November 13, 1960 Sammy Davis, Jr. weds Swedish actress May Britt, one of the first public celebrity interracial marriages.
May 9, 1960 The birth control pill is introduced in the US, inspiring Loretta Lynn to sing a song about it.More
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.
October 24, 1959 On his 23rd birthday, and still a year away from even buying his first bass guitar, The Rolling Stones' Bill Wyman marries his first wife, 18-year-old bank clerk Diane Corey.
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 2, 1959 The Twilight Zone premieres on CBS-TV. The original orchestral opening used throughout Season One was composed by Bernard Herrmann, and was later replaced by the now-iconic theme from French composer Marius Constant.
August 6, 1959 In balmy Los Angeles, Dean Martin records the most famous version of the holiday classic "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!." It's one of many popular Christmas songs with no mention of Christmas in the lyric.
July 11, 1959 Guitarist Richie Sambora is born in Perth Amboy, New Jersey. He joins Bon Jovi soon after the band form and becomes a primary songwriter along with lead singer Jon Bon Jovi. Sambora says with the band until 2013, when he leaves in the middle of a tour for personal reasons.
May 11, 1959 "The Happy Organ" by Dave "Baby" Cortez goes to #1 in America, marking the first time an instrumental song featuring on organ tops the chart.
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 10, 1958 Lou Rawls, who is fronting a group called the Travelers, is badly injured in a car accident in Marion, Arkansas, that also involves Sam Cooke, who is headlining the tour. The driver, Edward Cunningham, dies in the accident.
October 28, 1958 William Reid (guitarist for The Jesus and Mary Chain) is born in Glasgow, Scotland.
August 22, 1958 Vernon Reid is born in London. He is raised in Brooklyn and forms the band Living Colour - he is the guitarist and a primary songwriter.
June 11, 1958 Jerry Lee Lewis finds that the marriage scandal involving his 14-year-old second cousin has migrated back to the States when he is booed off a New York stage. The second show is canceled due to poor ticket sales, and Lewis' career, for the time being anyway, is ruined.
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.
May 22, 1958 Jerry Lee Lewis arrives in London for a tour. When a reporter for the Daily Mail notices a young girl in the entourage, he asks her who she is. "I'm Jerry Lee's wife," she replies, revealing their taboo union. Word spreads that Lewis has married his 13-year-old second cousin, Myra Gale Brown, tanking the tour and sending him back home to America a pariah.
March 24, 1958 Elvis Presley goes to the Memphis Draft Board and enters the United States Army.More
February 21, 1958 Gibson's "Flying V" guitar goes on the market, retailing for $247.50. Early adopters include Lonnie Mack and Albert King.
February 12, 1958 Weather Report drummer Omar Hakim is born in New York City.
December 29, 1957 Pop singers Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gormé get married at the El Rancho Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. They remain married until Eydie's death in 2013.More
December 11, 1957 In what remains one of the most shocking celebrity scandals, Jerry Lee Lewis marries 13-year-old Myra Gale Brown, who was the daughter of his cousin (and bass player), J.W. Brown. The marriage lasts 14 years but seriously damages Lewis' career.More
November 28, 1957 Harry Belafonte becomes the first black man to hit #1 in the UK when "Mary's Boy Child" tops the chart. The single stays at #1 for seven weeks and becomes a Christmas favorite.
October 15, 1957 Elvis Presley's first Christmas album, titled Elvis' Christmas Album, is released. It goes on to become the best-selling holiday album of all time by a wide margin.
September 2, 1957 Pete Seeger plays "We Shall Overcome" at the Highlander Folk School in Tennessee as part of its 25th anniversary celebration. On hand is Martin Luther King, Jr., who gives the closing speech at the celebration. The song becomes ingrained with the civil rights movement as King and Seeger fight for equality.
August 31, 1957 Gina Schock (drummer for The Go-Go's) is born Regina Ann Schock in Baltimore, Maryland.
July 9, 1957 Marc Almond is born Peter Mark Sinclair Almond in Southport, Lancashire, England. In 1979 he teams with Dave Ball to form Soft Cell, a boundary-pushing electronic duo that have a global hit in 1981 with their cover of "Tainted Love." In 1989, Almond lands a #1 UK hit with "Something's Gotten Hold Of My Heart," a duet with Gene Pitney.
July 15, 1956 Marky Ramone (drummer for The Ramones) is born Marc Steven Bell in Brooklyn, New York.
June 5, 1956 Elvis Presley appears on The Milton Berle Show where the pair do a comedy bit performing Elvis' "Hound Dog" and "I Want You, I Need You, I Love You." It marks the first TV appearance of The Jordanaires backing up Elvis, and the last Milton Berle show for 10 years.
May 1, 1956 Johnny Cash releases "I Walk The Line," a pledge of fidelity to his first wife. When the song becomes a hit, Cash finds it much harder to be true and strikes up an affair with June Carter, whom he later marries.
April 11, 1956 Elvis Presley's tour plane develops engine trouble while flying the singer from Amarillo, Texas, to Nashville, forcing an emergency landing in Arkansas. When he calls his mother, Gladys, to tell her, she begs him to never fly again, instilling a fear of flying in Elvis which will take him years to get over.
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