1961: Bobby Lewis enjoyed his eighth week at #1 on the R&B chart with "Tossin' And Turnin'".
1963: Cilla Black appeared in a major concert for the first time, opening for the Beatles at the Odeon Cinema in Southport, England.
1964: The Kinks released the single "You Really Got Me" in the United States. It had been released on August 4 in the U.K.
1965: The Byrds were in concert at the Hollywood Palladium in Hollywood, California.
1967: The Beatles gave a press conference with guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Paul McCartney announced that the group had given up drugs. "It was an experience we went through," he said. "We don't need it anymore."
1967: Small Faces headlined the first day of the three-day Festival of the Flower Children at Woburn Abbey in England, the home of the Duke and Duchess of Bedford. It was the first time a music festival of that magnitude had been attempted in Great Britain. No official posters or promotional announcements can be found that show the schedule of performers, but it is believed that the new group the Bee Gees, the Alan Price Set, and Marmalade also performed on opening day. Another highlight of the first day was when a hot air balloon dropped 5,000 flowers on the crowd.
1967: Aretha Franklin had the new #1 R&B song with "Baby I Love You".
1967: The Box Tops moved from 58 to 25 with "The Letter".
1967: After just four weeks, Bobbie Gentry had made the long haul up to #1 with "Ode To Billie Joe". The Beatles retreated after a brief one-week stay with "All You Need Is Love". The Monkees maintained at #3 with "Pleasant Valley Sunday" with "Light My Fire" by the Doors still hanging around. The rest of the Top 10: "Baby I Love You" by Aretha Franklin, "I Was Made To Love Her" by Stevie Wonder, "Cold Sweat" by James Brown, the Supremes moved from 20 to 8 with the innovative "Reflections", the Temptations were up to 9 with "You're My Everything" and Procol Harum held on with "A Whiter Shade Of Pale.
1967: The Beatles made it week number nine as the top album once again was Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Headquarters by the Monkees was #2. The Rolling Stones had a distant #3 with Flowers while the Doors' debut moved up to #4. The rest of the Top 10: Surrealistic Pillow by Jefferson Airplane, I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You from Aretha Franklin at #6, Sounds Like from Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass, Engelbert Humperdinck had #8 with Release Me, the 5th Dimension with Up, Up and Away and the Association reached the Top 10 with Insight Out.
1968: Mary Hopkin released her single "Those Were The Days" in the United States.
1969: Elvis Presley released the single "Suspicious Minds".
1970: Jimi Hendrix's Electric Lady Studio opened at 52 West Eighth Street in New York City. Hendrix spent just four weeks recording there before his death, but since then, artists such as AC/DC, Bob Dylan, Hall & Oates, John Lennon, Kiss, John Mayer, the Clash, and Daft Punk have recorded at Electric Lady.
1970: Guitarist Duane Allman joined Derek & the Dominoes in a recording studio in Florida for the beginning of sessions that would result in the album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs.
1970: Kris Kristofferson, Redbone, and Rosalie Sorrels performed on the opening day of the fantastic Isle of Wight Festival at Afton Down on the Isle of Wight. Chicago, The Who, the Moody Blues, Jimi Hendrix, Joni Mitchell, the Doors, Sly and the Family Stone, Donovan, Jethro Tull, Joan Baez, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Free, Miles Davis, Procol Harum, Melanie, Lighthouse, Ten Years After and Spirit all performed in subsequent days at the Festival. Experts generally agree that this was the largest music festival in history, with estimates ranging from 600,000 to 700,000.
1972: Three Dog Night had a hot song as one of The Most Important Songs of the Rock Era*, "Black And White", moved from 47-23.
1972: It was their only hit but "Brandy (You're A Fine Girl)" was a good one--#1 in fact. Gilbert O'Sullivan grudgingly dropped to #2 with "Alone Again (Naturally)" but he would be back. The Hollies held on to 3 with "Long Cool Woman In A Black Dress" and Al Green moved up with "I'm Still in Love With You". Jim Croce ("You Don't Mess Around With Jim") and Mac Davis ("Baby Don't Get Hooked On Me") had new entries in the Top 10.
