9th May 1970, Guess Who started a three-week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'American Woman', it was the group's sixth Top 30 hit and only chart topper. The song was born by accident when guitarist Randy Bachman was playing a heavy riff on stage...
9th May 1980, 'I Don't Like Mondays' by The Boomtown Rats won the best pop song and outstanding British lyric categories at the 25th Ivor Novello Awards. And Supertramp's 'The Logical Song' won Best Song Musically and Lyrically. Boomtown Rats lead singer...
10th May 1969, Frank Sinatra's version of 'My Way' made the British Top ten for the first time. Over the next three years it re-entered the Top 50 singles chart on eight different occasions. Paul Anka re-wrote the original French song for Sinatra, after...
May 10th 1960, The Silver Beetles (John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Stuart Sutcliffe, and Tommy Moore) auditioned for promoter Larry Parnes and singer Billy Fury for a job as Fury's backing group. Parnes was also looking for backing groups...
May 10th 1965, The Rolling Stones recorded a version of '(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction' at Chess Studios in Chicago, with Brian Jones on harmonica. The group re-recorded it two days later at RCA Studios in Hollywood, with a different beat and theGibson...
May 10th 1970, David Bowie was awarded an Ivor Novello Award for Best Original Song'Space Oddity' which he performed that night accompanied by the Les Reed Orchestra. The event was transmitted live via satellite to venues in America, France, Spain, Australia,...
11th May 1981, Jamaican singer-songwriter Bob Marley died of lung cancer and a brain tumour aged 36. Had the 1981 single 'No Woman No Cry', plus over ten other UK Top 40 singles. In 1990, the 6th February was proclaimed a national holiday in Jamaica to...
May 11th 1963, The Beatles started a 30 week run at No.1 on the UK album charts with their debut album 'Please Please Me', making it the longest running No.1 album by a group ever. The bands follow up 'With The Beatles' replaced it at the top of the charts...
11th May 1970, The triple soundtrack album Woodstock was released in the US, going gold within two weeks. The album featured tracks by; Canned Heat, Richie Havens, Country Joe McDonald, Crosby, Stills & Nash, The Who, Jefferson Airplane, Joe Cocker, Santana...
May 12th 1946, Born on this day, Ian McLagan, keyboards, Small Faces (1967 UK No.3 & US No.17 single 'Itchycoo Park', & 1968 UK No.1 album 'Ogden's Nut Gone Flake'). The Faces, (1971 UK No.6 & US No.17 single 'Stay With Me'). Also worked withThe Rolling...
May 12th 1973, Led Zeppelin started a three-week run at No.1 on the US album chart with their fifth album Houses Of The Holy. The group's third US No.1 album went on to spend 39 weeks on the US chart. Houses Of The Holy has now been certified 11 times...
Happy Birthday Stevie! 13th May 1950, Born on this day, Stevie Wonder, singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. A child prodigy who developed into one of the most creative musical figures of the late 20th century. Wonder who has been blind from shortly...
May 13th 1970, The world premiere of The Beatles film 'Let It Be' took place in New York City. The film which was originally planned as a television documentary features an unannounced rooftop concert by the group, their last performance in public. Released...
May 14th 1998, American singer and actor Frank Sinatra died at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles aged 82, after suffering a heart attack. Sinatra had his first hit in 1940, working in the Swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, won an...
May 14th 2015, Blues singer, songwriter and guitarist B.B. King died in his sleep aged 89 from a series of small strokes caused by type 2 diabetes. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential blues guitarists of all time, Rolling Stone magazine...
May 14th 1976, 33 year-old Keith Relf, former lead singer for The Yardbirds, was electrocuted while tuning a guitar which was not properly earthed. The accident happened in his West London home where he was found by his eight year old son, still holding...
10th June 2004, US singer, songwriter Ray Charles died aged 73. Glaucoma rendered Charles blind at the age of six. He scored the 1962 UK & US No.1 single 'I Can't Stop Loving You' plus over 30 other US Top 40 singles and the 2005 US No.1 album 'Genius...
June 11th 1960, Drummer Tommy Moore made the fateful decision to quit The Beatles and return to his job of driving a forklift at Garston bottle works. He was briefly replaced by Norman Chapman, who was called into National Service after just three gigs....
6th July 1925, Born on this day, Bill Haley, (William John Clifton Haley), singer, guitarist, 'The first Rock 'n' Roll star.' As Bill Haley and his Comets he had the 1955 UK & US No.1 single 'Rock Around the Clock' Haley was one of the earliest acts to...
July 7th 1980, Led Zeppelin played their last-ever concert with drummer John Bonham when they appeared at Eissporthalle, West Berlin at the end of a European tour. The set included: 'Black Dog', 'The Rain Song', 'Hot Dog', 'All My Love', 'Trampled Under...
July 7th 2006, Syd Barrett died from complications arising from diabetes aged 60. The singer, songwriter, guitarist was one of the founding members of Pink Floyd, active as a rock musician for only about seven years before he went into seclusion. He joined...
8th July 1973, Led Zeppelin's fifth album Houses Of The Holy was on both the US and UK album charts. The album spent a total of 39 weeks on the US chart. The cover art for Houses Of The Holy was inspired by the ending of Arthur C. Clarke's novel Childhood's...
July 8th 1954, Producer Sam Phillips took an acetate recording of Elvis Presley singing 'That's All Right' to Memphis radio station WHBQ DJ Dewey Phillips. He played the song just after 9.30 that evening, the phone lines lit up asking the DJ to play the...
July 8th 1966, The Beatles released the ‘Nowhere Man’ 4-track EP in the UK, which included: ‘Drive My Car’, ‘Michelle’ and ‘You Won't See Me’. All four tracks were taken from The Beatles sixth UK studio album, Rubber Soul.1966, The Beatles released the...
9th July 1946, Born on this day in Forfar, Scotland, Bon Scott (Ronald Belford Scott), singer with AC/DC from 1974 until his death in 1980. He was brought up in Kirriemuir before moving to Melbourne, Australia, with his family in 1952 at the age of six....
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