Rock 'n' Roll History for
August 12


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1957 - ClassicBands.com

August 12
Columbia Records releases Johnny Mathis' "Chances Are" on both 45 RPM and 78 RPM formats. It would rise to #1 on the Billboard Top 100 and stay in the Top 40 for an amazing twenty-two weeks. The record would achieve Gold status for sales of one million copies on June 5th, 1959 and was given a Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 1998. The flip side of the single, "The Twelfth Of Never" climbed to #9 on the chart, also enjoying a long Top 40 run of fourteen weeks.


1960 - ClassicBands.com

August 12
Pete Best became the new drummer for The Beetles. (note the early spelling) Their previous drummer, Norman Chapman had been called into Britain's armed forces after he had replaced Tommy Moore the month before. The band would leave for Hamburg, Germany the next day.

1967 - ClassicBands.com

August 12
Fleetwood Mac played their first show at the Windsor Jazz and Blues Festival. The band members included Mick Fleetwood, Jeremy Spencer, Peter Green and Bob Brunning. John McVie wouldn't replace Brunning until a month later, which is rather odd since the band has always maintained that the "Mac" part of their name was taken from "McVie".

August 12
The Beatles' "All You Need Is Love", beginning with the now familiar opening to the French national anthem, "La Marseillaise", was the best selling single in America. It would top the Billboard chart a week later and reach #1 in nine other countries, including France.

1970 - ClassicBands.com

August 12
Janis Joplin performs her final concert at Harvard Stadium to a packed house of 10,000. She would die of a drug overdose less than two months later.

1972 - ClassicBands.com

August 12
Alice Cooper tops the UK with "School's Out" for the first of two weeks. The song rose to #7 in the US. Some America radio stations actually banned the song from their play lists, believing that it caused rebelliousness against childhood education.

1978 - ClassicBands.com

August 12
The Commodores have their first US number one single with "Three Times A Lady". Lionel Richie would later explain that he wrote the song after hearing his father give a touching speech at his 37th anniversary party. The record was also a UK #1.


1982 - ClassicBands.com

August 12
R&B soul singer Joe Tex died of a heart attack at the age of 44. He is most often remembered for his hits "I Gotcha", which made it up to #2 in 1972 and "Skinny Legs And All", #10 in 1967.

1984 - ClassicBands.com

August 12
Lionel Richie closed the Olympic Games in Los Angeles with his number one smash, "All Night Long". 2.6 billion people watched on their TV sets.

1985 - ClassicBands.com

August 12
43-year-old Kyu Sakamoto, the first Japanese artist to have a number one hit in the United States with "Sukiyaki" (June, 1963), was killed when Japan Airlines flight 123 crashed into Mount Takamagahara during a flight from Haneda Airport (Tokyo International Airport) to Osaka International Airport, Japan. Only four of the five hundred and twenty-four people onboard survived the deadliest single-aircraft accident in history. In the months after the crash domestic air travel decreased by as much as 25%. To this day, Japan Airlines no longer uses flight number 123.

August 12
Geffen Records releases Neil Young's 14th studio album, "Old Ways". Although it would climb to #75 on the Billboard 200 chart, the LP would prove to be a commercial and critical failure, and remains one of Young's lowest-selling albums of his career.

2008 - ClassicBands.com

August 12
John Lennon's killer was denied parole for a fifth time "due to concern for the public safety and welfare." 53 year old Mark David Chapman, who was being held at New York's Attica Correctional Facility, had been in prison for 27 years after pleading guilty to the murder, which he has said he committed to gain attention.

2009 - ClassicBands.com

August 12
Blues artist and guitar innovator Les Paul died of complications from pneumonia at the age of 94. Along with placing forty-eight songs on American record charts between 1945 and 1961, he is also noted for his experiments with many recording innovations like overdubbing, tape delay and multitrack recording. His idea of a solid-body electric guitar eventually led to a marketing deal with the Gibson guitar company for the instrument that bears his name.


2010 - ClassicBands.com

August 12
Richie Hayward, drummer and co-founder of Little Feat, passed away at the age of 64 after contracting pneumonia as he battled liver cancer.

2015 - ClassicBands.com

August 12
Priscilla Presley joined U.S. Postmaster General Megan Brennan in announcing that the Elvis Presley Forever stamp would now be available nationwide.

August 12
66-year-old Billy Joel and his fourth wife, 33-year-old Alexis Joel welcomed a baby girl they named Della Rose.

2016 - ClassicBands.com

August 12
Barbara Gibb, mother of The Bee Gees' Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb as well as solo artist Andy Gibb, passed away at the age of 95.

2022 - ClassicBands.com

August 12
A music and pop culture auction house called Gotta Have Rock & Roll put a BTR2 (British Tape Recorder 2) recording console that was used at E.M.I Studios (Abbey Road) up for sale on their website. The equipment was used to record The Beatles, Pink Floyd and many more. Equipment from Abbey Road Studios is very rarely offered up for public sale, and only a few pieces have made it into the hands of collectors.



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