Rock 'n' Roll History for
April 6


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1956 - ClassicBands.com

April 6
Paramount Pictures signs Elvis Presley to a three-picture deal just five days after his first screen test in Hollywood. Elvis was to be paid $100,000 for his first movie, $150,000 for the second and $200,000 for the third.

1957 - ClassicBands.com

April 6
Perry Como had his ninth number one single since 1945 and his only Billboard chart topper in the Rock 'n' Roll era with "Round and Round". The song would be awarded a Gold Record for sales of one million copies in the US.

April 6
The Toronto quartet, The Diamonds, peak at #2 on the Billboard Top 100 chart with "Little Darlin'", making them the first Canadian group to have a hit record in America during the Rock 'n' Roll era. The song was originally recorded by The Gladiolas, a Black vocal group from rural Lancaster, South Carolina. They later changed their name to Maurice Williams & the Zodiacs, who topped the Hot 100 with "Stay" in 1960. "Little Darlin'" was written by Maurice Williams, about the same girl who was the subject of "Stay".

1959 - ClassicBands.com

April 6
Fabian's "Turn Me Loose" enters the Billboard Pop chart, where it will reach number 9. The song was written especially for the teen idol by Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman.

April 6
Columbia Records releases "The Battle Of New Orleans" by Johnny Horton. The song was written in 1936 by Jimmy Driftwood (born James Corbitt Morris), an Arkansas high school principal and history teacher who loved singing and writing tunes. He often wrote songs to help students learn about historical events like this battle. Driftwood wrote more than 6,000 Folk songs, of which more than 300 were recorded by various musicians. Horton's rendition of "The Battle Of New Orleans" topped the Hot 100, the Hot Country Singles chart, the Cashbox Best Sellers list, as well as going to number one in Canada and Australia. It was awarded the 1960 Grammy Award for Best Country & Western Recording and was elected to the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2001.

1963 - ClassicBands.com

April 6
ABC Paramount signs Fats Domino, who had been with Imperial Records since the start of his career. Unfortunately, Fats had only one more Top 40 hit, "Red Sails In The Sunset", which reached #35 later in the year.

1965 - ClassicBands.com

April 6
The Beach Boys record "California Girls", which will reach number three in the US by August. In 2004, the song was ranked #71 on Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

April 6
RCA Victor releases Elvis Presley's version of "Crying In The Chapel", which would climb to #3 on Billboard's Hot 100 the following June. The song reached #10 when it was first recorded by Country singer Darrell Glen in 1953. It had been written by his father, Artie Glenn. Elvis cut it in about five minutes for his 1960 Gospel album "Your Hand In Mine", along with The Jordanaires and pianist Floyd Cramer. Its release was withheld because Colonel Tom Parker wanted the publishing rights. Presley had gone more than two years since he had a Top 10 hit with "(You're The) Devil In Disguise" before charting with this song. He would go four more years before he had another with "In The Ghetto", which would also reach #3.

1966 - ClassicBands.com

April 6
The Beatles began recording the basic tracks for "Tomorrow Never Knows" at Abbey Road studios in London. The song, which also featured producer George Martin on piano, would be included in the band's upcoming album, "Revolver".

1968 - ClassicBands.com

April 6
Pink Floyd announces that founder Syd Barrett has officially left the group, saying that he is suffering from psychiatric disorders compounded by drug use.

1970 - ClassicBands.com

April 6
Motown Records issues Diana Ross' debut, solo single, "Reach Out and Touch (Somebody's Hand)". Although the song was highly anticipated, it would only rise to #20 on the Hot 100 and #33 on the UK Singles Chart.

1971 - ClassicBands.com

April 6
After her performance at the Troubadour club in Los Angeles, 25 year old Carly Simon is introduced to 23 year old James Taylor. The pair would marry the following year, but split in September 1981.

1973 - ClassicBands.com

April 6
The Stylistics received their fourth Gold record, this time for "Break Up to Make Up", which had reached #5 in the US and #34 in the UK.

1974 - ClassicBands.com

April 6
A seven piece group called Blue Swede became the first Swedish act to top the US charts when their version of "Hooked On A Feeling" went to number one. Although the arrangement brought a fresh sound to the old B.J. Thomas hit, the single didn't chart at all in the UK.

April 6
250,000 music fans packed the Ontario Motor Speedway in Ontario, California, to hear Rare Earth, Earth, Wind & Fire, Eagles, joined by Jackson Browne, Seals And Crofts, Black Oak Arkansas, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple and Emerson, Lake & Palmer.

