This Date in Rock Music History: April 11

1956:  James Brown made his debut on the R&B charts with "Please, Please, Please".
1960:  Dinah Washington & Brook Benton had the #1 R&B song for the 10th week--"Baby (You've Got What It Takes)".
1967:  The Elvis Presley song "Stuck On You" recorded the fourth biggest jump in rock history, moving from #84 to #17 on this date. 

1960:  Percy Faith & Orchestra remained at #1 for the eighth consecutive week with "The Theme From 'A Summer Place'".

1961:  Bob Dylan made his public debut opening for John Lee Hooker at Gerdes' Folk City in the Greenwich Village section of New York City.









1961:  Ray Charles won four Grammy awards, including Best Male Vocal Performance for "Georgia On My Mind".

1962:  The Elvis Presley movie Follow That Dream premiered in Ocala, Florida.









1963:  Nat King Cole recorded "Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days Of Summer".

1963:  Gerry and the Pacemakers were #1 in the U.K. with "How Do You Do It".

1964:  Louis Armstrong remained at #1 for a third week on the Easy Listening chart with "Hello Dolly!".








1964:  The Beatles, who had set a Rock Era record the week before by owning all five of the Top Five songs on April 4, a record that still stands, moved "Do You Want To Know A Secret" from #46 to #14.










                  The Dave Clark Five joined the invasion led by the Beatles...

1964:  The Beatles spent their second week at #1 with "Can't Buy Me Love".  The rest of the Top 10 on April 11:  #2 "Twist And Shout" by the Beatles, #3--"Suspicion" from Terry Stafford, #5 "She Loves You" by the Beatles, #5 was "Hello, Dolly!" from Louis Armstrong, #6 "The Shoop Shoop Song (It's In His Kiss)" by Betty Everett, #7 "I Want To Hold Your Hand" by the Beatles, #8 "Glad All Over" from the Dave Clark Five, #9 "Please Please Me" by the Beatles and #10 "Don't Let The Rain Come Down" by the Serendipity Singers.
1965:  The Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Animals, the Moody Blues, Donovan, the Seekers, the Kinks, Freddie and the Dreams, Tom Jones, Herman's Hermits, Them and Cilia Black played at London's Wembley Empire Pool following the New Musical Express Poll.
1966:  Frank Sinatra recorded "Strangers In The Night".
1967:  The movie Good Times, starring Sonny & Cher, premiered in Austin, Texas.  (Note:  some websites claim that the movie opened in theatres on April 7, and one website says it opened on May 12.  There is an original review of the movie which appeared in 'The Chicago Tribune' on April 24, 1967, so that discounts the May 12 date as being the national or world premiere.  The April 29, 1967 edition of 'Billboard' says that "Sonny and Cher returned to Hollywood last Sunday (April 16) after a week-long Texas tour at openings of their new film 'Good Times'."  This refutes the April 7 date, since a week-long tour that began on Monday April 10 and ended April 16 could not have included April 7.) 
1967:  The Rolling Stones played two shows at the Olympia Theatre in Paris.
1968:  Big Brother & the Holding Company made their television debut on the ABC-TV show Hollywood Palace.
1969:  Led Zeppelin debuted on the Album chart with their first album.

1969:  Paul McCartney married Linda Eastman at the Marylebone Register Office in London..
1970:  Peter Green announced he was leaving Fleetwood Mac in Munich, Germany while the group was on a European tour. 
1970:  The Beatles reached #1 on the Adult chart with "Let It Be".









1970:  The Beatles moved into the #1 spot with "Let It Be", taking the place of the long-running "Bridge Over Troubled Water".  The classic "Let It Be" was the Beatles' 19th #1, overtaking Elvis Presley's 18.  The Fab Four would also hit #1 a few weeks later with their 20th and final #1 "The Long And Winding Road".  The remainder of the Top Ten--#2 "ABC" by the Jackson Five, #3 Instant Karma (We All Shine On)" by John Lennon, Norman Greenbaum had #4 with "Spirit In The Sky", Simon and Garfunkel were at #5 with their former #1 "Bridge Over Troubled Water", #6 was "Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes"" by Edison Lighthouse, #7 was Frijid Pink's version of "House Of The Rising Sun", Badfinger had #8 with "Come And Get It", #9 was Bobby Sherman's "Easy Come, Easy Go" and the Jaggerz had #10 with "The Rapper".



       
           "The Boxer" helped give Simon & Garfunkel their masterpiece...

1970:  Simon & Garfunkel had a landmark album with Bridge Over Troubled Water, now in its seventh week at #1.  Hey Jude from the Beatles was second while Deja Vu from Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young was third.  The debut by Santana moved up to #4 after 32 weeks and Led Zeppelin II was right behind.  The rest of the Top 10:  Diana Ross Presents the Jackson 5, the Doors with Morrison Hotel/Hard Rock Cafe, the Beatles and Abbey Road, Chicago II and the Temptations at #10 with Psychedelic Shack.
1972:  Elvis Presley was given the keys to the city of Roanoke, Virginia.
1973:  The movie That'll Be the Day, starring Ringo Starr and David Essex, opened in London.