1973: 10cc appeared live for the first time at the Douglas Palace Lido on the Isle of Man.
1973: Bobby Darin performed live for the final time at the Hilton Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. He died later that year. (Note: several websites report that Darin's final show was August 25, and some say it was August 5. According to the official website for Darin, the correct date is August 26.)
1974: Bachman-Turner Overdrive released their great album Not Fragile.
1975: The Eagles were in concert in Salt Lake City, Utah.
1977: The Pretenders made their live debut opening for Strangeways at Unity Hall in Wakefield, England.
1977: Uriah Heap and Golden Earring were among the performers on the opening day of the three-day Reading Festival in England. Aerosmith, the Doobie Brothers, and the Little River Band, Thin Lizzy, and Hawkwind would perform on subsequent days.
1978: Here's a great show--Fleetwood Mac, the Cars, Todd Rundgren and Utopia, Eddie Money and Bob Welch were in concert at the World Series of Rock at Cleveland Stadium in Cleveland, Ohio.
1978: Oh Canada! The First Jam Festival opened at Mosport Park in Bowmanville, Ontario. The Doobie Brothers, the Commodores, Kansas, the Atlanta Rhythm Section, the Ozark Mountain Daredevils, the Village People, Dave Mason, Triumph, and Dave Mason were among the performers. The Festival attracted 110,000 fans, the biggest concert in Canadian history up to that point.
1978: The Commodores scored a second week at #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart with "Three Times A Lady".
1978: "Don't Look Back" by Boston moved from 62 to 36 on this date.
Walter Egan 's one and only big hit...
1978: "Grease" had been the word all summer and finally the charts proved it as Frankie Valli reached #1. The Commodores slipped with "Three Times A Lady". The Rolling Stones latched on to position #3 with "Miss You" while "Boogie Oogie Oogie" by A Taste of Honey was fourth. The rest of the Top 10: Foreigner with "Hot Blooded", Pablo Cruise at #6 with "Love Will Find A Way", Olivia Newton-John with "Hopelessly Devoted To You", Walter Egan and "Magnet And Steel", Andy Gibb had his fourth straight Top 10 with "An Everlasting Love" and Donna Summer's former #1 "Last Dance" finished the list.
1979: Peter Gabriel was joined by former Genesis bandmate Phil Collins for a version of the Genesis song "The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway" at the Reading Festival in England.
1980: Bassist Tom Petersson left Cheap Trick.
1981: The Rolling Stones released the album Tattoo You. (Note: various dates for the release date are scattered all over the Internet. Some say the album was released August 24, others say it was released August 30. According to the newspaper 'The New York Times', the album was released August 26.)
1981: The Ottawa City Council honored Paul Anka by naming today "Paul Anka Day" and the Council also named a street in Ottawa "Paul Anka Drive".
1983: David Bowie starred in the movie Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence, which opened in theaters.
1987: Sonny Bono announced that he would run for mayor of Palm Springs, California. He was victorious.
1988: The Reading Festival in Reading, England kicked off with the Ramones and Iggy Pop. Starship, Squeeze, Bonnie Tyler, Meat Loaf, John Hiatt, Hothouse Flowers and more would perform on subsequent days.
1989: "It's No Crime" by Babyface was the new R&B #1 song.
1989: Richard Marx owned the #1 Adult Contemporary song for a fourth week with "Right Here Waiting".
1990: Randy Newman won an Emmy Award for the music he composed for the television show Cop Rock.
1990: Stevie Ray Vaughan performed at the Alpine Valley Music Theater in East Troy, Wisconsin. Eric Clapton, Buddy Guy, Robert Cray and Jimmie Vaughan joined Stevie Ray for the encore. The next morning, Stevie Ray Vaughan was killed in a helicopter crash.
1995: Blur reached #1 in the U.K. with "Country House".
1995: "Boombastic" by Shaggy rose to #1 on the R&B chart.
1995: Coolio moved from 28 to 6 with his remake of the Stevie Wonder song "Pastime Paradise", retitled "Gangsta's Paradise".
