Rock 'n' Roll History for
December 9


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1955 - ClassicBands.com

December 9
Elvis Presley appears at the B&I Club in Swifton, Arkansas, and performs his new song, "Heartbreak Hotel". He tells the audience, "It's gonna be my first hit." After he recorded it on January 10th, 1956, the single would lead the Billboard Top 100 for seven weeks, the Country and Western chart for seventeen weeks, and the Cashbox Best Sellers chart for six weeks. It would eventually sell over two million copies and be inducted into The Grammy Hall of Fame in 1995, and was named one of the "500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll" by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004.

1961 - ClassicBands.com

December 9
The Tokens' "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" tops the Cashbox Magazine Best Sellers Chart for the first of a four week run. The disc would later be awarded a Gold Record by the R.I.A.A. for selling over one million copies.

1962 - ClassicBands.com

December 9
The Four Seasons sing their current US number one hit, "Big Girls Don't Cry" on The Ed Sullivan Show. In 2015, the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

December 9
Capitol Records releases The Beach Boys' "Little Saint Nick". The song would reach #57 in the UK, #29 on the Hot 100, and #22 on Billboard's Holiday 100. The song's writer is shown as Brian Wilson on the original single, but after a lawsuit in 1990, Mike Love was listed as a co-writer.

1963 - ClassicBands.com

December 9
The first Supremes album, "Meet The Supremes", is released by Motown Records. The LP includes the group's earliest singles: "I Want a Guy" (did not chart), "Buttered Popcorn" (did not chart), "Your Heart Belongs to Me" (US #95) and "Let Me Go the Right Way" (US #90).

1965 - ClassicBands.com

December 9
A group of studio musicians known as The Wrecking Crew records "No Matter What Shape (Your Stomachs in)" at United Artists Studios in Hollywood. Credited to The T-Bones, the record would become a hit, reaching #3 on the Hot 100, and Liberty needed group to appear on record covers, TV, and in concert. The "public" T-Bones were Judd Hamilton, Dan Hamilton, Joe Frank Carollo, Tommy Reynolds, and Gene Pello. None of them played on the hit record, but they would later achieve fame as Hamilton, Joe Frank and Reynolds.

1967 - ClassicBands.com

December 9
Jim Morrison is arrested onstage in New Haven, Connecticut. Before the gig, Morrison got into an argument with a policeman, who responded by macing the singer. During the concert, while singing "Back Door Man", Morrison told the audience about the incident, which prompted police to turn on the house lights and arrest Morrison for breach of peace and resisting arrest.

1972 - ClassicBands.com

December 9
Helen Reddy became Australia's first female artist to have a number one record on the US chart when "I Am Woman" reached the top of the Billboard hit parade. Surprisingly, the song didn't chart at all in the UK. Although the Women's Liberation Movement would adopt the song as their unofficial anthem, many ignored the fact that the music was written by a man, Ray Burton. Reddy would achieve two more US number one singles over the next couple of years with, "Delta Dawn" and "Angie Baby".

December 9
The Moody Blues hit number one on the US album charts for the first time with "Seventh Sojourn". It will be their last album of new material for more than five years as the group's members split to record and to tour as solo artists.

December 9
Elton John's "Crocodile Rock" enters the Billboard Hot 100 at #73. It would become his fourth US Top Ten hit and first number one single, rising to the top spot on February 3rd, 1973. The Recording Industry Association of America would award Elton and lyricist Bernie Taupin a Platinum disc for their effort in September 1995.

December 9
Three Dog Night's "Pieces of April" enters the Billboard Top 40 at #33. The Dave Loggins written ballad will top out at #19, giving the band their fifteenth Top 20 hit.

1974 - ClassicBands.com

December 9
Apple Records releases George Harrison's fifth studio album, "Dark Horse". Several of the songs focus on his recent split with his wife, Pattie Boyd. Although the LP did not produce any major hit singles, it still managed to reach #4 on the Billboard 200. Unfortunately, it also became Harrison's first solo album not to chart in Britain.

1978 - ClassicBands.com

December 9
John Belushi and Dan Ackroyd release their version of Sam And Dave's "Soul Man" under the name The Blues Brothers. Belushi and Ackroyd would reach #14 in the US, while the original had topped out at #2.

December 9
Gino Vannelli enjoys his highest charting Billboard single when "I Just Wanna Stop" peaks at #4. It would top the charts in his native Canada and be nominated for a Grammy Award next spring.

December 9
Chic's Disco / Funk tune "Le Freak" tops the Billboard Hot 100 for the first of four weeks. The record would reach the Top Ten in twelve other countries, selling more than seven million copies world-wide.

1980 - ClassicBands.com

December 9
The day after John Lennon was murdered, Yoko Ono issued a statement to the press that read: "There is no funeral for John. John loved and prayed for the human race. Please do the same for him. Love, Yoko and Sean." She also pleaded with chanting and singing mourners outside The Dakota to re-convene in Central Park the following Sunday for ten minutes of silent prayer. Meanwhile, Paul went into a recording studio to clear his head. He reportedly told his guitarist, Denny Laine, "I'm never gonna fall out with anybody again, just in case this happens."

1981 - ClassicBands.com

December 9
Sonny Til, the lead singer of the '50s Doo Wop group, The Orioles, died of a heart attack at the age of 56. The group topped the Billboard R&B chart in 1953 with their million selling version of "Crying In The Chapel".

