This Date in Rock Music History: July 6

1956:  John Lennon met Paul McCartney at a dinner at St. Peter's Church in Liverpool, England and invited him to join his group the Quarrymen.  (Note:  several websites incorrectly state that the meeting took place on June 15.  It was July 6, as the poster advertising the event clearly shows.)









1960:  Bobby Rydell released the single "Volare".







 

1963:  Barbara Lewis reached #1 on the R&B chart with "Hello Stranger".
1963:  Kyu Sakamoto remained at #1 on the Easy Listening chart for the fifth week in a row with "Sukiyaki".
1963:  Little Stevie Wonder's "Fingertips, Pt. 2" rolled up from 58 to 18 on the Popular chart.








       
          
                                                 The Essex landed at #1...


1963:  The Essex scored a #1 hit with "Easier Said Than Done", toppling "Sukiyaki" by Kyu Sakamoto.  Bobby Vinton reached #3 with "Blue On Blue" and Barbara Lewis fell after peaking at #3 with "Hello Stranger".  Lesley Gore's former #1 "It's My Party" was at 5.  The rest of the Top 10:  "One Fine Day", the great song from the Chiffons, Jan & Dean moved from 10-7 with "Surf City", Lonnie Mack's "Memphis" was song #8, the Thymes were up to 9 with "So Much In Love" and Rolf Harris had a Top 10 record with "Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport".








1964:  The Beatles' first movie A Hard Day's Night premiered at the Pavilion in London with Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon in attendance.
1965:  Marty Balin and Paul Kantner formed Jefferson Airplane at the club called the Drinking Gourd in San Francisco, California.
1967:  Jackie Wilson recorded "(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher And Higher" at Columbia Studios in Chicago, Illinois.
1968:  Fleetwood Mac, Jimi Hendrix, T. Rex, Al Stewart and Pentangle highlighted the opening day of the Woburn Music Festival at Woburn Abbey in Bedfordshire, England.  (Note:  some websites claim Fleetwood Mac, Donovan and John Mayall's Bluesbreakers performed on this day.  Donovan and Mayall's Bluesbreakers performed the next day, July 7.  Fleetwood Mac was scheduled for the 7th but canceled.)
1968:  The Temptations had the top R&B hit with "I Could Never Love Another (After Loving You)".  



     
                                Puckett & the Union Gap reached the Top 10...


1968:  Herb Alpert was once again at #1 with "This Guy's In Love With You".  Cliff Nobles had jumped up from 15-2 the previous week with "The Horse", one of The Top 100 Instrumentals of the Rock Era*, but he couldn't overtake Alpert on this date.  The Rolling Stones had their 22nd hit and their 11th Top 10 in "Jumpin' Jack Flash" while Sergio Mendes & brasil '66 were at 4 with "The Look Of Love".  Another of The Top 100 Instrumentals*, "Grazing In The Grass" from Hugh Masekela, jumped from 13 to 5.  The Rest of the Top 10:  Gary Puckett (from Twin Falls, Idaho) & the Union Gap motored up from 15 to 6 with "Lady Willpower", Merrilee Rush had the original "Angel Of The Morning", Shorty Long's novelty hit "Here Comes The Judge" was at #8, Richard Harris was on his way down with "MacArthur Park" and Friend and Lover were stuck at 10 with "Reach Out Of The Darkness".





                                          "The Dangling Conversation"...

1968:  Simon & Garfunkel had three of the Top 10 albums--#1 Bookends, #2 "The Graduate" Soundtrack and at #10, Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme.
1969:  John Lennon and Yoko Ono were released from a hospital in Golspie, Scotland after being treated for injuries from a car crash on July 1.













1970:  Rare Earth released the single "(I Know) I'm Losing You" on Rare Earth Records.
1970:  Grand Funk Railroad, The Bob Seger System, the Allman Brothers, Ten Years After, Johnny Winter, Spirit and Its A Beautiful Day played on the final day at the Atlanta International Pop Festival in Atlanta, Georgia.
1971:  Bjorn Ulvaeus and Agnetha Faltskog of ABBA were married in Verum Sweden.  Future ABBA member Benny Anderson played organ at the ceremony.  (Note:  some websites falsely report the marriage was July 7.  According to the official websites for both Agnetha and Bjorn, they were married July 6.)

1971:  After suffering a heart attack in May, trumpet player, singer and bandleader Louis Armstrong died at the age of 69 of a heart attack in Queens, New York.

1973:  Queen released their debut single "Keep Yourself Alive" in the U.K.

1974:   Mott the Hoople and Lindisfarne were among the performers at the Buxton Pop Festival in Derbyshire, England.  (Note:  some websites claim the Faces and Humble Pie performed at the Festival on this date.  The Festival was a two-day event and those groups performed on July 7, as you can plainly see from the poster above.)
1974:  "Rock The Boat" by the Hues Corporation was the top song in the U.K.
1974:  Band on the Run by Paul McCartney & Wings was the new #1 album, replacing Sundown from Gordon Lightfoot.  Marvin Hamlisch had #3 with "The Sting" Soundtrack while Cat Stevens remained at 4 with Buddha and the Chocolate Box and Elton John debuted at #5 with his great album Caribou.

1974:  Elton John had the Biggest Mover of the week as "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me" climbed from 50-25.
1974:  "Annie's Song" by John Denver was the most popular Adult song. 

1974:  "Rock Your Baby" by George McCrae, which would not only go on to become one of the top hits of the 1970's but one of The Top 500 Songs of the Rock Era*, reached #1 on the R&B chart.