1995: Seal hit #1 with "Kiss From A Rose", ending TLC's seven-week stay at #1 with "Waterfalls".
1996: The Corrs performed for the first of two nights at the Carrickdale Hotel in Dundalk, Ireland.
1997: Boyzone began a tour of Southeast Asia in Bangalore, India. That was a first on many fronts, not the least of which was the first time an international act had performed in the region.
1997: Creed released their debut album My Own Prison.
1997: Chad Smith, drummer of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, suffered a dislocated shoulder following a motorcycle crash on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles. He was treated at Cedars-Sinai Hospital and released.
2000: Douglas Allen Woody, bassist of the Allman Brothers, was found dead sitting in a chair at a hotel in Queens, New York at age 44. The cause of death was "unknown".
2001: Madonna's concert at the Palace of Auburn Hills in Auburn Hills, Michigan was filmed and would be part of the DVD Madonna - Drowned World Tour 2001.
2001: Staind owned the top U.K. album with Break the Cycle.
2001: Maxwell had the top album in the U.S. with Now.
2004: Laura Branigan died of a brain aneurysm at age 52 at home in East Quogue, New York. (Note: numerous websites, including the newspaper 'The New York Times' and 'Billboard' magazine, incorrectly say that Branigan was 47 at the time of her death. According to Laura's high school, Byram Hills High School in Armonk, New York, Laura was born July 3, 1952, which made her 52 when she died.)
2005: Former Quarrymen members John Duff Lowe and Colin Hantonat unveiled a Blue Plaque at the Percy Phillips studio in Liverpool, England, the site where the band that was to become the Beatles made their first recordings in 1958.
2005: A post office in Los Angeles near where Ray Charles recorded most of his music was renamed the Ray Charles Post Office.
2008: Pink Floyd were awarded the Swedish Polar Music Prize at a ceremony in Stockholm.
2009: It's Gonna' Be Alright, a documentary film featuring 17 performances by Gerry & the Pacemakers from 1963 to 1965, debuted at the Hard Day's Night Hotel in Liverpool, England.
2009: Ellie Greenwich, a songwriter who gave us "Hanky Panky" by Tommy James & the Shondells, "Chapel Of Love" by the Dixie Cups, "Do Wah Diddy Diddy" by Manfred Mann, "Leader Of The Pack" by the Shangri-Las and "Da Doo Ron Ron" by the Crystals, among many others, died of a heart attack at the age of 68 at St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital in Manhattan, New York.
Born This Day:
1939: Fred Milano, one of the original members of the Belmonts, was born in the Bronx, New York; died January 1, 2012 of complications of lung cancer in New York City.
1941: Chris Curtis, drummer and lead singer of the Searchers, was born in Oldham, Lancashire, England; died February 28, 2005 in Liverpool, England.
1942: Vic Dana, who had a hit with a remake of "Red Roses For A Blue Lady" in 1959, was born in Buffalo, New York. (Note: MTV claims that Dana was born in 1940, while 'Billboard' and most other reputable sources say he was born in 1942.)
1944: Maureen Tucker, drummer of Velvet Underground, was born in Levittown, New York.
1946: Valerie Simpson of the duo Ashford & Simpson ("Solid"), who with Ashford wrote songs such as "Ain't No Mountain High Enough", "Ain't Nothing Like The Real Thing", "You're All I Need To Get By", and "I'm Every Woman", was born in the Bronx, New York. (Note: MTV reports Simpson was born in New York City, while some websites report Simpson was born in 1945 or 1948 . According to the book 'Motown: The Golden Years' by Bill dahl, she was born in 1946 in the Bronx.)
1949: Bob Cowsill of the Cowsills was born in Portsmouth, Virginia.
1949: Dick Cowsill of the Cowsills was born in Portsmouth, Virginia; died of lung cancer July 8, 2014 in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, sleeping as his twin brother Bob worked at his computer. (Note: some websites report Dick died in Albuquerque, New Mexico, but according to the group's official website, he died in Rio Rancho.)
