January 8
Elvis Aaron Presley is born at his parent's home, a two-room house that was built by his father at 306 Old Saltillo Road, East Tupelo, Mississippi. A twin brother, Jesse Garon Presley is stillborn.
1945 - ClassicBands.com
January 8
Elvis Presley receives his first guitar for his tenth birthday. The plain brown, acoustic model cost $12.95 from the Tupelo Hardware Store
1955 - ClassicBands.com
January 8
Elvis Presley celebrates his twentieth birthday by performing his weekly spot on the KWKH radio show, Louisiana Hayride.
January 10 Alan Freed hosted his first New York stage show, featuring The Clovers, The Drifters and Fats Domino.
1956 - ClassicBands.com
January 9
A trio known as Buddy Holly and the Two-Tunes kick off a two week tour of the Southern United States as a supporting act for George Jones and Hank Thompson.
January 10 Elvis Presley recorded his first tracks for his new record company, RCA. Among them was the first song written especially for The King, "Heartbreak Hotel". He was backed by a drummer, D.J. Fontana for the first time, in addition to guitarist Chet Atkins and piano player Floyd Cramer in an eight hour recording session.
January 11
After changing their name from The Robins, The Coasters record their first tracks for Atlantic Records in Hollywood. The L.A. quintet would crack the Hot 100 the following year and place six consecutive hits in the Top Ten.
1957 - ClassicBands.com
January 8
Elvis passes his pre-induction medical at Kennedy Veterans Hospital in Memphis. He is classified 1-A.
January 8 Bill Haley And His Comets kick off a world wide tour in Sydney Australia, playing two sold out concerts, each attended by over 7,000 fans.
1959 - ClassicBands.com
January 9 Dion and The Belmonts perform their newest recording, "Teenager In Love", on American Bandstand. The song will reach #5 in the US and #28 in the UK.
January 10 Jerry Lee Lewis has his only UK #1 single with "Great Balls Of Fire".
January 12
Using an $800 family loan, 29 year old Berry Gordy Jr. forms his first record label, Tamla Records.
1960 - ClassicBands.com
January 14 Elvis Presley is promoted to Acting-Sergeant in the US Army, receiving a pay increase of $22.94 per month.
1961 - ClassicBands.com
January 9
Orchestra leader Bert Kaempfert knocked Elvis Presley out of the number one spot on the US charts after six weeks with a sleepy instrumental called "Wonderland By Night". Later in the year, Kaempfert would hire The Beatles to back Tony Sheridan on their first commercial recording, "My Bonnie".
January 9
Bob Newhart's comedy LP "The Button Down Mind Strikes Back!" topped the Billboard album chart, just as "The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart" did the previous year.
January 12
Motown Records signs The Primettes to a recording contract and convinces them to change their name. From several possibilities, they settle on one suggested by Florence Ballard - The Supremes.
1962 - ClassicBands.com
January 11 Cliff Richard became the first British artist to enter the UK chart at number one when "The Young Ones" debuted at the top of the list.
January 13 Chubby Checker's "The Twist", which reached number one on the Billboard chart on September 19th, 1960, makes a surprise return to the top spot on The Hot 100. It is the only Rock record by the same artist to ever accomplish that feat.
1963 - ClassicBands.com
January 11
The now world famous Los Angeles night club, The Whiskey A-Go-Go, opened its doors. Johnny Rivers, Alice Cooper and Kansas have recorded live albums there. Rivers also recorded two Top 10 singles, "Memphis" and "Seventh Son", live at The Whiskey.
January 12 The Beatles released "Please Please Me", which would be their first number one single in the UK. Written mostly by John Lennon, the song made it to the top in just three weeks and would sell over 1.5 million copies world wide. However, the record wouldn't appear on the US charts for another year.
January 12 Steve Lawrence enjoyed his only US number one single with the Gerry Goffin / Carole King written "Go Away Little Girl". Donny Osmond would also take the song to the top in 1971.
