Rock 'n' Roll History for
November 11


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1954 - ClassicBands.com

November 11
Bill Haley's rendition of "Shake, Rattle and Roll" peaks at #7 during its US chart run of 27 weeks. Producer Milt Gabler would later say that he "cleaned up" the lyrics from Joe Turner's original 1954 version in order to insure radio air-play. In the UK, it reached #4.

1955 - ClassicBands.com

November 11
Billboard magazine publishes the results of its annual disc jockey poll. The most played R&B single is Johnny Ace's "Pledging My Love", the most promising artist is Chuck Berry, the favorite R&B artist is Fats Domino and Elvis Presley is voted the most promising Country And Western artist.

November 11
Billboard introduces The Top 100 format, which will combine record sales with radio and jukebox play to arrive at the standings. The Four Aces "Love Is A Many Splendored Thing" has the distinction of being the first number one record using the new calculation method.

1957 - ClassicBands.com

November 11
Buddy Holly's "Peggy Sue" is released in the US, where it will rise to #3 and stay on the chart for sixteen weeks. It was also a big hit in the UK, reaching #6. The Crickets are not credited on label, but band members Joe B. Mauldin (upright bass) and Jerry Allison (drums) played on the recording. The song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999.

November 11
Dance Teacher magazine denounces England's Princess Margaret for endorsing Rock 'n' Roll, and in doing so, hastening the demise of Ballroom dancing. The article went on to say that "Rock 'n' Roll should be discouraged."

November 11
Sun Records releases "Great Balls of Fire" by Jerry Lee Lewis. It will be his biggest hit, reaching number two on the Billboard Pop chart, number three on the R&B list, and number one on the Country And Western chart. The single sold a million copies during its first ten days of release and would go on to sell over five million copies world-wide.

November 11
Singer Shirley Bassey was held captive by a deranged, 19-year-old gunman in a barricaded bedroom on the fifth floor of the Cumberland Hotel in London, England. Armed Police ended the four-hour siege when they overpowered the man and snatched the revolver from his hand.


1958 - ClassicBands.com

November 11
Hank Ballard And The Midnighters record the original version of "The Twist". It was issued as the B side of the Gospel style ballad "Teardrops On Your Letter", and although it reached #16 on the R&B chart, Ballard's version of "The Twist" wouldn't appear on the Billboard Pop chart until just after Chubby Checker's version took off two years later.

1964 - ClassicBands.com

November 11
24-year-old Tom Jones records "It's Not Unusual" for Britain's Decca Records. The song, originally offered to, but turned down by Sandie Shaw, will become Jones' breakthrough hit, reaching #1 in the UK and #10 in the US.

1965 - ClassicBands.com

November 11
In an all-night session at EMI Studios that started at 6 pm, The Beatles record "You Won't See Me", "Girl", "Wait", and "I'm Looking Through You" for their upcoming album, "Rubber Soul".

1967 - ClassicBands.com

November 11
Van Morrison lip-synchs to his current US #10 hit, "Brown Eyed Girl" on Dick Clark's American Bandstand. Although the song has become a staple on US Oldies radio, it was not a hit in the UK.

1968 - ClassicBands.com

November 11
John Lennon and Yoko Ono release the LP "Unfinished Music No. 1: Two Virgins". Because the front cover of the album showed the pair completely naked, EMI refused to distribute it. It was later dispersed by Track and Tetragrammaton in the United Kingdom and the United States respectively, in brown paper wrapping. The effort was poorly received by the record buying public, rising to #124 on the Billboard 200 and failing to chart at all in Great Britain.

1969 - ClassicBands.com

November 11
The FBI in Phoenix, Arizona arrested The Doors' Jim Morrison for drunk and disorderly conduct aboard a plane. The singer was on his way to a Rolling Stones concert with actor Tom Baker and had been drinking heavily and was rude and disrespectful to the stewardesses. The two spent the night in jail and were later released on $2,500 bail. All charges were later dropped.

1970 - ClassicBands.com

November 11
Ringo Starr and his wife Maureen become the proud parents of a daughter that they name Lee Parkin Starkey.