1952: Billy Rush, guitarist and songwriter of Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes
1954: Michael Chetwood, keyboard player for T'Paul ("Heart And Soul" from 1987), was born in Telford, England.
1957: John O'Neill, the main songwriter and rhythm guitarist of the Undertones, was born in Derry, Northern Ireland.
1966: Shirley Manson, lead vocalist of Garbage, was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. (Note: some websites report Manson was born on August 3. Her correct birthdate is August 26, according to 'Biography.com'.)
1966: Dan Vickrey, lead guitarist of the Counting Crows, was born in Walnut Creek, California.
1969: Adrian Young, drummer of No Doubt, was born in Long Beach, California.
1964: The Kinks released the single "You Really Got Me" in the United States. It had been released on August 4 in the U.K.
1965: The Byrds were in concert at the Hollywood Palladium in Hollywood, California.
1967: The Beatles gave a press conference with guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Paul McCartney announced that the group had given up drugs. "It was an experience we went through," he said. "We don't need it anymore."
1967: Aretha Franklin had the new #1 R&B song with "Baby I Love You".
1967: The Box Tops moved from 58 to 25 with "The Letter".
They don't make 'em much better than this classic from Bobbie Joe..
1967: After just four weeks, Bobbie Gentry had made the long haul up to #1 with "Ode To Billie Joe". The Beatles retreated after a brief one-week stay with "All You Need Is Love". The Monkees maintained at #3 with "Pleasant Valley Sunday" with "Light My Fire" by the Doors still hanging around. The rest of the Top 10: "Baby I Love You" by Aretha Franklin, "I Was Made To Love Her" by Stevie Wonder, "Cold Sweat" by James Brown, the Supremes moved from 20 to 8 with the innovative "Reflections", the Temptations were up to 9 with "You're My Everything" and Procol Harum held on with "A Whiter Shade Of Pale.
The Association reached the Top 10 with the best of their studio albums...
1967: The Beatles made it week number nine as the top album once again was Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Headquarters by the Monkees was #2. The Rolling Stones had a distant #3 with Flowers while the Doors' debut moved up to #4. The rest of the Top 10: Surrealistic Pillow by Jefferson Airplane, I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You from Aretha Franklin at #6, Sounds Like from Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass, Engelbert Humperdinck had #8 with Release Me, the 5th Dimension with Up, Up and Away and the Association reached the Top 10 with Insight Out.
1968: Mary Hopkin released her single "Those Were The Days" in the United States.
1969: Elvis Presley released the single "Suspicious Minds".
1970: Jimi Hendrix's Electric Lady Studio opened at 52 West Eighth Street in New York City. Hendrix spent just four weeks recording there before his death, but since then, artists such as AC/DC, Bob Dylan, Hall & Oates, John Lennon, Kiss, John Mayer, the Clash, and Daft Punk have recorded at Electric Lady.
1970: Guitarist Duane Allman joined Derek & the Dominoes in a recording studio in Florida for the beginning of sessions that would result in the album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs.
1970: Kris Kristofferson, Redbone, and Rosalie Sorrels performed on the opening day of the fantastic Isle of Wight Festival at Afton Down on the Isle of Wight. Chicago, The Who, the Moody Blues, Jimi Hendrix, Joni Mitchell, the Doors, Sly and the Family Stone, Donovan, Jethro Tull, Joan Baez, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Free, Miles Davis, Procol Harum, Melanie, Lighthouse, Ten Years After and Spirit all performed in subsequent days at the Festival. Experts generally agree that this was the largest music festival in history, with estimates ranging from 600,000 to 700,000.
1972: Three Dog Night had a hot song as one of The Most Important Songs of the Rock Era*, "Black And White", moved from 47-23.
1972: It was their only hit but "Brandy (You're A Fine Girl)" was a good one--#1 in fact. Gilbert O'Sullivan grudgingly dropped to #2 with "Alone Again (Naturally)" but he would be back. The Hollies held on to 3 with "Long Cool Woman In A Black Dress" and Al Green moved up with "I'm Still in Love With You". Jim Croce ("You Don't Mess Around With Jim") and Mac Davis ("Baby Don't Get Hooked On Me") had new entries in the Top 10.