January 12
A New York doo-wop quintet called The Earls saw their only US Top 40 hit, "Remember Then" enter the Billboard chart, where it would reach #24.
1964 - ClassicBands.com
January 9 The Temptations record "The Way You Do The Things You Do" for Detroit's Motown Records. The single will become The Temps' first Billboard Top 40 hit, peaking at #11.
January 10
The first US Beatles album, "Introducing The Beatles", was released on Vee-Jay records. The album cover showed John, Paul and George with their now famous "mop top" haircuts, but Ringo had yet to convert. Vee-Jay would be forced to stop selling the disc by the end of the year because of legal complications, but by then over 1.3 million copies had been sold.
January 11
"Louie Louie" by The Kingsmen was the number one song on the Cash Box music chart. For a while, the record was banned by a handful of US radio stations because of its indecipherable lyrics, which were rumored to contain some naughty words. Even the F.B.I. investigated the song, but finally concluded that they could find nothing wrong. You can read the lyrics to Louie, Louie HERE
January 11
"Ring of Fire: The Best of Johnny Cash" becomes the first album to top Billboard's new Country L.P. chart. It would peak at #17 on the Hot 200.
1965 - ClassicBands.com
January 9 The Beatles started a nine week run at the top of the Billboard Hot 200 album chart with "Beatles 65", the group's fourth US #1 LP. The record jumped from #98 the week before, making the biggest gain in chart history to that point.
January 9
The UK music show Juke Box Jury, a program where four panelists review new Pop music, turns thumbs down on The Righteous Brothers' latest release, "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling", calling it "a miss." It will prove to be one of the most talked about miscalculations in the show's history, as the tune would go on to top both the UK and US charts.
January 12
A Rock 'n' Roll variety show called Hullabaloo premieres on NBC TV. Featured acts include host Jack Jones, The New Christy Minstrels, The Zombies and Gerry and the Pacemakers.
January 8 The Beatles started a six week run at #1 on the US album chart with "Rubber Soul", the group's seventh US chart topper.
January 11 Herman's Hermits receive a Gold record for the album "The Best of Herman's Hermits".
January 14
David Jones changes his name to David Bowie to avoid confusion with Davy Jones from the Monkees, just in time for the release of his single, "Can't Help Thinking About Me". He would later say that he chose "Bowie" because he likes that "big American bear-killin' knife."
January 12 The Supremes appear in an episode of the NBC-TV show Tarzan, where they played a group of nuns.
January 13
Against the advice of Columbia Records executives, Johnny Cash visits Folsom State Prison in California to record a live album. The resulting LP, "Live At Folsom Prison" would become one of Johnny's biggest selling records, reaching #1 on the Country album chart and #13 on the Hot 200. It also produced one of his most memorable hit singles, "Folsom Prison Blues". In 2003, "Live At Folsom Prison" was certified Triple Platinum by the RIAA for sales of over three million and was ranked #88 on Rolling Stone Magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
1969 - ClassicBands.com
January 10
Frustrated at Paul McCartney's dominance during the filming of Let It Be, George Harrison nonchalantly tells the rest of the band that he is quitting immediately and sarcastically says as he walked out, "See you around the clubs." George would later say that while he had a growing backlog of new material, he constantly had to work on Lennon and McCartney's songs before the group would work on his.
January 12 Led Zeppelin released their self-titled, debut album. The groundbreaking LP is now seen as one of the most impressive and important debuts in Rock music history. The name of the band had recently been changed from The New Yardbirds after drummer Keith Moon of The Who predicted the band's music would "go over like a lead zeppelin".
January 13 Elvis Presley begins a ten day recording session that will produce his final US number one record, "Suspicious Minds". The tracks are laid down at American Sound Studios in Memphis and mark the first time The King has recorded in his hometown since his Sun Records days in 1956.