1975 - ClassicBands.com

April 6
"The Last Farewell" by Roger Whittaker entered the Billboard Hot 100 at #97, on its way to #19. The words to this romantic ballad were written by Ron Webster, an amateur Folk singer from Solihull, England. Whittaker was hosting a radio show at the time and invited his listeners to send him some lyrics that he would put to music. Choosing Webster's submission, he recorded "The Last Farewell" for his 1971 album, "Special Kind Of Man". The song would become his biggest hit, selling over eleven million copies worldwide. Although he was considered a one-hit-wonder in the US, Whittaker was much more successful in the UK where he scored hits with "Durham Town (The Leavin')" (#12 in 1969), "I Don't Believe In If Anymore" (#8 in 1969), "New World In The Morning" (#17 in 1970), and in a duet with fellow easy-listening singer Des O'Connor "The Skye Boat Song" (#10 in 1986). Over the course of his career, Whittaker sold over 40 million albums, mostly in Europe and the Far East.

April 6
The Philadelphia R&B trio LaBelle performed their Billboard #1 smash "Lady Marmalade" on US TV's Cher show.

1978 - ClassicBands.com

April 6
Peter Frampton guest-stars on NBC-TV's World War II drama, Black Sheep Squadron.

1979 - ClassicBands.com

April 6
Rod Stewart marries Alana Hamilton, the ex-wife of actor George Hamilton. The couple would have a daughter, Kimberly, and a son, Sean. Alana and Rod divorced in 1984, but she retained his surname.

1984 - ClassicBands.com

April 6
Ral Donner, who placed four songs on the Billboard Hot 100 between 1961 and 1962, died of lung cancer at the age of 41. His biggest hit, "You Don't Know What You've Got (Until You Lose It)", reached #4.

1985 - ClassicBands.com

April 6
Gilbert O'Sullivan won $2 million in a lawsuit against his manager, Gordon Mills, for unpaid royalties. O'Sullivan, who's real first name is Ray, had hit the US charts in the early 1970s with the Top 10 singles, "Alone Again (Naturally)" (#1), "Get Down" (#7) and "Clair" (#2), which he had written for Mill's daughter.

1991 - ClassicBands.com

April 6
Ringo Starr guests on Fox TV's The Simpsons. The show's creator, Matt Groening, would later say, "We were given a list of rules about what we couldn't do to Ringo, such as 'Don't touch him', 'Don't approach him', and 'Don't ask for his autograph'."

1992 - ClassicBands.com

April 6
George Harrison appeared in his first British post-Beatles solo concert, twenty-two years after the break-up of the group. The London show was a benefit for the Natural Law party, a fringe group with several candidates in the British election three days later.

1998 - ClassicBands.com

April 6
Wendy O. Williams, the chainsaw-wielding singer for the Punk Rock band The Plasmatics, committed suicide in the woods near her Connecticut home. She was 48. In 1985 she had been nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal for the album "WOW".

April 6
Country music legend Tammy Wynette died in her sleep at the age of 55. She crossed over to the Pop chart in 1968 with "Stand By Your Man" (#19), a strangely titled hit for a woman who was married five times.

2004 - ClassicBands.com

April 6
66 year old Niki Sullivan, one of the original Crickets, passed away at his home in Independence, Missouri. Sullivan joined up with Buddy Holly, Jerry Allison and Joe Mauldin in 1956 and played on most of the songs the band recorded. The hassle of touring finally forced him to drop out of the group in 1957. He retired from the music business, but occasionally performed at Holly tribute events.

2016 - ClassicBands.com

April 6
Merle Haggard died of complications from pneumonia at the age of 79. Most often remembered for the hits "Mama Tried", "Okie From Muskogee" and thirty-six other number one records on the Country chart, he also managed to reach #28 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1974 with "If We Make It Through December".

April 6
Following his death in January, fans pushed six David Bowie albums into the UK Top 40, three of which made the Top 10. Elvis Presley's LP "If I Can Dream", released in October, 2015, came in at #7.

April 6
49-year-old Janet Jackson announced that she had canceled concerts in the UK and Europe because she was planning to start a family with her husband, fashion tycoon Wissam Al Mana. Although she has been married twice before, to musicians James DeBarge and Rene Elizondo, she has no children.

2023 - ClassicBands.com

April 6
News reports began to surface about the discovery of a 60-year-old recording of The Beatles, said to be the earliest full taping of the Fab Four on home soil. The gig took place on April 4th, 1963 when the up-and-coming band performed at Stowe boarding school in Buckinghamshire. Teenager John Bloomfield, a boarder at the school, was testing out his new reel-to-reel tape recorder at the show, which opened with "I Saw Her Standing There", then segues into Chuck Berry's "Too Much Monkey Business".



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