This Date in Rock Music History: November 12

1955:  Fats Domino had the top R&B song for a third week with "All By Myself".  

1966:  Lou Rawls reached the pinnacle of the R&B chart with "Love Is A Hurtin' Thing".
1966:  The self-titled debut album The Monkees reached #1.

1966:  Simon & Garfunkel made a healthy move (81 to 47) with "A Hazy Shade Of Winter".









1966:  Johnny Rivers scored the biggest hit of his great career as "Poor Side Of Town" went to #1.  The Monkees slid down with "Last Train To Clarksville", ? & the Mysterians were at #3 with "96 Tears" and the Beach Boys moved from 17-4 with "Good Vibrations".  The rest of the Top 10:  "Dandy" from Herman's Hermits, the New Vaudeville Band jumped from 24-6 with "Winchester Cathedral", the Supremes shot up from 27-7 with "You Keep Me Hangin' On", setting up a big battle for next week, Bobby Darin's "If I Were A Carpenter" remained in the #8 position, Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels jumped from 18 to 9 with "Devil With A Blue Dress On/Good Golly Miss Molly" and James & Bobby Purify moved into the Top 10 with "I'm Your Puppet".



1973:  ABC Records released the posthumous single "Time In A Bottle".








ABBA released the single "Dancing Queen".

1977:  Blondie and XTC played at Friars in Aylesbury, England.
 1977:  The Boz Scaggs song "We're All Alone" became the new #1 Easy Listening hit for Rita Coolidge.








1977:  Debby Boone made it five weeks at #1 with her classic "You Light Up My Life".  Heatwave was the new #2, as "Boogie Nights" swapped places with Carly Simon's "Nobody Does It Better".  Barry White turned up the heat with "It's Ecstasy When You Lay Down Next To Me" and Crystal Gayle had a big hit on her hands--"Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue".  The rest of the Top 10:  Donna Summer and "I Feel Love", Chicago edged up to #7 with "Baby, What A Big Surprise", Paul Nicholas sang of "Heaven On The 7th Floor", the Bee Gees rang up hit #29 with the lead single from the great movie Saturday Night Fever--"How Deep Is Your Love" and Rita Coolidge hit the Top 10 with "We're All Alone".

Christine's "Songbird"...

1977:  The Fleetwood Mac album Rumours spent week #27 at #1.  Linda Ronstadt was a solid #2 with Simple Dreams, Steely Dan's great album Aja was third with the self-titled Foreigner in the #4 position.  Love You Live by the Rolling Stones was #5.  The rest of the Top 10:  Chicago XI, Elvis in Concert by Elvis Presley, Barry White Sings for Someone You Love at #8, Rita Coolidge with Anytime...Anywhere and Kansas jumped from 22 to 10 with Point of Know Return.





1979:  Kenny Rogers released the single "Coward Of The County".
1979:  Marty Balin, lead singer of Jefferson Starship, saw his rock opera Rock Justice open for a four-day run at the Old Waldorf nightclub in San Francisco, California.

1982:  The Pretenders released the single "Back On The Chain Gang".
1983:  Lionel Richie reached #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart with "All Night Long (All Night)".








    Ronstadt changed gears once again...


1983:  The Police album Synchronicity, which had fought off Thriller by Michael Jackson for the past nine weeks, spent a 16th week at #1.  Metal Health by Quiet Riot moved to challenge with Thriller third.  Billy Joel's great album An Innocent Man moved to #4. The rest of the Top 10:  Faster Than the Speed of Night by Bonnie Tyler, Eyes That See in the Dark from Kenny Rogers, Pyromania by Def Leppard was #7, the Greatest Hits album by Air Supply, ZZ Top moved into the Top 10 with Eliminator and Linda Ronstadt was content at #10 with What's New.




1983:  Duran Duran moved from 59 to 42 with "Union Of The Snake".









      Billy Joel was racing up the chart with "Uptown Girl"...

1983:  Lionel Richie's fifth consecutive Top 10 song to open his solo career went all the way to #1--"All Night Long (All Night)".  Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton paddled downhill with "Islands In The Stream" and Billy Joel was up to #3 with his 22nd hit "Uptown Girl".  Paul McCartney & Michael Jackson teamed up with "Say Say Say".  The rest of the Top 10:  Bonnie Tyler's former #1 smash "Total Eclipse Of The Heart", the Fixx and "One Thing Leads To Another", "Cum On Feel The Noize (sic)" from Quiet Riot, Prince remained at #8 with "Delirious", Air Supply's #2 song "Making Love Out Of Nothing At All" and the Motels checked in with song #10--"Suddenly Last Summer".
1984:  Madonna released her second album Like a Virgin.



1984:  Phil Collins and Phillip Bailey released the single "Easy Lover".









1986:  Madonna released the single "Open Your Heart".
1987:  Sly Stone was arrested for nonpayment of child support when he arrived an hour late for his "comeback concert" in Los Angeles.







1988:  Anita Baker achieved her 12th R&B hit and this one became a #1 song--"Giving You The Best That I Got".
1988:  Taylor Dayne had another big hit as "Don't Rush Me" was galloping up the chart from #81 to #56.







                       U2's live gem "Desire"...