1970 - ClassicBands.com
January 14
Diana Ross performs for the last time with The Supremes at the Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas. During the show, Diana introduces her replacement, Jean Terrell, who will lead the group to seven more Top 40 hits, including the Top 10 entries "Up The Ladder To The Roof" and "Stoned Love" later in the year.
1973 - ClassicBands.com
January 8
On his 38th birthday, Elvis Presley files for divorce from his wife Priscilla, citing irreconcilable differences. The petition went uncontested and a divorce would be granted on October 11th.
January 9
Mick Jagger is refused a Japanese visa because of a 1969 drug bust, putting an end to the Rolling Stones' plans to tour the Orient. Asked by a reporter about his personal drug use, Jagger replied, "I don't take drugs. I don't approve of drugs and I don't approve of people taking drugs...unless they're very careful."
January 13
Pete Townshend of The Who helped Eric Clapton to overcome some personal problems by getting him involved in a show he called The Rainbow Concert. Clapton had fallen into alcohol abuse and drug dependency. Townshend recruited Steve Winwood, Jim Capaldi and others to play a sold out show that was later released as the album, "Eric Clapton's Rainbow Concert".
January 14 Elvis Presley's Aloha From Hawaii concert is broadcast live to an estimated one billion people around the world. The soundtrack is later released as a two record set and becomes one of the King's best selling LPs of the '70s, hitting number one later the same year.
1974 - ClassicBands.com
January 8
Casablanca Records signed KISS to a recording contract soon after catching their act in New York, along with Blue Oyster Cult and Iggy Pop. The band's first album would be released a few weeks later and would climb to number 87 on the US album chart.
January 9
The L.P. "The Early Beatles" turns gold nine years after its release and nearly four years after the group split up.
January 12
After entering Billboard's Hot 100 in October '73, The Steve Miller Band's "The Joker" makes it all the way to number one.
January 12
Byron MacGregor's moving rendition of "The Americans" reaches number 4 on the Billboard Hot 100. MacGregor, whose real name was Gary Mack, was the news director at Windsor, Ontario's CKLW radio. His recording of an essay by Canadian editorialist Gordon Sinclair, backed by the Detroit Symphony playing "America the Beautiful", became a multi-million seller, the proceeds of which where donated to the American Red Cross.
1975 - ClassicBands.com
January 9
After years of delays, The Beatles & Company partnership is formally dissolved in a private hearing at London's High Court. It will take effect on April 9.
January 14 Three Dog Night are awarded their 12th and final Gold record for the album, "Joy to the World - Their Greatest Hits".
January 14
Joe Walsh is presented a Gold record for his third solo album, "So What". Don Henley, Glenn Frey and Randy Meisner of The Eagles contributed background vocals.
1976 - ClassicBands.com
January 10
The North American fascination with CB radios helped push C.W. McCall's truck driving song, "Convoy" to the top of the Billboard Pop chart. McCall, whose real name is William Dale Fries, Jr., used a pre-Rap vocal technique that wavers between singing and speaking called "sprechgesang" (German for spoken-song and spoken-voice). He would place three more songs on the Hot 100 and a dozen on the Country chart.
January 10 Foghat's "Slow Ride" becomes the first of their five Billboard chart entries and the only one to crack the Top 20.
January 10
66 year old Chester Arthur Burnett, better known as Howlin' Wolf, passed away at the age of 66. Although he never gained mainstream popularity, the legendary American Blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player was ranked by Rolling Stone magazine at #51 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.
1977 - ClassicBands.com
January 8
Former Fifth Dimension members Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr. achieved their first hit since leaving the group in November, 1975, when "You Don't Have To Be A Star (To Be In My Show) went to number one in the US.
January 8 Queen went to #1 on the UK album chart with "A Day At The Races". The album title was taken from 1937 Marx Brothers' movie.
January 12
EMI Records issued a statement saying it felt unable to promote The Sex Pistols' records in view of the adverse publicity the band had generated over the last two months.