1974:  Hues Corporation piloted 'Rock The Boat" to #1, meaning Gordon Lightfoot enjoyed just a one-week stay at the top with "Sundown". 
1975:  David Bowie began filming for the movie The Man Who Fell To Earth.  (Note:  several websites claim filming began June 30.  The correct date is July 6, according to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.)
1977:  The Eagles performed at the Myriad Convention Center (now called the Cox Convention Center) in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
1978:  Eddie Mahoney changed his stage name to Eddie Money in preparation of a career as a recording artist.  (Note:  some websites state that he legally changed his name to Eddie Money--it was just for his stage name and he is still Eddie Mahoney.)









1979:  Van McCoy ("The Hustle" from 1975) died of a massive heart attack in Englewood, New Jersey at the age of 39.
1981:  Pat Benatar released the album Precious Time. 

1981:  Pat Benatar released the single "Fire And Ice".















1982:  Now a duo, America attempted a comeback with a new single "You Can Do Magic" released on this date.
1984:  Los Angeles celebrated "Tina Turner Day".
1984:  The Jacksons began their Victory Tour with the first of three shows at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri.
1985:  Heart released their self-titled album on Capitol Records.
1985:  Freddie Jackson had one of the top R&B songs of the decade with "Rock Me Tonight", which remained at #1 for a sixth week.








                                 Survivor reached the Top 5...


1985:  A pretty good Top 10 on this date--"Sussudio" by Phil Collins climbed to #1.  Duran Duran's "A View To A Kill" was #2, followed by Prince's "Raspberry Beret" and the former #1 "Heaven" from Bryan Adams.  Survivor climbed to 5 with "The Search Is Over".  The rest of the Top 10:  the Eurythmics with "Would I Lie to You?", Whitney Houston was up strong (13-7) with "You Give Good Love", Paul Young took the #8 spot with Everytime You Go Away", 'til Tuesday came in at #9 with "Voices Carry" and Madonna was on her way out with "Angel".
1985:  No Jacket Required by Phil Collins returned to #1 on the Album chart after five weeks away from the top spot.
1991:  As it became easier to debut at #1 on the Album chart, more acts were getting in on it.  Van Halen debuted at the top spot with For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge.
1991:  "Rush, Rush" from Paula Abdul was the top song on the Adult Contemporary chart for the second week.

   

       
                                        Jesus Jones reminded us to live in the moment...

1991:  Paula Abdul remained at #1 for the fourth week with "Rush, Rush", one of The Top 500 Songs of the Rock Era*.  EMF had a great song "Unbelievable" at #2 waiting its turn.  Color Me Badd fell with "I Wanna' Sex You Up", Luther Vandross's "Power Of Love/Love Power" held steady at 4 and Jesus Jones moved up with "Right Here, "Right Now".










                                                              "Until It Sleeps" from Metallica...

1996:  Load, which debuted at #1 two weeks previously for Metallica, remained there while Toni Braxton debuted at #2 on the Album chart with Secrets.
2003:  Skip Battin, bass guitarist and songwriter with the Byrds, New Riders of the Purple Sage and the Flying Burrito Brothers, died of complications from Alzheimer's in Silverton, Oregon at age 69.  (Note:  the notorious 'Allmusic.com' claims Battin died in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada while some websites report he died in Salem, Oregon.  According to the newspaper 'The Los Angeles Times', Battin died in Silverton.)
2003:   Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters and Liz Phair played a fundraiser for Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry at the Henry Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles.
2003:  Beyonce, Shania Twain, Craig David and David Gary appeared together in Hyde Park of London at a charity concert that raised $1.6 million for the Prince's Trust.
2003:  Beyonce and Jay-Z had the top song in the U.K. with "Crazy In Love".
2004:  The last Live 8 concert was held in Edinburgh to coincide with the opening of the G8 summit in Scotland.  Annie Lennox, the Corrs and Snow Patrol were among the performers.
2004:  Singer/songwriter Syreeta Wright, who began as a secretary at Motown Records, married Stevie Wonder in 1970 and later had a #1 duet with Billy Preston in 1980 ("With You I'm Born Again"), died of congestive heart failure after undergoing chemotherapy and radiation treatment for bone and breast cancer in Los Angeles at the age of 57.
2005:  In today's segment of "Inmates Run Rap Music", Lil' Kim was sentenced to 366 days in prison for perjury.
2005:  Bob Geldof of the Boomtown Rats was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for his work in the Live 8 event.
2010:  Harvey Fuqua of the Moonglows ("The Ten Commandments Of Love" from 1958) died of a heart attack at the age of 80 in Detroit, Michigan.


Born This Day:

1925:  Bill Haley was born in Highland Park, Michigan; died February 9, 1981 in Harlingen, Texas.












1937:  Gene Chandler was born in Chicago, Illinois.
1945:  Rik Elswit, lead guitarist of Dr. Hook, was born in Los Angeles, California.  (Note:  several websites report he was born in New York City.  According to the newspaper 'Marin Independent Journal', he was born in Los Angeles.)
1949:  Michael Shrieve, a drummer of Santana, was born in San Francisco, California.
1959:  John Keeble, drummer of Spandau Ballet ("True"), was born in Hampstead, London.
1963:  Tim Bricheno, guitarist for All About Eve, was born in Huddersfield, West Riding of Yorkshire, England.  (Note:  some naive websites claim Tim was born in the county of West Yorkshire.  The county was not known as West Yorkshire until the Local Government Act of 1972 took effect in 1974.  As Bricheno was born 11 years before that, it is physically impossible for him to have been born in West Yorkshire and you will never see it listed as his County of Birth on his official birth certificate.)
1969:  Michael Grant of Musical Youth ("Pass The Dutchie") was born in Birmingham, England.