Rock 'n' Roll History for
January 28


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1955 - ClassicBands.com

January 28
Twelve-year-old Aretha Franklin gives birth to her first child, a son she named Clarence. The boy took his mother's last name.

1956 - ClassicBands.com

January 28
Elvis Presley made the first of four appearances on the weekly TV program The Dorsey Brothers Stage Show, where he performed "Shake Rattle And Roll", "Flip Flop and Fly" and "I Got A Woman". Actor Jackie Gleason would say "He can't last, I tell you flatly, he can't last," but after the initial show, Presley's contract was extended to a total of six appearances.

1965 - ClassicBands.com

January 28
The Who perform their debut hit, "I Can't Explain" on the UK music show Ready, Steady, Go!. To project the desired image, the hand-picked audience consists only of teens dressed in the current Mod fashion.

1966 - ClassicBands.com

January 28
Brian Poole quit The Tremeloes for a solo career. The move didn't work out for him as he would only achieve moderate success, but the rest of the band would score two big hits with "Here Comes My Baby" (#4 UK, #13 US) and "Silence is Golden" (#1 UK, #11 US).


1968 - ClassicBands.com

January 28
Jim Morrison of The Doors is arrested and charged with public drunkenness after harassing a security guard at a Las Vegas adult movie theatre.

1969 - ClassicBands.com

January 28
Tamla Records releases Stevie Wonder's "My Cherie Amour". Originally titled "Oh, My Marsha", the song was written in an hour in 1966 about a girlfriend of Wonder's at the Michigan School for the Blind in Lansing, Michigan. Co-writer Sylvia Moy came up with the unique title, a combination of English and French. The record will climb to #4 on both the Hot 100 and the UK Official Charts, as well as #3 on the Cashbox Best Sellers chart.

1976 - ClassicBands.com

January 28
New Orleans-based R&B singer and songwriter Chris Kenner, who reached number two in the US in 1961 with "I Like It Like That", suffered a fatal heart attack at the age of 57. After his early success, his career was affected by some unpredictable behavior such as missing shows and forgetting the lyrics to his songs. He continued to record until 1968, with diminishing success.

1978 - ClassicBands.com

January 28
Rocker Ted Nugent autographs a man's arm with a bowie knife after the fan had requested it.

1983 - ClassicBands.com

January 28
Radio station WDHA, 105.5 in New Jersey, claims to be the first US station to play music from a compact disc.

January 28
Billy Fury, the British rock-a-billy artist who scored hits in Great Britain in 1961 with "Halfway to Paradise" (#3) and "Jealousy" (#2), died following a heart attack at the age of 42. Fury, who was born Ronald Wycherley, first contracted Rheumatic fever as a child, which damaged his heart and ultimately contributed to his death. He was a major star in his homeland, but couldn't catch the break he needed to become a part of the British Invasion.


1984 - ClassicBands.com

January 28
Despite being banned by Radio 1 and the BBC for its suggestive lyrics, "Relax" by the British dance group Frankie Goes to Hollywood climbs to the top of the UK singles chart. The objectionable words were "Relax, don't do it, when you want to sock it to it, Relax, don't do it, when you want to come." Many other UK commercial radio stations continued to play the record and it stayed at the top for five straight weeks and remained on the chart for a then record forty-two consecutive weeks. Later in the year, the ban would be lifted.

1985 - ClassicBands.com

January 28
Forty-six major American recording artists came together at A&M Studios in Hollywood, to record "We Are The World", a song written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Ritchie. The effort was part of an album called "USA for Africa" and featured Bob Dylan, Kenny Rogers, Stevie Wonder, Tina Turner, Billy Joel, Diana Ross, Dionne Warwick, Daryl Hall, Huey Lewis, Cyndi Lauper, Kim Carnes, Willie Nelson, Steve Perry, Ray Charles and others. Those attending the session were asked to "leave your egos at the door."

1993 - ClassicBands.com

January 28
Geffen Records files a $30 million breach of contract suit against Don Henley, claiming that he failed to deliver the final two albums that he agreed to in his contract. The suit would be settled before coming to trial with undisclosed terms.

1997 - ClassicBands.com

January 28
Pat Boone releases an album of Heavy Metal tunes called "In A Metal Mood: No More Mr. Nice Guy", a tongue-in-cheek collection of tunes like "Smoke on the Water" and "Stairway to Heaven". When the religious community failed to get the joke, he was dismissed from his Trinity Broadcasting Network program, Gospel America. He would later make an appearance on TBN with the president of the network, Paul Crouch, and his pastor, Jack Hayford, where he explained that the album was a "parody of himself." Trinity Broadcasting then reinstated him and Gospel America was brought back

January 28
MCA Records announces that it had come to an agreement with Jimi Hendrix's family to acquire the rights to the entire Jimi Hendrix catalog.

2005 - ClassicBands.com

January 28
Legendary Rock drummer and Hall of Fame inductee Jim Capaldi died after a brief fight with stomach cancer. He was 61. Jim is most often remembered as a member of Traffic, with Steve Winwood and Dave Mason.

2009 - ClassicBands.com

January 28
Billy Powell, Lynyrd Skynyrd's keyboardist who played on "Sweet Home Alabama" and survived the 1977 plane crash that killed three band members, died of a suspected heart attack. He was 56.

2015 - ClassicBands.com

January 28
Sly Stone was awarded $5 million by a Los Angeles jury after he sued his former manager and a lawyer over unpaid royalties dating back twenty years.


2016 - ClassicBands.com

January 28
74-year-old Paul Kantner, founding member, guitarist and vocalist for Jefferson Airplane and later Starship, died after suffering a heart attack earlier in the week. In the 1960s he and Grace Slick led the band to five Gold albums including 1967's "Surrealistic Pillow" and 1968's "Crown of Creation". Even greater success came in the 1970s as Starship with the Double Platinum "Red Octopus" LP.

2021 - ClassicBands.com

January 28
Reports surfaced that a company called Primary Wave had purchased the legendary Sun Records for $30 million. Included in the sale were Sun's 6,000 master tapes of songs like Carl Perkins "Blue Suede Shoes", Jerry Lee Lewis' "Great Balls of Fire", Johnny Cash's "I Walk The Line" and Roy Orbison's "Ooby Dooby". The deal also included the Sun Records trademark and the Sun Diner in Nashville. John Singleton, the brother of the late Shelby Singleton who purchased the label back in 1969 from founder Sam Phillips, was to stay on, overseeing the operation. Primary Wave is a private music publishing and talent management company, with offices in New York City, Los Angeles, London, Austin, and Nashville.

2023 - ClassicBands.com

January 28
Barrett Strong, a singer/songwriter who reached #23 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1960 with "Money (That's What I Want)", passed away at the age of 81. Along with Norman Whitfield, he co-wrote "I Heard It Through the Grapevine", "War", "Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me)", and "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone".



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