This Date in Rock Music History: September 11

1958:  Lloyd Price recorded the original version of "Stagger Lee".

1960:  Nancy Sinatra married Tommy Sands at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada.






1961:  Dion released the single "Runaround Sue".
1961:  Three new songs debuted in the Top 10--"Does Your Chewing Gum Lose It's Flavor (On The Bedpost Over Night)" by Lonnie Donegan, Barry Mann moved from 14-8 with "Who Put The Bomp (In The Bomp, Bomp, Bomp)" and Elvis Presley climbed in with "Little Sister".
1962:  The Beatles recorded the single "Love Me Do" (A side) and "P.S. I Love You" (B side) in Studio Two of the EMI Studios on Abbey Road in London.  It was the group's third try at their debut single; they recorded 10 takes of "P.S. I Love You" and 18 of "Love Me Do".  Producer George Martin was concerned with Ringo Starr's drumming, so he hired session musician Andy White.  The Beatles also came up with a new arrangement of "Please Please Me", with White on drums, that was rediscovered in 1994 and released on the album Anthology I. 
1962:  Neil Sedaka married his wife Leba.  
1964:  George Harrison announced the formation of Harrissongs, his own song publishing company.
1964:  The Beatles performed in the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Florida.
1965:  The Rolling Stones hit #1 in the U.K. with "Satisfaction".

1965:  We Five, featuring lovable lead singer Beverly Bivens, owned the top Easy Listening song for a second week with "You Were On My Mind".









1965:  The Beatles registered what still is the eighth biggest leap to #1 in the Rock Era on the Album chart--Help! moved from 61 to 1 on this date.  Sonny & Cher moved up with Look at Us, the Rolling Stones fell with Out of Our Heads and the Soundtrack to "The Sound of Music" was fourth.  The rest of the Top 10:  Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!) by the Beach Boys, Herman's Hermits on Tour, The Soundtrack to "Mary Poppins" came in #7, Beatles VI was #8, Sinatra '65, and Bob Dylan brought up the rear with Bringing It All Back Home.
1966:  The Rolling Stones performed "Paint It Black" on The Ed Sullivan Show.
1967:  Frank Sinatra was denied credit by new owner Howard Hughes at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, and lost two teeth in the ensuing fight.
1967:  The Jimi Hendrix Experience performed at the Gröna Lund in Stockholm, Sweden.
1967:  The single "All You Need Is Love" by the Beatles was certified Gold.

1967:  The Beatles' psychedelic bus "Magical Mystery Tour" began cruising the English countryside to begin filming for their next movie project.  The group visited Somerset, Cornwall, Devon and the Kent airport.  
1968:  Larry Graham of Sly & the Family Stone was arrested for possession of drugs, forcing the group to cancel an appearance on television.
1968:  The Beatles recorded 34 takes of "Glass Onion" for The White Album.  The 33rd was considered the best, and overdubs began the next day.
1971:  The animated series The Jackson Five made its debut on ABC-TV.
1971:  Joan Baez had the #1 Easy Listening song again with "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down".



1971:  Aretha Franklin held on to #1 on the R&B chart for the third week with her great song "Spanish Harlem".









1971:  The Carpenters catapulted from 49 to 17 with "Superstar".
1972:  The Faces performed at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
1975:  Aerosmith's debut album was certified Gold.
1976:  ELO released their great album A New World Record in the U.K.  It was released the following day in the United States.








1976:  Elton John & Kiki Dee's multi-format smash "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" was #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart.

1976:  Peter Frampton hopped up to #1 for the third time on the Album chart with Frampton Comes Alive!, sending the self-titled Fleetwood Mac to #2.  Jefferson Starship was at 3 with Spitfire and George Benson remained at 4 with Breezin'.  The rest of the Top 10:  Silk Degrees from Boz Scaggs, Linda Ronstadt jumped from 18 to 6 with Hasten Down the Wind, Lou Rawls came in at #7 with All Things in Time, the self-titled Wild Cherry was #8, Chicago X, and Spirit from John Denver.
1977:  Famous lyricist Bernie Taupin made his television acting debut on The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew Meet Dracula on ABC-TV.
1977:  David Bowie and Bing Crosby recorded a duet of the popular Christmas classic "The Little Drummer Boy" at Elstree Studios in London.




