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Rock 'n' Roll History For February 2
Rock 'n' Roll History for
February 2
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1955
- ClassicBands.com
February 2
Petula Clark scores her first major hit on the UK chart with a song called "Majorca". The single will kick off a string of Top Twenty hits in the UK and Europe, but it will be ten years before she gains any attention in the United States.
1956
- ClassicBands.com
February 2
The Coasters sign with Atlantic Records, where they will record ten US Top 40 hits, including "Yakety Yak" (#1 in 1958) and "Charlie Brown" (#2 in 1959).
1957
- ClassicBands.com
February 2
Fats Domino sings a couple of his recent hits, "Blueberry Hill" (US #2) and "Blue Monday" (US #5) on Perry Como's television show.
February 2
Actor Tab Hunter topped the Cashbox Best Sellers chart with his version of "Young Love". A month later, the record would rise to #1 on the Billboard chart where it would stay for six weeks.
1959
- ClassicBands.com
February 2
Frankie Avalon releases his biggest hit, "Venus", which will reach number one in the US and number sixteen in the UK. Somewhat surprisingly, the record also reached number ten on the Billboard R&B chart.
February 2
Former Mouseketeer Annette Funicello sees her first hit, "Tall Paul" enter the Billboard Pop chart, where it will reach #7. The record was only 1 minute and 38 seconds long. The song's writers, Robert and Richard Sherman, would go on to work for Walt Disney and would win two Oscars for the 1964 film, Mary Poppins.
1963
- ClassicBands.com
February 2
The Beatles kick off their first countrywide tour of the UK, supporting headliner
Helen Shapiro. John, Paul, Ringo and George will split wages of £80 ($225) a week.
1964
- ClassicBands.com
February 2
In response to a storm of controversy, Max Firetag, the publisher of
The Kingsmen's hit, "Louie Louie", offers $1,000 to anyone who can find suggestive lyrics in the song. The reward is small change considering that the disc cost less than $50 to record and has sold millions of copies.
1968
- ClassicBands.com
February 2
Simon And Garfunkel record "Mrs. Robinson", which will become their second US number one and win a Grammy Award for Record Of The Year. Simon would later say that his inclusion of the phrase "coo-coo-ca-choo" is an homage to the Beatles' "I Am the Walrus".
1969
- ClassicBands.com
February 2
Yoko Ono divorced her first husband, Tony Cox, paving the way for a marriage to John Lennon six weeks later. The pair had married in November, 1962 and had one daughter, Kyoko Chan Cox.
1973
- ClassicBands.com
February 2
The Midnight Special premieres on NBC-TV with
Helen Reddy as host.
Wolfman Jack would later take over for an eight-and-a-half-year run.
February 2
Keith Emerson's hands are injured during an
Emerson, Lake & Palmer performance when a rigged piano explosion goes off too soon.
1974
- ClassicBands.com
February 2
Barbra Streisand's "The Way We Were" topped the Billboard hit parade, becoming her first number one. It would go on to win an Academy Award and Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song.
1979
- ClassicBands.com
February 2
While celebrating his freedom after serving seven weeks in jail for assault, Sid Vicious (born Simon Ritchie) died of a drug overdose after injecting heroin that his mother had bought for him. The 21 year old had been the bass player for one of Britain's most influential Punk-Rock bands, The Sex Pistols, which had broken up a year earlier.
1980
- ClassicBands.com
February 2
Despite controversy over the song's lyrics, which reference teen pregnancy and promote contraception, the English ska band The Specials topped the UK chart with "Too Much Too Young".
1985
- ClassicBands.com
February 2
"I Want To Know What Love Is" by Foreigner begins a two-week run at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. It also topped the Cashbox Best Sellers chart, the UK singles chart, and made the Top Ten in sixteen other countries. The song would become the band's third Platinum single in the US and their first and only Gold single in the UK. It was certified Platinum in the UK in 2020.
1989
- ClassicBands.com
February 2
George Michael accepts an apology and an undisclosed cash settlement from The Sun newspaper to settle a libel suit after the publication printed an article that claimed that Michael was drunk and abusive at a party hosted by Andrew Lloyd Webber.
1997
- ClassicBands.com
February 2
Boy George was roughed up by two bouncers after he tried to jump the queue outside The Ministry Of Sound in London where George had been a guest DJ.
2007
- ClassicBands.com
February 2
Joe Hunter of The Funk Brothers was found dead in his Detroit apartment. The 79 year old pianist had just returned five days earlier from a European tour with fellow band member Jack Ashford.
February 2
67 year old Billy Henderson of The Spinners passed away from complications of diabetes. The group placed eighteen songs on Billboard's Top 40, including seven Top 10 hits.
2009
- ClassicBands.com
February 2
Fifty years after Buddy Holly,
Ritchie Valens and
The Big Bopper played their final gig at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa, the Day the Music Died became the Day the Music Went On and On. A tribute concert at the original Surf raved on for six hours with a line-up of Rock acts that included Graham Nash, Los Lobos, Los Lonely Boys, Wanda Jackson,
Delbert McClinton, Joe Ely, Peter And Gordon, Dave Mason, Bobby Vee and Holly's original band mates,
The Crickets.
2018
- ClassicBands.com
February 2
The Beatles' companies Apple Corps Ltd. and Subafilms Ltd. filed a lawsuit against 48 internet merchants for promoting, distributing and selling items that bear counterfeit logos or imitations of their respective trademarks.
2024
- ClassicBands.com
February 2
Wayne Kramer, guitarist for Detroit's MC5, died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 75. The group's debut album, "Kick Out The Jams" reached #30 on the Billboard 200 chart and the title track peaked at #82 on the Hot 100 in 1969.
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