 
1976:  Queen performed at the Entertainment Centre in Perth, Australia.











1977:  The Steve Miller Band released the single "Jet Airliner".  Don't accept a radio station that does not play "Threshold" as an intro.1978:  Aretha Franklin married actor Glynn Turman.  The Four Tops sang the Stevie Wonder song "Isn't She Lovely" at the wedding.











Thomas climbed aboard the Starship...


1979:  Mickey Thomas replaced founding member Marty Balin in Jefferson Starship.
1981:  Eddie Van Halen and actress Valerie Bertinelli were married.








1981:  Juice Newton hit #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart with her fantastic remake of the Merilee Rush song "Angel Of The Morning".










1981:  Hall & Oates moved into the #1 slot with "Kiss On My List", replacing Blondie's "Rapture" which fell to #2.  The rest of the Top Ten on April 11:  "The Best Of Times" by Styx, "Woman" by John Lennon at #4, "Just The Two Of Us" by Bill Withers & Grover Washington, Jr., Sheena Easton, moving into the top Ten at #6 with her first hit "Morning Train", Don McLean held down #7 with "Crying", Steve Winwood had his first solo hit "While You See A Chance" at #8, REO Speedwagon was at #9 with the former #1 "Keep On Loving You" and the Police slid into the top ten with "Don't Stand So Close To Me".








                                                The title track from 'Winelight'...

1981:  The great album Winelight from Grover Washington, Jr. moved from 13 to 5 on the Album chart.
1983:  R.E.M. released their first album Murmur in the U.S.








 
                                 Lou Gramm gave us "Midnight Blue"...

1987:  Starship spent a second week at #1 with "Nothing's Gonna' Stop Us Now".  The rest of the Top Ten--"Lean On Me" from Club Nouveau, "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)" by Aretha Franklin & George Michael, Genesis had #4 with "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight", Crowded House rose to #5 with "Don't Dream It's Over", Expose fell to #6 with "Come Go With Me", Prince's "Sign 'O' The Times" was #7, Lou Gramm moved into the Top Ten with "Midnight Blue", Wang Chung had position #9 with "Let's Go!" and Steve Winwood had another top ten with "The Finer Things".
1987:  Prince scored a #1 R&B hit with "Sign 'O' The Times".
1987:  Starship owned the top AC song with "Nothing's Gonna' Stop Us Now".




 
1988:  Cher won Best Actress at the Academy Awards for Moonstruck.
1990:  The Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona named four newly discovered asteroids after the four members of the Beatles.
1990:  Elton John sang at the funeral of AIDS victim Ryan White.
1992:  Def Leppard had a second #1 in the U.K. with the album Adrenalize.

                          Pearl Jam with one of four appearances on 'SNL'... 


1992:  Pearl Jam appeared on Saturday Night Live in New York City.
1992:  "Save The Best For Last" by Vanessa Williams held on to #1 on the R&B chart for a third week.
1992:  Vanessa Williams had the top AC song for a third week with "Save The Best For Last".

1994:  The Nirvana album In Utero was certified double platinum (2 million copies).
2002:  Kid Rock and Pamela Anderson were engaged.








 
2002:  Sir Elton John testified before Congress that the United States was obliged to help prevent the global spread of AIDS.
2002:  A housing project in Detroit, Michigan named streets after Aretha Franklin and several other Motown stars.









2006:  June Pointer of the Pointer Sisters died of cancer in Los Angeles at the age of 52.
2010:  "The Million Dollar Quartet", a stage musical based on the meeting of Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis and Johnny Cash in the studios of Sun Records in Memphis, Tennessee in 1956, opened at the Nederlander Theatre on Broadway.

Born This Day:
1934:  Cleotha Staples of the Staple Singers was born in Drew, Mississippi; died February 21, 2013 in Chicago, Illinois.
1935:  Richard Berry, songwriter of "Louie Louie", was born in Extension, Louisiana; died of heart failure in Los Angeles January 23, 1997.
1958:  Stuart Adamson, vocalist, songwriter and guitarist of Big Country, was born in Manchester, England; committed suicide in Honolulu, Hawai'i December 16, 2001.
1965:  Nigel Pulsford of Bush was born in Newport, Monmouthshire, England.

1966:  Lisa Stansfield was born in Rochdale, Lancashire, England.
1970:  Dylan Keefe, bassist and founding member of Marcy Playground, was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
1978:  Tom Thacker, vocalist and guitarist with Sum 41, was born in Langley, British Columbia, Canada.
1987:  Joss Stone was born in Dover, Kent, England.