1978 - ClassicBands.com
January 13 Elvis Presley's version of Paul Anka's "My Way" goes Gold five months after the King's death.
January 14
An L.A. group called Player had the top tune in the US with "Baby Come Back". The song was written by band members Peter Beckett and John Crowley after both had broken up with their respective girl friends. The song reached #32 in the UK.
January 14
The Sex Pistols play their final gig at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco. The following day, Johnny Rotten (born John Lydon) will quit the band, effectively bringing their brief career to an end.
1979 - ClassicBands.com
January 8 Cher's divorce from Greg Allman becomes final. The two were married in 1975 and had one child together, a son named Elijah Blue Allman.
January 8
The Canadian rock trio Rush were named as the country's official Ambassadors Of Music by the Canadian government.
January 9
A fund-raising concert for UNICEF, the world hunger organization, was held in New York at the United Nations General Assembly. Performers included Rod Stewart, ABBA, The Bee Gees, Andy Gibb, Rita Coolidge, Olivia Newton-John, Earth, Wind and Fire, Kris Kristofferson, John Denver and others. The show raised about half a million dollars, but an album of the concert was a flop.
January 10 Richard Carpenter enters a chemical dependency treatment center in Topeka, Kansas.
January 13
34 year old Donny Hathaway ("Where Is The Love" with Roberta Flack) fell from the 15th floor of a New York City hotel. His death was ruled a suicide, although some evidence pointed to the fall being accidental. According to Atlantic Records, Hathaway had been having some psychological problems.
January 13
The Young Men's Christian Association files a lawsuit against Village People over their song, "Y.M.C.A." The suit was eventually dropped.
1980 - ClassicBands.com
January 9
Carl White, a member of The Rivingtons and co-writer of "Papa Oom Mow Mow" and "The Bird Is The Word", died of acute tonsillitis at the age of 47. A group called The Trashmen combined his two songs into "Surfin' Bird" and gained a #4 hit in 1964.
1981 - ClassicBands.com
January 8
'Elvis Presley Day' was declared in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, North and South Carolina, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
January 10
John Lennon and Yoko Ono's "Double Fantasy" LP goes Platinum a little over a month after Lennon's assassination. The album would be number one in the US for eight weeks.
January 12
The Recording Industry Association of America donated 800 albums to the White House library.
1984 - ClassicBands.com
January 10
Cyndi Lauper became the first female recording artist since Bobbie Gentry in 1967 to be nominated for five Grammy Awards: Album of the Year, Best New Artist, Best Pop Vocal Performance (Female), Record of the Year and Song of the Year.
1985 - ClassicBands.com
January 8
The US Postal Service issues a stamp marking what would have been Elvis Presley's 50th birthday. Over 500 million of them are sold.
1988 - ClassicBands.com
January 9
Whitney Houston led the Billboard singles chart with "So Emotional", her sixth consecutive number one song. Up to that point, only The Beatles and The Bee Gees had scored six straight chart toppers.
1991 - ClassicBands.com
January 8
Steve Clark, guitarist for Def Leppard, died from an accidental mixing of prescription drugs and alcohol at the age of 31.
1992 - ClassicBands.com
January 12
Mick Jagger and Jerry Hall have their third child, Georgia May Jagger.
January 14
Jerry Nolan, drummer for The New York Dolls, died at the age of 45. He was being treated for bacterial meningitis and bacterial pneumonia at St. Vincent's Hospital in New York, when he suffered a stroke and went into a coma from which he never recovered.
1993 - ClassicBands.com
January 12
The original members of Cream reunite in Los Angeles to perform at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Others to be inducted included CCR, The Doors, Van Morrison, Sly and the Family Stone, Frankie Lymon, Dinah Washington and Etta James.
January 14
Ruby Starr, vocalist for Black Oak Arkansas on their 1974 hit "Jim Dandy" as well as having her own solo career, died of cancer at the age of 45.
