February 14, 1976 After singing about "The valentines I never knew" in her song "At Seventeen," Janis Ian gets hundreds of Valentine's Day cards from fans.More
January 6, 1976 Peter Frampton's live double album, Frampton Comes Alive!, is released. Powered by his trusty talkbox sound, it becomes one of the best-selling live albums in history.More
November 16, 1975 The variety show Donny & Marie, starring Donny and Marie Osmond, debuts on ABC. Their theme song is "May Tomorrow Be A Perfect Day," but the show becomes synonymous with a different tune: "A Little Bit Country, A Little Bit Rock N' Roll." More
October 25, 1975 Paul Simon issues his fourth solo album, Still Crazy After All These Years. "Gone At Last," "50 Ways To Leave Your Lover," and the title track all reach the US Top 40, and the album hits #1, Simon's first to do so. Emancipated from Simon & Garfunkel, fans stop shouting "Where's Artie?" at his shows.
March 12, 1975 George Jones and Tammy Wynette's divorce is finalized, ending a six-year marriage between the couple known as "Mr. and Mrs. Country Music." They keep working together, and a year later release "Golden Ring," #1 Country hit about a wedding ring that follows a couple through love, marriage, and divorce.
March 10, 1975 Elvis Presley records "Fairytale," "Green, Green Grass of Home," "I Can Help," and "And I Love You So."
March 1, 1975 At the Grammy Awards, Olivia Newton-John takes Record of the Year for "I Honestly Love You," Barbra Streisand wins Song of the Year for "The Way Were," and Stevie Wonder gets Album of the Year for Fulfillingness' First Finale.
October 18, 1974 Al Green's "Grits Incident": When a stewardess friend of Green's shows up to meet the singer, he ends up at his Memphis home with her and his companion, Mary Woodson, who is dangerously obsessed with the singer. When Green goes into the bathroom to brush his teeth, Woodson bursts in and pours a pot of boiling grits on him, burning him badly before going in the next room and killing herself with his gun. Green takes these disturbing events as a sign from God and focuses his career on gospel music and preaching.More
October 14, 1974 Nashville veterans worry about the sanctity of country music when Olivia Newton-John wins Female Vocalist of the Year at the Country Music Association (CMA) Awards.More
October 5, 1974 Olivia Newton-John's "I Honestly Love You" hits #1 for the first of two weeks, making it her first chart-topper in the US.
June 8, 1974 Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You" goes to #1 on the Country chart. Nearly two decades later, Whitney Houston's R&B version tops the Hot 100 and becomes one of the best-selling singles of all time.More
February 7, 1974 Barry White earns Gold certifications for "Never, Never Gonna Give Ya Up," his album Stone Gon', and also for The Love Unlimited Orchestra's "Love's Theme" and their album Under the Influence of Love Unlimited.
December 20, 1973 Bobby Darin dies at age 37 after surgery to repair his ailing heart.More
March 17, 1973 The sci-fi musical Lost Horizon, scored by Burt Bacharach, bombs at the box office. The failure precipitates Bacharach's split from longtime songwriting partner Hal David and Dionne Warwick, who had performed their songs for more than a decade.More
February 14, 1972 Rob Thomas of Matchbox Twenty is born to American parents in West Germany.More
December 4, 1971 During a Frank Zappa concert, the Montreux Casino in Switzerland catches fire when someone fires a flare gun, inspiring Deep Purple's "Smoke On The Water." Deep Purple are there to record their album Machine Head the following day, but end up using the Grand Hotel and including the song as a last-minute addition.More
November 13, 1971 Three Dog Night's "An Old Fashioned Love Song" enters the Hot 100 at #77. The song was written by Paul Williams, who was a popular actor in the '70s and '80s as well as a songwriter.
April 20, 1971 Five friends at San Rafael High School in California coin the term "4:20" as a euphemism for smoking pot. April 20th becomes a popular day to spark one up, as does 4:20 pm. Note that the Boston song "Smokin'" clocks in at 4 minutes, 20 seconds, and if you multiply the title numbers in Bob Dylan's "Rainy Day Women #12 And #35," you get 420. Dude!More
February 10, 1971 Carole King releases Tapestry, a singer-songwriter landmark that becomes one of the most successful and influential albums ever made.More
January 2, 1971 George Harrison's All Things Must Pass, his first album released after the breakup of The Beatles, begins a seven-week run at the top of the US albums chart.More
December 21, 1970 Music and politics collide when Elvis Presley meets President Richard Nixon at the White House. A famous photo of the two shaking hands horrifies many Elvis fans.More
November 16, 1970 Stephen Stills releases his first (self-titled) solo album, with the hit "Love The One You're With."
September 25, 1970 The Partridge Family's self-titled TV show debuts on ABC. Two months later, their song "I Think I Love You" hits #1 in America.More
September 18, 1970 Jimi Hendrix is found dead in his basement. He had taken nine pills of the barbiturate Vesparax, that along with alcohol, caused a fatal overdose.More
August 26, 1970 The five-day Isle of Wight festival kicks off in England, boasting a very impressive lineup, including Joan Baez, Joni Mitchell, Donovan, Jethro Tull, Miles Davis, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, The Doors, The Who, The Moody Blues, Chicago, Procol Harum, Sly and the Family Stone, Free and, in his last concert appearance in England, Jimi Hendrix.More
September 13, 1969 At the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival festival, host Kim Fowley starts a rock tradition when he asks the crowd to hold up lighters for Eric Clapton and John Lennon.More
July 24, 1969 Jennifer Lopez is born to Puerto Rican parents in The Bronx in New York City.More
June 1, 1969 John Lennon and Yoko Ono record "Give Peace A Chance" to close out their "bed-in" in Montreal.More
December 28, 1968 Joni Mitchell, Fleetwood Mac, Steppenwolf and the Grateful Dead, land in Hallandale, Florida's Gulfstream Park to entertain 100,000 fans at Miami Pop Festival II, the East Coast's first major rock festival.More
April 13, 1968 Bobby Goldsboro's "Honey" hits #1 in the US, where it stays for five weeks. A love-it-or-hate-it song, it tells the story of a man whose wife dies and is reminded of her every time he looks at the tree she planted.
©2026 Songfacts®, LLC