Elvis Quits...Cream Comes And Goes...Four For Berry
This is the week that was in matters musical...
1954, Elvis signs
his first recording contract with Sun Records and quits his job as a
truck driver...
1957, Alan Freed begins a 13-week rock 'n' roll show
on ABC-TV with guests Frankie Lymon, the Everly Brothers, Buddy Knox,
Connie Francis, and others...the show is cancelled after Southern
affiliate stations are enraged when Frankie Lymon dances with a white
girl...also this week in 1959 The Shirelles release "Dedicated To The
One I Love" and The Coasters record "Poison Ivy"...
1961, according to
Billboard, the teenage dance craze, The Twist, is being picked up by
adults in Philadelphia, which signals the end of the craze among
teenagers...
1962, The Rolling Stones make the performing debut at their
Marquee Club in London...
1964, the Beatles' film "A Hard Day's Night"
premieres in Liverpool, and The Supremes "Where Did Our Love Go" is
released, later to become the group's first number-one hit...
1965,
Wilson Pickett's "In The Midnight Hour" is released, and Sonny and
Cher break into the pop charts with "I Got You Babe"...
1966, "When A
Man Loves A Woman" earns Percy Sledge his first and only gold record
...1966, Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce, and Ginger Baker form the band
Cream...
1967, a day after leaving the New Christy Minstrels, Kenny
Rogers forms The First Edition and that same week The Who begins its
first full-scale U.S. tour as the opening act for Herman's Hermits...
1968, Eric Clapton announces that Cream will break up after a
farewell tour, and Steppenwolf's "Born To Be Wild" is released...
1970, Johnny Cash records "Sunday Morning Coming Down" by Kris
Kristofferson ... Kristofferson had interested Johnny in the song by
landing a helicopter on Cash's lawn to deliver it personally, thus
launching his career...
1972, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles perform
a farewell concert in Washington, D.C....1973, Chuck Berry gets four
months in prison for stiffing Uncle Sam for $200,000 on his income
taxes...
1974, The Grateful Dead receive two gold records for albums
they released four years earlier, "Working Man's Dead" and "American
Beauty"...
1975, K.C. & the Sunshine Band make their chart debut with
"Get Down Tonight"...
1985, The Live-Aid concerts are held in
Philadelphia and London, and are watched or listened to by an
audience of one-and-a-half-billion people...
1987, Steve Miller gets a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame...
1996, singer Dolores O'Riordan
of the Cranberries accepts an undisclosed settlement from a London
newspaper that reported (apparently incorrectly) that she appeared on
stage without panties...
2000, Lars Ulrich of Metallica testifies
before a Senate panel against websites like Napster that allow people
to trade music free over the Internet...
and that was the week that was.
Birthdays
July 10: Ronnie James Dio of Black Sabbath (1940), Jerry Miller of
Moby Grape (1943), Arlo Guthrie (1947), Dave Smalley of The
Raspberries (1949), Neil Tennant of The Pet Shop Boys (1954)
July 11: Jeff Hanna of The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (1947), Bonnie
Pointer (1950), Richie Sambora (1959), singer/songwriter Suzanne
Vega (1960)
July 12: Christine McVie (1943), Peter Lewis of Moby Grape (1945),
John Wetton of Uriah Heep and Asia (1949), Eric Carr of Kiss (1950),
Liz Mitchell of Boney M (1952)
July 13: Stephen Bladd of J. Geils Band and Roger McGuinn (1942),
Louise Mandrell (1954), Mark Mendoza of Twisted Sister (1956)
July 14: Woody Guthrie (1912), Chris Cross (1952)
July 15: Linda Ronstadt (1946), Jeff Carlisi of .38 Special (1952),
Joe Satriani (1956)
July 16: Tony Jackson of The Searchers (1940), Desmond Dekker
(1941), Stewart Copeland (1952)
Departures
July 10: Arthur Fiedler (1979), Jellyroll Morton (1941)
July 11: big band singer Helen Forrest (1999), bandleader Mario Bauza
(1993), George Gershwin (1937)
July 12: Jimmy Driftwood (1998), Jonathan
Melvoin-tour keyboardist
for Smashing Pumpkins (1996), Minnie Riperton (1979)
July 14: Philippe Wynne of the Spinners (1984), Clarence White of The Byrds
(1973)
July 15: singer and band leader Bobby Day (1990)
July 16: Harry Chapin (1981), Styx drummer John Panozzo (1996)
