Rock 'n' Roll History for
June 29


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1957 - ClassicBands.com

June 29
Police in Iran close all dance halls and prosecute their owners after laws are passed that rule Rock and Roll dancing as "harmful to health." The ban would stay in place until the 1990s.

1959 - ClassicBands.com

June 29
Dick Clark announces his first Caravan of Stars tour, which would feature The Skyliners, who were still riding high on their hit "Since I Don't Have You". Chubby Checker, Duane Eddy, Bobby Darin, Fabian, Buddy Holly, Annette Funicello and Bo Diddley also toured with the Caravan.

1962 - ClassicBands.com

June 29
The U.S. Army grants Jimi Hendrix an honorable discharge on the basis of unsuitability. A month earlier his platoon sergeant filed a report that said: "He has no interest whatsoever in the Army.... It is my opinion that Private Hendrix will never come up to the standards required of a soldier. I feel that the military service will benefit if he is discharged as soon as possible." Hendrix would later falsely claim that he had received a medical discharge after breaking his ankle during his 26th parachute jump.

June 29
Motown Records releases The Contours version of "Do You Love Me" on the Gordy label. The song, written by Berry Gordy, would reach #3 on the Billboard Hot 100. The same tune would top the UK charts in October, 1963 for Brian Poole And The Tremeloes, and reached #11 for The Dave Clark Five in June, 1964.

1963 - ClassicBands.com

June 29
Del Shannon's cover version of the Beatles' "From Me To You" became the first song written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney to appear on the American charts, where it would stay for four weeks, reaching #77. The Beatles' rendition climbed only to #116. The title of the song was inspired from a letters column called From You To Us that ran in the popular British music newspaper, The New Musical Express.


1964 - ClassicBands.com

June 29
At Brian Epstein's insistence, The Beatles reluctantly record German versions of "She Loves You" and "I Want To Hold Your Hand" in Rue de Seures, Paris, under the direction of George Martin.

1967 - ClassicBands.com

June 29
Mick Jagger and Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones were found guilty in London, England on drug possession charges resulting from arrests in February. Jagger was sentenced to three months in jail and Richards to a year. The sentences were suspended after an appeal.

1968 - ClassicBands.com

June 29
Donovan's "Hurdy Gurdy Man" enters the Billboard chart, where it will reach #5. According to Wikipedia, a hurdy-gurdy is a string instrument that produces sound by a hand-crank-turned, rosined wheel rubbing against the strings. The wheel functions much like a violin bow, and single notes played on the instrument sound similar to those of a violin.

1969 - ClassicBands.com

June 29
29-year-old American Soul singer Shorty Long drowned after his boat capsized on the Detroit River. A year earlier, Shorty, whose real name was Frederick Earl Long, enjoyed a Billboard #8 single with the novelty song "Here Comes The Judge". He also served as an MC for many of the Motown Revue shows and tours.

June 29
The Status Quo achieve their only hit record in America when "Pictures Of Matchstick Men" enters the Billboard Top 40, where it will top out at #12. Guitarist Francis Rossi said he wrote most of the song while sitting in a toilet, trying to get away from his wife and mother-in-law. Shortly after the song became a hit, the band dropped "The" from their name.

1971 - ClassicBands.com

June 29
The City Council of Memphis, Tennessee voted to officially change the name of Highway 51 South to Elvis Presley Boulevard.

1973 - ClassicBands.com

June 29
Ian Gillan quits Deep Purple at the conclusion of their show in Osaka, Japan. Graham Bonnet will briefly take his place before David Coverdale comes on board.

1974 - ClassicBands.com

June 29
Canada's Gordon Lightfoot scores his first US number one single with "Sundown". His best previous outing had been "If You Could Read My Mind" which reached #5 in 1971.

1975 - ClassicBands.com

June 29
Elton John makes a surprise appearance at a concert at the Oakland Coliseum featuring The Eagles and The Doobie Brothers and sings with both groups.

1978 - ClassicBands.com

June 29
Peter Frampton is involved in an auto accident in The Bahamas. He suffers a broken arm and cracked ribs and will be laid up for several months.


1979 - ClassicBands.com

June 29
Lowell George, the slide guitarist who left The Mothers of Invention to form Little Feat, died of a massive heart attack at the age of 34.

1984 - ClassicBands.com

June 29
Bruce Springsteen kicks off his Born In The USA tour in St. Paul, Minnesota with Nils Lofgren replacing the newly departed Steve Van Zandt on guitar. Van Zandt would return to the E Street Band when it was reformed briefly in 1995, and on an ongoing occasional basis in 1999. During his absence, Van Zandt took one of the core roles in The Sopranos, playing level-headed but deadly mob consigliore and strip club owner, Silvio Dante.

