with the squeaky-clean festive favorite "The Chipmunk Song." It's the last Christmas song to top the chart until "All I Want For Christmas Is You" 61 years later in 2019.More
November 29, 1958 Michael Dempsey, original bassist for The Cure, is born in Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia, but is raised in England.
November 16, 1958 Harry Rushakoff (original drummer for Concrete Blonde) is born in Chicago, Illinois.
October 17, 1958 Country singer Alan Jackson is born in Newnan, Georgia. He holds down blue-collar jobs while writing songs and playing in bands at night and on weekends. In 1989, he becomes the first country artist signed to Arista Records.
September 24, 1958 The Donna Reed Show, starring Shelley Fabares and Paul Petersen, debuts on ABC. It runs for seven seasons.
August 12, 1958 On "compassionate leave" from the Army, Elvis Presley travels to Memphis' Baptist Memorial hospital to be by the side of his mother, Gladys, who is quickly deteriorating from acute hepatitis.
July 30, 1958 Kate Bush is born in Bexleyheath, Kent, England. At 19, she releases her debut single, "Wuthering Heights," which goes to #1 in the UK.More
July 19, 1958 The Drifters manager George Treadwell, who owns the name, fires the group and replaces them with members of The Five Crowns. When Ben E. King joins the group a short time later, The Drifters become consistent hitmakers, scoring with "There Goes My Baby," "This Magic Moment" and "Save The Last Dance For Me."
June 7, 1958 Prince (Prince Rogers Nelson) is born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, named after his father's jazz combo, the Prince Rogers Trio. By the time he's 15, he can play at least 10 different instruments. Before his death in 2016, he releases over 400 songs, most of which he wrote and produced. Many more emerge from his vault posthumously.
June 4, 1958 With the public outraged over his marriage to 13-year-old Myra Gale Brown, an indignant Jerry Lee Lewis renews their vows, since he wasn't actually divorced from a previous wife when he originally married her.
April 7, 1958 Nat King Cole portrays famed blues musician W.C. Handy in the biographical film St. Louis Blues. The star-studded cast includes music greats Mahalia Jackson, Eartha Kitt, Ella Fitzgerald, Pearl Bailey, Cab Calloway, and 10-year-old Billy Preston as a young Will Handy.
March 17, 1958 The first "Greatest Hits" compilation is released, and it's by Johnny Mathis. It's a huge hit, and the format catches on quickly. The Mathis album stays in the Billboard 200 album chart for over nine years, a record not broken until Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon.More
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