This Date in Rock Music History: April 22

1955:  Elvis Presley was in concert at the New Boston High School Football Field in Texas.
1956:  Elvis made his Las Vegas debut at the Frontier Hotel in the first night of a two-week residency.  The artist who would become one of the most famous performers in Las Vegas history on this night though gave a miserable performance, and was booed off stage.

1957:  Elvis had his custom-built "Music Gates" installed at Graceland.
1962:  The three-year-old son of Jerry Lee Lewis (Steve) drowned.









1963:  The Crystals released the single "Da Doo Ron Ron".
1964:  The Beatles scored their seventh #1 of the year on the U.K. chart with "Ticket To Ride".










1966:  The Troggs released the single "Wild Thing".
1966:  Two dozen local groups competed in a Battle of the Bands at Matawan Keyport Roller Dome in New Jersey.  Bruce Springsteen's group the Castiles finished third.
1967:  "Somethin' Stupid" by Frank & Nancy Sinatra spent a fourth out of nine weeks at #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart.







                       Julie Andrews and Cast had the #8 album...


1967:  The album More of the Monkees topped the chart, with The Mamas & the Papas Deliver coming in second.  The rest of the Top 10:  The Soundtrack to "Doctor Zhivago" was #3, Ed Ames had the #4 album with My Cup Runneth Over, the Monkees' debut album slipped to #5,  Between the Buttons by the Rolling Stones was #6, The Best of the Lovin' Spoonful was #7, the great Soundtrack to 'The Sound of Music' was #8, S.R.O. by Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass came in at #9 and The Supremes Sing Holland-Dozier-Holland moved into the Top 10.






1968:  Simon & Garfunkel released the single "Mrs. Robinson".













1968:  Richard Harris released the single "MacArthur Park".  And it got everyone wondering just what in the heck baking a cake had to do with anything.1968:  Herb Alpert debuted "This Guy's In Love With You" on his CBS-TV show.
1969:  John Lennon changed his middle name from Winston to Ono.









1969:  The Carpenters signed with A&M Records.
1969:  Fleetwood Mac and B.B. King appeared at the Royal Albert Hall in London.











1969:  The Who gave their first complete performance of Tommy in Dolton, England.
1972:  Deep Purple hit #1 on the U.K. Album chart with Machine Head.
1972:  Roberta Flack moved to #1 on the R&B chart with "Day Dreaming".









                                              Browne was on the board...

1972:  Roberta Flack had the #1 song, where she would stay for six weeks with "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face".  Michael Jackson's "Rockin' Robin" was at #2 with "I Gotcha'" by Joe Tex remaining at #3.  The Rest of the Top 10:  The former #1 "A Horse With No Name" from America was at #4, the Dramatics had #5 with "In The Rain", the Stylistics were at 6 with "Betcha' By Golly, Wow", Aretha Franklin had song #7 with "Day Dreaming", Neil Young's former #1 "Heart Of Gold" was #8, "A Cowboy's Work Is Never Done" from Sonny & Cher edged up to #9 and Jackson Browne scored his first Top 10 song with "Doctor My Eyes".
1972:  Roberta Flack also controlled the Adult Contemporary chart for the fourth week with "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face".





                                              "Beautiful" from 'Tapestry'...

1972:  The debut album from America ruled the charts for a fifth week, followed by Neil Young's Harvest and First Take by Roberta Flack.  The rest of the Top 10:  Fragile by Yes, Eat a Peach by the Allman Brothers Band was #5, Nilsson Schmilsson by Nilsson was at 6 after peaking at #3, Paul Simon's first solo album was at #7, Let's Stay Together by Al Green moved up to #8, Baby I'm-A Want You by Bread was #9 and Tapestry, an album that would go on to spend 302 weeks on the album chart for Stanley, Idaho's Carole King, re-entered the Top 10 at #10 in its 55th week.
1974:  Tina Turner started filming her role of the Acid Queen in the movie Tommy.
1977:  The Jam, a band that would go on to have 17 Top 40 hits in the U.K., released "In The City".




1978:  John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd appeared as the Blues Brothers on Saturday Night Live.  (Note:  several websites claim the Blues Brothers debuted on 'Saturday Night Live' on this date, when in fact, according to official 'Saturday Night Live' transcripts, their first appearance was January 17, 1976.)






                                                        Kansas brought us all down to earth...

1978:  "Night Fever" by the Bee Gees ruled the charts for a sixth out of eight weeks at #1 on this date.  Yvonne Elliman was at #2 with "If I Can't Have You", while Barry Manilow moved up with "Can't Smile Without You" and "Lay Down Sally" by Eric Clapton was at 4.  The remainder of the Top 10:  "The Closer I Get To You" from Roberta Flack with Donny Hathaway, Kansas remained at #6 with "Dust In The Wind", Wings had #7 "With A Little Luck", Raydio remained at #8 with "Jack And Jill", England Dan & John Ford Coley had the #9 song "We'll Never Have To Say Goodbye Again" and Natalie Cole was at #10 with "Our Love".





                               "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant" from Joel...

1978:  The Soundtrack to 'Saturday Night Fever' was #1 for a 14th week on the Album chart.  Eric Clapton was #2 with Slowhand but he was nowhere close to the top.  Billy Joel's great album The Stranger was #3.  The remainder of the Top 10:  Even Now by Barry Manilow was #4, hopping over Steely Dan's Aja, George Benson had another Top 10 album with the live Weekend in L.A., Jackson Browne dropped to #7 with Running On Empty, Kansas was at #8 with Point Of Know Return, Queen's News Of the World was at #9 and Styx had #10 with The Grand Illusion.
1981:  Eric Clapton was hospitalized with bruised ribs and a lacerated chin resulting from a car crash in Seattle, Washington.







