Calendar Search Results: y o u t u b e r
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 28, 1956 Woody Guthrie, homeless and suffering from Huntington's disease, is arrested for vagrancy in Morristown, New Jersey. He is sent to nearby Greystone Park Psychiatric hospital and spends the rest of his life in care facilities, passing away in 1967 at 55.
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
May 14, 1956 Buddy Holly visits his optometrist's office to correct his horrible 20/800 vision with primitive contact lenses, but Buddy hates them, and decides to keep his signature glasses.
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.
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 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 3, 1956 Elvis Presley performs "Heartbreak Hotel" and "Blue Suede Shoes" onboard the aircraft carrier USS Hancock in San Diego. It's broadcast live on The Milton Berle Show.
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 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 Fats Domino headlines the first day of a 3-day concert organized by the DJ Alan Freed in Hartford, Connecticut. Over the course of the shows, 11 fans are arrested by over-zealous police. It's a litmus test for rock concerts and their effect on young people, as psychiatrist Francis Braceland testifies afterwards that rock music is "a communicable disease with music appealing to adolescent insecurity and driving teenagers to do outlandish things. It is cannibalistic and tribalistic."
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.
February 19, 1956 The Five Satins record "In The Still Of The Nite" in the basement of Saint Bernadette Church in New Haven, Connecticut.More
February 3, 1956 Lee Ranaldo (guitarist for Sonic Youth) is born in Glen Cove, Long Island, New York.
January 31, 1956 John Lydon is born in London. As Johnny Rotten, he fronts The Sex Pistols, a band that helps define British punk. When they break up in 1978 he forms Public Image Ltd., known for their songs "Rise" and "This Is Not a Love Song."
January 30, 1956 Elvis Presley records "Blue Suede Shoes," "My Baby Left Me," "One-Sided Love Affair," and "So Glad You're Mine."
January 28, 1956 Elvis Presley makes his TV debut on the Dorsey Brothers Stage Show, where he sings "Blue Suede Shoes" and "Heartbreak Hotel."
January 25, 1956 Andy Cox (guitarist for Fine Young Cannibals) is born in Birmingham, England.
January 17, 1956 Paul Young ("Everytime You Go Away") is born in Luton, Bedfordshire, England.
December 31, 1955 The first version of "Unchained Melody," recorded by Les Baxter, his Chorus and Orchestra, is named the top-selling single of 1955 by Billboard. Baxter's version was featured in the movie Unchained; The Righteous Brothers have a huge hit with the song in 1965.
December 15, 1955 Johnny Cash releases his second single, "Folsom Prison Blues." It becomes far more popular in 1968 when Cash releases a live version recorded at the titular California penitentiary and released on his album Live From Folsom Prison.
December 9, 1955 Elvis Presley performs at the B&I Club in Swifton, Arkansas, and introduces his new song, "Heartbreak Hotel," by claiming "It's gonna be my first hit."
November 26, 1955 Bill Haley's "Rock Around The Clock" becomes the first rock and roll record to hit #1 in the UK, thanks to its inclusion in the movie Blackboard Jungle.
November 22, 1955 Elvis Presley sends a telegram to his new manager, Colonel Tom Parker, which reads: "Dear Colonel, Words can never tell you how my folks and I appreciate what you did for me. I've always known and now my folks are assured that you are the best, most wonderful person I could ever hope to work with. Believe me when I say I will stick with you through thick and thin and do everything I can to uphold your faith in me. Again, I say thanks and I love you like a father."
November 20, 1955 After agreeing to perform Tennessee Ernie Ford's hit "Sixteen Tons" on CBS-TV's Ed Sullivan Show, Bo Diddley instead plays the song he was actually there to promote, his own hit "Bo Diddley." A furious Sullivan blackballs Bo from ever appearing on the show again. The singer has claimed he was never paid for the performance.
November 12, 1955 Billboard begins its "Top 100" chart, with the first #1 listed as "Love Is A Many-Splendored Thing" by the Four Aces. The magazine wouldn't combine all its pop charts into one until 1959.
October 3, 1955 The Mickey Mouse Club, featuring their breakout star, 12-year-old Annette Funicello, debuts on ABC.
October 2, 1955 Philip Oakey (frontman for The Human League) is born in Oadby, Leicestershire, England.
September 30, 1955 James Dean is killed in a car accident at age 24. Dean dies around the same time rock and roll comes alive (the #1 song the day he dies: Pat Boone's cover of "Ain't That A Shame" - clearly America is at a crossroads).More
September 26, 1955 Pop singer Eddie Fisher weds actress/singer Debbie Reynolds. The marriage will last just four tumultuous years before Fisher leaves America's Sweetheart for Elizabeth Taylor. Fisher and Reynolds had one child together, actress Carrie Fisher.
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