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Classic Rock's Fascinating Facts Here is some obscure trivia about your favourite classic rock acts. New trivia is added weekly.

Creed Bratton, a cast member on the NBC comedy series The Office, is a former member of The Grass Roots who appeared on their first four albums and eight of their hit singles.

From 1968 to 1970, Jim Morrison lived at the humble Alta Cienega Motel in Los Angeles, in a room with no telephone.

'80s rocker Billy Squier allegedly had a rider in his contract that said if the venue he was performing at misspelled his name as "Squire" on the marquee, he was entitled to 100 percent of the door receipts.

Roland Kent LaVoie, who records as Lobo, nearly gave away his biggest hit. He offered a song called "I'd Love You To Want Me" to The Hollies, but they didn't like the line about "When you moved your mouth to speak, I felt the blood go to my feet" and wanted half of the writing credit to change it. When LaVoie opted to record the tune himself, it went to #1 on the Billboard Contemporary chart and sold over a million copies.

Jean Terrell, the singer who took Diana Ross' place in The Supremes in 1970, is the sister of the former WBA heavyweight boxing champion, Ernie Terrell, who lost twice to Muhammad Ali.

After leaving Danny And The Juniors in 1960, vocalist Dave White went on to write "You Don't Own Me" for Leslie Gore, as well as "1-2-3" and "Like A Baby" for Len Barry.

When it was first introduced in late 1958, "The Chipmunk Song" by David Seville and The Chipmunks received the lowest rating in the history of American Bandstand. Record buyers felt differently and by Christmas the song had risen to #1 on the Billboard Pop chart, where it stayed for four weeks.

In the 1940s, the Wurlitzer Jukebox company slogan was "The Magic That Changes Moods."

Brenda Lee's Christmas classic "Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree" was recorded in July, with an air conditioner chilling the studio and a Christmas tree set up to get the musicians in the holiday spirit.

"The First Noel" is a traditional English Christmas carol that is said to date back to the 18th century and was first published in a collection of songs called Some Ancient Christmas Carols in 1823.

Dean Martin's 1959 rendition of the holiday tune "Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow", was written in 1945 by Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne on what Cahn would later remember as "the hottest day of the year."

Songwriter Johnny Marks wrote many memorable Christmas songs, including "Holly Jolly Christmas", "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer", "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" and "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day". It's interesting to note that he was Jewish.

When asked if he thought Ringo was the best drummer in the world, John Lennon replied "Ringo's not even the best drummer in The Beatles."

When an interviewer asked Paul Simon "What's the smartest thing you ever heard anybody in Rock 'n' Roll say?", Simon answered "Be bop-a-lula, she's my baby."

The Four Seasons' hit, "December 1963 (Oh What A Night)", was originally written by Bob Gaudio as "December 5th, 1933". After some prodding by Frankie Valli, Gaudio reworked the lyrics and the melody into the song that topped both the US and UK charts in 1976.

During his Presidential campaign in 2000, George W. Bush was asked by Oprah Winfrey what his favorite song was. He replied "Wake Up Little Susie by Buddy Holly."

Angela Lansbury, famous for her starring role in the TV series Murder She Wrote, played Elvis' mother in the film Blue Hawaii. She was only 35 years old when the movie was filmed, just 10 years older than Elvis. In later years, Lansbury would say that she regards Blue Hawaii as the low point in her acting career.

Ian Thomas, who reached #34 in the US with "Painted Ladies" in 1973, is the brother of Dave Thomas, who played Doug McKenzie of The McKenzie Brothers as well as appearing in the TV show Grace Under Fire with Brett Butler.

Although most us remember The Temptations as being the R&B vocal group from Detroit who placed 38 songs on the Hot 100 between 1964 and 1991, there was actually another recording group who used that name first. They were a white doo-wop quartet from Flushing, New York, who reached #29 on the Billboard Top 40 with a song called "Barbara" in 1960.

Jim Sundquist and Phil Humphrey, who had a #5 Billboard hit in 1960 with a novelty tune called "Mule Skinner Blues", called themselves The Fendermen because they both played Fender guitars and connected them to the same amplifier.

The largest group to ever have a hit record on the Billboard Top 40 was The Mormon Tabernacle Choir. The 375 voice ensemble reached #13 with "Battle Hymn Of The Republic" in 1959.

Just before the release of what would become their US #1 hit, "Chapel Of Love", a New Orleans vocal group had their name changed to The Dixie Cups. They were originally called Little Miss and The Muffets.

The first song known to have used a multi-track recording technique was "How High the Moon" by Les Paul in 1951.

Lynyrd Skynyrd is most often associated with the song "Sweet Home Alabama", but the band was actually formed in Jacksonville, Florida.

Although Bobby "Boris" Pickett was imitating the voice of actor Boris Karloff when he recorded "Monster Mash", Karloff's daughter later told him that she didn't think he sounded like her father at all.

The musical Grease ran as a New York play for over three thousand performances and the film version was the number one box office draw of 1978.

The largest industry in Nashville is health care, which generates three times as much revenue as the number two industry, music.

Michael Jackson's "Thriller" holds the record as the best selling album world wide, with sales of over 100 million.

The original back album cover of Wings' "Red Rose Speedway" contained a Braille message to Stevie Wonder that said "We love you, baby."

When he was a boy living in Englewood, NJ in the early 1960s, Vincent Curatola, who went on to play Johnny "Sack" Sacramoni on the hit TV show The Sopranos, delivered newspapers. Some of his customers were Tony Bennett, Jerry Vale, Dizzy Gillespie, Leslie Gore, Sarah Vaughn and Tammy Tyrrel.

Led Zeppelin is the only band to have every one of their albums reach the Billboard Top Ten.

While over 500 million songs were legally downloaded in 2006, over 5 billion were downloaded illegally.

Early in his career, Bill Haley was billed as "the Ramblin' Yodeler."

