Rock 'n' Roll History for
September 16


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1959 - ClassicBands.com

September 16
The first package tour organized by Dick Clark and veteran Rock 'n' Roll promoter Irvin Feld kicks off a 52 day run with Paul Anka, Lloyd Price, The Coasters, Duane Eddy, The Drifters, Annette Funicello and LaVern Baker.

1960 - ClassicBands.com

September 16
Johnny Burnette records the original version of "You're 16", which will rise to #8 in the US. Fourteen years later, Ringo Starr would take the same song to #1.

1963 - ClassicBands.com

September 16
"She Loves You", with its flip side, "I'll Get You" by The Beatles is released by Swan Records in the US. Although it is currently number one in the UK, "She Loves You" is ignored Stateside until 1964 when it would reach the top of the US Pop chart.

September 16
Capitol Records releases The Beach Boys' third album, "Surfer Girl". The LP will rise to #7 on the Billboard album chart and includes "Surfer Girl" (#7), "Little Deuce Coupe" (#15), and "In My Room" (#23). When it was released in the UK in 1967, the collection made it to #13.


1964 - ClassicBands.com

September 16
The Rock And Roll show Shindig! debuts on ABC-TV with The Righteous Brothers, Sam Cooke, The Everly Brothers and Bobby Sherman as guest performers. The program was hosted by L.A. disc jockey Jimmy O'Neill and would run until January, 1966.

1965 - ClassicBands.com

September 16
NBC-TV begins broadcasting the musical-comedy series The Dean Martin Show. During the nine seasons it was on the air, the program would feature dozens of the most popular musical acts of the day and garnered nine Emmy Awards.

1966 - ClassicBands.com

September 16
Member of Parliament Tom Drilberg asks Britain's House of Commons to officially "deplore" the action of a magistrate who'd earlier called The Rolling Stones "complete morons... who wear filthy clothes."

1967 - ClassicBands.com

September 16
A British radio station mistakenly announces that Engelbert Humperdinck died in a car crash. In fact, he was alive and well and touring in support of his current UK #1 single, "The Last Waltz".

September 16
Jimi Hendrix's debut LP, "Are You Experienced?" enters the Billboard Hot 200 album chart, where it will stay for 106 weeks, including 77 weeks in the Top 40. In 2003, Rolling Stone magazine ranked it #15 on their 500 Greatest Albums of All Time and two years later it was selected for permanent preservation in the National Recording Registry at the Library of Congress in the United States.

1970 - ClassicBands.com

September 16
England's Rock and Roll magazine, Melody Maker named Led Zeppelin as England's "Best Group", replacing The Beatles, who had held that honor for eight years. Melody Maker stopped publication in December, 2000 after 73 years.

September 16
Jimi Hendrix makes his final public appearance, jamming with Eric Burdon And War at Ronnie Scott's club in London. He would die two days later.

1972 - ClassicBands.com

September 16
Three Dog Night reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for the third time with a song written in 1954 called "Black and White". In the UK however, the record failed to chart at all. The song was inspired by the United States Supreme Court decision of Brown v. Board of Education, which outlawed racial segregation of public schools.

September 16
Former Humble Pie guitarist Peter Frampton makes his solo debut in New York City, opening for The J. Geils Band.

1977 - ClassicBands.com

September 16
Marc Bolan of T. Rex was killed when a car driven by his girlfriend, Gloria Jones, left the road and hit a tree. An investigation would later blame the accident on mechanical failure. Bolan was just weeks away from his 30th birthday.


1978 - ClassicBands.com

September 16
Boston's second studio album, "Don't Look Back" hits the top of the Billboard 200 chart on the strength of the title track (#4) and "A Man I'll Never Be" (#31). The LP had sold over one million copies in the first ten days after its release and would be certified 7X platinum by the RIAA on April 11th, 1996.

1979 - ClassicBands.com

September 16
The first Rap record makes it onto vinyl when the Sugar Hill Gang's "Rapper's Delight" was recorded over the instrumental break from Chic's "Good Times". The single becomes a Disco smash, selling two million copies in the US. Rap has gone on to open up a whole new industry for people who can't sing, write music or play an instrument.

1988 - ClassicBands.com

September 16
Former Clash drummer Topper Headon was released from jail after serving ten months of a fifteen month sentence on a narcotics charge.

1989 - ClassicBands.com

September 16
Gloria Estefan topped the Billboard singles chart with "Don't Wanna Lose You", a #6 hit in the UK.

1993 - ClassicBands.com

September 16
24-year-old Janet Jackson appears topless on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine. With her arms are in the air, her breasts are covered by a pair of hands that belong to her husband, Rene Elizondo.

1998 - ClassicBands.com

September 16
A notebook belonging to former Beatles roadie Mal Evans containing the lyrics to "Hey Jude" sold for 111,500 Pounds at a Sotheby's auction. Other notable items purchased were a two-tone denim jacket belonging to John Lennon that went for 9,200 Pounds and the Union Jack dress worn by Spice Girl Ginger Spice, which sold for 41,320 Pounds.

2003 - ClassicBands.com

September 16
Sheb Wooley, most often remembered for his 1958 #1 hit, "The Purple People Eater", died of leukemia at the age of 82. As an actor, he appeared in more than 60 films, including High Noon and Giant. He also starred as Pete Nolan in the US television series Rawhide.


2006 - ClassicBands.com

September 16
65-year-old Bob Dylan held the #1 spot on the Billboard 200 with "Modern Times", making him the oldest living musician to ever top that chart.

2008 - ClassicBands.com

September 16
Motown Records producer Norman Whitfield died from complications of diabetes at the age of 65. Whitfield also co-wrote such Motown standards as "I Heard It Through the Grapevine", "War", "Just My Imagination", "Cloud Nine", "Papa Was A Rolling Stone" and "Ain't Too Proud to Beg".

2009 - ClassicBands.com

September 16
Mary Travers, the striking blonde in the Folk trio Peter, Paul And Mary, passed away after suffering from leukemia for several years. She was 72. Mary's lead vocal can be heard on the group's biggest hit, 1969's "Leaving On A Jet Plane".

2013 - ClassicBands.com

September 16
Former Village People vocalist Victor Willis won a legal battle that began in 2011 to reclaim the rights to more than 30 of the Disco group's hit songs. Willis, who portrayed a traffic cop in the band, left the group in 1979 and transferred his rights to 33 tracks, including "Y.M.C.A." and "In the Navy", to his publisher. After having a change of heart, he filed suit to win back ownership of the tunes.

2015 - ClassicBands.com

September 16
Sotheby's announced that they would be auctioning Janis Joplin's pearl-white 1965 Porsche 365c 1600 Cabriolet next December. Joplin drove the car, painted with a kaleidoscopic Flower Power mural, until her death in October, 1970.

2016 - ClassicBands.com

September 16
Jerry Corbetta, keyboard player and lead vocalist for Sugarloaf, passed away at the age of 68. He had earlier been diagnosed with Pick's disease, which slowly destroys the nerve cells in the brain similarly to Alzheimer's. The band is most often remembered for "Green-Eyed Lady", #3 in 1970 and 1975's #9 hit "Don't Call Us, We'll Call You".


2023 - ClassicBands.com

September 16
A representative from Cleveland's Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame announced that Rolling Stone co-founder Jann Wenner had been removed from his position on the Board of Directors of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation after he had made disparaging remarks about Black and female musicians.



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