This Date in Rock Music History: September 28

1953:  Johnny Horton ("The Battle Of New Orleans") married the widow of Hank Williams, Billie Jean.

1962:  The Beatles performed at lunch at the Cavern Club in Liverpool, England and then gave a show aboard the MV Royal Iris (commonly known as the Fish and Chip Boat) on the River Mersey.  Ray McFall, owner of the Cavern Club, organized the Riverboat Shuffles, with cruises beginning and ending at the Pier Head in Liverpool.
1963:  Disc jockey Murray the K in New York City played "She Loves You" by the Beatles on WINS-AM, believed to be the first time that a Beatles song was played in the United States.
1963:  Bobby Vinton continued to set the pace with four weeks at #1 on the Easy Listening chart for "Blue Velvet".
1963:  "Heat Wave" led the way on the R&B chart for Martha & the Vandellas.

1963:  Jimmy Gilmer & the Fireballs moved from 65 to 19 with "Sugar Shack".
1963:  "Blue Velvet" by Bobby Vinton was the #1 song again.  The Jaynetts owned #2--"Sally, Go 'Round The Roses", the Ronettes were up from 12 to 3 with "Be My Baby", Martha & the Vandellas came in #4 with "Heat Wave" and the Angels' former #1 "My Boyfriend's Back was #5.

1964:  Herman's Hermits released their first single--"I'm Into Something Good".
1964:  Connie Stevens' television series Wendy and Me (with George Burns) debuted.
1965:  Sonny & Cher performed at a private party for Jacqueline Kennedy at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City.
1968:  Albert Grossman, manager of Janis Joplin, announced that Joplin would be leaving the group Big Brother and the Holding Company.
1968:  Dewey Phillips, a pioneer among rock & roll disc jockeys, and the first DJ to play Elvis Presley's debut single "That's All Right", died of heart failure from drugs at the age of 42.

1968:  Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66 owned the Easy Listening chart with "The Fool On The Hill", four weeks at #1.
1968:  Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell's duet "You're All I Need To Get By" was #1 on the R&B chart for a fifth week.
1968:  Time Peace/The Rascals' Greatest Hits was the #1 album, taking over from Waiting for the Sun by the Doors.  Feliciano!  from Jose Feliciano came in third but Big Brother & the Holding Company moved from 13 to 4 with Cheap Thrills.  The rest of the Top 10:  Realization from Johnny Rivers, Wheels of Fire by Cream was #6, the Jimi Hendrix Experience remained at 7 with Are You Experienced?, Glen Campbell moved from 15-8 with Gentle on My Mind, the self-titled Steppenwolf and the Soundtrack to "The Graduate" was #10.




1968:  The Turtles moved from 97 to 54 with "Elenore".

1968:  "Hey Jude" became the Beatles' 16th #1 song.  Jeannie C. Riley fell with "Harper Valley P.T.A." and the Rascals' former #1 "People Got To Be Free" came in third.  Deep Purple's "Hush" was followed by "Fire" from The Crazy World of Arthur Brown.  The rest of the Top 10:  Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66 with their version of "The Fool On The Hill", 1910 Fruitgum Company had "1,2,3 Red Light", the Bee Gees climbed to 8 with "I've Gotta' Get A Message To You", the O'Kaysions moved from 16 to 9 with "Girl Watcher" while Clarence Carter moved into the Top 10 with "Slip Away".







1972:  The Temptations released the single "Papa Was A Rolling Stone".
1972:  David Bowie sold out Carnegie Hall (2,804 capacity) in New York City.
1972:  Rory Storm of the Hurricanes (Ringo Starr's former band) was found dead after taking sleeping pills the night before to battle a chest infection.  (Note:  some websites incorrectly say Rory died on September 27.  He had trouble sleeping the night of September 27, but he was not found nor pronounced dead until the morning of September 28.  Some websites also claim Storm committed suicide but there simply is no evidence of that.)
1973:  The Doobie Brothers and Earth, Wind & Fire highlighted the debut of Don Kirshner's Rock Concert on ABC-TV.  The Rolling Stones taped a show from London.

                              Stevie ridicules U.S. Republican Richard Nixon...

1974:  Stevie Wonder took over on the R&B chart with "You Haven't Done Nothin'".
1974:  "I Honestly Love You" by Olivia Newton-John was the #1 song on the Easy Listening chart for the third consecutive week.
1974:  Carl Carlton moved from 87 to 63 with "Everlasting Love".






1974:  Andy Kim had the new #1 song with "Rock Me Gently".  Olivia Newton-John was one step closer with "I Honestly Love You" and Billy Preston was next with "Nothing From Nothing".  Dionne Warwick and the Spinners combined for "Then Came You" and First Class were up big (12-5) with "Beach Baby".  The rest of the Top 10:  Stevie Wonder and "You Haven't Done Nothin'", the Guess Who had song #7 with "Clap For The Wolfman", Cat Stevens reached the Top 10 with "Another Saturday Night", Johnny Bristol and "Hang On In There Baby" and Lynyrd Skynyrd reached the Top 10 with "Sweet Home Alabama".
1974:  Bad Company climbed to #1 with their debut album.  Endless Summer from the Beach Boys was the runner-up with the previous #1--Fulfillingness' First Finale by Stevie Wonder falling to #3.  Olivia Newton-John was beginning to break through with If You Love Me, Let Me Know and Caribou by Elton John rose from 12 to 5.  The rest of the Top 10:  Not Fragile by Bachman-Turner Overdrive, Back Home Again by John Denver was #7, Chicago VII, Can't Get Enough by Barry White shot up from 22 to 9 and 461 Ocean Boulevard by Eric Clapton tumbled to #10.
1975:  The Grateful Dead and Jefferson Starship performed for free before 40,000 at Golden Gate Park's Lindley Meadows in San Francisco, California.
1976:  Stevie Wonder released the landmark album Songs in the Key of Life on Motown Records.
1980:  The Police had the #1 song in the U.K. with "Don't Stand So Close To Me".
1985:  Brothers In Arms by Dire Straits remained #1 on the Album chart.
1985:  Kool & the Gang continued to top the Adult Contemporary chart with "Cherish".
1987:  Gladys Knight and Smokey Robinson were guests on the popular television show $10,000 Pyramid.
1987:  U2 played the first of two concerts at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