Hall and Oates often receive requests to play "Baby Come Back" at their live shows. Embarrassed fans are then informed that the tune was recorded by the group Player, not by Hall and Oates.

The Four Seasons' 1966 smash, "I've Got You Under My Skin" was written by Cole Porter and was originally a hit for Ray Nobel in 1936.

Ronn Moss, the bassist for Player on their 1977 hit, "Baby Come Back", went on to play Ridge Forrester on the TV soap The Bold And The Beautiful.

U2's vocalist, Paul Hewson has been called "Bono" by his family and fellow band members since his adolescence. The nickname is short for "Bono Vox", an alteration of Bonavox, a Latin phrase which translates to "good voice."

Before joining KISS in 1982, Vinnie Vincent was a staff songwriter for the TV programs Happy Days and Joanie Loves Chachi.

When the TV show Cops went on the air in 1989, they used the now familiar "Bad Boys" by the Jamaican reggae group Inner Circle as the theme song. The Big Beat label didn't issue the song as a single until 1993, but when they did, it sold over seven million copies and rose to #8 on the Billboard chart.

Before reaching #20 on the Billboard chart with "I Wanna Testify" in 1967, the Parliaments vocalist George Clinton was a foreman in a Hula Hoop factory.

Although "Stairway To Heaven" is now one of Led Zeppelin's most popular songs, the first time they played it 'live', the audience booed. They came to hear "Whole Lotta Love".

In 2008, more than 10 million vinyl records were sold.

The birth of guitar fuzz distortion is believed to have come about by accident when Marty Robbins recorded "Don't Worry". Session man Grady Martin's guitar was plugged into a faulty amplifier, which created the strange effect. The crew liked it so much, they used it in the final mix. Their instincts proved correct as the song reached #3 on the Billboard Pop chart and #1 on the Country chart.

Steven Tyler of Aerosmith will not allow anyone to refer to him as Steve.

One of Elvis Presley's first jobs was at a factory assembly line for the Precision Tool Company in Memphis, where he operated a drill press. His weekly take home pay was $27.00 for working from 7:00am to 3:30pm, five days a week.

The real name of the theme song from the TV show Jeopardy is "Think Music", written by the show's creator, Merv Griffin, who has collected millions of dollars in royalties from the tune since the show went on the air in 1964.

Songwriter Randy Newman has had only one Billboard Top 40 hit, "Short People", which reached #2 in 1978. It's a song which pokes fun at prejudice, but it brought Newman so much unwanted attention from folks who thought he really didn't like short people, that he has repeatedly refused to include it in any Greatest Hits package.

Herb Alpert's first US chart hit, "Lonely Bull" was inspired by a bull fight he attended in Tijuana, Mexico.

Songwriter Shel Silverstein wrote Johnny Cash's hit "A Boy Named Sue" after attending a judicial conference in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, at which a male prosecutor named Sue Kerr Hicks was a speaker. Hicks was involved in the 1925 trial of John T. Scopes, a Dayton, Tennessee teacher accused of teaching the Theory of Evolution, in violation of Tennessee state law. Hicks' father named him after his deceased mother, who had died from complications with Hicks' birth.

In 1964, Ed Cobb of The Four Preps wrote a song called "Tainted Love" as a ballad for a singer named Gloria Jones. Eighteen years later, the Techno-pop duo, Soft Cell, took a synthesized version of it to #8 on the Hot 100.

Although some Eagles fans insist that the band's name is simply Eagles, guitarist Don Felder told TV's Night Talk in 2009, the band's name is The Eagles.

Vocalist Peter Kraemer of Sopwith Camel had actually suggested the name "Sopwith Camel" for another newly formed group, but they passed on it and decided on Big Brother and The Holding Company.

Roy Orbison's million selling, #2 hit, "Only The Lonely" was rejected by both Elvis Presley and The Everly Brothers.

During the recording of The Isley Brothers' 1959 hit, "Shout", they were accompanied by the organist from their church, Professor Herman Stephens.

When The Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia heard the finished tape of The Jefferson Airplane's newest album, he remarked "Sounds like a surrealistic pillow," and the album's name was born.

Rick James, who scored a hit with "Super Freak" in 1981, is the nephew of Temptations vocalist Melvin Franklin.

On July 18, 1953, Elvis Presley went to the Memphis Recording Service at the Sun Record Company and paid $3.98 to record the first of two double-sided demo acetates, "My Happiness" and "That's When Your Heartaches Begin". Presley then gave the disc to his mother as a belated birthday present, even though the Presleys did not own a record player at the time.

After they split, Michael Jackson agreed to pay his ex-wife Debra Rowe $900,000 a year, according to court documents. In the divorce settlement, Debbie was also awarded a Beverly Hills mansion and a $4 million one time payment.

According to The Surfaris' rhythm guitarist Bob Berryhill, the cracking noise at the start of "Wipeout" is supposed to represent a breaking surf board. The sound was produced by splitting a piece of plywood near a microphone and the laughing voice that went along with it was provided by their manager, Dick Smallen.

On the January 4th, 1962 issue of Mersey Beat magazine, which shows The Beatles as Liverpool's top band, Paul McCartney's last name is mis-spelled "McArtrey". The group's names were provided to the publication by John Lennon, who either didn't know how to spell Paul's name or was playing a trick on him.

The Doors' "Light My Fire" topped the Billboard chart for three weeks in the summer of 1967, but Jim Morrison often indicated that he never liked the song and resented having to sing it. Ironically, it was the last song he ever did with the band during their final public performance at The Warehouse in New Orleans, Louisiana, on December 12, 1970.

Ray Charles was not born blind. He began to have vision problems at the age of five and his site was gradually erroded by glaucoma until he lost it completly.