         
                          "Tweeter and the Monkey Man" from the Wilburys...

1989:  Like a Prayer from Madonna became the #1 album in its third week on the chart, taking the place of Tone Loc's Loc-ed After Dark.  Electric Youth from Debbie Gibson was at #3 with Don't Be Cruel from Bobby Brown trailing.  The rest of the Top 10:  The Raw & the Cooked by Fine Young Cannibals, G N' R Lies rose from 12-6 for Guns N' Roses, Roy Orbison's Mystery Girl fell to #7, Hangin' Tough by New Kids On the Block was #8, Forever Your Girl, the great debut album by Paula Abdul, was #9 and the incredible album Volume One by the Traveling Wilburys was #10.






1989:  The title song from Like a Prayer by Madonna moved to #1, replacing "She Drives Me Crazy" by Fine Young Cannibals.  The rest of the Top Five:  "The Look" from Roxette was at #3, "Funky Cold Medina" by Tone Loc moved from 7-4 and Bon Jovi had the #5 song with "I'll Be There For You".
1989:  "After All" from Cher and Sun Valley, Idaho's Peter Cetera was #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart.
1990:  An Earth Day concert featuring Hall & Oates, B.B. King, the B-52's and Edie Brickell drew 750,000 at Central Park in New York.





1991:  The Dave Matthews Band performed for the first time at the Earth Day Festival in Charlottesville, Virginia.
1993:  The rock opera Tommy opened on Broadway at the St. James Theatre.
1994:  The Division Bell by Pink Floyd debuted at #1 on the Album chart, followed by the Soundtrack to "Above the Rim" and The Sign from Ace of Base.  The Rest of the Top 10:  Bonnie Raitt fell from #1 to #4 with Longing In Their Hearts, the Counting Crows had #5 with August and Everything After, R. Kelly slipped to #6 with 12 Play, Tim McGraw had #7 with Not a Moment Too Soon, Yanni moved to #8 with Live at the Acropolis, Mariah Carey dropped to 9 with Music Box and The Coulour Of My Love from Celine Dion was at #10.
1995:  Montell Jordan sat on top of the R&B chart for a fourth week with "This Is How We Do It".
2001:  Destiny's Child rose to #1 on the U.K. chart with "Survivor".  
2003:  The group S Club 7 announced that they would split.

2003:  Famous songwriter Felice Bryant died from cancer in Gatlinburg, Texas.  Felice and her husband Boudleaux were a writing machine in the 50's and 60's, writing hits such as "Bye Bye Love", "All I Have To Do Is Dream" "Bird Dog", "Devoted To You", "Wake Up Little Susie" and several others for the Everly Brothers as well as songs for Bob Dylan, the Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel, Elvis Presley, the Beach Boys and scores of other artists.






2004:  AC/DC assisted in the war effort as World troops blasted the song "Shoot To Thrill" to drive Iraqi insurgents from their homes.
2007:  Avril Lavigne hit #1 on the U.K. Album chart with The Best Damn Thing.
2007:  Beyonce & Shakira had the #1 song in the U.K. with "Beautiful Liar".
2010:  Bret Michaels, lead singer of Poison, was rushed to the hospital in Phoenix, Arizona after suffering a brain hemorrhage.  (Note:  some websites report the incident occurred on April 21, but according to 'CNN', 'Billboard' and the newspapers 'USA Today' and 'The New York Daily News', the correct date is April 22.)

2013:  Richie Havens, who led off the famous Woodstock Festival, died of a heart attack in Jersey City, New Jersey at age 72.


Born This Day:

1936:  Glen Campbell was born in Delight, Arkansas.
1937:  Jack Nitzsche, songwriter and producer for the Rolling Stones, Neil Young and the Walker Brothers, was born in Chicago, Illinois; died of a heart attack in Los Angeles on August 25, 2000.
1939:  Simon Napier-Bell, manager of Wham! and T. Rex, was born in Ealing, London.
1944:  Howard Wyeth, drummer who worked with Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Joan Baez and Don McLean, was born in Jersey City, New Jersey; died of a heart attack in Manhattan, New York on March 27, 1996.





1950:  Peter Frampton, vocalist and guitarist for the Herd and Humble Pie, session musician for George Harrison, David Bowie and Harry Nilsson,  and popular solo star, was born in Beckenham, Kent, England.  (Note:  some websites claim Frampton was born in London, but the correct place of birth is Beckenham, according to 'Billboard' magazine and the book 'Legends of Rock Guitar:  The Essential Reference of Rock's Greatest Guitarists' by Pete Prown, Harvey P. Newquist, and Jon F. Eiche.)

 

1951:  Paul Carrack, one of rock's great vocalists with Ace ("How Long"), Squeeze ("Tempted") and Mike & the Mechanics ("The Living Years") as well as a solo performer, was born in Sheffield, Yorkshire, England.
1955:  Arthur Baker, producer of New Order, was born in Boston, Massachusetts.
1956:  Kenny Lyons, an early bassist with 38 Special and bassist and producer of the Lemonheads ("Into Your Arms"),  Coral Gables, Florida
1977:  Aaron Fink, lead guitarist of Breaking Benjamin
1974:  Shavo Odadjian, songwriter and bassist for System of a Down, was born in Yerevan, Armenian SSR.
1979:  Daniel Johns, songwriter, vocalist, pianist and guitarist of Silverchair ("Freak"), was born in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia.
1984:  Amelle Berrabah, singer-songwriter of the Sugababes, was born in Aldershot, Hampshire, England.