This Date in Rock Music History: March 16

1957:  Mickey and Sylvia moved to #1 on the R&B chart with "Love Is Strange".
1959:  The Platters moved to #1 in the U.K. with "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes".











1963:  Skeeter Davis took over at #1 on the Easy Listening chart with "The End Of The World".  
1963:  The 4 Seasons continued to own the top song with "Walk Like A Man" for the third week.  Ruby & the Romantics were at #2 with "Our Day Will Come", Bobby Darin moved to 3 with "You're The Reason I'm Living" and Skeeter Davis moved from 7-4 with "The End Of The World".  The rest of the Top 10:  The Cascades with their smash "Rhythm Of The Rain", Dion's "Ruby Baby", Paul & Paula were down with their former #1 "Hey Paula", Eydie Gorme placed "Blame It on the Bossa Nova" at #8, Johnny Mathis with "What Will Mary Say" and the Chiffons bounced from 19-10 with "He's So Fine".
1964:  The Beatles sold 2,100,000 advance copies of their single "Can't Buy Me Love", setting a new record.
1965:  The Beatles continued to film their second movie Help! with skiing scenes of the Beatles in Obertauern, Austria.   

1965:  The Rolling Stones had the top song in the U.K. with "The Last Time".
1968:  Blooming Hits by Paul Mariat & His Orchestra was the #1 album for a third week.  Bob Dylan would have to settle for #2 with John Wesley Harding while the Jimi Hendrix Experience had #3--Axis:   Bold As Love.
1968:  Otis Redding had the top R&B song with "(Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay".
1968:  Paul Mauriat had a huge hit on his hands, as "Love Is Blue" was #1 on the Adult chart for the fifth week.




 

1968:  "(Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay" began a five-week run at #1 on the U.S. charts.  The song was posthumously released in 1968 after Otis Redding died in a plane crash on December 10, 1967, three days after recording the song.

















 

1970:  The Guess Who released the double-sided single "American Woman"/"No Sugar Tonight".


















1970:  Novelty artist Ray Stevens shocked everyone by coming up with the single "Everything Is Beautiful", which he released on this day.  (Note:  some websites naively state that the song was released on August 24.  "Everything Is Beautiful" first debuted on the charts on April 6, 1970.  It is physically impossible for a song to make the Singles chart if it has not been released as a single yet.)

1970--Tammi Terrell died of a bran tumor at the age of 24.  Terrell had collapsed onstage October 14, 1967 during a concert in Hampton, Virginia.  Terrell was famous for recording duets with Marvin Gaye, including "Your Precious Love" and "Ain't Nothing Like The Real Thing".  After her death, Gaye took four years off from performing and went into isolation.  







 

                                       The historic duo won top prizes at the Grammys...

1971--Grammy Awards were given to Simon and Garfunkel for Record of the Year and Song of the Year for "Bridge Over Troubled Water" and Album of the Year for the album Bridge Over Troubled Water and to the Carpenters for Best New Artist and Best Vocal Performance.
1972:  Neil Diamond performed at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
1972:  John Lennon and Yoko Ono were served with deportation papers.  Lennon immediately filed an appeal with the U.S. Immigration Office in New York City.
1974:  Elvis Presley played the first of four concerts (two shows on March 16, and evening shows on the 17th and 20th) at the Mid-South Coliseum in Memphis, Tennessee.




 

                                             "Free Man In Paris" from Joni's great LP...

1974:  Barbara Streisand's The Way We Were was atop the U.S. Album chart.  Joni Mitchell's excellent Court And Spark was #2 for a third week with previous #1 Planet Waves from Bob Dylan falling to third.  John Denver's Greatest Hits was in the #4 position followed by Hotcakes from Carly Simon.  The rest of the Top 10:  Tales From Topographic Oceans by Yes, Mike Oldfield was at #7 with Tubular Bells, Paul McCartney & Wings with Band on the Run, Elton John moved back up with Goodbye Yellow Brick Road and Jim Croce was at #10 after 56 weeks with You Don't Mess Around With Jim.
1974:  John Denver reached #1 on the Adult chart with "Sunshine On My Shoulders".







             
                           Paul McCartney & Wings landed in the Top 10 with "Jet"...