Bill Black and Scotty Moore quit as Elvis Presley's back-up band in September, 1957 because they were so poorly paid. The pair made under $8,200 in 1956, while Elvis pocketed over $1 million. In 1968, Elvis called Scotty and asked him to play on his upcoming TV "Comeback Special". Scotty agreed without an understanding of the wages he would receive. When he was paid for the show, the amount didn't even cover his travel and lodging expenses.

Steve Van Zandt, who played guitar for Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band from 1975 until 1984, landed a role as Silvio Dante in the hit HBO series The Sopranos in 1999. The slicked back hair style that he wore for the show was actually a wig. Steve's bride Maureen Van Zandt played his on-screen wife during season five of the show.

Pete Townshend accidentally broke the neck of his guitar at a low-ceilinged venue and the audience enjoyed it so much it became a regular part of the act.

The backup vocal group on Paul Simon’s "Slip Slidin’ Away" was The Oak Ridge Boys.

During his "Wall of Sound" days, Phil Spector's practice was to put an instrumental on the B side of a 45 to keep disc jockeys from flipping the record over and taking attention from the A side.

The inspiration for the line "I read the news today, oh boy, four thousand holes in Blackburn Lancashire" in The Beatles' song "A Day In The Life" came to John Lennon after he read a newspaper article about a plan to fill 4,000 potholes in the roads of the Northwestern English town of Blackburn.

According to Bill Harry, founder of the UK music magazine Mersey Beat and personal friend of The Beatles, the rumor that the group took their name from a line in the movie The Wild Ones, is totally false, as the movie was not released in England until 1968. Nor did it have anything to do with "Beat" music, a term that didn't come out until after the band was established. He says it was Stu Sutcliffe who suggested "Let's have a name like The Crickets."

Chuck Berry originally wanted to be a professional photographer and started singing and playing in a band to buy cameras and photography equipment.

The most successful American Idol is Kelly Clarkson, who has placed ten songs on the Billboard charts. One of the least successful is John Peter Lewis, who finished eighth in season three. His 2006 album sold about 1,000 copies.

Santana's 1970, Billboard #4 hit, "Black Magic Woman" was written by Peter Green and first appeared as a Fleetwood Mac single that rose to #37 in the UK in 1969.

The record for the longest time between number one albums belongs to Johnny Cash. He had the top LP on Billboard's Hot 200 chart with "At San Quentin" in 1969. In 2006, he repeated this feat with "American V: A Hundred Highways", a span of 37 years.

Clay tablets relating to music, containing the cuneiform signs of the "Hurrian" language, were excavated in the early 1950s at the Syrian city of ancient Ugarit in what is now modern Ras Shamra. One text contained a complete hymn, both words and music and is the oldest known preserved music notation in the world.

The Chordettes, who placed 9 songs on the Billboard Top 40 between 1954 and 1961, including "Mr. Sandman", "Born To Be With Him" and "Lollipop", were the first act to perform 'live' on American Bandstand.

To the surprise of many, the novelty tune "Witch Doctor" by David Seville topped the Billboard R&B chart for one week in May, 1958.

Jimi Hendrix first UK gig took place in a pub in Newcastle and lasted about three minutes. He played so loud that he blew every fuse in the building and the show came to an end.

In the 1930s, Jazz musicians started calling gigs "apples" and New York city became "The Big Apple."

Despite having 17 number one singles in Britain, Elvis Presley never toured there. His manager, Col. Tom Parker was not a US citizen and had no assurance that he'd be allowed back in the country if he left.

Producer Phil Spector played guitar on The Rolling Stones' "Play With Fire".

In Bill Withers' 1971 Billboard #3 hit "Ain't No Sunshine", he repeats the words "I know, I know, I know..." twenty-six times. This rather annoying repetition was originally meant as a place holder until Withers could think up some better lyrics that he never did come up with.

The epitaph on Sonny Bono's headstone reads: "And The Beat Goes On".

The shortest record to reach the Billboard Top 40 was "Some Kind-A Earthquake" by Duane Eddy. This seldom heard instrumental, which is only one minute, seventeen seconds long, reached #37 in 1959.

After Jan Berry of Jan and Dean was seriously injured in a car accident on April 12, 1966 and could no longer perform, his partner Dean Torrence formed a graphics design company that was responsible for over 200 album covers including "The Turtles Golden Hits", nine for The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and several for Harry Nilsson. He won a Grammy Award for Best Album Cover of the Year in 1972 for the LP "Pollution" by the group of the same name and was nominated on three other occasions.

In November, 2008, Fort Lupton Municipal Judge Paul Sacco sentenced a group of teens convicted of playing music too loud to an hour of listening to Barry Manilow music. The judge explained "When you have a person playing Rap at extreme volumes all over the city, and they have to sit down and listen for an hour to Barry Manilow, it's horrible punishment."

The Raspberries 1972 debut album sported a raspberry scented 'scratch and sniff' sticker.

The Dr. Hook hit, "The Cover of Rolling Stone" was written by Shel Silverstein, a best-selling author of children's poems who was also a contributor to Playboy. When the group appeared on the magazine cover, it was in caricature, not an actual photograph.

David Gates of Bread wrote the Billboard #5 hit, "Everything I Own" in honor of his father, with the words 'You sheltered me from harm, kept me warm, gave my life to me, set me free.'

B.B. King named his guitar Lucille after nearly losing it in a fire started by two men fighting over a woman with that name.

Misheard lyrics, such as "There's a bathroom on the right" instead of the correct "There's a bad moon on the rise" - is called a mondegreen.

The Eagles first learned the J.D. Souther written "How Long" in 1974, and although it was frequently included in their live shows, they refrained from recording it so Souther could use it on his own solo album. It finally appeared on their 2007 album, "Long Road Out Of Eden" and was released as a single in January, 2008. A month later, the song brought the band their fifth Grammy Award for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal.

Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama" was written as an answer to two Neil Young songs, "Southern Man" and "Alabama", which dealt with themes of racism and slavery in the American South. Young was born in Toronto, Canada and Skynyrd's members were from Florida.

Dave Clark turned down his initial appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show because he'd never heard of it. It was only after the band got to America and performed on the program, did he learn how big the Sullivan show was in the US.

A luthier is a craftsman who makes or repairs stringed instruments, such as guitars or violins.

Although they are mostly remembered for accompanying Elvis Presley on over 360 songs, The Jordanaires also sang back-up on 30,000 other recordings.

The English rock band Duran Duran had three members whose last name is Taylor, but none of them are related.

The album simply titled "The Beatles", which most fans call The White Album, was originally slated to be named "A Doll's House". That title was scrapped after the British progressive band Family released an album earlier in 1968, bearing a similar title.

Pat Benatar, who placed 15 songs in the Billboard Top 40, including "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" (#9 in 1980) and "We Belong" (#5 in 1984) trained at Julliard as an opera singer.

The words to "Amazing Grace" were written in 1772 by Englishman, John Newton, a former slave trader turned abolitionist. The original poem was later added to a variant of the tune "New Britain", penned in 1844, to form the song we know today. Judy Collins version rose to #15 on the Billboard chart in 1971.

When they were both youngsters, future Eagles member Don Felder gave guitar lessons to Tom Petty.

The first few copies of "Hey Paula" were credited to "Jill and Ray", since the singer's real names were Jill Jackson and Ray Hildebrand. For continuity sake, the duo were quickly re-named Paul and Paula.

Although ABBA placed 16 songs on Billboard's Hot 100 chart, they did not speak English, and therefore pronounced their lyrics phonetically.

The first week of February could well be called "The week the music died" as all of these artists passed away.
1959 - Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper were killed in a plane crash.
1960 - 20 year old Jesse Belvin, who scored a hit with "Goodnight, My Love", died in an auto accident.
1967 - Joe Meek, producer of the Tornadoes hit, "Telstar" committed suicide.
1976 - Rudy Pompilli, sax player for Bill Haley's Comets, passed away.
1981 - Rock and Roll pioneer Bill Haley died of a heart attack at the age of 55.
1981 - Hugo Montenegro, who is best remembered for "The Good, The Bad & The Ugly", died of emphysema.
1983 - Karen Carpenter died of heart irregularities caused by anorexia nervosa.
1990 - Del Shannon died of a self-inflicted gun shot wound. (Feb 8)
1998 - 51 year old Carl Wilson, lead guitarist of The Beach Boys, died of lung cancer.
1998 - Falco, who had a hit with "Rock Me Amadeus," was killed in a traffic accident.

The real life "Peggy Sue" that Buddy Holly sang about was Peggy Sue Gerron, the girlfriend of his drummer, Jerry Allison. The song was initially titled "Cindy Lou", but Allison convinced Buddy to change the title just before the recording session. Allison and Gerron were later married.

Steely Dan founders Donald Fagen and Walter Becker first got together in a band known as The Bad Rock Group and later as The Leather Canary. Future comedy star Chevy Chase was their drummer.

Although today's Billboard magazine is devoted to the music industry and maintains several internationally recognized music charts, when it was founded in Cincinnati in 1894, it was a trade paper for the bill posting industry.

"The Twist" was written by Hank Ballard, who originally recorded it in 1959 with his group The Midnighters. He got the idea for the song by watching his band move around on stage. He said they looked like they were "trying to put a cigarette out."

Johnny Rivers' 1964 'live' album "Johnny Rivers At The Whisky A Go Go" was rejected by nearly every major US label. After Imperial Records took a chance on it, the L.P. sold well over a million copies, reaching #12 on the Billboard chart. The single taken from it, "Memphis" would reach #2.

When George Harrison visited his sister Louise in Benton, Illinois in September, 1963, he brought home two significant items: a Rickenbacker 425 guitar and a copy of James Ray's "Got My Mind Set On You". George's re-worked version of that 1961 recording would become his third and final Billboard chart topper as well as reaching number two in the UK in 1988.

Bertie Higgins, who took the romantic ballad "Key Largo" into the Billboard Top Ten in 1982, was once the drummer for Tommy Roe's backing band.

The night before their recording session, The Kingsmen played a 90-minute version of "Louie Louie" during a gig at a local teen club. Once they got into the studio, the song was recorded in one take.

Courtney Love of the band Hole gained the distinction of being the first AOL subscriber to have her e-mail account shut down, mainly for the death threats she posted against people she thought deserved them.

Eagles' bassist Timothy B. Schmit sang backing vocals on Firefall's 1977 hit, "Just Remember I Love You".

Anne Murray's 1969 hit "Snowbird" was released as the "B" side of a 45 RPM single, with a song called "Bidin' My Time" as the "A" side. A radio station in the Eastern United States flipped it over and "Snowbird" caught on. Record sales soon topped one million copies, marking the first time in history that an American gold record was awarded to a solo Canadian female.

Although singer / songwriter Harry Nilsson placed eight songs on Billboard's Top 40 chart, including the Grammy Award winning, million seller "Everybody's Talkin'", he disliked performing in public so much that he seldom appeared in concert and rarely made televised appearances.

While Elvis only recorded twenty Christmas songs, his holiday albums have sold more than twenty-five million copies in the US alone.

Scotland's hard-rock group Nazareth recorded a tune called "Love Hurts" as a B-side filler, never intending it to be a hit. Record buyers felt differently and the single rose to number 8 in the US and number 15 in the UK. One count revealed that over 42 different artists have recorded the song, including The Everly Brothers and Roy Orbison.

Bobby Helms' "Jingle Bell Rock" entered the Billboard Pop chart only two days before Christmas in 1957, but still managed to climb to number 6 during a six week stay.