1997 - ClassicBands.com
January 10 James Brown, the Godfather of Soul, gets a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
January 14 The Beach Boys guest star on an episode of ABC-TV's Home Improvement. They played the cousins of 'Wilson', Tim 'The Tool Man' Taylor's next door neighbor and sang "Barbra Ann" with the show's cast.
1998 - ClassicBands.com
January 9
Cher gives an emotional eulogy at Sonny Bono's funeral in Palm Springs, California, where she praised the man who had been a husband, friend, partner, father figure and rival, calling him "the most unforgettable character I've ever met." The event was broadcast live to millions of people on CNN.
January 12
The Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame inducts The Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, The Mamas And The Papas, Santana, Lloyd Price, Gene Vincent, Allen Toussaint and Jelly Roll Morton. The event marked the first time that all seven current and past members of The Eagles were photographed together. Former band mates Bernie Leadon and Randy Meisner, who had quit the group, were virtually ignored by Don Henley and Glenn Frey and were forced to the extreme edges of the stage when the band played a short set of past hits.
1999 - ClassicBands.com
January 12
Barry Pritchard, vocalist and guitarist for The Fortunes, died of heart failure. The group reached the Billboard Top 20 with "You've Got Your Troubles" in 1965 and "Here Comes That Rainy Day Feeling Again" in 1971.
2000 - ClassicBands.com
January 11
Gary Glitter is released from prison in Britain after serving half of a four month sentence on child pornography charges. He is driven to Heathrow Airport and then flown to Cuba.
January 11
Richard "Dimples" Fields, an American Soul singer most often remembered for his 1982 hit, "If It Ain't One Thing, It's Another", which reached #1 on the Billboard R&B chart and #47 on the Hot 100, died following a stroke. He was 58.
January 14
The January issue of Rolling Stone magazine reveals that the two children of Melissa Etheridge and her partner Julie Cypher were fathered by David Crosby.
2001 - ClassicBands.com
January 8
Laura Webb of The Bobbettes died of cancer at the age of 57. The R&B quintet scored a Billboard number six hit with "Mr. Lee" in 1957. That song was written about one of their high school teachers that they actually dis-liked and the girls were forced to revise the original lyrics before Atlantic Records would record the song.
January 11 Neil Sedaka undergoes an angioplasty at a New York hospital after he had suffered chest pains while preparing for a performance in Knoxville, Tenn. He would make a complete recovery and return to the tour in a few weeks.
2002 - ClassicBands.com
January 9 Elton John was honored in London by the UK Coalition of People Living with HIV and AIDS, which presented the artist with its Hero award. The honor acknowledged his contributions to the fight against HIV and AIDS through the Elton John AIDS Foundation.
January 11
Mickey Finn, drummer for T Rex, died of kidney and liver problems at the age of 55.
2003 - ClassicBands.com
January 10
A collection of 500 Beatles tapes known as the 'Get Back sessions', which were stolen in the 1970's, were found after UK police cracked a major bootleg operation in London and Amsterdam. Five men were arrested.
January 12
53 year old Maurice Gibb of The Bee Gees died at a Miami Beach, Florida hospital after suffering a heart attack during an operation to remove an intestinal blockage. Following his death, his surviving brothers Barry and Robin announced that they would no longer perform as The Bee Gees. However, they have since appeared on the BBC television series Strictly Come Dancing on October 31st, 2009 and on ABC-TV's Dancing With The Stars on November 17th, 2009.
January 13 The Who's guitarist, Pete Townshend was arrested on suspicion of child porn offences. Police officers impounded seven computers from his home in Richmond, South West London. After a four-month investigation, London's Metropolitan Police would announce that Townshend "was not in possession of any downloaded child abuse images" but had accessed a site containing such images. Townshend himself acknowledged using his credit card to enter a web site advertising child pornography, but said he was doing research for his autobiography. Although he was not charged with any offence, Townshend was placed on a national sex offender registry for five years.