1988:  The Escape Club had the new #1 song--"Wild, Wild West", taking over from the Beach Boys with "Kokomo".  Kylie Minogue's version of the song written by Stanley, Idaho's Carole King--"The Loco-Motion" took the opportunity to move up to #3 and Bon Jovi's "Bad Medicine" was right behind her.  The rest of the Top 10:  Whitney Houston and "One Moment iI Time", U2 and the live "Desire" was at #6, Phil Collins was on the way down with "Groovy Kind Of Love", Will to Power cracked the list with "Baby, I Love Your Way/Freebird Medley", the fifth consecutive Top 10 song from George Michael's Faith album--"Kissing A Fool" moved from 15 to 9 and Inxs wrapped up the list with "Never Tear Us Apart".




1988:  U2 reached #1 on the Album chart with the Soundtrack to "Rattle and Hum" while Guns N' Roses had the #2 album after 64 weeks of release with Appetite for Destruction.  The previous #1--New Jersey by Bon Jovi was down to #3 and the "Cocktail" Soundtrack and Def Leppard's Hysteria were also bumped down a notch.  The rest of the Top 10:  Don't Be Cruel from Bobby Brown, Anita Baker moved from 22 to 7 in just her second week with the album Giving You the Best That I Got, George Michael was still at #8 with Faith after 52 weeks, Bobby McFerrin had Simple Pleasures and Cinderella jumped into the Top 10 with Long Cold Winter.
1988:  Breathe took their song "How Can I Fall" to #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart.

1990:  Ron Wood, guitarist of the Rolling Stones, broke both legs when his car was struck by a car fifty miles west of London.











1990:  C + C Music Factory released the single "Gonna' Make You Sweat".
1993:  Michael Jackson canceled his world tour, saying he had become dependent on painkillers.

1994:  "I Wanna' Be Down" by Brandy set the pace on the R&B chart.










1994:  The incredible Boyz II Men, who dominated the chart for 13 weeks just two years earlier with "End Of The Road", now held on for a 12th week at #1 with "I'll Make Love To You".  Sheryl Crow spent six of those weeks at #2 with her great song "All I Wanna' Do" and Real McCoy were up to #3 with "Another Night".  Ini Kamoze had song #4--"Here Comes The Hotstepper" and Madonna made it 26 Top 10 songs out of 32 releases with "Secret".






1996:  Jewel released the single "You Were Meant For Me".
1997:  Billy Preston was sent to jail for three years for possession of cocaine.
1999:  Gary Glitter ("Rock And Roll, Part 2" from 1972) was sentenced to four months in jail for possession of child pornography.
2000:  Destiny's Child had the #1 song with "Independent Women, Part 1".
2003:  Phil Collins announced that he had lost 60% of the hearing in his left ear due to a viral infection.





2003:  Tony Thompson, drummer of Chic and The Power Station, who also worked for David Bowie and Madonna, died of renal cell cancer in Encino, California at the age of 48.
2005:  Gary Glitter, who had been convicted of child pornography, vanished from his Ba Ring Vung Tau home after Vietnamese authorities discovered a 15 year-old girl living there.
2008:  Mitch Mitchell, drummer with the Jimi Hendrix Experience, was found dead at age 61 in his hotel room in Portland, Oregon.

Born This Day:

1930:  The great Bob Crewe, who wrote and produced many of the 4 Seasons hits and also wrote "Music To Watch Girls By", was born in Newark, New Jersey; died September 11, 2014 in Scarborough, Maine.  (Note:  many websites still show his birth as 1931, but 'The New York Times' and other reputable sites indicate that it was 1930.)
1936:  Mort Shuman, who wrote the music to "Save The Last Dance For Me" for the Drifters, "(Marie's The Name) Of His Latest Flame" and "Little Sister" for Elvis Presley, "Teenager in Love" for Dion & the Belmonts and many others, was born in New York City; died of cancer in London on November 2, 1991.
1936:  Charlotte Davis of the Tune Weavers ("Happy, Happy Birthday Baby" from 1957)
1939:  Ruby Nash Curtis of Ruby & the Romantics ("Our Day Will Come") was born in Akron, Ohio.

1943:  Brian Hyland, who was a sophomore in high school when his "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polkadot Bikini" became a hit, was born in Queens, New York.
1943:  John Maus of the Walker Brothers ("The Sun Ain't Gonna' Shine (Anymore)"; died of liver cancer at his home in Los Angeles on May 7, 2011 at the age of 67.  (Note:  some websites show his date of death as May 8, but according to the official press announcement of his death, it was May 7.)

1944:  Booker T. Jones of Booker T. & the M.G.'s was born in Memphis, Tennessee.











1945:  Neil Young was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
1947:  Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser, bass guitarist with Blue Oyster Cult, was born in Long Island, New York.









1948:  Errol Brown, lead singer of Hot Chocolate ("You Sexy Thing"), was born in Kingston, Jamaica.
1949:  Arthur Tavares of the group Tavares ("Heaven Must Be Missing An Angel" from 1977)
1952:  Laurence Juber, lead guitarist with Wings, was born in Stepney, East London.





1955:  Leslie McKeown, lead singer of the Bay City Rollers, was born in Edinburgh, Scotland.  
1964:  David Ellefson, founding member and bassist of Megadeth, was born in Jackson, Minnesota.

1976:  Tevin Campbell ("Tell Me What You Want Me To Do" from 1992) was born in Waxahachie, Texas.  (Note:  some websites show he was born in Dallas, but according to the Waxahacie website, he was born there.)
1984:  Omarion of B2K was born in Inglewood, California.