1978:  While "Hot Blooded" was still in the Top 10, Foreigner released the single "Double Vision".
1978:  Robert Palmer was in concert at the Odeon in Birmingham, England.
1979:  The Who appeared in concert at the Capitol Theater in Passaic, New Jersey but it wasn't the same group fans were familiar with.  Drummer Keith Moon had died the previous year, and the sticks were passed on to Kenny Jones.
1980:  The ABC show 20/20 presented an in-depth investigation into the death of Elvis Presley.   The expose raised so many questions that the official case was reopened.  (Note:  some websites claim the broadcast was on September 12, 1980, while others say it aired September 13.  Neither are correct.  The show was broadcast on Thursdays until 1987, when it moved to its current slot on Fridays.  In 1980, Thursday fell on September 11.)
1982:  Elton John rose to #1 on the AC chart with "Blue Eyes".



1982:  American Fool from John Cougar (Mellencamp) took its place as the #1 album, sending Mirage by Fleetwood Mac downward.  Eye of the Tiger by Survivor was third, followed by Abracadabra from the Steve Miller Band and Pictures at Eleven by Robert Plant.  The rest of the Top 10:  Asia, REO Speedwagon's Good Trouble, Daylight Again, the new Crosby, Stills & Nash album, Vacation from the Go-Go's and Chicago 16 reached the Top 10.
1982:  John Cougar (Mellencamp) became the only male artist to have two Top 10 songs at the same time that he had the #1 album.  "Jack & Diane" was #4 and "Hurts So Good" #8.
1982:  Chicago scored the second #1 song of their career with "Hard To Say I'm Sorry".  It was their 14th Top 10 and 32nd hit.  
1984:  Bruce Springsteen gave the first of six sold-out performances at the Spectrum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
1987:  Geffen Records released the compilation album Elton John's Greatest Hits, Volume 3.  (Note:  one website naively claims the album was released November 12.  The album debuted on the Album chart on October 3, 1987.  It is physically impossible for an album to be included on the Album chart if it has not been released yet.  According to the books 'Rocket Man:  Elton John from A-Z' by Claude Bernardin and Tom Stanton and 'His Song:  The Musical Journey of Elton John' by Elizabeth J. Rosenthal, the album was released in September.)

1987:  Prince's recording studio Paisley Park officially opened in Chanhassen, Minnesota at the intersection of Highway 5 and Audubon Road.  It was a 10-million dollar, 65,000 square foot facility with two 48-track studios, a 24-track studio, a 12,000-foot soundstage, a rehearsal and dance hall, video editing suites, and dozens of offices.  It is no longer active, but in its prime, artists from around the world recorded at Paisley Park, including Jermaine Jackson and Patti LaBelle. 
1987:  Peter Gabriel won Best Video, Best Male Video and seven other MTV Video Music Awards for "Sledgehammer", plus the Video Vanguard Award.



1987:  Lorne Greene, who had the #1 song "Ringo" in 1964 and of course was the father on one of the all-time top television shows Bonanza, died of cardiac arrest and complications from pneumonia following ulcer surgery at age 72 in Santa Monica, California.
1988:  Metallica began a tour of Europe at the MTK Stadium in Budapest, Hungary.
1988:  Michael Jackson performed in front of 125,000 fans at Aintree Racecourse in Aintree, Merseyside, England.  (Note:  some websites claim Jackson performed in Liverpool, England.  The Aintree Racecourse is located in Aintree, about six miles from Liverpool.)
1990:  George Michael released his second solo album, the incredible Listen Without Prejudice.

1990:  Mariah Carey released her song "Love Takes Time".










1993:  Mariah Carey reached #1 for the seventh time in just nine releases with "Dreamlover", knocking out UB40, which had been there for seven weeks with their remake of the Elvis Presley classic "Can't Help Falling In Love".  Billy Joel posted yet another Top 10 song with his 39th hit "River Of Dreams".
1995:  Janet Jackson became the first woman in the Rock Era to debut in the Top 10 when "Runaway" achieved the feat.
1996:  In the latest saga of an already boring story, Noel Gallagher of Oasis walked out on the band in the middle of a tour, leaving the group prior to their concert in Charlotte, North Carolina.



