Calendar Search Results: u i a song
May 10, 1960 Paul Hewson is born in Dublin. He shortens his nickname from Bono Vox (Latin for "good voice") to simply Bono and fronts the band U2.More
May 9, 1960 The birth control pill is introduced in the US, inspiring Loretta Lynn to sing a song about it.More
May 2, 1960 Dick Clark testifies before Congress on the matter of payola.More
May 2, 1960 Production begins on Elvis Presley's first post-Army movie, G.I. Blues.
April 21, 1960 For about 20 years, it was common practice for record companies to pay DJs to play songs, but now the US government is cracking down on what they call "Payola." Dick Clark testifies before congress and admits that he took money and gifts to play records - estimating 27% of his playlist to be paid. Clark emerges more powerful than ever, selling off conflicting interests and expanding his music empire. On the other hand, another prominent DJ and TV host, Alan Freed, refuses to admit that he took payola, insisting that he was a consultant to the industry. His career never recovers despite his massive influence and success.
April 17, 1960 "Summertime Blues" singer Eddie Cochran dies in England when the taxi he is riding in crashes. He is just 21.
April 17, 1960 Gene Vincent is seriously injured in a Wiltshire, England, car crash in which Eddie Cochran dies.
April 14, 1960 The musical Bye Bye Birdie, inspired by the drafting of Elvis Presley into the Army, opens on Broadway.
April 4, 1960 RCA Victor decides to release all future singles -- starting with its next, Elvis Presley's "Stuck On You" -- in both mono and stereo versions.
April 3, 1960 Elvis Presley records "It's Now or Never" in Nashville at RCA Studio B. With a melody lifted from the 1907 song "O Sole Mio," it veers away from rock and roll but is a huge hit and the song Elvis later says is his favorite of all his recordings.
April 3, 1960 Working at RCA's Studio B in Nashville, Elvis Presley pulls an all-nighter, recording nine songs, finishing with "Are You Lonesome Tonight" in the wee hours of the morning. The mournful song becomes one of his biggest hits, going to #1 in America for six weeks.
March 25, 1960 Steve Norman, multi-instrumentalist in Spandau Ballet, is born in Stepney, London, England.
February 22, 1960 Percy Faith's "Theme From A Summer Place" hits #1 in America for the first of nine weeks, knocking Elvis Presley's "Are You Lonesome Tonight" from the top spot.
February 7, 1960 Steve Bronski (keyboardist, percussionist for Bronski Beat) is born in England.
February 6, 1960 R&B singer Jesse Belvin, who co-wrote the Penguins' hit "Earth Angel (Will You Be Mine)," dies in a car crash at age 27.
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 17, 1960 Berlin bassist John Crawford is born in California. He's the main songwriter in the group, penning tracks like "The Metro" and "No More Words."
January 14, 1960 United States Army Corporal Elvis Presley (53310761) receives a promotion to Sergeant.
January 5, 1960 Phil Thornalley, "Torn" songwriter and producer of The Cure's Pornography album, is born in Worlington, near Mildenhall, Suffolk, England.
January 4, 1960 R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe is born in Decatur, Georgia. In 1980, he befriends Peter Buck, a store clerk at Wuxtry Records in nearby Athens who shares his weird taste in music. They quickly bring Mike Mills and Bill Berry into the fold and just one year later release their debut single, "Radio Free Europe."
December 31, 1959 Paul Westerberg (lead singer, guitarist for The Replacements) is born in Minnesota.
December 20, 1959 Jackie Fox is born Jacqueline Fuchs in California. She gives up a promising career in mathematics when she joins The Runaways as bass player at the age of 15, rather than taking early entry into UCLA. After leaving the band, she returns to her studies, graduating from UCLA and then Harvard - where she is a classmate of Barack Obama - and goes on to work as an entertainment lawyer.
November 30, 1959 Cherie Currie is born in Encino, California. As lead singer of The Runaways she is at the core of the LA party scene in the late 1970s, leading to a lifelong struggle with drug addiction.More
November 29, 1959 At the second Annual Grammy Awards, Bobby Darin wins for Best New Artist and also takes the award for Record of the Year for "Mack The Knife," which is still at #1 on the Hot 100. This is the first time the event is televised, and also the only time the ceremony is held at the end of the year instead of early the following year, meaning nothing in December 1959 is Grammy eligible. This faux pas is rectified with awards for 1960 given out in early 1961.
November 27, 1959 Charlie Burchill (guitarist for Simple Minds) is born in Glasgow, Scotland.
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.
November 10, 1959 Frank Maudsley (bass guitarist for A Flock of Seagulls) is born in Liverpool, England.
November 7, 1959 Smokey Robinson marries Claudette Rogers, a fellow member of The Miracles and the eventual inspiration for his song "My Girl," made famous by the Temptations. They divorce in 1985.
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 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
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