Rock 'n' Roll History for
October 13


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1957 - ClassicBands.com

October 13
The CBS television network broadcasts a one hour special called The Edsel Show, to promote the Ford Motor Company's new Edsel line of cars. The program starred Bing Crosby, with guests Frank Sinatra, Rosemary Clooney, Louis Armstrong, and Lindsay Crosby, Bing's son, performing with The Four Preps. The show would be nominated for an Emmy as the Best Single Program of the Year.

1958 - ClassicBands.com

October 13
Billboard magazine runs a story about the vocal group, The Teddy Bears, saying "18 year old Phil Spector, who wrote and arranged their hit 'To Know Him is to Love Him', is studying to be a court reporter." This same edition included the Best Sellers In Stores chart for the last time. Those sales figures would now be included in calculating The Hot 100, a list that has remained the industry standard to this day.

October 13
Little Anthony And The Imperials enjoy their biggest hit when their first Billboard Top 40 entry, "Tears On My Pillow" peaks at #4. Over the next seven years they would enjoy six more hits, including two that made the Top Ten, "Goin' Out Of My Head" in 1964 and "Hurt So Bad" in 1965.


1962 - ClassicBands.com

October 13
Don Everly of The Everly Brothers collapsed during rehearsal at the Prince of Wales Theatre in London on the eve of a 22 date UK tour. He was flown back to the US for treatment and the tour continued with Phil performing solo.

1963 - ClassicBands.com

October 13
One of the first known demonstrations of Beatlemania took place as The Beatles appear on BBC's Sunday Night at the Palladium. Many fans battled with police to get into the theater as 15 million British viewers watched the show on TV.

1965 - ClassicBands.com

October 13
The Who record "My Generation", a song that expresses the anger and frustration of teenagers of the day. Roger Daltrey would later say that he stuttered the lyrics to try to fit them to the music. The BBC initially refused to play the song because it did not want to offend people who stammer, but later reversed its decision. The tune would rise to number 2 in the UK, but stalled at number 74 in the US.

1967 - ClassicBands.com

October 13
The Who's "I Can See for Miles" is released in the UK. The single peaked at #12, while in the US it reached #9 and was the group's biggest hit through 1982.

1970 - ClassicBands.com

October 13
Nine days after her death, Janis Joplin's ashes are scattered off the coast of California.

1974 - ClassicBands.com

October 13
Ed Sullivan, who introduced The Beatles and dozens of others to North America, passed away at the age of 73 from cancer of the esophagus. His Sunday night variety show was on the air for 23 years and won an Emmy and two Golden Globe Awards for Best Television Variety Show.

1977 - ClassicBands.com

October 13
32 year old Shirley Brickley of The Orlons was shot and killed by an intruder in her Philadelphia home. Her group placed five songs in the Billboard Top 20 in 1962 and '63, including "The Wah Watusi" (#2), "Don't Hang Up" (#4) and "South Street" (#3).


1978 - ClassicBands.com

October 13
Queen released their single, "Fat Bottomed Girls" in the UK. With "Bicycle Race" on the flip side, the record will reach #11 on the British chart.

1979 - ClassicBands.com

October 13
"Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" became Michael Jackson's second Billboard #1 single. It was the first time he cracked the Top Ten since 1972. In the UK, it reached #3.

1984 - ClassicBands.com

October 13
Stevie Wonder started a three week run at the top of the Billboard singles chart with "I Just Called To Say I Love You", his seventh US #1. The song, produced by Lionel Ritchie, also reached #1 in the UK and 11 other countries.

1990 - ClassicBands.com

October 13
Bob Dylan performs for over 4,000 cadets at the US Military Academy in West Point, New York. Many of them sang along when he launched into "Blowin' In The Wind".

1992 - ClassicBands.com

October 13
Patty Smyth and Eagles' drummer Don Henley are awarded a Gold record for "Sometimes Love Just Ain't Enough". The song had spent six weeks at #2 on The Hot 100 and reached #22 on the British Pop chart.

1998 - ClassicBands.com

October 13
Craig Atkinson, drummer for Count Five on their 1966, US Top Ten hit "Psychotic Reaction", died from an unknown illness at the age of 50.


2001 - ClassicBands.com

October 13
Peter Doyle, guitarist and vocalist for The New Seekers, died of cancer at the age of 52. The group scored two US Top 20 hits, "Look What They've Done To My Song, Ma" in 1970 and "I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing" in 1971, as well as placing twelve songs in the UK Top 40.

2004 - ClassicBands.com

October 13
The US Internal Revenue Service charged 63-year-old Ronald Isley, lead singer of the legendary R&B group, the Isley Brothers, with tax evasion for failing to report income from royalties and performances by the band between 1997 and 2002.

2005 - ClassicBands.com

October 13
Ronald Isley of went on trial in Los Angeles where he pleaded not guilty to five counts of tax evasion and one count of failing to file a tax return. He was later found guilty and sentenced to three years in prison.

2007 - ClassicBands.com

October 13
Tom Dawes, bassist for The Cyrkle on their two 1966 Billboard Top 20 hits, "Red Rubber Ball" and "Turn Down Day", died following complications from heart surgery. He was 64.

2008 - ClassicBands.com

October 13
In a video message on his website, Ringo Starr announced that he no longer has time to sign autographs and asked fans not to send him any mail at all. "No more fan mail and no objects to be signed. Nothing." After finishing a tour of the US and Canada, he was dividing his time between Los Angeles, the South of France and his UK home in Surrey.

2009 - ClassicBands.com

October 13
Al Martino, a Pop crooner who placed eleven songs on the Billboard Top 40 between 1963 and 1975, died at the age of 82. His biggest hits included "I Love You Because" (#3), "I Love You More And More Every Day" (#9) and "Spanish Eyes" (#15), He is also remembered for playing the Frank Sinatra-type role of Johnny Fontane in The Godfather.

2010 - ClassicBands.com

October 13
General Norman Johnson, the lead singer of the Soul band Chairmen Of The Board, died of lung cancer at the age of 67. The Detroit, Michigan quartet reached the Top 40 of the Billboard Pop chart four times in 1970, including the #3 hit "Give Me Just A Little More Time".


2011 - ClassicBands.com

October 13
The Bee Gees' Robin Gibb was rushed to an Oxfordshire, England, hospital, suffering from abdominal pains. He was forced to pull out of his South American tour earlier in the year due to the same problem.

October 13
The internet site www.TheSmokingGun.com posted Janet Jackson's performance contract which stated that if she's appearing on a bill with a comedian, the comic will be barred from making any reference to the singer or members of the Jackson family.

2012 - ClassicBands.com

October 13
B.B. Cunningham Jr., who had been a member of Jerry Lee Lewis' band since 1997, was found shot to death at the Cherry Crest apartment complex in Memphis, Tennessee. He had also been a member of Ronnie And The Daytonas in the 1960s.

2015 - ClassicBands.com

October 13
Guitarist Steve Morse revealed that Deep Purple had been recording a new album which they expected to be released in early January, 2016. As a follow-up to 2013's "Now What?", the new album would be the band's 20th studio LP.

2016 - ClassicBands.com

October 13
Bob Dylan became the first songwriter in history to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. The 75-year-old music legend was awarded the prize "for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition", according to Sara Danius, permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy.

2019 - ClassicBands.com

October 13
Steve Cash, a founding member and harmonica player for the Ozark Mountain Daredevils, passed away at the age of 73 after an extended illness. The band's biggest hit was "Jackie Blue", which reached number three on Billboard's Hot 100 in 1975.



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