Rock 'n' Roll History for
December 14


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1953 - ClassicBands.com

December 14
"I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas", recorded earlier in the year by 10 year old Gayla Peevey, inspired an Oklahoma City fund-raising effort to buy a hippopotamus for the Oklahoma City Zoo. Oklahomans raised $4,000 for the cause, with much of the money coming from children. The zoo bought a 3-year-old hippo named Matilda who had eight offspring and died in 1998.

1956 - ClassicBands.com

December 14
A motion picture called Don't Knock The Rock, featuring Little Richard and Bill Haley And His Comets, opens in US theatres. The movie tells the story of a disc jockey, Alan Freed, who tries to prove to teenagers' parents that Rock 'n' Roll is harmless and won't turn their kids into juvenile delinquents.

1959 - ClassicBands.com

December 14
Guy Mitchell follows his chart topping "Singing The Blues" with his second Billboard number one hit, "Heartaches By The Number". In all, Mitchell, whose real name was Albert George Cernik, placed thirty songs in the US Top 100, with nine of them reaching the Top 10. Twelve of his records made the UK Top 10.

December 14
Billboard magazine reports that in the wake of the government's payola investigations, the pay-for-play phenomenon has all but ceased. One Philadelphia record distributor complained, "You can't even buy the disc jockeys lunch."

December 14
The Ohio State University Research Center finds that, although Rock 'n' Roll is the overwhelming favorite of kids aged 14 to 18, adults aged 19 to 70 list it as their least favorite form of music.

December 14
"First Name Initial" by seventeen-year-old Mouseketeer, Annette Funicello, entered the Billboard chart where it would reach #20. The song was her second of five hits to crack the Top 40.

December 14
The Kingston Trio started an eight-week run at #1 on the US album chart with "Here We Go Again!" It would later be awarded a Gold Record by the R.I.A.A.

1962 - ClassicBands.com

December 14
At Mirasound Studios in New York City, Johnny Cymbal, (born John Hendry Blair), recorded his self-penned, "Mr. Bass Man" with Ronnie Bright from The Valentines doing the bass voice. The record would go on to reach #16 on the Billboard Hot 100, #1 in Japan and Argentina, #24 in the UK, and charted in a multitude of other countries.

1963 - ClassicBands.com

December 14
Dinah Washington, best remembered for her hit, "What A Diff'Rence A Day Makes", died of an accidental overdose of alcohol and pills. She was just 39 years old.

December 14
The Beatles' "I Want To Hold Your Hand" begins a five week stretch at number one on the UK record charts, replacing their own "She Loves You" which had been at the top for two weeks.

1968 - ClassicBands.com

December 14
Just three weeks after being released, Marvin Gaye's "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100, where it would stay for seven weeks. It was Marvin's 30th US chart single, but his first number one.

December 14
The Jackson 5 make their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, where they perform "I Want You Back". Speaking about Michael, Sullivan was reported as saying, "The little fella in front is incredible."

December 14
Iron Butterfly's classic album, "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" is certified Gold. Today it is a multi-Platinum album with sales of over 30 million copies.

1970 - ClassicBands.com

December 14
John Lennon's "Instant Karma!" was awarded a Gold Record by the Recording Industry Association of America for sales of 500,000 copies. It peaked at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100, #2 in Canada, and #5 on the UK Singles Chart. Until his death on December 8th, 1980, "Instant Karma!" remained Lennon's only Gold single.

1972 - ClassicBands.com

December 14
In a clever publicity stunt, Alexander's department store in New York stays open late especially so Alice Cooper can do his Christmas shopping.

December 14
Seals and Crofts' first Billboard Top 40 hit, "Summer Breeze" is certified Gold. It had reached #6 the previous November.

1980 - ClassicBands.com

December 14
Yoko Ono called on fans to observe ten minutes of silence in memory of John Lennon. 30,000 gathered outside St George's Hall in Liverpool, while nearly 100,000 attend a memorial in New York's Central Park.

1985 - ClassicBands.com

December 14
James Taylor marries actress Kathryn Walker at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York. They would divorce in 1996.