Elvis Presley's 1957 LP "Elvis' Christmas Album" is the top selling holiday release of all time, racking up over nine million in sales.

The chords and structure of Tommy James' 1967 Billboard #10 single, "Mirage", were actually the chords to his previous hit, "I Think We're Alone Now" in reverse, created when it was accidentally played backwards during a writing session.

Bruce Hornsby's demo tapes were rejected by over 70 record companies. A year after RCA signed him in 1985, his tune "The Way It Is" topped the Billboard chart, followed by five more Top 40 hits, including "Mandolin Rain" (#4) and "The Valley Road" (# 5).

For many years it was thought that the very first song ever recorded was "Mary Had A Little Lamb", as spoken by Thomas Edison while testing an early phonograph in 1877. In March, 2008, the Association for Recorded Sound Collections announced the discovery of a recording of "Au Clair de la Lune", found by audio historians in the archives of the French Academy of Sciences in Paris . The recording was made by Parisian inventor Edouard-Leon Scott de Martinville and recorded on a "phonautograph", a device that engraved sound waves onto a sheet of paper blackened by the smoke of an oil lamp. The recording took place on April 9th, 1860...17 years before Thomas Edison invented his phonograph.

The Four Seasons' Frankie Valli was arrested by Columbus, Ohio Police in September 1965, after his manager forgot to pay his hotel bill.

Although he sang the lead vocal for "Sugar Sugar", a song that sold over 13 million copies and was named Billboard magazine's Record of The Year, Ron Dante did not earn any royalties for the hit. Just happy to be recording at all in 1969, he did the session for the musicians' union scale wage.

In November, 2007, Neil Diamond finally revealed a secret that he had held onto for decades. The inspiration for his 1969 hit "Sweet Caroline" was President Kennedy's daughter.

They say you don't have to be a rocket scientist to write a hit song, but Michael Kennedy was working for the McDonnell Douglas Astronautics Company when he co-wrote The DeFranco Family's "Heartbeat - It's A Love Beat". He later gave up music and went on to work on the International Space Station.

Jay And The Americans first learned the song "Cara Mia" in 1962 because it contained the only four chords they knew. When they finally recorded it in 1965, the tune rose to #4 on the Billboard chart.

After seeing Marvin Gaye's large collection of pornography, writer David Ritz suggested that Gaye needed some "sexual healing". The two later collaborated on some lyrics which went into the hit song, but Ritz was not given any writing credit. After Gaye died, Ritz successfully sued.

The Allman Brothers' only Billboard Top 10 hit, "Ramblin' Man" was the last song recorded by bassist Berry Oakley before his death in 1972.

The soundtrack for the movie Saturday Night Fever was composed and performed primarily by The Bee Gees and has gone platinum fifteen times over. Despite this success, The Bee Gees' Robin Gibb says he has never seen the film all the way through.

Although Elvis Presley memorabilia sold more than 30 million dollars worth in 1965, Elvis only pocketed $60,000 in royalties.

When "Monster Mash" first started to get air-play in 1962, Bobby "Boris" Pickett was working part time as a cab driver. The song has since become an annual favorite, reaching the Billboard Top 10 in '62 and '73, earning three gold records and selling an estimated four million copies. Bobby has said that royalties from the record have "paid the rent for 43 years". Not bad for a song that took a half hour to write and another half hour to record and was intended to be a bit of fun to be shared only among family and friends.

The Who's album "Tommy" spent over two years on the US chart, but in their home country, the UK, it lasted only nine weeks.

Peter Cetera wrote "If You Leave Me Now" about a faltering relationship. Although the song proved to be Chicago's biggest selling record, it didn't help save the union, as the woman involved ended up leaving anyway.

CCR's John Fogerty had a notebook in which he jotted down words and names that he thought would make good song titles. At the top of his list was "Proud Mary", a phrase that brought images of a domestic washerwoman to John's mind. When he got around to putting it to music, the first few chords he used reminded him of a paddle-wheel going around. Instead of Proud Mary being a clean-up lady, she became a boat.

Lesley Gore's first album was called "I'll Cry If I Want To" which consisted of songs completely devoted to crying.

"Mack The Knife" was written for the 1928 German play The Threepenny Opera, in which "Mack" is Mackie Messer (Macheath), an amoral, anti-heroic criminal. Although it suffered an initially poor reception, the show went on to run 400 times in the next two years. It was translated into English in 1933 and since that time, at least seven productions have been mounted in New York, on and off Broadway.

It has often been rumored that Billy Joel played piano on The Shangri-Las' "Leader of the Pack", but this has been denied by one of the song's co-writers, Ellie Greenwich.

The original version of "Louie Louie" by The Kingsmen cost just $36 to record, but sold over 12 million copies.

In the 1950s, Paul McCartney's father lead a combo called Jim Mac's Jazz Band, where he played piano and trumpet. When he was a boy, Paul said that someday he hoped to be as good as his dad.

Set to Ronald White's tune, Smokey Robinson was inspired by his wife Claudette to write the lyrics to one of music history's greatest love songs, "My Girl". Smokey's personal problems lead to their divorce in 1986.

From clay tablets and other forms of pictures, historians have determined that stringed musical instruments were developed in ancient Egypt and Rome over 3,300 years ago. The first six string guitar, called a vihuela, was developed in Spain in the 17th century.

In February 1949, after RCA Victor introduced the first 45 rpm phonograph, they put together a promo package of seven 45s that were sent to US disc jockeys and retailers. The records were color coded for classification of music. Popular - Black; Classical - Red; Popular Classical - Midnight blue; Children's - Yellow; Country and Western - Green; Rhythm And Blues - Cerise; International - Sky blue.

John Fogarty's comeback album, 1985's "Centerfield", included a couple of songs titled "Zantz Can't Dance" and "Mr. Greed", which were believed to be attacks on Fogerty's former boss at Fantasy Records, Saul Zaentz. Zaentz responded with a lawsuit, which forced Fogerty to issue a revised version of "Zaentz Can't Dance", changing the lead character's name to Vanz.