1984 - ClassicBands.com

December 9
Michael Jackson announces that at the end of the current Jackson's tour, he will launch a solo career and no longer perform with his brothers. He would go on to place 27 songs on the Billboard Top 40, while The Jacksons, as a group, never reached the chart again.

1988 - ClassicBands.com

December 9
According to a poll released in the US, the music of Neil Diamond was favored as the best background music during sex. Beethoven was the second choice and Luther Vandross was voted third.

1989 - ClassicBands.com

December 9
Billy Joel started a two week run at #1 on the Billboard Pop chart with "We Didn't Start The Fire". The song, in which Joel sings about headlining events that have occurred during his lifetime, was a #7 hit in the UK.

1992 - ClassicBands.com

December 9
Saying that he had "seen it all and done it all", bassist Bill Wyman announces that he is quitting The Rolling Stones after over 30 years with the group. He briefly returned to recording with the band in 2023, playing bass on one track on their album "Hackney Diamonds".

December 9
George Harrison is the recipient of the first Century Award, presented by Tom Petty at the third Billboard Music Awards in Universal City, California.

1995 - ClassicBands.com

December 9
The surviving members of The Grateful Dead officially disband the group following Jerry Garcia's death in August.

December 9
Even though they had disbanded 25 years earlier, The Beatles had the number one album in the US when "Anthology" hit the top for the first of three weeks. It would go on to sell over four million copies and included rare Beatle recordings in the form of demos, alternate takes, live versions and previously unreleased material.

2002 - ClassicBands.com

December 9
Paul McCartney sparked another Beatles feud with the release of his live album, "Back in the US". Against the wishes of John Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, the nineteen Beatles songs included on the two-disc set are credited to "Paul McCartney and John Lennon" rather than the traditional "Lennon / McCartney".

December 9
Pat Boone made an unlikely return to Billboard's Hot 100 after a 40 year absence. His new song, "Under God", was written in response to a lawsuit filed in San Francisco by an agnostic who claimed his daughter's constitutional rights were violated by having to say the words "under God" when her school recites the Pledge of Allegiance. The record briefly rose to number 25, ahead of songs by the likes of Jennifer Lopez and Jay-Z. Boone's last Top 40 hit was "Speedy Gonzalez", which made it to number 6 in 1962.

2003 - ClassicBands.com

December 9
Ozzy Osbourne was admitted to Wexham Park Hospital in Slough, Berkshire after being injured in a quad bike accident at his UK home. The 55 year-old singer broke his collarbone, eight ribs and a vertebra in his neck. News of Osbourne's accident reached the House of Commons, where the government sent a goodwill message.

2005 - ClassicBands.com

December 9
A man charged with stealing more than $300,000 worth of Elvis Presley's jewelry from the Elvis-A-Rama museum appeared in a Las Vegas court. 30 year old Eliab Aguilar was arrested on November 3rd after police said he approached a retired Elvis impersonator and offered to sell him several items, including Presley's 1953 class ring from Humes High School worth $32,000, a 41 carat ruby, a diamond ring worth $77,000, and a gold-plated Smith & Wesson .38 special.

December 9
Mike Botts, drummer for the Soft Rock band Bread, passed away in Burbank, California, one day after his 61st birthday, having suffered from colon cancer. The band had placed twelve songs on the Billboard Top 40 between 1970 and 1977, including the chart topping "Make It With You" in 1970.

2006 - ClassicBands.com

December 9
Fred Marsden, the drummer for the Merseybeat band Gerry And The Pacemakers, died of cancer at the age of 66. After disbanding in 1967, Gerry Marsden reformed The Pacemakers in 1973 but without Fred, who had given up the music business to be a telephone operator and later established The Pacemaker Driving School.

December 9
Georgia Gibbs, a Jazz and Pop singer who placed nine songs in Billboard's Top 40 between 1955 and 1958, died of leukemia at the age of 88. She reached number two in 1955 with "Tweedle Dee" and topped the chart later that same year with "Dance With Me Henry". Her final entry, "The Hula Hoop Song", which peaked at #32, stayed on the chart for just one week.

2015 - ClassicBands.com

December 9
Madonna gave an impromptu performance next to a memorial for the Paris terror attacks victims following her concert in the French capital. She told those assembled, "I came here when I was 20 and it was here, in Paris, that I decided to make music. Thank you Paris for planting that seed in my heart!"

December 9
Forbes magazine announced its annual list of the top earning musicians, with The Eagles coming in at 5th earning $73.5 million, Fleetwood Mac was 9th with $59.5 million and The Rolling Stones ranked 11th with $57.5 million. Elton John also had a good year, raking in $53.5 million, as did Paul McCartney, who earned $51.5 million.

2016 - ClassicBands.com

December 9
With total sales of 106,000, The Rolling Stones topped the UK chart with their latest album, "Blue & Lonesome". It was the band's first original studio album to reach number one in the last 22 years.

2023 - ClassicBands.com

December 9
"Last Christmas" by Wham! topped the UK Official Chart for the fourth time. First released in 1984, the song went to number one in December 2021, December 2022, and January 2023, selling over six million copies in the process. On January 8th, 2021, "Last Christmas" became the very first record to disappear completely from the UK chart, having held the #1 spot the week before.



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