September 19, 1964 Country singer Trisha Yearwood is born Patricia Lynn Yearwood in Monticello, Georgia.
September 17, 1964 Charles Finley, who owns the Kansas City Athletics baseball team, pays The Beatles $150,000 to play a show at his Municipal Stadium. The Beatles add their version of "Kansas City" to the setlist, marking their only American performance of the song.
September 16, 1964 The musical variety show Shindig! premieres in America on ABC with performances by Sam Cooke and The Everly Brothers.
September 13, 1964 Murray The K's latest rock and roll show at the Brooklyn Paramount Theatre ends after 10 days, featuring Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, Martha and the Vandellas, The Shangri-Las, and Jay and the Americans.
September 5, 1964 British group The Animals hit #1 in America with "The House Of The Rising Sun," a folk song set in New Orleans about either a brothel or a prison.More
August 29, 1964 In a clear case of rock and roll being saved by the British Invasion, Billboard magazine notes that guitar sales are the highest they've been since the advent of Elvis Presley.
August 28, 1964 The Beatles smoke pot for the first time, supplied by Bob Dylan, who joins the band after one of their concerts in New York state. Dylan is surprised they haven't tried it before, as he thought they sang "I get high" in their song "I Want To Hold Your Hand," when it was really "I can't hide."
August 27, 1964 Disney releases Mary Poppins, a Sherman Brothers musical featuring Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke. It's the first movie role for Andrews, who is already a Broadway star. Her portrayal of the title character earns her the Academy Award for Best Actress.More
August 24, 1964 Taking him up on his telegram invitation to help out in any way he can in America, Beatles manager Brian Epstein meets Elvis Presley manager "Colonel" Tom Parker for the first time when they have lunch at the Beverly Hills Hotel.
August 22, 1964 After three years without a big hit, The Supremes' "Where Did Our Love Go" hits #1 in the US, the first of five consecutive chart-toppers.More
August 17, 1964 Alt rock/country singer Maria McKee is born in Los Angeles, California.
August 15, 1964 After the massive success of The Beatles' first film, A Hard Day's Night, United Artists rushes to sign up-and-comers The Dave Clark Five to a film project entitled Catch Us If You Can (which was released in the US as Having A Wild Weekend).
August 15, 1964 Proving there is room to croon during the British Invasion, Dean Martin's "Everybody Loves Somebody" knocks The Beatles' "A Hard Day's Night" from the #1 spot on the Hot 100.
August 13, 1964 The Supremes record "Baby Love" at Motown studios. The song is inspired by a girl who had the heart of Lamont Dozier, who wrote the song with Eddie and Brian Holland. This team of Holland-Dozier-Holland wrote most of the hits for the group.
August 11, 1964 With Beatlemania at a fever pitch, the group's first movie, A Hard Day's Night, debuts in America.More
August 10, 1964 On his way to visit two injured fans in Liverpool, England, Mick Jagger is pulled over and fined 32 pounds for speeding and driving without insurance.
August 1, 1964 Adam Duritz (frontman for Counting Crows) is born in Berkeley, California.
August 1, 1964 It's the heyday of the harmonica, as the industry publication Billboard points out that The Beatles, Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones and Stevie Wonder have all had hits with the instrument.
August 1, 1964 With The Beatles' album A Hard Day's Night already at #1 in America, the title track also hits the top spot, where it stays for two weeks. The film of that name - the first Beatles movie - is released in America 10 days later.
July 31, 1964 Country singer Jim Reeves dies at age 40 when he crashes his private plane while flying over Brentwood, Tennessee, in the midst of a violent thunderstorm. He will continue to chart after his death, with "Distant Drums" fighting the Beatles' double-sided "Yellow Submarine" and "Eleanor Rigby" for the #1 spot in the UK.
July 16, 1964 Country singer Connie Smith records her debut single, "Once A Day," at RCA's Studio B in Nashville.
July 14, 1964 The Rolling Stones score their first #1 hit in the UK with their cover of Bobby Womack's "It's All Over Now."
July 9, 1964 Courtney Love is born Courtney Michelle Harrison in San Francisco, California. After a tumultuous childhood, she travels the world and forms the band Hole. In 1992, she marries Kurt Cobain of Nirvana.
July 5, 1964 US President Lyndon Johnson invites The Four Seasons to play at the White House.
June 27, 1964 Peter & Gordon's "A World Without Love" - written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney - goes to #1 in the US. The connection: McCartney is dating Peter Asher's sister, Jane.
June 25, 1964 Cake lead singer John McCrea is born in California. His lyrics often take unexpected turns, like in "Short Skirt/Long Jacket" where the girl has "fingernails that shine like justice." Says McCrea, "I describe the way things feel or smell or look rather than telling people exactly what I think."
June 22, 1964 One day after graduating from high school, Dolly Parton moves to Nashville.
June 6, 1964 An anonymous ad taken out in six American music trade papers states: "In the public interest, watch The Rolling Stones crush The Beatles!"
June 5, 1964 The first recording featuring David Bowie is released. He's still known as David Jones when "Liza Jane" by David Jones and the King Bees comes out.
June 4, 1964 Chris Kavanagh (drummer for Sigue Sigu Sputnik, Big Audio Dynamite) is born in Woolwich, London, England.
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