1999:  TLC reached #1 with "Unpretty".
2000:  The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio unveiled the new Jimi Hendrix Surround Sound Theater and exhibit.
2000:  Boyz II Men appeared at Beacon Theater in New York City to raise nearly $60,000 to benefit the VH1 Save the Music foundation.

2000:  Sixpence None the Richer ("Kiss Me") spent the day building houses for the wonderful Habitat for Humanity project in the neighborhood of Harlem in Manhattan, New York.
2003:  Jewel canceled a tour in the wake of the death of bassist Terome "T-Bone" Hannon, who died of a stroke on September 4.  (Note:  some websites claim Hannon died September 11.  He died September 4 according to 'MTV'; what happened on September 11 was that Jewel canceled her tour because of the loss of Hannon.)
2003:  Tommy Chong of Cheech and Chong was sentenced to nine months in federal prison for selling drug paraphernalia over the Internet.
2003:  Fleetwood Mac, Cher, Bruce Springsteen and Steely Dan, all touring in the fall, did not schedule a show on this, the second anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.
2004:  Brian McFadden, former singer with Westlife, tackled a mugger who had stolen a German tourist's handbag in North London and was celebrated as a hero.
2005:  The Pussycat Dolls had the top U.K. song with "Don't Cha'".


Born This Day:
1938:  Charles Patrick of the Monotones ("Book Of Love") 
1940:  Bernie Dwyer, drummer of Freddie & the Dreamers, was born in Manchester, Warwickshire, England; died of lung cancer near Cheadle, Cheshire, England on December 4, 2002.  (Note:  some websites claim Dwyer was born in 1941.  According to the newspaper 'The Manchester Beat', Dwyer was born in 1940.)
1943:  Jack Ely, lead singer and guitarist of the Kingsmen ("Louie Louie") was born in Portland, Oregon; died April 27, 2015 in Redmond, Oregon.  (Note:  some websites report Ely died in Terrebonne, Oregon, but the correct place of death is Redmond, according to 'Billboard', 'USA Today', 'Time', and many other reputable sources.) 
1943:  Mickey Hart, drummer of Grateful Dead, was born in Brooklyn, New York.
1946:  Dennis Tufano, lead singer of the Buckinghams, was born in Chicago, Illinois.
1948:  John Martyn (real name Iain David McGeachy), singer, songwriter and guitarist who worked with Eric Clapton and David Gilmour, was born in New Malden, Surrey, England; died January 29, 2009 of double pneumonia in Kilkenny, Irish Republic.  (Note:  some websites claim Martyn was born in New Malden, London.  London did not become the county of New Malden until 1965, 17 years after Martyn's birth.  In 1948, New Malden was in the county of Surrey.)

1953:  Tommy Shaw, guitarist of Styx, was born in Montgomery, Alabama.
1957:  Jon Moss, drummer for Culture Club, was born in Wandsworth, London, England.
1958:  Mick Talbot, keyboardist with Style Council ("My Ever Changing Moods"), was born in Wimbledon, Surrey, England.  (Note:  some naive websites claim Talbot was born in Wimbledon, London.  Wimbledon was not part of the county of London until 1965, making it physically impossible for Talbot to have been born in the county of London in 1958.)
1965:  Moby (Richard Hall) was born in Manhattan, New York.  (Note:  some websites report Hall was born in Harlem, New York.  The neighborhood in which one was born is not included on an official birth certificate--only the city, county and state are necessary.  Hall was born in Manhattan.)






1967:  Harry Connick, Jr. was born in New Orleans, Louisiana.
1971:  Richard Ashcroft, guitarist and vocalist with the Verve, was born in Billinge, Lancashire, England. (Note:  some websites claim Ashcroft was born in Billinge, Wigan, England while others say he was born in Billinge, Merseyside.  First, Wigan is not a county so that is out.  In 1974, the Higher End of Billinge became part of the borough of Wigan in the county of Manchester while the rest of the town became part of the county of Merseyside, but that was three years after Ashcroft was born.  In 1971, when Richard was born, Billinge was in the county of  Lancashire.) 
1975:  Brad Fischetti of LFO was born in New York City, New York.
1977:  Ludacris (Christopher Brian Bridges) was born in Champaign, Illinois.
1977:  Jon Buckland, guitarist of Coldplay, was born in Islington, London, England.