Rock 'n' Roll History for
January 21


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1957 - ClassicBands.com

January 21
24-year-old Patsy Cline wins first place on CBS' Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts program with a rendition of "Walking After Midnight". Since she had already recorded the song the previous November, Decca Records would rush-release it three weeks later. The single debuted quickly on the Billboard charts, eventually peaking at #2 on the Hot Country Songs chart, and #12 on the Top 100 by March 3rd.

1959 - ClassicBands.com

January 21
The Kingston Trio, one of the foremost groups behind the Folk music craze, receive their first Gold record for "Tom Dooley", a song based on the 1866 murder of a woman named Laura Foster in Wilkes County, North Carolina.

1961 - ClassicBands.com

January 21
Del Shannon records his first single, "Runaway", which will top the US charts by April. The song was written by Shannon and keyboardist Max Crook, and would later be rated as #466 on Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.


1964 - ClassicBands.com

January 21
Peter And Gordon record the Lennon / McCartney tune "A World Without Love", which will top the UK chart next June. Peter Asher's sister Jane was currently dating Paul McCartney.

1965 - ClassicBands.com

January 21
The Animals had to cancel a show at New York's Apollo Theater after the US Immigration Department forced the group to leave the venue. Their only New York appearance would be on The Ed Sullivan Show.

1966 - ClassicBands.com

January 21
Beatle George Harrison marries his long-time girlfriend, fashion model Patti Boyd, whom he met on the set of the Beatles' first movie, A Hard Day's Night. She would leave an unfaithful Harrison in the mid-'70s and hooked up with Eric Clapton, who would write the songs "Layla" and "Wonderful Tonight" about her. Those two would marry in May 1979, but split in 1988.

1967 - ClassicBands.com

January 21
The Monkees' vocalist Davy Jones records "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You" at RCA Victor Studios in New York. Jones was backed by studio musicians Al Gorgoni, Hugh McCracken and Don Thomas on guitar, Stan Free on piano, Artie Butler on organ, Lou Mauro on bass, Thomas Cerone on tambourine, and Herbie Lovelle on drums. Released March 8th, 1967 on Colgems Records, the song would top the Cashbox Best Sellers chart on April 22nd for two weeks. On the Billboard Hot 100 it would climb to #2, held out of the number one spot by "Somethin' Stupid" by Frank Sinatra and Nancy Sinatra.

1977 - ClassicBands.com

January 21
A year after leaving The Guess Who, lead singer Burton Cummings is awarded a Gold record for his million selling, US Top Ten, solo hit, "Stand Tall".


1978 - ClassicBands.com

January 21
The soundtrack album to Saturday Night Fever climbs to the top of the Billboard 200 chart, where it would stay for an astonishing 24 weeks. It would spend a total of 120 weeks on the chart, be certified 16X Platinum in America, and sold over 40 million copies worldwide. The LP was added to the National Recording Registry in the Library of Congress in 2014 for being culturally significant.

1982 - ClassicBands.com

January 21
B.B. King donates his entire record collection to the University of Mississippi's Center for the Study of Southern Culture. The 20,000-record collection includes 7,000 discs King played as a disc jockey at Memphis' WDIA in the 1950s.

1984 - ClassicBands.com

January 21
Jackie Wilson passed away at the age of 49. He had suffered a heart attack while singing "Lonely Teardrops" at the Latin Casino in New Jersey during a performance in 1975 and hit his head in the fall. Wilson suffered brain damage and required permanent care the rest of his life.

January 21
Yes hits number one on the Billboard Hot 100 with their only Top Ten hit, "Owner Of A Lonely Heart". It reached #28 hit in the UK.

1987 - ClassicBands.com

January 21
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducts The Coasters, Eddie Cochran, Bo Diddley, Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, Bill Haley, B.B. King, Clyde McPhatter, Ricky Nelson, Roy Orbison, Carl Perkins, Smokey Robinson, Muddy Waters, Hank Williams and Jackie Wilson.

1989 - ClassicBands.com

January 21
Steve Wahrer, drummer and vocalist for The Trashmen on their 1964, Billboard #4 hit, "Surfin' Bird", died of throat cancer at the age of 47.

1996 - ClassicBands.com

January 21
Cannibal And The Headhunters lead singer Francisco Garcia died at the age of 49. The group's biggest hit was "Land Of A Thousand Dances", which reached number 30 in America in 1965.


1997 - ClassicBands.com

January 21
Colonel Tom Parker, the former carnival pitchman who guided Elvis Presley's career for 22 years, died of complications from a stroke he had suffered the previous evening. He was 87.

2002 - ClassicBands.com

January 21
81 year old Peggy Lee, best known in the Rock era for her 1958 version of "Fever", passed away after suffering a heart attack at her Bel Air, California home. Lee won a Grammy Award for her 1969 hit "Is That All There Is", and had charted 46 times from 1945 to 1969, ten times in the Top Ten. She had suffered a stroke in 1998 and had been battling heart disease and diabetes.

January 21
Rosemary Clooney, who had five US Top 40 hits, including two chart toppers in the 1950s, underwent lung cancer surgery at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota.

2010 - ClassicBands.com

January 21
The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry issued a statement that said global government legislation is essential to the survival of recorded music. The IFPI said that "Copyright holders cannot hope to micro-manage the behavior of every consumer" and "there is a growing threat to local artists posed by piracy."

2015 - ClassicBands.com

January 21
An Israeli man was arrested on suspicion of hacking into the computers of several international stars and selling unreleased songs online. Madonna, whose latest album, "Rebel Heart" was leaked online in December, said that she was "profoundly grateful" to those who helped arrest the hacker and described the experience as devastating and hurtful.

2019 - ClassicBands.com

January 21
Maxine Brown, of the Country/Folk trio The Browns, passed away at the age of 87 from complications of kidney and heart disease. Along with her sister Bonnie and her brother Jim Ed, she placed three songs on the Billboard Top 40, "The Three Bells" (#1 in 1959), Scarlet Ribbons (#13 in 1959) and "The Old Lamplighter" (#5 in 1960).


2022 - ClassicBands.com

January 21
Elton John's "Rocket Man (I Think It's Gonna Be A long, Long Time)" was certified Double Platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for sales and streams of 1,200,000 digital downloads and streaming equivalent sales.



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