1961: Elvis Presley recorded "(Marie's The Name) His Latest Flame)" in Nashville, Tennessee. 1964: Elvis Presley rose to #1 in the U.K. with "It's Over".
1957: A keyboard-banging star first emerged on the charts. He would go on to score 18 hits in the early years of the Rock Era. On this date, Jerry Lee Lewis debuted with his first single--"Whole Lotta' Shakin' Goin' On".
1958: A new singer named Bobby Darin debuted on the charts with his first hit song--"Splish Splash", which eventually landed in the Top 10.
1960: Paul Anka became the youngest performer (age 20) to perform at the Copacabana in New York City. 1960: Eddie Cochran hit #1 in the U.K. with "Three Steps To Heaven" a little over two months after he had been killed in a car crash. (Note: Some websites claim the song reached #1 three months after Cochran died. Eddie died April 17, which is barely over two months before the song hit #1.) 1962: Orlons moved from 60 to 30 with "The Wah Watusi". 1962: The Soundtrack to "West Side Story" was #1 on the U.K. Album chart.
1956: Elvis Presley began three days of concerts at the Paramount in Atlanta, Georgia. 1958: Vic Damone had the #1 song in the U.K. with "On The Street Where You Live".
1948: Columbia Records began mass production of the amazing new product--the 33 1/3 RPM long-playing record. The format would dominate music sales well into the 1980s. 1955: Elvis Presley appeared in concert at Beaumont, Texas.
1960: The Kingston Trio debuted their radio show on CBS Radio. 1961: Producer Bert Kaempfert signed a contract with the Beatles. (Note: several websites claim that Kaempfert signed a contract with the Beat Boys, who they later said became the Beatles, on July 20, 1961. The Beatles were never known as the Beat Boys; in fact, by July of 1960, the group changed their name permanently to the Beatles. John Lennon first formed a group called the Black Jacks, which became the Quarrymen, Johnny and the Moondogs, the Beatals, the Silver Beetles, the Silver Beats, and the Silver Beatles, before the group settled on the name the Beatles.
The contract was not signed on July 20. As you can see from the above document, which became the first Beatles contract to be auctioned in 2011, the contract was signed June 19.)