This Date in Rock Music History: March 4

1959:  Peter Gunn by Henry Mancini won Album of the Year at the first Grammy Awards.  "Volare" by Domenico Modugno took Record of the Year honors.

This Date in Rock Music History: March 3

1955: Elvis Presley made his local television debut on The Louisiana Hayride show. The show was broadcast on KWKH-TV from Municipal Auditorium in Shreveport, Louisiana. Presley had been performing on The Hayride since October 16, 1954. (Note:  As more time goes by, people make up their own information, and you will note that several websites erroneously list dates for the debut as March 4, March 5, or even March 26. Some sites also mistakenly say that the station which broadcast the show was KWKH. According to the book 'Elvis Presley: The King of Rock 'n' Roll' by Jean-Pierre Hombach, the correct date is March 3, and the call letters of the television station were KSLA, the CBS affiliate in Shreveport.)

This Date in Rock Music History: March 2

1955:  Bo Diddley went into the recording studio for the first time at Universal Recording Studio in Chicago, Illinois, where he recorded "Bo Diddley".

1955:  Elvis Presley performed an early show at the Newport Armory before playing a 10 p.m. set at Porky's Rooftop Club in Newport, Arkansas.
1957:  Most Rock Era fans would not get to know this artist until her 1959 hit "Sweet Nothin's" but on this date, Brenda Lee first appeared on the chart with her debut single "One Step At A Time".
1957:  This artist would capture attention the following year with "Stagger Lee" but on this date, Lloyd Price first appeared on the chart with his debut single "Just Because".
1957:  "Blue Monday" by Fats Domino reigned on the R&B chart for an eighth week.
1959:  "Stagger Lee" continued to hold on to #1 on the R&B chart for a fourth week for Lloyd Price.
1959:  Lloyd Price remained a fixture at #1 for the fourth week on the Popular chart as well with "Stagger Lee".  "Venus" by Frankie Avalon was hot, moving from 28 to 7.
1961:  The Everly Brothers had the new #1 song in the U.K. with "Walk Right Back", a song written by Sonny Curtis of the Crickets.
1963:  "Rhythm Of The Rain" by the Cascades was the new #1 on the Easy Listening chart.
1963:  "My Sweet Lord", um, I mean "He's So Fine" by the Chiffons, was a hot song, moving from #87 to #41.  

This Date in Rock Music History: March 1

1957:  The Everly Brothers signed with Cadence Records and recorded "Bye Bye Love" at the RCA Studios in Nashville, Tennessee.

1958:  Buddy Holly started his only tour of the U.K. at the Trocadero at Elephant & Castle in London.
1966:  Gene Clark of the Byrds announced he was leaving the group.  It is not lost on observers that a member of the Byrds declared that he "had a fear of flying", which made it difficult for Gene to tour with the group.
1966:  One day after the famous Cavern Club in Liverpool, England closed, hundreds of incensed fans barricaded themselves inside.  Believe it or not, someone actually proposed bulldozing the place to build a subway stop, but the smarter people prevailed and the Club took its proper place as a historic site.
1967:  The Beatles began recording a song John Lennon had been working on--"Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds".  They had tried to record the song the previous day in eight hours of recording, but weren't satisfied, and most of the tapes from that session were erased.

This Date in Rock Music History: February 28

1962:  In a precursor to industry changes later, WINS in New York City, which featured disc jockey Murray the K, switched formats from Top 40 to Easy Listening and changed its call letters to WHN.

1970:  Led Zeppelin had to perform as the group the Nobs in Denmark after the family of the late airship designer Ferdinand von Zeppelin in that country threatened a lawsuit.
1970:  "Bridge Over Troubled Water" by Simon & Garfunkel had become a mass-appeal smash.  The song that would become a classic took over on the Adult chart on this date.

This Date in Rock Music History: February 27

1961:  Del Shannon released the single "Runaway" on Big Top Records.

This Date in Rock Music History: February 26

1955:  LaVern Baker wrote a letter to Michigan Representative Charles Digges, Jr. requesting that the Copyright Act of 1909 be updated.  It was common practice for Caucasian artists to remake African-American songs, which, although it benefitted African-American songwriters, put African-American artists such as Baker at a disadvantage.  Georgia Gibbs and others consistently knocked Baker off the charts with their versions of her songs.