November 11
The film Elvis: That's the Way It Is opens in theatres across America. The documentary features Presley's shows during his Summer Festival in Las Vegas in August, 1970.

1972 - ClassicBands.com

November 11
A little over a year after The Allman Brothers Band lost Duane Allman in a motorcycle accident, their bassist, 24 year old Berry Oakley was killed when his motorcycle hit a bus, just three blocks away from the site that claimed Allman. At first, Oakley seemed all right, but died twenty minutes after being brought to the hospital.

November 11
Gilbert O'Sullivan tops the UK chart with "Clair", the first of his two number one records in Great Britain. He would achieve his second with "Get Down" next April.


1973 - ClassicBands.com

November 11
Thirty radio stations across the United States broadcast what it billed as a live show by Mott the Hoople. It was really nothing more than Hoople's studio tracks with dubbed-in applause.

1978 - ClassicBands.com

November 11
Donna Summer's Disco version of "MacArthur Park" rose to the top of the Billboard chart, besting Richard Harris' 1968 rendition by one spot. It would be the first of four number one singles for Summer. Songwriter Jimmy Webb would later explain that the mysterious lyrics about the cake melting in the rain is simply a metaphor for a love affair ending.

1982 - ClassicBands.com

November 11
Marvin Gaye's first release since leaving Motown Records earlier in the year, "Sexual Healing", becomes his 13th and final #1 on the Billboard R&B chart. The song will reach #3 on the Pop chart and #4 in the UK early next year. It would later be listed at #198 on Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

1993 - ClassicBands.com

November 11
James Brown appears on The Simpsons' episode called "Bart's Inner Child", where he sings his 1965 hit, "I Got You (I Feel Good").

2000 - ClassicBands.com

November 11
Bobby Sheen, the male vocalist of Bob B. Soxx And The Blue Jeans on their 1963, US #8 hit "Zip-A-Dee Doo-Dah", died of pneumonia at the age of 58. That song originally appeared in the 1946 Disney live action and animated movie Song of the South.

2002 - ClassicBands.com

November 11
British Phonographic industry data showed that sales of singles were at their lowest level in 25 years, making up less than 10% of all music sold.

2003 - ClassicBands.com

November 11
In an emotional memorial service for Bobby Hatfield that was filled with music and funny stories, Bill Medley sings the gospel standard "Precious Lord". Medley would later say, "I'm going to miss our two-part harmony. I'm going to miss our Rock 'n' Roll. I'm going to miss looking to my right on stage and seeing my friend." Hatfield died in his sleep on November 5th, just hours before a scheduled Righteous Brothers concert Kalamazoo, Michigan.


2009 - ClassicBands.com

November 11
54-year-old Jo Wood, wife of The Rolling Stones' Ronnie Wood, was granted a divorce after 24 years of marriage on the grounds of adultery. The couple split in 2008 after the guitarist, 64, began a relationship with a 20-year-old woman.

2010 - ClassicBands.com

November 11
Pamela Des Barres, a woman who describes herself as "The world's most famous groupie", defended Mick Jagger after Keith Richards questioned the size of his manhood in the Richards autobiography Life. Des Barres says "I beg to differ with Keith on the sexual prowess of his lead singer. In all ways (including size), I got plenty of satisfaction."

2018 - ClassicBands.com

November 11
Neil Young's house was destroyed by the Woolsey fire that raged north of Los Angeles in Southern California. Young shared the Malibu home with his wife of three months, actress/director Daryl Hannah.

2021 - ClassicBands.com

November 11
Graeme Edge, drummer and co-founder of The Moody Blues, died of cancer at the age of 80. He had retired from touring in 2018 and was the only original member to remain in the band since they were founded in the mid-1960s. That same year, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame along with the rest of the band.

2022 - ClassicBands.com

November 11
Rab Noakes, a founding member of Stealers Wheel, passed away at the age of 75. The band reached #6 in the US and #8 in the UK with "Stuck In The Middle With You" in 1973. He was also at the forefront of Scottish folk music for over 50 years and recorded 19 studio albums.




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