1974:  Terry Jacks made it three straight weeks at #1 with "Seasons In The Sun".  Eddie Kendricks' great song "Boogie Down" landed at #2.  Cher's "Dark Lady" was #3 while John Denver shot up from 10 to 4 with "Sunshine On My Shoulders".  Barbra Streisand's former #1 "The Way We Were" was at #5.  The rest of the Top 10:  Carly Simon & James Taylor with "Mockingbird", Kool and the Gang dropped with "Jungle Boogie", David Essex was on the way down with "Rock On", Jim Stafford slipped with "Spiders & Snakes" and Paul McCartney & Wings enjoyed their seventh Top 10 song in 10 releases with "Jet".
1977:  Paper Lace owned the top song in the U.K. with "Billy Don't Be A Hero".

1979:  Twisted Sister sold out New York City's Palladium (3,000 capacity) without ever releasing a record.  The group did not sign a music deal until three years later.  
1979:  Wings Over the World, a television special featuring Paul McCartney & the group, aired on ABC.  (Note:  several websites claim that the television special Wings Over America was broadcast on this date.  There is no such show; the name of the documentary is Wings Over the World, according to the book 'The Beatles Diary Volume 2:  After the Break-Up 1970-2001).)


1981:  REO Speedwagon released the single "Take It On The Run".
1985:  Julian Lennon had the #1 Adult Contemporary song with "Too Late For Goodbyes".
1985:  The Commodores achieved #1 on the R&B chart without Lionel Richie with the song "Nightshift".









                                   "Centerfield", the title track from the great Fogerty...

1985:  Make It Big by Wham was #1 on the Album chart for a third week, just ahead of Centerfield from John Fogerty and Born in the U.S.A. from Bruce Springsteen.













1991:  Gloria Estefan's great song "Coming Out Of The Dark" was #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart.
1991:  Mariah Carey had the #1 song with "Someday".  Timmy T was second with "One More Try" , Styx was up to #3 with "Show Me The Way" and Gloria Estefan moved from 9 to 4 with "Coming Out Of The Dark".  The rest of the Top 10:  Sting with "All This Time", Tracie Spencer at #6 with "This House", Whitney Houston's former #1 "All The Man That I Need", Oleta Adams reached the Top 10 with "Get Here", Celine Dion slipped with "Where Does My Heart Beat Now" and Tara Kemp was at #10 with "Hold You Tight".
1991:  The self-titled debut Mariah Carey was #1 on the Album chart for a third week.
1996:  Joseph Pope of the Tams ("What Kind of Fool (Do You Think I Am)" from 1964) died of heart failure in Atlanta, Georgia at age 62.






1996:  "One Sweet Day", by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men, spent a 16th week at #1, breaking all Rock Era records.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1998:  Popular television and movie star Will Smith had a number one song with "Gettin' Jiggy 'Wit It".
1999--The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) presented the first Diamond Awards. The awards are given in recognition of albums and singles that have sold 10 million copies or more. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2002:  Jennifer Lopez topped the charts with "Ain't It Funny".
2005:  Billy Joel responsibly checked himself into a rehabilitation center for alcohol abuse.
2008:  Ola Brunkert, drummer with ABBA, was found dead at the age of 62 in his garden on the Spanish island of Malloca after he had hit his head against a glass door in the dining room of his home and gone outside to get help.  Brunkert had played on every album with the group.

2010:  ABBA, Genesis and the Hollies were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City.  
2011:  James Taylor was on an episode of Mr. Sunshine on ABC-TV.
2011:  The Eagles performed at the Olympic Gymnasium in Seoul, South Korea.

Born This Day:
1929:  Betty Johnson ("I Dreamed" from 1956) was born in Guilford County, North Carolina.  (Note:  some websites claim Betty was born in Charlotte, North Carolina.  Some websites say she was born in 1931.  'Allmusic.com' claims she was born in 1932 in Possum Walk, North Carolina.  According to the special library collection (Betty Johnson Papers, 1947-2012) at the University of North Carolina, she was born March 16, 1929 in Guilford County.)

1942:  Jerry Jeff Walker (real name Ronald Crosby), US singer/songwriter ("Mr Bojangles" for The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band) was born in Oneonta, New York.

1948:  Michael Bruce, guitarist for Alice Cooper, was born in Phoenix, Arizona.

1954:  Nancy Wilson, singer, songwriter, guitarist and co-founder of Heart, was born in San Francisco, California.
1959:  Flavor Flav (real name is William Jonathan Drayton, Jr.) of Public Enemy, was born in Roosevelt, New York.  (Note:  some websites erroneously say he was born in Roosevelt, Long Island, New York.  Long Island is neither a city or a state, and it is unprofessional to say it is an official birthplace.  Roosevelt is the name of the city where he was born.)
2011:  Inside The Rock Era, the #1 website for music, news, statistics, charts and lists, was born in Boise, Idaho, U.S.A.