2004 - ClassicBands.com
January 12
Randy Van Warmer, who reached #4 on Billboard's Hot 100 and #8 in the UK in 1979 with "Just When I Needed You Most", died of leukemia at the age of 48. That song was written about his American girlfriend who came to stay with him in the England for several months before returning to the US.
2005 - ClassicBands.com
January 11
James Griffin, a founding member of the 70s Soft Rock group Bread, died of lung cancer at the age of 61.
January 11 Jefferson Airplane drummer Spencer Dryden passed away at his home in Petaluma, California, after a long battle with colon cancer. He was 66.
2006 - ClassicBands.com
January 11 The Beach Boys launched a law suit seeking millions of dollars in damages from two California men, claiming they stole a collection of photos, recordings and other band memorabilia from a warehouse with the intent to put the items up for auction.
2007 - ClassicBands.com
January 8
Officials from the National Archives announced that their most requested document is a photo of a cloaked and bejeweled Elvis Presley shaking hands with President Nixon at The White House on December 21st, 1970.
January 10
A fire razed the Clio, Michigan home of ? and The Mysterians leader Rudy Martinez, destroying all of his priceless memorabilia. He did not have insurance on the house and was forced into living at a nearby mobile home.
January 11
Attorney, Strom Thurmond Jr. revealed that the 5-year-old child of James Brown and his partner, Tomi Rae Hynie, would not be included in the late singer's will. While provisions were made for Brown's six other children, Hynie's son, James Jr., was not one of those listed in the document.
2008 - ClassicBands.com
January 10
Rod Allen, the last remaining original member of The Fortunes, died of liver cancer at the age of 64. The band scored a trio of Billboard Top 40 hits, including "You've Got Your Troubles" in 1965 and "Here Comes That Rainy Day Feeling Again" in 1971.
2009 - ClassicBands.com
January 9
Dave Dee, of the British Pop Rock group Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich, died following a three year battle with cancer at the age of 67. In the late 60's the band spent more time on the UK charts than The Beatles, scoring a number one single in 1968 with "The Legend of Xanadu".
2010 - ClassicBands.com
January 8
Jimmy Page helped launch a new set of stamps in the UK which featured classic album covers from the last 40 years, including Led Zeppelin IV.
January 8
Law enforcement officials in Los Angeles revealed plans to seek an indictment against Michael Jackson's doctor on a charge of involuntary manslaughter. The L.A. coroner ruled Jackson's death at age 50 a homicide with his passing caused by acute intoxication of the powerful anesthetic propofol with other sedatives a contributing factor.
January 13
Teddy Pendergrass, an American soul singer who first rose to fame as the lead vocalist for Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes in the 1970s before enjoying a successful solo career at the end of the decade, died of colon cancer. He was 59.
January 14
Guitar great Jimmy Page was honored with the United Nations' first ever Pathways To Peace Award. Pathways To Peace is an international peace building, educational and consulting organization which has consultative status with the United Nations.
2011 - ClassicBands.com
January 13
Just two months after The Beatles back catalogue became available on iTunes, their sales figures topped 5 million songs according to Hudson Square Research. During that period, the legendary group also moved more than a million full-length albums.
January 13
Tommy Crain, guitarist for The Charlie Daniels band on their Grammy-winning single "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" and more than twenty albums, died in his sleep at the age of 59.
January 14
As her latest release, "Haven't Seen the Last of Me" raced up Billboard's Dance Club Song chart, 64-year-old Cher was poised to mark the sixth decade in which she had a #1 hit. Her track record of achieving chart topping records includes: The 1960s - "I Got You Babe". The 1970s - "Gypsys, Tramps And Thieves", "Half Breed", "Dark Lady" and "All I Ever Need Is You." The 1980s - "If I Could Turn Back Time" and "After All" (with Peter Cetera) The 1990s - "Believe", "Strong Enough" and "All or Nothing". The 2000s - "Song For the Lonely", "A Different Kind of Love Song" and "When The Money's Gone".
