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May 22, 1958 Jerry Lee Lewis arrives in London for a tour. When a reporter for the Daily Mail notices a young girl in the entourage, he asks her who she is. "I'm Jerry Lee's wife," she replies, revealing their taboo union. Word spreads that Lewis has married his 13-year-old second cousin, Myra Gale Brown, tanking the tour and sending him back home to America a pariah.
May 3, 1958 The popular disc jockey Alan Freed hosts a rock concert at the Boston Arena (a hockey rink) that does not go well. The city doesn't host another rock concert until 1964.More
December 2, 1957 Sam Cooke's "You Send Me" hits #1 for the first of three weeks.
October 12, 1957 Little Richard renounces rock and embraces God, telling the crowd at his show in Sydney, Australia: "If you want to live for the Lord, you can't take rock 'n' roll, too. God doesn't like it." After the tour, Richard gives up secular music, gets ordained as a minister, and records Gospel. He doesn't return to rock until 1962.
July 8, 1957 Elvis Presley's "(Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear" hits #1 in America the day before it appears in his second film, Loving You. It holds the top spot for seven weeks.
February 16, 1957 Tab Hunter's "Young Love" begins a six-week run at #1 in America.
June 5, 1956 Elvis Presley appears on The Milton Berle Show where the pair do a comedy bit performing Elvis' "Hound Dog" and "I Want You, I Need You, I Love You." It marks the first TV appearance of The Jordanaires backing up Elvis, and the last Milton Berle show for 10 years.
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
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
December 10, 1953 The first issue of Playboy magazine is published (Marilyn Monroe is on the cover). Over the next two decades, "playboy" shows up in several hit songs:
"Playboy" by Marvelettes (1962)
"He's Just A Playboy" by The Drifters (1964)
"Playboy" by Gene & Debbe (1968)
"International Playboy" by Wilson Pickett (1973)More
August 8, 1953 Les Paul and Mary Ford's "Vaya Con Dios (May God Be With You)" hits #1 in America.
May 16, 1953 Percy Faith's "Song From Moulin Rouge (Where Is Your Heart)" hits #1.
February 26, 1953 Michael Bolton is born Michael Bolotin in New Haven, Connecticut. Before reaching soft-rock stardom, he fronts a hard-rock band called Blackjack.More
February 14, 1953 Teresa Brewer's "Till I Waltz Again with You" hits #1 in America.
January 28, 1953 Derek Bentley is hanged for the murder of Police Constable Sidney Miles, who on November 2, 1952, was shot dead on a Croydon rooftop by 16-year-old Christopher Craig. Christopher Craig, too young to be executed, was paroled in 1963. The murder and trial later become the topic of the Ewan MacColl song "Ballad Of Derek Bentley."
January 10, 1953 Perry Como's "Don't Let The Stars Get In Your Eyes" hits #1 in the US.
November 29, 1952 Joni James' "Why Don't You Believe Me" hits #1.
September 27, 1952 Patti Page's "I Went To Your Wedding" hits #1.
September 13, 1952 Jo Stafford's "You Belong To Me" hits #1.
April 11, 1952 Singin' In The Rain, starring Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor and newcomer Debbie Reynolds, is released in the US, but barely makes a splash.More
November 12, 1951 The musical Paint Your Wagon opens at the Shubert Theater, New York City. In 1969, it's turned into a movie musical starring Clint Eastwood and Lee Marvin.
October 7, 1951 John Mellencamp is born in Seymour, Indiana. He has Spina bifida, but survives thanks to an experimental surgery performed at Riley Children's Hospital in Indianapolis.More
October 2, 1951 Sting is born Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner in Wallsend, Northumberland, England. He earns his nickname when a fellow musician says he looks like a bee in his yellow-and-black striped sweater. He is working as a schoolteacher when his band The Police hit the big time.More
June 23, 1951 Nat King Cole's "Too Young" hits #1.
March 20, 1951 Blues rocker Jimmie Vaughan (of Fabulous Thunderbirds) is born in Dallas, Texas. His younger brother, Stevie Ray Vaughan, is born in 1954.
May 13, 1950 Stevie Wonder is born Stevland Morris in Saginaw, Michigan.More
January 21, 1950 Billy Ocean is born Leslie Sebastian Charles in Trinidad and Tobago. At age 10 he moves to London with his family. He first charts in 1976 with "Love Really Hurts Without You," but he really breaks through with "Caribbean Queen (No More Love On The Run)" in 1984, kicking off a run of hits that includes "There'll Be Sad Songs (To Make You Cry)" and "When The Going Gets Tough, The Tough Get Going."
May 9, 1949 Billy Joel is born in The Bronx, New York, raised in Hicksville on Long Island.More
October 16, 1947 Grateful Dead rhythm guitarist and co-founder Bob Weir is born in San Francisco, California. The youngest member of the band (just 17 when they form), he anchors them musically and often contributes to vocals and songwriting, including on "One More Saturday Night" and "Truckin'."
December 30, 1946 Punk rock icon Patti Smith is born in Chicago. Never all that popular (her big hit is a reworking of "Because The Night," written by Bruce Springsteen), she's one of the most influential singer-songwriter-poets of her time.More
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