1985 - ClassicBands.com

June 29
The Cooper-Hewitt Museum, a part of the Smithsonian Institute, auctions off John Lennon's psychedelic-painted 1965 Rolls-Royce Phantom V at Sotheby's in New York. The car, which Lennon donated to the museum in 1977, was sold to the Ripley's Believe It Or Not museum for a then record price of $2,299,000. When John had the car painted from its original black in April, 1967, it drew some public outrage. An old woman in London's downtown attacked the car using her umbrella and yelling: "You swine, you swine! How dare you do this to a Rolls-Royce!"

1988 - ClassicBands.com

June 29
Brenda Richie, the wife of Pop star Lionel Richie, was arrested in Beverly Hills, California after allegedly hitting the singer and another woman, Diane Alexander, after she found them together. She was released on $5,000 bail and charges against her were eventually dropped. The couple divorce in 1993, and in 1995, Richie married Alexander.

June 29
The British newspaper The Guardian reported that many music CDs would fade and distort over the next few years due to manufacturing faults, causing panic through the music industry.

1994 - ClassicBands.com

June 29
Barbra Streisand set a new record after grossing $16 million for a series of Madison Square Garden comeback shows.


1995 - ClassicBands.com

June 29
Ringo Starr's first-ever TV commercial, for Pizza Hut, debuts in the US.

1998 - ClassicBands.com

June 29
George Harrison announces that he had been receiving radiation treatment for throat cancer caused by smoking. Harrison says he has been given a clean bill of health by saying, "I'm not going to die on you folks just yet." That sad event would take place on November 29th, 2001.

June 29
German pianist Horst Jankowski, who reached #12 in the US and #3 in the UK with "A Walk In The Black Forrest" in 1965, died of lung cancer at the age of 62.

1999 - ClassicBands.com

June 29
Gene Simmons of KISS films a music video in downtown Los Angeles that featured a cast of porn stars.

2000 - ClassicBands.com

June 29
Vandals desecrate the graves of Lynyrd Skynyrd's Ronnie Van Zant and Steve Gaines. Van Zant's casket was exposed, but not opened, while some of Gaines' ashes was spilled.

2002 - ClassicBands.com

June 29
Billy Joel checked out of Silver Hill Hospital, a substance abuse and psychiatric center in New Canaan, Connecticut, that he had entered earlier in the month for treatment.

June 29
Rosemary Clooney, one of the most popular singers in America in the mid-1950s, died of lung cancer at the age of 74. Among her most popular tunes were "Come On-a My House", "Hey There" and "This Ole House".


2007 - ClassicBands.com

June 29
George McCorkle, the rhythm guitarist for The Marshall Tucker Band, died of cancer at the age of 60. He penned many MTB songs, including the band's first Country Top 40 hit, "Fire on the Mountain".

2016 - ClassicBands.com

June 29
Elvis Presley's daughter Lisa Marie filed for divorce from her fourth husband, Michael Lockwood, just months after the couple celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary last January. Lisa Marie had previously been wed to Danny Keough from 1988 until 1994, Michael Jackson from 1994 to 1999 and to actor Nicolas Cage from 2002 to 2004.

2018 - ClassicBands.com

June 29
Eugene Pitt, the lead vocalist for The Jive Five, who scored a Billboard #3 hit with "My True Story" in 1961, passed away at the age of 80. The group charted on the Hot 100 with three other songs, "Never Never" (#74 in 1961), "What Time Is It?" (#67 in 1962) and "I'm A Happy Man" (#36 in 1965).

2019 - ClassicBands.com

June 29
Gary Duncan, guitarist and vocalist for the influential San Francisco Psychedelic Rock band Quicksilver Messenger Service, passed away at the age of 72.

2020 - ClassicBands.com

June 29
Benny Mardones, most often remembered for his 1980, #11 hit, "Into The Night" passed away at the age of 73 after a long battle with Parkinson's disease. He achieved the rare feat of having that same song return to the Billboard chart when it rose to #20 in 1989 after Phoenix, Arizona radio station KZZP started playing it again.


2021 - ClassicBands.com

June 29
Former Uriah Heep vocalist John Lawton passed away at the age of 74. Lawton joined the band in 1976, replacing original lead singer David Byron just as the band was working on its 10th album, "Firefly". A year later, the LP "Innocent Victim" would produce the huge, international hit, "Free Me". Though Lawton would leave the band in 1979, he remained on good terms with his former bandmates.



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