This Date in Rock Music History: February 13

1961:  Frank Sinatra started his own recording company, Reprise Records.
1961:  The instrumental "Calcutta" by Lawrence Welk was the new #1 song, passing up "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" by the Shirelles.  The Miracles teamed up for the #3 song--"Shop Around", while Neil Sedaka was fourth with "Calendar Girl" and Ferrante & Teicher's big hit "Exodus" was on its way down.
1961:  The Miracles remained at #1 on the R&B chart for the fifth consecutive week with "Shop Around".
1962:  Don and Phil Everly graduated from boot camp in the Marine Corps and Don married Venetia Stevenson.
1965:  Jr. Walker & the All-Stars debuted on the chart and on the radio with their first single--"Shotgun".
1965:  The Temptations remained at #1 on the R&B chart for a third week with "My Girl".

 Shirley Bassey with one of the top Bond theme songs ever.

1965:  Beatles '65 by the Beatles was the #1 album for the sixth week.  There were two new albums in the Top 10:  The "Goldfinger" Soundtrack and You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling by the Righteous Brothers.
1965:  Roger Miller vaulted to #1 on the Easy Listening chart with one of the Top 100 Songs of All-Time in Adult Music*--"King of the Road".
1965:  Little Anthony & the Imperials had a big hit with "Hurt So Bad".

1965:  The Righteous Brothers were #1 again with "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling".  Former #1 "Downtown" from Petula Clark still hung on to #2 and "This Diamond Ring" by Gary Lewis & the Playboys edged up.  Shirley Ellis lost a spot with "The Name Game" and the great new Temptations song "My Girl" was up to #5.
1966:  The Rolling Stones appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show.
1970:  Black Sabbath released their first album.
1971:  Diana Ross & the Supremes, the Jackson 5 and Mungo Jerry were in concert at the Grand Theater in Gary, Indiana.
1971:  We first heard of this artist this week and Cat Stevens debuted on the chart with his first single--"Wild World".
1971:  Bobby Goldsboro and "Watching Scotty Grow" remained at #1 on the Adult chart for a sixth week.

Chicago was on the way to superstardom.

1971:  George Harrison remained #1 on the album chart for a seventh week with All Things Must Pass.  The Soundtrack to "Jesus Christ Superstar" remained a strong second with the new Chicago album, Chicago III, moving from 8 to 3.  Santana's breakthrough album Abraxas was fourth after 19 weeks while Elton John rose with Tumbleweed Connection.  The rest of the Top 10:  Pendulum from CCR, the Greatest Hits by Sly & the Family Stone, the Soundtrack to "Love Story" entered the Top 10, the album Pearl by the recently departed Janis Joplin moved from 14-9 in its third week and the self-titled Elton John was on its way down.
1971:  The Carpenters had a great 1970 and they picked up the new year right where they left off.  Their latest, "For All We Know", moved from #87 to #39 on this date.

1971:  The Osmonds accomplished the rare feat of hitting #1 with their first song--"One Bad Apple".  That knocked Dawn off the top with "Knock Three Times".  Lynn Anderson was going to be a force with "Rose Garden" and Dave Edmunds was up to #4 with "I Hear You Knocking".
1975:  Jefferson Starship recorded the song "Miracles".

1978:  The city of Los Angeles declared today "Al Green Day".

1978:  ELO released the single "Sweet Talkin' Woman".


1978:  Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway teamed up to release the single "The Closer I Get To You".

1980:  Phil Lynott, leader of Thin Lizzy, married Caroline Crowther.

1981:  Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd took over from Tapestry by Stanley, Idaho's Carole King has the longest-running album of the Rock Era on the chart with 402 weeks.  Dark Side still needed to hold on for 88 weeks to break the all-time mark of 490 set by Johnny Mathis with his Greatest Hits album.

1982:  "We Got the Beat" moved from #64 to #31 for the Go-Go's.
1982:  Dan Fogelberg held off all challengers for a second week at #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart with "Leader of the Band".
1983:  Marvin Gaye sang the national anthem at the NBA All-Star game.

1988:  Michael Jackson bought a ranch in Santa Ynez, California that he named "Neverland".
1988:  Keith Sweat's work paid off as "I Want Her" remained at #1 for the third week on the R&B chart.

1988:  There were two new songs in the Top 10:  "Don't Shed a Tear" from Paul Carrack and "She's Like the Wind" by Patrick Swayze and Wendy Fraser.