The Knack's lead vocalist, Doug Fieger, is the older brother of famed attorney Jeffrey Fieger, who defended doctor-assisted suicide advocate, Dr. Jack Kervorkian.

Three Dog Night's 1972, #1 hit "Black And White" was written in the mid-1950s about the 1954 US Supreme Court's landmark decision banning segregation in public schools. Some of the verses were changed in the Three Dog Night version. The original second verse went "Their robes were black, Their heads were white, The schoolhouse doors were closed so tight. Nine judges all set down their names, To end the years and years of shame".

Diane Renay, who was born Renne Diane Kushner, initially wanted to be billed as Renay Diane. She chose the "Renay" spelling to keep it from being mis-pronounced as "Ree-nee". Unfortunately, Atco Records misunderstood and printed early copies of her first recordings that said "Diane Renay". Rather than make an issue out of it, she decided to leave it that way. The record, "Navy Blue", went on to reach #6 in the US in 1964.

Joey Scarbury, who reached #2 on the Billboard chart with "Believe It Or Not" in 1981, was discovered by singer-songwriter Jimmy Webb's father, who wandered into a furniture store and heard the 14 year old's mom praising her son's singing ability. His initial recordings were not successful and it took another 12 years for Joey to have his big hit. Although he never cracked the Top 40 again, he did record the soundtracks for ER, The 40 Year Old Virgin and Fahrenheit 9/11.

By 1968, around eighty-five different manufacturers had sold over 2.4 million cassette players world wide and in that year alone, the cassette business was worth about $150 million.

In August, 2008, ABBA's "Gold" compilation rose to #1 on the UK album chart for the fifth time since being released in 1992, making it the oldest ever UK #1 album to return to the top of the chart, 16 years after release.

"For What It's Worth" by Buffalo Springfield got its title when Stephen Stills first played the song for the group, saying "Here's a new song I wrote, for what it's worth." When he finished playing, he was asked what the title was. Stills said he didn't have one. Someone then replied, "Sure you do. You just said it."

David Rose, who had a Billboard #1 hit in 1962 with an instrumental called "The Stripper", also wrote the theme for the TV show Little House On The Prairie.

In January, 2005, on what would have been Elvis Presley's 70th birthday, "Jailhouse Rock" was re-released in the UK where it went straight to #1. At over 47 years after its original release, it became the oldest recording ever to top the UK charts.

The lightest Elvis ever weighed as a six foot tall adult was 170 lbs in 1960 following his discharge from the U.S. Army. The heaviest was at the time of his death, which was 260 lbs.

Helen Reddy's husband, Jeff Wald, was also her manager. He was also the manager for Sylvester Stallone, George Foreman, James Brolin, George Carlin, Elliot Gould, Deep Purple, Donna Summer, Flip Wilson, Marvin Gaye, Chicago and Crosby, Stills & Nash, to name only a few.

In 1959, Philadelpia's Overbrook Highschool boys basketball team won their league championship. Members of the team included future NBA stars, Walt Hazzard and Wally Jones, along with Len Borisoff, who would later change his name to Len Barry and become a member of The Dovells, who had a hit with "The Bristol Stomp" as well as having a solo hit with "1-2-3".

Chip Taylor is the stage name of American songwriter James Wesley Voight, brother of actor Jon Voight and uncle of actress Angelina Jolie. Besides writing The Troggs' hit "Wild Thing", he also penned "Angel of the Morning", by both Merrilee Rush and Juice Newton as well as "I Can Make It With You" by The Pozo Seco Singers and many other hit records.

When a poem called "Too Many Teardrops" was put to music, it was re-titled "69 Tears". Knowing that a song with such a name would never get any radio air play, it was re-named "96 Tears" and by October, 1966 became a number one hit for Question Mark and The Mysterians.

Vee Jay Records was the most successful Black owned and operated record company before Motown. The firm was founded in 1953 by Vivian Carter (the "Vee") and her husband, James Bracken (the "Jay").

Brian Jones, the original lead guitarist of The Rolling Stones, is said to have fathered six illegitimate children before his untimely death on July 3rd, 1969.

Although Ernie K-Doe had a US number one smash with "Mother-in-law" in 1961, he failed to match that song's success with any other release. His career came to a halt in the 70s and 80s and he often wandered the streets singing for spare change. In the mid-90s he turned his fortunes around and opened a successful night club.

The husband and wife song-writing team of Felice and Boudleaux Byant have said that they wrote the Everly Brothers' 1958 number one hit "All I Have To Do Is Dream" in about 15 minutes.

According to legend, to add the authentic sound of a motorcycle engine to The Shangri-Las' "Leader Of The Pack", one was driven through the lobby of the hotel and up to the floor of the recording studio. However, in an interview four decades later, Shangri-Las lead singer Mary Weiss scoffed at this story and said that the motorcycle sound was simply taken from an effects record.

Bruce Springsteen was once the opening act for Canadian singer, Anne Murray, of "Snowbird" fame.

The Lovin' Spoonful's John Sebastian played harmonica on The Doors' recording of "Road House Blues". He is credited on the album as G. Puglese.

Although AM radio broadcasts were tested in 1906 and used for voice and music broadcasts up until WW1, it wasn't until 1916, when 8XK in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania began regularly scheduled broadcasts.

The first 'live' television satellite program to air worldwide was a two-hour show called Our World, in which The Beatles performed "All You Need is Love" on June 25, 1967.

The Lovin' Spoonful's "Daydream" was included in John Lennon's personal jukebox along with "Do You Believe In Magic?". Paul McCartney later said that "Daydream" was a major influence on his composition "Good Day Sunshine".