1973: 10cc appeared live for the first time at the Douglas Palace Lido on the Isle of Man.
1973: Bobby Darin performed live for the final time at the Hilton Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. He died later that year. (Note: several websites report that Darin's final show was August 25, and some say it was August 5. According to the official website for Darin, the correct date is August 26.)
1974: Bachman-Turner Overdrive released their great album Not Fragile.
1975: The Eagles were in concert in Salt Lake City, Utah.
1977: The Pretenders made their live debut opening for Strangeways at Unity Hall in Wakefield, England.
1977: Uriah Heap and Golden Earring were among the performers on the opening day of the three-day Reading Festival in England. Aerosmith, the Doobie Brothers, and the Little River Band, Thin Lizzy, and Hawkwind would perform on subsequent days.
1978: Here's a great show--Fleetwood Mac, the Cars, Todd Rundgren and Utopia, Eddie Money and Bob Welch were in concert at the World Series of Rock at Cleveland Stadium in Cleveland, Ohio.
1978: Oh Canada! The First Jam Festival opened at Mosport Park in Bowmanville, Ontario. The Doobie Brothers, the Commodores, Kansas, the Atlanta Rhythm Section, the Ozark Mountain Daredevils, the Village People, Dave Mason, Triumph, and Dave Mason were among the performers. The Festival attracted 110,000 fans, the biggest concert in Canadian history up to that point.
1978: The Commodores scored a second week at #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart with "Three Times A Lady".
1978: "Don't Look Back" by Boston moved from 62 to 36 on this date.
Walter Egan 's one and only big hit...
1978: "Grease" had been the word all summer and finally the charts proved it as Frankie Valli reached #1. The Commodores slipped with "Three Times A Lady". The Rolling Stones latched on to position #3 with "Miss You" while "Boogie Oogie Oogie" by A Taste of Honey was fourth. The rest of the Top 10: Foreigner with "Hot Blooded", Pablo Cruise at #6 with "Love Will Find A Way", Olivia Newton-John with "Hopelessly Devoted To You", Walter Egan and "Magnet And Steel", Andy Gibb had his fourth straight Top 10 with "An Everlasting Love" and Donna Summer's former #1 "Last Dance" finished the list.
1979: Peter Gabriel was joined by former Genesis bandmate Phil Collins for a version of the Genesis song "The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway" at the Reading Festival in England.
1980: Bassist Tom Petersson left Cheap Trick.
1981: The Rolling Stones released the album Tattoo You. (Note: various dates for the release date are scattered all over the Internet. Some say the album was released August 24, others say it was released August 30. According to the newspaper 'The New York Times', the album was released August 26.)
1981: The Ottawa City Council honored Paul Anka by naming today "Paul Anka Day" and the Council also named a street in Ottawa "Paul Anka Drive".
1983: David Bowie starred in the movie Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence, which opened in theaters.
1987: Sonny Bono announced that he would run for mayor of Palm Springs, California. He was victorious.
1988: The Reading Festival in Reading, England kicked off with the Ramones and Iggy Pop. Starship, Squeeze, Bonnie Tyler, Meat Loaf, John Hiatt, Hothouse Flowers and more would perform on subsequent days.
1989: "It's No Crime" by Babyface was the new R&B #1 song.
1989: Richard Marx owned the #1 Adult Contemporary song for a fourth week with "Right Here Waiting".
1990: Randy Newman won an Emmy Award for the music he composed for the television show Cop Rock.
1995: Blur reached #1 in the U.K. with "Country House".
1995: "Boombastic" by Shaggy rose to #1 on the R&B chart.
1995: Coolio moved from 28 to 6 with his remake of the Stevie Wonder song "Pastime Paradise", retitled "Gangsta's Paradise".
1995: Seal hit #1 with "Kiss From A Rose", ending TLC's seven-week stay at #1 with "Waterfalls".
1996: The Corrs performed for the first of two nights at the Carrickdale Hotel in Dundalk, Ireland.
