Rock 'n' Roll History for
January 7


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1950 - ClassicBands.com

January 7
Gene Autry's "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer", based on a children's book written in 1939, hits #1 on the Billboard singles chart.


1952 - ClassicBands.com

January 7
The BBC introduces its first Pop music program, Hit Parade, with host Victor Barnard playing the eight most popular songs in the UK.

1956 - ClassicBands.com

January 7
Crooner Dean Martin's "Memories Are Made of This" hits #1 in America for the first of six weeks.

1961 - ClassicBands.com

January 7
Johnny Tillotson held down the top spot on the UK singles chart with "Poetry In Motion". Songwriters Paul Kaufman and Mike Anthony later said that their inspiration came from seeing a procession of young ladies from a nearby school pass by on the sidewalk each afternoon.

1963 - ClassicBands.com

January 7
Gary "U.S." Bonds files a $100,000 suit against Chubby Checker, charging Checker rearranged "Quarter to Three" and turned it into "Dancin' Party". The suit was later settled out of court.

1969 - ClassicBands.com

January 7
The music/comedy trio, Scaffold, which included Paul McCartney's younger brother Mike, led the UK singles chart with a novelty tune called "Lily The Pink". Elton John, along with Graham Nash of The Hollies, contributed backing vocals and Jack Bruce of Cream played bass guitar.

1970 - ClassicBands.com

January 7
Area residents file a $35,000 lawsuit for property damages against Max Yasgur, owner of the New York farm that hosted the 1969 Woodstock Festival. Festival organizers themselves faced over 70 other lawsuits.

1971 - ClassicBands.com

January 7
Judy Collins cracks the Billboard Top 40 with "Amazing Grace", a song she recorded in St. Paul's chapel at Columbia University, chosen for the acoustics. It would prove to be her second highest charting single, topping out at #15.


1972 - ClassicBands.com

January 7
Bread's Soft Rock classic "Baby I'm-A Want You" is certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America. It had reached #3 on the Cashbox Best Sellers chart and the Billboard Hot 100, as well as climbing to #14 in the UK.

1974 - ClassicBands.com

January 7
James Taylor and Carly Simon have their second child, Sarah Maria Taylor.

1976 - ClassicBands.com

January 7
Former record company executive Kenneth Moss is sentenced to 120 days in the Los Angeles County Jail and four years probation. He had earlier pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in the 1974 drug induced death of Average White Band drummer Robbie McIntosh.

1978 - ClassicBands.com

January 7
The soundtrack to Saturday Night Fever enters the US album charts where it will eventually hit number one and stay there for six weeks starting February 18. The album had a chart stay of 39 weeks and to this date has sold over 15 million copies.

1980 - ClassicBands.com

January 7
Led Zeppelin's "In Through the Out Door" is awarded a Platinum disc. It's the last album released before the September 25th death of drummer John Bonham. The LP was a huge commercial success, topping the Billboard 200 in just its second week on the chart. It also went to #1 in the UK, Canada, and New Zealand.

January 7
45-year-old Larry Williams, who had hit songs with "Short Fat Fannie" (#5 in 1957) and "Bony Maronie" (#14 in 1957), was found dead in his Los Angles home of a gunshot wound to the head. The case has never been solved.

January 7
Doo-wop singer Carl White, lead vocalist for The Rivingtons, died of acute tonsillitis in Los Angeles, California, at the age of 48. The band's novelty hit, "Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow" was a #48 hit in 1962.

1981 - ClassicBands.com

January 7
The "Eagles Live" album goes Platinum. The two-record set will turn out to be the final Eagles album until 1994's comeback LP, "Hell Freezes Over".


1992 - ClassicBands.com

January 7
US Postmaster General Anthony Frank announces that a commemorative stamp honoring Elvis Presley will be issued next year on the King's birthday.

1999 - ClassicBands.com

January 7
As he approached his 54th birthday, Rod Stewart and his 29-year-old wife Rachel Hunter announce their separation after eight years of marriage. Together they had two children, Renee and Liam.

2003 - ClassicBands.com

January 7
The UK fan magazine called The Beatles Book Monthly closed after 40 years. Author Sean O'Mahony, who set up the publication in 1963, said there was nothing more to say, as the number of things the former Beatles are doing got less and less as the years went by.

2005 - ClassicBands.com

January 7
James Brown's former publicist, 48 year old Jacque Hollander, launched a lawsuit against The Godfather of Soul, claiming that he raped her at gun point in 1988. A judge would later dismiss the case because the two year statute of limitations on that charge had run out.

2009 - ClassicBands.com

January 7
Led Zeppelin's Robert Plant was voted the Greatest Voice In Rock by listeners of the UK's Classic Rock radio station Planet Rock, beating out Queen's Freddie Mercury, Free's Paul Rodgers and Deep Purple's Ian Gillan.

January 7
Michael Jackson's manager released a statement that said that The King Of Pop had leased a $100,000 a month, Bel-Air mansion in order to be closer to "where all the action is" in the entertainment industry.

2010 - ClassicBands.com

January 7
According to Nielsen SoundScan's final 2009 figures, Michael Jackson was the best selling artist of the year, moving 8,286,000 units. Forty years after their break-up, The Beatles were still the best selling group, thanks to their remastered catalog which sold 3,282,000 copies. Digital downloads however, were a different story. Lady Gaga was the queen of the downloads, selling 15,297,000 digital tracks. The Black Eyed Peas, Michael Jackson and Taylor Swift all finished in the vicinity of 12 million digital units.

2016 - ClassicBands.com

January 7
Troy Shondell, who reached #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 with "This Time (We're Really Breaking Up)" in 1961, died from complications related to Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease at the age of 76. Shondell, whose real name was Gary Wayne Schelton, later became a songwriter and publisher in Nashville.

2020 - ClassicBands.com

January 7
Neil Peart, drummer and lyricist for the Progressive Rock band Rush, died at the age of 67 after a three year battle with brain cancer. The band reached #1 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart with "New World Man" in 1982.

2022 - ClassicBands.com

January 7
R. Dean Taylor, a Canadian musician most often remembered for his 1970 Billboard #5 hit, "Indiana Wants Me", died at the age of 82 after contracting COVID-19.




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