Rock 'n' Roll History for
January 3


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1956 - ClassicBands.com

January 3
Elvis Presley plays a show at the Von Theater in Booneville, Mississippi, where he is billed as "The Folk Music Fireball."

1957 - ClassicBands.com

January 3
Fats Domino records "I'm Walkin'", a song he wrote after his car broke down and a fan shouted "Hey, look at Fats Domino, he's walking!". The record won't be released for over a year, but would go on to reach #4 on the US Pop chart and #1 on the R&B chart in April of 1958.

1959 - ClassicBands.com

January 3
The Teddy Bears appear on NBC's Kraft Music Hall where they perform their recent Billboard #1 hit, "To Know Him Is To Love Him". Unfortunately for the Phil Spector led trio, this would be their last taste of singing success. A follow-up release called "Oh Why" would barely scrape the bottom of the chart and by next Fall, after four more flops, the group would split up. Annette Kleinbard would go on to a successful songwriting career, Marshall Leib would become a musical supervisor in the film industry, and Phil Spector would launch his legendary career as a music producer.


1960 - ClassicBands.com

January 3
Bobby Darin and Connie Francis pair up to sing "You Make Me Feel So Young" and "You're The Top" on The Ed Sullivan Show. Other guests that night included ventriloquist Edgar Bergen, singer Miss Toni Fisher, and drummer Gene Krupa.

1963 - ClassicBands.com

January 3
After placing thirty songs on the Billboard chart with Imperial Records, Rick Nelson signs a one million dollar, twenty year contract with Decca, where he will achieve six more Top 40 hits.

January 3
Billed as The "Love Me Do" Boys, The Beatles kick off a five day tour of Scotland at the Two Red Shoes Ballroom in Elgin.

1964 - ClassicBands.com

January 3
The Beatles were seen for the first time on a US TV show when a clip from the BBC's The Mersey Sound, showing the group playing "She Loves You", was shown on The Jack Paar Show. At that point, Parr was not a fan and made fun of their haircuts on the air.

1965 - ClassicBands.com

January 3
A song called "Leader of the Laudromat" by The Detergents peaks at #19 on the Billboard Pop chart during its seven week run. The record was a spoof of The Shangri-Las' "Leader Of The Pack", and the group was actually Ron Dante, Danny Jordan and Tommy Wynn, a trio of young songwriters and session singers who worked for Aldon Music. The writers of "Leader Of The Pack", Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich and George "Shadow" Morton, would file a copyright lawsuit, which was settled out of court.

1967 - ClassicBands.com

January 3
After receiving a U.S. army draft notice, The Beach Boys' Carl Wilson refuses to be sworn in and fails to report for military service. He filed for a conscientious objector status, but ultimately was indicted and faced criminal prosecution for draft evasion. He would be arrested on April 26th, 1967 by FBI agents and later released from custody on $15,000 bond.

January 3
The Bee Gees achieved their first recording success when a song called "Spicks and Specks" rose to the top of the Australian singles chart. Although it failed to make much of a splash in the UK or North America, it did reach #2 in Netherlands and #28 in Germany.

1969 - ClassicBands.com

January 3
Thirty thousand copies of John Lennon and Yoko Ono's album "Two Virgins" were seized at a New Jersey airport because the cover showed the couple naked. A vice squad in Chicago shut down a record store displaying the album, causing the distributor, Tetragrammaton Records to sell the L.P. in a plain brown paper wrapper.


1970 - ClassicBands.com

January 3
What would prove to be The Beatles' final recording session is held at EMI's Abby Road Studios. The last song they ever played together was "I Me Mine", which became the title of George Harrison's autobiography a decade later.

January 3
"Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head", taken from the soundtrack of the film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, becomes BJ Thomas' third US Top Ten hit and his first number one. It made #38 in the UK.

January 3
Following the footsteps of Peter Tork, who quit a year earlier, singer Davy Jones announces that he too is leaving The Monkees.

1972 - ClassicBands.com

January 3
Don McLean received a Gold record for his single "American Pie", which reached #1 in the US and #2 in the UK, selling over three million copies.

1974 - ClassicBands.com

January 3
Bob Dylan and The Band reunited for a US tour. Dylan was promoting his "Planet Waves" album while The Band had just released "Moondog Matinee" and the single, "Ain't Got No Home". The results of the tour were released six months later on "Before the Flood", a live, double album.

1976 - ClassicBands.com

January 3
Bob Dylan's song "Hurricane" topped out at #33 on the Billboard singles chart, helping to cause enough publicity to eventually get former boxer Rubin 'Hurricane' Carter released from jail. The song promoted Carter's innocence and a movie about Carter's life, starring Denzel Washington, was released in 2000.

January 3
American interest in The Bay City Rollers peaks as their song "Saturday Night" hits #1 on the Hot 100 for one week.

1981 - ClassicBands.com

January 3
David Bowie finishes his Broadway run as the title character in the play The Elephant Man. He had begun at The Booth Theatre in New York on September 23rd, 1980, with unanimous praise for his portrayal of John Merrick.

1995 - ClassicBands.com

January 3
46 year old Byron MacGregor, whose spoken word rendition of "The Americans" became a US #5 hit in early 1974, passed away as result of complications stemming from pneumonia.


2009 - ClassicBands.com

January 3
Great Britain's commercial radio show Hit 40 UK announced that it will no longer use CD sales for its official figures. The networked Top 40 chart program, which broadcast across 130 stations, would base its weekly charts solely on digital downloads.

2012 - ClassicBands.com

January 3
Gloria Estefan became the first female artist in the history of the Billboard Latin singles chart to enter at number one when "Hotel Nacional" debuted at the top.

2014 - ClassicBands.com

January 3
Phil Everly of The Everly Brothers passed away from complications from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease at the age of 74. Between 1956 and 1967, the duo placed twenty-six songs on the Billboard Top 40.

2017 - ClassicBands.com

January 3
Fifty-year-old Janet Jackson welcomed her first child with her billionaire husband Wissam Al Mana.

2021 - ClassicBands.com

January 3
Jerry Marsden, guitarist and lead vocalist for Gerry And The Pacemakers died at the age of 78 after suffering an infection in his heart. His band placed seven songs in the Billboard Top 40, including three in the Top 10, during the height of the British Invasion of the mid-1960s. They reached the UK Top 40 nine times.



2022 - ClassicBands.com

January 3
The estate of David Bowie announced that they had reached a deal to sell his songwriting catalog to Warner Music Group's Warner Chappell. The agreement included the twenty-six studio albums released during David's lifetime, as well as the posthumous studio album, "Toy". Also included were the two studio albums from his band, Tin Machine, along with songs released as singles from soundtracks and other projects. Although no actual figures were released, the deal was estimated to be worth around $250 million dollars.



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