Sam and Dave were a Soul singing duo who scored a half dozen hits on the US pop and R&B charts in the mid 1960s, including "Hold On, I'm Comin'". The two didn't get along very well and seldom spoke to each other off stage. Sam Moore said he lost all respect for his partner Dave Prater after Prater shot his own wife during a 1968 domsestic dispute, an incident for which he was never prosecuted.

There have been over 30 different members of The Drifters and two entirley seperate sets of singers known by that name. The first group of Drifters had a couple of hits on the R&B chart in the mid-fifties, but after Clyde McPhatter left in 1956, the remaining members had a falling out with their manager and were all fired. A new version of the Drifters featured Ben E. King on "There Goes My Baby", "This Magic Moment" and "Save The Last Dance For Me" before he quit. Rudy Lewis replaced King as lead vocalist for "Some Kind Of Wonderful", "Up On The Roof" and "On Broadway", but he suffered a fatal heart attack in 1964. Johnny Moore, from the original set of Drifters then re-joined to sing "Under The Boardwalk", as well as a series of moderate British hits.

Even though the members of the three piece band called America are all from the US, they actually met and formed the group while they were living in the UK.

Diana Ross has recorded 18 US number one songs, but has never won a Grammy Award.

Lesley Gore was given the first chance to record "A Groovy Kind of Love", but her then-producer Shelby Singleton did not want her to record a song with the word "groovy" in it. The Mindbenders seized the opportunity and took the song to #2 on the Billboard charts.

Gladys Knight's "Pips" were named after her manager / cousin James "Pip" Patten. Later on, Gladys said it stood for "Perfection In Performance."

Several meanings for The Rolling Stones' hit "Brown Sugar" have been suggested over the years, including Mick Jagger's alleged affair with a black woman, African slaves being raped by their white masters and the perils of being addicted to Brown Heroin. It has even been rumored that Jagger wrote the song as "Black Pussy" before commercializing it to "Brown Sugar".

With less than ten minutes of studio time left, The Marcels recorded a doo-wop version of a song called "Blue Moon", written in 1934 by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart. The result was a US number one hit in April, 1961.

The yardstick for every aspiring young drummer in the sixties was an instrumental called "Wipe Out" by The Surfaris. The record has sold millions and has become a classic rock standard, yet was put together as a b-side filler in about 15 minutes and recorded in just two takes.

Elvis Presley's former home, Graceland is the second most-visited house in America after the White House.

The original title of KISS' 1976 hit "Beth" was "Beck", a nickname given to songwriter Stan Penridge's girlfriend Becky. Penridge was the guitar player in a band that Peter Criss was in before he joined KISS. Additional lyrics were added by Criss and producer Bob Ezrin and resulted in a #7 Billboard hit.

William Ashton, who used the stage name Billy J. Kramer and scored hits with "Bad To Me" and "Little Children" during the British Invasion, took the last part of his name at random from a telephone directory. At the suggestion of John Lennon, Billy added a middle initial to give his name more appeal and used "J" in memory of John's mother, Julia and for his newly born son, Julian.

When The Guess Who performed at the White House in 1970, First Lady Pat Nixon, undoubtedly breifed as to the scathing anti-US sentiment of the band's hit "American Woman", asked that the band delete the song from their show.

Franki Valli's 1975 number one hit "My Eyes Adored You" was originally titled "Blue Eyes In Georgia", but was altered by Valli when he recorded it.

After "Good Lovin'" became Billboard's number one song in April, 1966, organist Felix Cavaliere admitted, "We weren't too pleased with our performance. It was a shock to us when it went to the top of the charts."

On the Mamas and Papas 1966 album "If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears", the group's name was spelled with an apostrophe before the "s" - The Mama's and Papa's. Subsequent albums opted for grammatical correctness and the apostrophes were dropped.

According to songwriter Burt Bacharach, his first choice of artist to record "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head" was Ray Stevens. Fortunately for BJ Thomas, Stevens didn't like the song and passed on the opportunity.

Chad Stuart and Jeremy Clyde were a popular English duo during the British Invasion and scored two US Top Ten hits in 1964 with "Yesterday's Gone" and "A Summer Song". After the pair had gone their seperate ways, Stuart served as the musical director for the US television show The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.

The Beach Boys concert contract states that any sell-outs must be reported to all industry related newspapers and magazines.

The break up of Simon and Garfunkle came about when Art refused to record Paul's song "Cuba Si, Nixon No" for their 1969 "Bridge Over Troubled Water" LP.

"Bye Bye Love" was turned down by Elvis Presley and thirty other artists before The Everly Brothers recorded it. Their version rose to #2 in the US and stayed on the charts for 22 weeks.

The Flamingos 1959 smash, "I Only Have Eyes For You" was first performed by actor Dick Powell in the 1934 movie, Dames.

Gramophone was a U.S. brand name that referred to a specific brand of sound reproducing machine in the late 1800s. The name fell out of use around 1901, though it has survived in its nickname form, Grammy, as the title of the Grammy Awards. The Grammy trophy itself is a small rendering of a gramophone.

The inclusion of "Louie Louie" in the John Belushi movie National Lampoon's Animal House, is in fact, historically incorrect. The film is set in 1962, one year prior to the Kingsmen's release.

When Little Richard (Penniman) was a teenager, he ran away from home and joined a medicine show. By the time he was 15, he was adopted by Ann and Johnny Johnson, a white family from Macon, Georgia.

On the recording session for Bob Dylan's "Like A Rolling Stone", future Blood, Sweat and Tears founder Al Kooper played organ and The Electric Flag's Mike Bloomfield played guitar.

The song title of the Beatles' "Penny Lane" is derived from the name of a street in the Beatle's hometown of Liverpool. Locally the term "Penny Lane" was the name given to Allerton Road and Smithdown Road and its busy shopping area and is named after James Penny, an 18th century slave trader.

