Monthly Archives: February 2024

In 1958, 7000 screaming teenagers rioted at the first rock and roll concert held in West Berlin. It featured Bill Haley & His Comets. Best known for “Rock Around the Clock” and “Shake, Rattle and Roll, it was Haley’s earlier … Continue reading →

Ed Sullivan had to tell the audience to be “Quiet!” during the appearance of the Rolling Stones. But the screams never ceased. The band closed out the show with “Time is On My Side.” Sullivan vowed that the Stones would … Continue reading →

On October 24,1962, James Brown’s appearance at the Apollo Theater in New York was recorded for an album called “Live at the Apollo.” The self-financed LP cost Brown $5,700.00, and would sell over a million copies.  “Live at the Apollo” … Continue reading →

Elvis Presley is on a Billboard chart outside of Memphis for the first time when “Blue Moon Of Kentucky” hits #6 in Nashville and #3 in New Orleans in 1954. The song, written in 1946 by Bill Monroe, was meant … Continue reading →

The Supremes are the first female group to have a number one album in the U.S.A when their LP, “Supremes A-Go-Go,” reaches the top in 1966. It knocked The Beatles’ “Revolver” out of first place. The Supremes album, released on … Continue reading →

On Oct. 20, 1977, Ronnie Van Zant, Steve Gaines, and Cassie Gaines from Lynyrd Skynyrd and their manager Dean Kilpatrick are killed when their plane runs out of gas in Gillsburg, Mississippi. The band’s first album, “Lynyrd Skynyrd,”released on MCA/ … Continue reading →

Chess Records co-founder Phil Chess died at 95 in 2016. He and his brother Leonard were responsible for giving us Willie Dixon, Howlin’ Wolf, Bo Diddley, Sonny Boy Williamson, John Lee Hooker, Elmore James, as well as Chuck Berry, Muddy … Continue reading →

In 2009, a clump of hair snipped from Elvis Presley when he joined the US Army in March, 1958, sold for $15,000 at the Leslie Hindman auction house in Chicago.  An original copy of Elvis’ album, “G.I. Blues,” based loosely … Continue reading →

When Paul McCartney makes his first appearance with the Quarry Men in Liverpool in 1957; the band’s line-up was John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Eric Griffiths, Colin Hanton and Len Garry. Paul is said to be a bundle of nerves as … Continue reading →

The Four Tops were prolific hit makers in the 1960s with classics like “Reach Out I’ll Be There” and “It’s The Same Old Song.” Among the groups’ biggest hits was “Ask the Lonely.” Released on Motown in 1964, a copy … Continue reading →