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November 6, 1963 Rod Stewart, 18, becomes a father for the first time when his girlfriend Susannah gives birth to daughter Sarah, who is put up for adoption. Sarah doesn't find out about her famous father until she turns 18.
August 22, 1963 Myra Ellen Amos is born to a religious family in Newton, North Carolina. She changes her name to Tori and becomes an alt-rock icon of the '90s with empowering tunes about women, right-wing politics, and religious oppression.More
May 6, 1963 The Ronettes sign a five-year "personal services" contract with Phil Spector, giving him complete control of their recordings in exchange for a cash advance of $15,000 and royalties of about 3% of record sales. This works out very well for Spector, who reaps huge profits on the songs. The group claims they are never paid the royalties, and spend decades in legal action trying to recover them.
February 9, 1963 Hattie Carroll, a 51-year-old bartender in Baltimore, is killed after a disgruntled patron hits her with a cane. Bob Dylan writes a song about it called "The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll," which appears on his The Times They Are A-Changin' album.
November 23, 1962 Joan Baez lands the cover of Time magazine in a story about the burgeoning folk music movement.More
November 3, 1962 The Crystals' "He's A Rebel" hits #1 for the first of two weeks. None of the actual group appears on the track, as Phil Spector uses Darlene Love to sing lead. The real Crystals learn about the song when they hear it on the radio.
October 1, 1962 The Beach Boys release their first album, Surfin' Safari, which includes their debut single, "Surfin'." The album climbs to #32 in the US.More
July 2, 1962 Jimi Hendrix is honorably discharged from the Army after serving a little over a year of his 3-year commitment. The reason for his discharge is "unsuitability," as his superiors agree he will never be a good soldier, in part because he's more interested in his guitar than his rifle.More
May 5, 1962 The Shirelles go to #1 in America with "Soldier Boy," where they sing about staying true while their fellas go off to battle.
February 7, 1962 Garth Brooks is born Troyal Garth Brooks in Tulsa, Oklahoma; he's raised in Yukon, Oklahoma.More
December 18, 1961 "The Lion Sleeps Tonight," with a chorus in poorly translated Zulu, tops the Hot 100 for The Tokens.More
October 23, 1961 Dion's "Runaround Sue" hits #1 for the first of two weeks. Dion pulled the name Sue out of thin air, but when he later marries a woman named Sue, she tells everyone the song is about her - even though she knows it isn't.
June 18, 1961 Would-be riders of the Hudson Belle, a popular excursion boat that travels up and down the Hudson River, break into a stampede after learning that some of them are holding fraudulent tickets. The next day, a young Bob Dylan hears about the story and writes "Talkin' Bear Mountain Picnic Massacre Blues."
June 14, 1961 Patsy Cline gets in a nasty car accident in Nashville, when she is thrown through the windshield. She is hospitalized for about a month, during which time she is visited by the woman who will become her protégé: Loretta Lynn.
May 31, 1961 Jimi Hendrix enlists in the Army and is stationed at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, as a member of the 101st Airborne Division. He signs up for three years, but is honorably discharged a little over a year later, ostensibly because he hurt his ankle in a parachute jump, but really because he is a lousy soldier, constantly thinking about or playing his guitar.
January 29, 1961 Five days after arriving in New York from Minnesota, Bob Dylan meets his ailing folk hero, Woody Guthrie, tracking him down in East Orange, New Jersey. Dylan pays tribute with "Song To Woody," which appears on his first album the following year.More
January 24, 1961 Mel Blanc, who was the voice of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and many other cartoon favorites, gets in a horrible car accident on a stretch of road in Los Angeles known as "Dead Man's Curve." Hearing the news, Roger Christian is inspired to write a song about the treacherous turn.
January 19, 1961 The night before John F. Kennedy's inauguration, Frank Sinatra throws a star-studded gala to eradicate the Democratic Party's $2 million campaign debt. With the help of Peter Lawford, fellow Rat Packer and husband of JFK's sister Patricia, Sinatra enlists elite entertainers for the evening, including Nat King Cole, Harry Belafonte, Gene Kelly, Ethel Merman, and actors Laurence Olivier, Janet Leigh, Tony Curtis, and Bette Davis.More
December 28, 1960 The Connie Francis movie Where The Boys Are is released. The movie - risqué for its time - is about four college girls on Spring Break. It leads to a whole genre of Spring Break movies and popularizes Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where it was shot, as the destination of choice.
October 17, 1960 The Drifters' "Save The Last Dance For Me" hits #1 in America for the first of three weeks. Doc Pomus wrote the lyric about his wedding day, when he watched his bride, the actress Willi Burke, dance with his brother.
May 9, 1960 The birth control pill is introduced in the US, inspiring Loretta Lynn to sing a song about it.More
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 In Nashville, Brenda Lee records "Sweet Nothin's," a song about young love, appropriate as she's just 15.
June 8, 1959 Bobby Darin's "Dream Lover" reaches its chart peak of #2 in America. His next single is something quite different: a song about a murderous cad called "Mack The Knife." That one goes to #1.
June 1, 1959 Johnny Horton's "Battle of New Orleans," about a real battle in the War of 1812, hits #1 on both the country and pop charts in the US.
March 23, 1959 Bobby Darin's first full-length album, That's All, is released. Among the tracks is "Mack The Knife," a song about a cold-blooded murderer popularized in the play The Threepenny Opera. Considered just an album cut at first, in August the song is released as a single, and it transforms Darin's career, going to #1 for nine weeks and making him one of the most popular entertainers in America.
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
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 15, 1958 John Lennon's mother, Julia, is killed when she's hit by a car driven by an off-duty police officer. Lennon, 17 at the time, later writes the songs "Julia" and "Mother" about her.
March 24, 1958 Perry Como appears on the cover of Newsweek magazine in a story about his variety show, The Perry Como Show.
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