1989:  Jimmy Buffett released Tales From Margaritaville, a book of short stories.
1991:  AC/DC, Metallica, and Pantera headlined a Monsters of Rock concert at the Tushino Airfield outside Moscow, Russia.








1991:  Bryan Adams was awarded the Order of Canada and the Order of British Columbia.









1991:  "I Adore Mi Amor" held down #1 on the R&B chart.
1991:  Color Me Badd reigned at #1 on the Popular chart with "I Adore Mi Amor", holding off "Good Vibrations" by Marky Mark & the Funky Bunch.  Boyz II Men with "Motownphilly" was #3 while Mariah Carey joined the group at #4 with "Emotions".  The rest of the Top 10:  Firehouse and "Love Of A Lifetime", C + C Music Factory with "Things That Make You Go Hmmmm....", Michael Bolton held steady at 7 with "Time, Love And Tenderness", Natural Selection moved from 16-8 with "Do Anything", Bonnie Raitt had her first Top 10 with "Something To Talk About" and R.E.M. moved up with "Shiny Happy People".
1991:  Michael Bolton took over at #1 on the AC chart with "Time, Love And Tenderness".
1991:  Ropin' the Wind debuted at #1 for Garth Brooks on the Album chart.

1992:  Shai released the single "If I Ever Fall In Love".
1996:  Bob Dylan was nominated by Professor Gordon Ball of Virginia Military Institute for the Nobel Literature Prize.





1996:  The count was up to nine for weeks at #1 for "Macarena" by Los Del Rios.  "Where Do You Go" by No Mercy was the only new song in the Top 10.
1999:  The members of the band All Saints had casts made of their hands for the "Wall of Hands" exhibit at Madame Tussaud's Rock Circus in London.
2000:  Radiohead played at Glasgow Green in Scotland.
2002:  The City of Nutbush, Tennessee named a portion of State Highway 19 the "Tina Turner Highway".  Turner lived in Nutbush (about 50 miles northeast of Memphis) until she was 17.
2003:  Muse had the #1 album in the U.K. with Absolution.
2003:  John Mayer owned the top album in the United States with Heavier Things.
2005:  Disturbed led the way on the Album chart with Ten Thousand Fists.
2007:  The John Lennon Northern Lights Festival, named after the popular star, kicked off for the first of three days in Durness, Scotland.  Lennon spent holidays between the ages of nine and 13 in the village.

Born This Day:

1901:  Ed Sullivan, who hosted numerous rock acts including the Beatles, whose appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show on February 9, 1964 drew an estimated 73 million viewers, was born in Manhattan, New York; died October 13, 1974 of cancer in New York City.  (Note:  several websites state Sullivan was born in Harlem, New York.  Harlem is not a city; it is a neighborhood, and you will never see Harlem listed as the official City of Birth for Sullivan.)







1938:  Ben E. King, lead singer of the Drifters and a solo star ("Stand By Me" and "Spanish Harlem") was born in Henderson, North Carolina; died of natural causes April 30, 2015 in Hackensack, New Jersey at age 76. 
1943:  Nick St. Nicholas, bass guitarist of Steppenwolf, was born in Hamburg, Germany.   (Note:  some sources list his birthplace as Plön, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, but the Nick St. Nicholas born there is an actor who appeared in 'Police Woman', among other shows.)
1950:  Paul Burgess, drummer of 10cc, was born in Manchester, Lancashire, England.
1953:  Keni Burke of the Five Stairsteps ("O-o-h Child") and bassist with Sly & the Family Stone and Diana Ross, was born in Chicago, Illinois.
1955:  George Lynch, guitarist of Dokken, was born in Spokane, Washington.

1960: Jennifer Rush was born in Queens, New York.
1977:  Young Jeezy, whose real name is Jay Jenkins, was born in Columbia, South Carolina.  (Note:  some websites say Jenkins was born in Atlanta.  He was born in Columbia and moved to Atlanta with his family later.)
1984:  Melody Thornton of the Pussycat Dolls was born in Charleston, South Carolina.  (Note:  you will find confusion with some sources saying that Melanie Thornton was in the Pussycat Dolls and died in a plane crash.  Melanie Thornton fronted the group Labouche, was born in 1967, was never with the Pussycat Dolls, and died in 2001 in a plane crash.  Melody Thornton (no relation) was born in 1984, joined the Pussycat Dolls, and is still very much alive.) 
1987:  Hilary Duff was born in Houston, Texas.