Rock 'n' Roll History for
June 19


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1953 - ClassicBands.com

June 19
20-year-old James Brown married his first wife, Velma Warren. The couple would have three sons, but split in 1964 and divorced in 1969.

1958 - ClassicBands.com

June 19
Buddy Holly enters Coral Record's studios in New York to record for the first time without The Crickets. None of the tracks he laid down would become hits.

1961 - ClassicBands.com

June 19
Pat Boone had his sixth and final number one hit in the US with "Moody River". A year later, "Speedy Gonzales" would finish his run of thirty-eight Top 10 hits. A tongue-in-cheek, heavy metal "comeback" was attempted in 1997 with an album called "In a Metal Mood (No More Mr. Nice Guy)".

June 19
Ben E. King enjoys his biggest hit as "Stand By Me" reaches #4 on the Billboard singles chart. The same song would re-appear on the Hot 100 in 1986, reaching #9, after it was featured as the title track in a film starring River Phoenix.


1962 - ClassicBands.com

June 19
Nat "King" Cole records "Ramblin' Rose" at Capitol Studios in Hollywood. The song would be released as a single a month later and reached #2 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and the Cashbox Best Sellers chart, kept out of the top spot by "Sherry" by The Four Seasons. The million selling single topped the Billboard Easy Listening chart for five weeks and actually reached #7 on the R&B chart.

1965 - ClassicBands.com

June 19
Elvis Presley enjoyed his 15th UK #1 single with his rendition of "Crying In The Chapel", which first became a hit for 17-year-old Darrell Glenn when it topped the Cashbox Best Sellers chart in 1953. To date there are over fifty known recorded versions of the song, but none as successful as Presley's, which would eventually be awarded Platinum status by the RIAA.

June 19
The Four Tops had their first US number one record with "I Can't Help Myself". Lead singer Levi Stubbs had not been satisfied with the recording session and was promised that he could do it again the following day, but no other session ever took place. The track that became a hit was just the second take of the song.

June 19
Surrey, England's Ian Whitcomb gained his only US chart entry with an odd sounding song called "You Turn Me On". The falsetto laced tune is punctuated by high pitched, heavy breathing in the chorus.

1971 - ClassicBands.com

June 19
Carole King saw her "Tapestry" album hit number one in the US for the first of 15 consecutive weeks. The LP contained such classic tracks as "It's Too Late" (#1), "I Feel the Earth Move" (#1), "So Far Away" (#14), "Will You Love Me Tomorrow?", "You've Got a Friend" (#1) and "Smackwater Jack" (#14). The Grammy Award winning disc was listed at #25 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time in 2020.


1973 - ClassicBands.com

June 19
Roberta Flack... The First Time Ever TV special airs on ABC. Guests on the Dick Clark produced program include The Blossoms and Seals And Crofts.

1976 - ClassicBands.com

June 19
Germany's Silver Convention topped the Cashbox Best Sellers list with "Get Up And Boogie", a Disco tune that contained only six different words (Get, Up, And, Boogie, That's, Right). It was a formula that had also worked on their first US hit, "Fly Robin, Fly" in 1975.

June 19
The Beach Boys' cover of Chuck Berry's "Rock And Roll Music" enters the Billboard Top 40 where it would peak at #5 during a thirteen week run. That was one spot higher than Berry's 1957 original.

1980 - ClassicBands.com

June 19
Donna Summer becomes the first artist to sign with the newly formed Geffen Records, where she will record six of her twenty Billboard Top 40 hits.

1988 - ClassicBands.com

June 19
Over 3,000 East Germans gather at the Berlin Wall to hear Michael Jackson, who was performing a concert on the other side of the wall in West Berlin.

1997 - ClassicBands.com

June 19
Bobby Helms, best known for his perennial Christmas hit, "Jingle Bell Rock", died of emphysema at his home in Martinsville, Indiana. He was 63. His holiday classic entered the Billboard Top 40 in 1957 (#6), 1958 (#35) and 1960 (#36).


2006 - ClassicBands.com

June 19
Duane Roland, a founding member of the Southern Rock band Molly Hatchet died of natural causes at the age of 53.

2014 - ClassicBands.com

June 19
Gerry Goffin, the songwriter who wrote more than 50 US Top 40 hits, died at the age of 75. Along with his then-wife, Carole King, Goffin wrote such Rock 'n' Roll standards as "Will You Love Me Tomorrow", "The Loco-Motion", "Pleasant Valley Sunday", "Some Kind of Wonderful" and "Take Good Care of My Baby".



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