1997: Boyzone began a tour of Southeast Asia in Bangalore, India. That was a first on many fronts, not the least of which was the first time an international act had performed in the region.
1997: Creed released their debut album My Own Prison.
1997: Chad Smith, drummer of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, suffered a dislocated shoulder following a motorcycle crash on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles. He was treated at Cedars-Sinai Hospital and released.
2000: Douglas Allen Woody, bassist of the Allman Brothers, was found dead sitting in a chair at a hotel in Queens, New York at age 44. The cause of death was "unknown".
2001: Madonna's concert at the Palace of Auburn Hills in Auburn Hills, Michigan was filmed and would be part of the DVD Madonna - Drowned World Tour 2001.
2001: Staind owned the top U.K. album with Break the Cycle.
2001: Maxwell had the top album in the U.S. with Now.
2004: Laura Branigan died of a brain aneurysm at age 52 at home in East Quogue, New York. (Note: numerous websites, including the newspaper 'The New York Times' and 'Billboard' magazine, incorrectly say that Branigan was 47 at the time of her death. According to Laura's high school, Byram Hills High School in Armonk, New York, Laura was born July 3, 1952, which made her 52 when she died.)
2005: Former Quarrymen members John Duff Lowe and Colin Hantonat unveiled a Blue Plaque at the Percy Phillips studio in Liverpool, England, the site where the band that was to become the Beatles made their first recordings in 1958.
2005: A post office in Los Angeles near where Ray Charles recorded most of his music was renamed the Ray Charles Post Office.
2008: Pink Floyd were awarded the Swedish Polar Music Prize at a ceremony in Stockholm.
2009: It's Gonna' Be Alright, a documentary film featuring 17 performances by Gerry & the Pacemakers from 1963 to 1965, debuted at the Hard Day's Night Hotel in Liverpool, England.
Born This Day:
1939: Fred Milano, one of the original members of the Belmonts, was born in the Bronx, New York; died January 1, 2012 of complications of lung cancer in New York City.
1941: Chris Curtis, drummer and lead singer of the Searchers, was born in Oldham, Lancashire, England; died February 28, 2005 in Liverpool, England.
1942: Vic Dana, who had a hit with a remake of "Red Roses For A Blue Lady" in 1959, was born in Buffalo, New York. (Note: MTV claims that Dana was born in 1940, while 'Billboard' and most other reputable sources say he was born in 1942.)
1944: Maureen Tucker, drummer of Velvet Underground, was born in Levittown, New York.
1946: Valerie Simpson of the duo Ashford & Simpson ("Solid"), who with Ashford wrote songs such as "Ain't No Mountain High Enough", "Ain't Nothing Like The Real Thing", "You're All I Need To Get By", and "I'm Every Woman", was born in the Bronx, New York. (Note: MTV reports Simpson was born in New York City, while some websites report Simpson was born in 1945 or 1948 . According to the book 'Motown: The Golden Years' by Bill dahl, she was born in 1946 in the Bronx.)
1949: Bob Cowsill of the Cowsills was born in Portsmouth, Virginia.
1949: Dick Cowsill of the Cowsills was born in Portsmouth, Virginia; died of lung cancer July 8, 2014 in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, sleeping as his twin brother Bob worked at his computer. (Note: some websites report Dick died in Albuquerque, New Mexico, but according to the group's official website, he died in Rio Rancho.)
1952: Billy Rush, guitarist and songwriter of Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes
1954: Michael Chetwood, keyboard player for T'Paul ("Heart And Soul" from 1987), was born in Telford, England.
1957: John O'Neill, the main songwriter and rhythm guitarist of the Undertones, was born in Derry, Northern Ireland.
1966: Shirley Manson, lead vocalist of Garbage, was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. (Note: some websites report Manson was born on August 3. Her correct birthdate is August 26, according to 'Biography.com'.)
1966: Dan Vickrey, lead guitarist of the Counting Crows, was born in Walnut Creek, California.
1969: Adrian Young, drummer of No Doubt, was born in Long Beach, California.