1988:  Gloria Estefan & Miami Sound Machine were one of the top new talents and they took over at #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart with the great song "Can't Stay Away From You".
1993:  Patrick Waite, founder of Musical Youth ("Pass the Dutchie" from 1982) died at age 24 of a hereditary heart condition.
1993:  The Cult had the #1 album in the U.K. with Pure Cult.
1993:  "The Bodyguard" Soundtrack logged a 10th week at #1 on the album chart.
1993:  Whitney Houston continued to set the bar high on the R&B chart with an 11th week at #1 for "I Will Always Love You".
1993:  Whitney Houston dominated again with a 12th week at #1 with "I Will Always Love You", one short of the all-time record at the time held by Boyz II Men with "End of the Road".
1999:  Miss Toni Fisher ("The Big Hurt") died of a heart attack at the age of 67.

1999:  Monica moved to #1 with "Angel of Mine".
2002:  Jennifer Lopez grabbed the #1 spot on the album chart with Jo To The L-o!  The Remixes.

2004:  In today's edition of Dangerous Inmates Run Rap Music, Loon (as in Loony Tunes), an associate of P. Diddy, was arrested with two other men in the stabbing of a security guard outsight a nightclub in Los Angeles.  

2004:  Led Zeppelin received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Grammys.  Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and Jason Bonham (John's son) were on hand to receive the honor.  Lead singer Robert Plant was on tour promoting his current solo album.

2005:  This is what the awards shows do.  They waited until Ray Charles died, then gave him eight posthumous Grammys for his final album Genius Loves Company, including Album and Record of the Year.

2005:  Maroon 5 won the Grammy for Best New Artist.
2005:  U2 scored their sixth #1 song in the U.K. with "Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own".
2005:  Keane owned the top album in the U.K. with Hopes and Fears.
2007:  Robbie Williams checked into a rehabilitation center to deal with an addiction to prescription drugs. 
2007:  Excess.  Rod Stewart was paid $1 million to perform a billionaire Steve Schwarzman's 60th birthday party at the Park Avenue Armory in New York City.

2010:  Doug Fieger, songwriter and lead singer with the Knack ("My Sharona") died at the age of 57 after a long battle with cancer.
2010:  Dale Hawkins ("Susie-Q" from 1957) died of colon cancer at the age of 73.

Born This Day:

1919:  "Tennessee" Ernie Ford ("Sixteen Tons") was born in Bristol, Tennessee.

1920:  Boudleaux Bryant, who along with his wife Felice wrote many Everly Brothers songs, including "All I Have To Do Is Dream", "Wake Up Little Susie" and "Bye Bye Love", was born in Shellman, Georgia; died June 25, 1987.

1930:  Dorothy McGuire of the McGuire Sisters ("Sincerely") was born in Omaha, Nebraska; died September 13, 2001 of cardiac arrest.

1942:  Peter Tork (real name Peter Halsten Thorkelston), keyboardist and bassist of the Monkees, was born in Washington, D.C.

1943:  Bill Szymczyk, producer who discovered the James Gang, produced several of the Eagles' best albums, including Hotel California and The Long Run, and also worked with the J. Geils Band and Wishbone Ash, was born in Muskegon, Michigan.
1944:  Rebob Kwaku Baah, percussionist of Traffic and Wings Konongo, Ghana; died of a cerebral hemorrhage January 12, 1983 during a performance in Stockholm, Sweden.
1945:  King Floyd ("Groove Me" from 1970, one of The Top 100 R&B Songs of the 1970's*) was born in New Orleans, Louisiana; died March 6, 2006 from complications of a stroke and diabetes.

1950:  Peter Gabriel of Genesis and a solo star, was born in Chobham, Surrey, England.
1952:  Ed Gagliardi, original bassist of Foreigner, was born in New York City.
1956:  Peter Hook of New Order ("Blue Monday" from 1983) was born in Broughton, Salford, England.
1961:  Les Warner, drummer with the Cult, was born in London.

1966:  Freedom Williams of C&C Music Factory ("Gonna' Make You Sweat" and "Things That Make You Go Hmmm...") was born in Brooklyn, New York.
1972:  Robert Harrell, bassist of 3 Doors Down

1974:  Robbie Williams, lead singer of Take That and a solo superstar, was born in Stoke-On-Trent, Staffordshire, England.