After recording her first record, Oasis records made a spelling mistake on the label and Donna Sommer became Donna Summer for the rest of her career.

Songwriter Jimmy Webb got the inspiration to write The Fifth Dimension's hit "Up, Up and Away" from a hot air balloon that a friend flew on promotions for radio station KMEN.

The Dovells, who scored a number two hit in the U.S. in 1961 with "Bristol Stomp", also appeared as Chubby Checker's backing band on "Let's Twist Again" and accompanied Jean Hillery on the 1968 novelty tune, "Here Comes The Judge".

The Sir Douglas Quintet were playing in a club one night and noticed a couple dancing. Lead singer Doug Sahm said "She's a body mover!", which gave him an idea for a song. Back in those days you couldn't say "body mover" on a record, so he changed the lyrics to "She's About A Mover" and achieved a US Top 20 hit.

The blistering guitar lead in George Harrison's song, "Taxman" is the exact same guitar part heard at the ending fade of the song. It was copied and re-recorded onto the end.

The song "Summertime Blues" was a US Top 40 hit in three different decades - in the fifties by Eddie Cochran (#8), the sixties by Blue Cheer (#14) and the seventies by The Who (#27).

The Mothers Of Invention are believed to have released the first double album with "Freak Out!" in early 1967.

In 1962, Gene Pitney recorded "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" for the movie of the same name, starring John Wayne and Jimmy Stewart. Although the song reached #4 on the Billboard singles chart, it was never included in the film.

When the Beatles made their first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show on February 9th, 1964, producers received over 50,000 applications for the 728 seats in the TV studio.

Alan Gordon, the co-writer of The Turtles' hit "Happy Together" said that he wrote the melody to the song based on an open string pattern used by a bandmate to tune his guitar.

Jerry Lee Lewis' parents mortgaged their house in order to buy him a piano.

Johnny Preston's 1960 number one hit, "Running Bear" was written by J.P. Richardson, The Big Bopper.

The double entendre title of the Bellamy Brother's hit "If I Said You Had a Beautiful Body Would You Hold It Against Me" was derived from a quote by Groucho Marx.

With some left over studio time on their hands, a group of musicians recorded an instrumental intended to be a throw-a-way album track. The song ended up on the flip side of a single release called "Train To Nowhere", which was virtually ignored by US radio stations. Finally, someone flipped the disc over and discovered "Tequila", which went to number one on both the Pop and R&B charts for The Champs.

Kenny Loggins joined The Electric Prunes during their final tour in 1969, two years after the band had scored a hit with "I Had Too Much Too Dream". When the tour was over, the band split up for good and Loggins went on to team up with Jim Messina in 1971 and later had several solo hits.

The distinct horse logo that appeared on most of Poco's albums was designed by Saturday Night Live star, Phil Hartman.

John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote "I Want To Hold Your Hand" in the basement of Jane Asher's house. She was Paul's girlfriend, to whom he would later become engaged to, but never married.

One day while out riding with her dad, Stella McCartney stopped to stare at him. It had just come to her at that moment. She said, "You're Paul McCartney."

While the title of the song is often shown with a comma ("Louie, Louie"), writer Richard Berry told Esquire magazine in 1988 that the correct title of the song was "Louie Louie", with no comma.

When The Supremes' Mary Wilson was contacted for an interview by the television show Romance of The Rich and Famous, she moved some of her personal belongings into a freinds' mansion and let on it was hers, instead of revealing her true residence, a tiny, two bedroom bungalow in Studio City, California.

Little Richard's recording career had just gotten off the ground when his father was murdered in the winter of 1952. To support his family, Richard took a job washing dishes at a Greyhound bus station in Macon, Georgia.

Reginald Kenneth Dwight changed his stage name to Elton John, taking his first name from Bluesology saxophonist Elton Dean and his last from bluesman, Long John Baldry.

When Decca Records first released "Rock Around The Clock" by Bill Haley And His Comets in the Spring of 1954, most people had never heard of Rock And Roll and the company had a hard time describing the song. The label on the single called it a "Novelty Foxtrot."

On December 17th, 1977, David Ackroyd became the first record buyer to receive a Gold Disc when he purchased the one-millionth copy of "Mull Of Kintyre" by Wings.

In December of 1969, Mick Jagger was quoted saying "I don't really like singing very much, I enjoy playing the guitar more than I enjoy singing and I can't play the guitar either."

Ross Bagdasarian (Davis Seville) named The Chipmunks after executives at Liberty records. Alvin was named for Al Bennett, president of the company, Simon was named after Bennett's partner, Si Waronker and Theodore was named for Ted Keep, a recording engineer.

"Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" was written by Johnny Marks and recorded by Brenda Lee in 1958. Although Decca released it in both that year and again in 1959, it did not catch on until Lee rose to stardom in 1960. That Christmas season, it reached #16 on the Billboard Pop chart and has since become a perennial holiday favourite. The song continues to sell well during the holiday season and rose to #5 on the Christmas chart in 1984.

One of the strangest moments in Pop music history took place on September 11, 1977, when two stars from different generations, David Bowie and Bing Crosby, got together to tape "The Little Drummer Boy" and "Peace On Earth" for Bing's upcoming Christmas TV special. The pair rehearsed for an hour and finished their duet in only three takes, but Bing died a month later having never seen the video.

In October, 2000, George Michael paid over $2 million for the piano that John Lennon used to write "Imagine". It is a simple upright model and not the white piano that appeared on the album cover.

John Lennon often expressed his dislike for Winston Churchill, the former British Prime Minister that he was named after. He felt so strongly that he had his middle name changed from Winston to Ono after he married Yoko.

Andy White, who played drums on The Beatles' track "Love Me Do", which was included on the Beatles Greatest Hits album, did not earn any money in royalties from it. He only received his original session fee of £7 ($14 US), which is not even enough for him to buy his own copy of the album.

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