Rock 'n' Roll History for
December 5


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1959 - ClassicBands.com

December 5
Adam Faith's version of "What Do You Want" reaches number one in England. At just one minute, thirty eight seconds, it is the shortest song to ever top the UK chart. It was not a hit in America.

1964 - ClassicBands.com

December 5
Lorne Green becomes the second Canadian solo artist (after Paul Anka) to have a number one hit on the Billboard singles chart when his spoken word recording about a Western gun fighter named Ringo reached the top. It made it to #22 in the UK. The star of NBC-TV's hit show Bonanza would record seven albums for RCA.

December 5
RCA announces that "Elvis' Christmas Album" has sold over 800,000 copies since being released in 1957.

December 5
The Zombies' debut single "She's Not There" tops the Cashbox Best Sellers chart. It reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #12 in the UK. Rolling Stone magazine would later place the song at #297 on its list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

December 5
Britain's Julie Rogers cracks the Billboard Top 40 for the first and only time with "The Wedding", which will rise to #10. It would reach #3 in the UK and #1 in Australia, eventually selling over seven million copies world wide.

December 5
The Beach Boys' live LP "Beach Boys Concert" tops the Billboard 200 album chart for the first of four consecutive weeks. It was compiled from tapes made at the Memorial Auditorium in Sacramento, California, on December 21st, 1963 and August 1st, 1964. Although the band actually played their own instruments, the recordings received heavy post-production treatment.


1968 - ClassicBands.com

December 5
An actual banquet held to launch the Rolling Stones' newest album, "Beggar's Banquet" comes to an abrupt end when a pie throwing fight breaks out. Released the next day, the LP would reach #5 in America and attain Platinum status for sales of over 1,000,000 copies. In the UK, it moved 100,000 units and was awarded a Gold Record by the British Phonographic Industry.

1969 - ClassicBands.com

December 5
Apple Records releases Badfinger's first single, "Come and Get It" in the UK. The Paul McCartney written tune would climb to #4 on the Official Chart. It would be released in America on January 12th, 1970 and rose to #7, becoming the first of the band's four Billboard Top 40 hits.

1980 - ClassicBands.com

December 5
Just three days before John Lennon was murdered, he calls his Aunt Mimi to say he was homesick and was planning a trip back to England.

2001 - ClassicBands.com

December 5
Don Henley and David Crosby helped raise $300,000 for children of victims of the September 11 terrorist attacks by headlining a concert in Lowell, Mass. US Rep. Martin Meehan organized the benefit to help children of his district pay for future education expenses.

2004 - ClassicBands.com

December 5
Billy Maybray, bassist / drummer / vocalist for The Jaggerz, died of cancer at the age of 60. Billy played drums on the band's 1970, Billboard #2 hit, "The Rapper" and wrote and sang their debut single, "Baby I Love You".


2008 - ClassicBands.com

December 5
Boy George, the flamboyant former front man for Culture Club, was convicted of falsely imprisoning a male escort. 29-year-old Audun Carlsen had alleged he was handcuffed to a wall hook at the singer's east London apartment on April 28, 2007. Prosecutors said Carlsen was held by the singer, whose real name is George O'Dowd, for under an hour. 46-year-old O'Dowd admitted he restrained Carlsen with handcuffs because he suspected him of having stolen private photos from his computer. The following January, he was sentenced to fifteen months in jail.

2012 - ClassicBands.com

December 5
Jazz legend Dave Brubeck, who reached #25 in America in 1961 with "Take Five", died of heart failure one day before his 92nd birthday. His planned birthday party was recast as a memorial tribute. Brubeck's 1959 album, "Time Out" was the first Jazz album to sell over a million copies. Between 1948 and 2010, he recorded 114 albums.

2013 - ClassicBands.com

December 5
A handwritten, working lyric sheet for Bruce Springsteen's 1975 hit "Born to Run" sold at Sotheby's for $197,000, well exceeding pre-sale estimates of between $70,000 and $100,000.

2014 - ClassicBands.com

December 5
The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers announced that the all time most performed holiday songs were "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town", "The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)" and "White Christmas".

2015 - ClassicBands.com

December 5
Ringo Starr's personal copy of "The Beatles" (The White Album), numbered 0000001, sold for a world record $790,000 at Julien's Live auction. The auction house said the sale of the LP broke a record set earlier in the year when Elvis Presley's first acetate recording sold for $300,000.

2016 - ClassicBands.com

December 5
James Taylor, Mavis Staples and the Eagles were among the honorees at this year's Kennedy Center ceremony in Washington D.C. hosted by comedian and Late Show host Stephen Colbert. To the dismay of many fans, The Center chose only to honor the current Eagles, Don Henley, Joe Walsh, Timothy Schmit and Glenn Frey, and leave out former members Bernie Leadon, Randy Meisner and Don Felder.

2021 - ClassicBands.com

December 5
The Billboard 200 year-end album chart showed no new Rock records for 2021. The only Rock LPs to crack the list were "Queen's Greatest Hits", Fleetwood Mac's "Rumours", "Journey's Greatest Hits", AC/DC's "Back in Black", Nirvana's "Nevermind" and Metallica's "Black Album".

2023 - ClassicBands.com

December 5
Denny Laine, guitarist for The Moody Blues and Wings, died from interstitial lung disease at the age of 79. While with The Moody Blues, from 1964 to 1966, he sang lead vocals on their first hit record, "Go Now". He joined Paul McCartney's Wings in 1971, and remained with them until they disbanded ten years later. During that time, he co-wrote the band's biggest hit, "Mull Of Kintyre", which topped the UK singles chart in 1977.



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