1995 - ClassicBands.com

December 14
Little Richard, along with Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen are among those who perform a tribute to Frank Sinatra on Sinatra: 80 Years My Way on ABC-TV.

1997 - ClassicBands.com

December 14
Elton John's tribute to Princess Diana, "Candle in the Wind 1997", was at its ninth week at number 1 on the Billboard chart. The song would go on to become the largest selling single of all time in the US and the UK, and sits second to Bing Crosby's "White Christmas" as the best selling record world-wide.

December 14
Kurt Winter, former guitarist for The Guess Who, died of kidney failure at the age of 51. During his time with the Canadian band, he wrote their 1970, Billboard #17 hit, "Hand Me Down World".

1998 - ClassicBands.com

December 14
Billy Preston pleads guilty to insurance fraud in a Los Angeles court and agrees to testify against six other defendants who allegedly participated in setting fires, staging thefts and rigging auto crashes for which a total of 18 fraudulent insurance claims were filed. Under a plea agreement, Preston was required to pay $60,000 in restitution and received five years of probation and one year in jail to run concurrently with a sentence he was already serving for violating probation on a prior conviction for cocaine possession.

1999 - ClassicBands.com

December 14
Paul McCartney played The New Cavern Club in Liverpool, thirty-five years after his last appearance at the original venue. The concert was broadcast live over the Internet and attracted fifty million visits. A young fan who changed his name to John Lennon, won a ticket to the show. The original Cavern Club closed in 1973 and was demolished to enable an underground railway to be constructed. In 1984 the present building, known as Cavern Walks, was opened on the site and contains a rebuilding of the original Cavern Club in the basement, as well as shops, offices and an internal nine-storey atrium. The edifice also includes statues of The Fab Four on the outside walls.

2007 - ClassicBands.com

December 14
The Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame announced that Madonna, John Mellencamp, Leonard Cohen, The Ventures and The Dave Clark Five would all be enshrined next year.

2018 - ClassicBands.com

December 14
Despite coming under fire from the #MeToo movement and actually being dropped from some radio station's play lists, "Baby It's Cold Outside" climbed into the Top 10 of Billboard's Digital Song Sales chart. Dean Martin's rendition of the song was downloaded over 11,000 times during the previous week, coming in second to Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You".

December 14
Joe Osborn, a sessions bassist best known for his work with the studio group known as The Wrecking Crew, died at the age of 81 after a battle with pancreatic cancer.

2019 - ClassicBands.com

December 14
Rod Stewart became the oldest male solo artist to have a number one album in the UK with "You're In My Heart". At 74 years and 11 months old, Sir Rod took the title away from Paul Simon by three months. The oldest female artist to top the UK chart was 97-year-old Vera Lynn who achieved the feat with "Vera Lynn: National Treasure" in 2014.

December 14
Metal legend Ozzy Osbourne topped Billboard's Mainstream Rock Songs chart with a song called "Under The Graveyard". The last time Osbourne led the list was when "Let Me Hear You Scream" was number one for four weeks in July, 2010.

2021 - ClassicBands.com

December 14
According to figures from PollStar, The Rolling Stones were the highest-earning touring act of 2021. The band only played twelve dates of their rescheduled 'No Filter' tour, but still pulled in over 87 million Pounds from their stadium shows.

December 14
Twinsburg, Ohio police identified the remains of Frank "Frankie" Little Jr., a guitarist and songwriter who played with The O'Jays in their early years. DNA helped with the identification of the musician nearly forty years after they were discovered. After his run with The O'Jays, Little joined the U.S. Army and spent two years serving in Vietnam. He returned to his hometown of Cleveland following the war, but disappeared sometime in the mid-1970s.

2024 - ClassicBands.com

December 14
Bing Crosby was back in the Top 10 of the Billboard 200 albums chart for the first time in nearly 64 years when his compilation, "Ultimate Christmas" came in at #9. The legendary crooner, who passed away in October, 1977 at the age of 74, attained the same height in December, 1960 with his LP, "Merry Christmas".



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