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September 9, 1956 Elvis Presley makes the first of three contracted appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show. Sullivan had previously announced he would never have such an act on, but ratings prevailed and Sullivan offered Elvis a record $50,000 for the three shows. Charles Laughton hosts, filling in for an ailing Sullivan as Elvis performs "Don't Be Cruel," "Love Me Tender," "Ready Teddy" and "Hound Dog" but is shot from the waist up only to avoid scandal. The show draws a staggering 54 million viewers.
September 7, 1956 Songwriter Diane Warren, whose many hits include Aerosmith's "I Don't Want To Miss A Thing" and Cher's "If I Could Turn Back Time," is born in Van Nuys, California.
September 2, 1956 Elvis Presley records "When My Blue Moon Turns To Gold Again," "Long Tall Sally," "Old Shep," "Paralyzed," "Too Much," and "Anyplace Is Paradise."
August 27, 1956 Glen Matlock (original bass guitarist for The Sex Pistols) is born in Paddington, London, England.
August 24, 1956 Buddy Holly is in the audience when Little Richard plays the Cotton Club in Lubbock, Texas.
August 15, 1956 "Colonel" Tom Parker, actually a Dutch immigrant who merely played at being a Southern aristocrat, becomes "special adviser" to Elvis Presley, effectively taking over management duties from Bob Neal, who knew managing the King was about to become a full-time job.
August 14, 1956 Washington DC disc jockey Bob Rickman forms the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Elvis Presley after reading too many news articles that make him out to be a hick and/or a threat to society.
August 11, 1956 Richard Goodman and Bull Buchanan, recording as Buchanan and Goodman, enter the charts with "Flying Saucer," the first song to use what's called the "Break In" technique, dropping in bits of other hit songs throughout. The song eventually peaks at #3.
July 25, 1956 The Italian luxury liner Andrea Doria collides with the Swedish liner Stockholm, killing 52 instantly and sinking the Andrea Doria. On board is Mike Stoller, who becomes half of the famous Lieber-Stoller songwriting team.
July 22, 1956 The Official UK Albums chart is published for the first time. The first #1 album on the survey is Frank Sinatra's Songs For Swingin' Lovers, featuring the pop standards "I've Got You Under My Skin" and "You Make Me Feel So Young."
July 15, 1956 Ian Curtis is born in Macclesfield, England. In 1976 he joins Joy Division, one of the most influential and critically acclaimed UK alternative bands. Following the singer's death in May 1980, the remaining members of the band continue to write and perform as New Order.
July 2, 1956 Elvis Presley records "Hound Dog" at the RCA studios in New York City. Needing a B-side, Elvis and his team listen to some demos and find a song called "Don't Be Cruel," which they also record in the session. The two songs are released 11 days later as a double-A-side single and set numerous records for sales and chart position.
June 30, 1956 Philip Adrian Wright (first Director of Visuals, then keyboardist for The Human League) is born in Wakefield, England.
June 27, 1956 At Master Recorders in Hollywood, Fats Domino records "Blueberry Hill," a song popularized by Gene Autry in 1940. Domino's version, with his famous piano intro, becomes his biggest hit and the definitive version of the song.
June 22, 1956 Derek Forbes (former bass guitarist for Simple Minds) is born in Glasgow, Scotland.
June 5, 1956 Richard Butler (lead singer of The Psychedelic Furs) is born in Kingston upon Thames, London, England.
June 5, 1956 Saxophone player Kenny G is born Kenneth Gorelick in Seattle, Washington. His instrumental hits "Songbird" and "Silhouette" usher in a new radio format in the '80s: Smooth Jazz. With at least 50 million albums sold, he lays claim to the title of best-selling instrumentalist in history.
May 31, 1956 Buddy Holly sees the John Wayne film The Searchers. Wayne's line, "That'll be the day," inspires him to write a song with that title.
May 16, 1956 Doris Day introduces her signature song, "Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)," in the Alfred Hitchcock thriller The Man Who Knew Too Much.More
April 27, 1956 Capitol Records signs Gene Vincent, intending to market him as the next Elvis.
April 21, 1956 Elvis Presley's breakout hit "Heartbreak Hotel" goes to #1 in America.
April 10, 1956 Performing to an all-white audience at a segregated show in Birmingham, Alabama, Nat King Cole is attacked by four members of the Ku Klux Klan who rush the stage to assault him. Cole suffers a back injury and is treated at the hospital, but returns that night to play his second show, this time to an all-black audience. The attackers receive the maximum sentence of 180 days in jail.
April 6, 1956 Having impressed Paramount Studios with his screen test five days earlier, Elvis Presley is signed to a seven-year, three-picture deal worth nearly half a million dollars.
April 6, 1956 The Capitol Tower, new home of Capitol Records, opens on the corner of Hollywood and Vine in Los Angeles. The 13-story building, which resembles a stack of records, houses three new recording studios where Frank Sinatra, Bobby Darin, Linda Ronstadt, and many other stars will lay down tracks. The building becomes an LA landmark, with the red light at the top flashing "HOLLYWOOD" in Morse Code.
April 2, 1956 Johnny Cash records "I Walk The Line" at Sun Studio in Memphis. His label boss, Sam Phillips, has him speed up the tempo, which is a good call: The song becomes Cash's first #1 Country hit.
March 31, 1956 Brenda Lee makes her US television debut, singing an unrehearsed version of Hank Williams' "Jambalaya (On The Bayou)" on ABC's Ozark Jubilee.
March 24, 1956 Billboard makes their periodic albums chart a weekly feature, with Belafonte by Harry Belafonte. at #1 The chart lists anywhere from 15-30 spots, but is gradually expanded, and in 1967 it grows to 200. The chart goes through several name changes before settling on The Billboard 200 in 1992.
March 23, 1956 Eleven teens are arrested at the "Rock & Roll Stage Show," featuring Frankie Lymon in Hartford, Connecticut.
March 22, 1956 Carl Perkins is injured in a car accident near Dover, Delaware, on his way to perform on NBC-TV's Perry Como Show. This stymies promotion for his single "Blue Suede Shoes," but the song still reaches #2 in May.
March 22, 1956 Mr. Wonderful opens on Broadway. Its star Sammy Davis, Jr. will soon become a top entertainer and member of the Rat Pack.
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