Rock 'n' Roll History for
July 6


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1955 - ClassicBands.com

July 6
After three previous releases on Sun Records had only minor success, "Baby Let's Play House" becomes Elvis Presley's first single to reach the US national charts when it hits #5 on the Country And Western chart.

1957 - ClassicBands.com

July 6
Paul McCartney met John Lennon for the first time when Lennon's band, The Quarrymen were playing at a church social. In the church basement between sets, 15-year-old McCartney teaches a 16-year-old Lennon to play and sing Eddie Cochran's, "Twenty Flight Rock" and Gene Vincent's "Be-Bop-A-Lula". Lennon would later say that he was impressed with McCartney's ability to tune a guitar.

1963 - ClassicBands.com

July 6
Three members of The United States Marine Corps at Camp LeJeune, North Carolina who called themselves The Essex, had the number one song on Billboard's Hot 100 chart with "Easier Said Than Done". It was a tune that the group would later confess none of them really liked. In the studio they rushed through the recording, intending the track to be the B-side of their first single, "Are You Going My Way". The song became the title track of the group's first LP, which reached #113 on the Billboard chart, becoming their only charting album.

July 6
Two weeks after being released, The Surfaris' classic surf tune "Wipe Out" cracks the Billboard Hot 100 on its way to number two. The song was recorded as a filler in just two takes, but would stay in the Top 40 for ten weeks and become one of the most popular instrumentals in Rock 'n' Roll history.

July 6
James Brown's "Live At The Apollo" peaked at #2 on the Billboard Top Pop Albums chart. The LP spent a total of sixty-six weeks on the chart and would be added to the National Recording Registry by America's Library of Congress in 2004.

1964 - ClassicBands.com

July 6
The motion picture A Hard Day's Night premieres in The Beatles' hometown of Liverpool, with hundreds of thousands of fans lining the streets for a parade from the airport to the city center. The movie was shot in black and white with a budget of only £200,000 ($500.000) and took just seven weeks to complete. Reviews were mostly positive and the film went on to earn over eleven million dollars. In 1999, the British Film Institute ranked it the 88th greatest British film of the 20th century.

1966 - ClassicBands.com

July 6
During a show at Syracuse's War Memorial Hall, The Rolling Stones allegedly drag an American flag across the stage floor. Two days later, local authorities accused the group of desecrating Old Glory.

1967 - ClassicBands.com

July 6
Pink Floyd appear on the British TV show Top Of The Pops for the first time, where they perform "See Emily Play". The song would reach #6 in England, but stalled at #134 in America.

1971 - ClassicBands.com

July 6
The Carpenters began hosting a summer TV series called Make Your Own Kind of Music, which would air weekly on NBC from July 20th to September 7th. Made up of only eight episodes, the program centered around Karen and Richard, but also included Al Hirt, Mark Lindsay and The Doodletown Pipers.

July 6
Louis Armstrong, who led the Billboard Hot 100 with "Hello Dolly" in 1964, died of heart failure at the age of 69. His often played rendition of "What A Wonderful World" would reach #32 in 1988 and he would be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame in 1990.

1974 - ClassicBands.com

July 6
The Hues Corporation had the top tune on the Billboard Hot 100 with "Rock The Boat", one of the earliest Disco songs to reach the chart. The song features a lead vocal by Fleming Williams, who left the group shortly after the song was recorded.

1979 - ClassicBands.com

July 6
Van McCoy, who scored a number one Disco hit with "Do The Hustle" in 1975, died of a heart attack at the age of 39. He had worked for several record labels throughout the 1960s and produced The Shirelles, Gladys Knight And The Pips and The Stylistics.

1982 - ClassicBands.com

July 6
Ivory Tilmon of The Detroit Emeralds died of a heart attack at the age of 37. The group reached #24 on the Hot 100 in 1972 with "Baby Let Me Take You In My Arms".

1985 - ClassicBands.com

July 6
Phil Collins tops the Billboard Hot 100 with his third straight number one hit, "Sussudio". That made him the fifth male vocalist to accomplish that feat in the Rock 'n' Roll era, behind Elvis Presley, Andy Gibb, Michael Jackson and George Michael.

1987 - ClassicBands.com

July 6
Kris Kristofferson makes a public apology after a plaque that was given to him by a Vietnam veteran's group is found in a trash can. Kristofferson was given the plaque for playing at a welcome home benefit concert for veterans two days earlier, along with John Fogerty, Neil Diamond and Stevie Wonder. Kristofferson would later donate $1,000 to the Vietnamese Veterans Association.

July 6
Neil Young And Crazy Horse release the LP, "Life", their last release on the Geffen label. It would rise to #75 on the Billboard 200.

2002 - ClassicBands.com

July 6
George Harrison's widow Olivia put the couple's home up for sale for £20 million , saying she couldn't bear to live with the memories of the attack by schizophrenic Michael Abram who broke into the house in 1999.

2003 - ClassicBands.com

July 6
Clyde "Skip" Batton of Skip And Flip, died of complications from Alzheimer's disease at the age of 69. The duo scored a pair of Billboard number eleven hits with "It Was I" (1959) and "Cherry Pie" (1960). Batton also toured and recorded as a member of The Byrds from 1970 to 1973.

2004 - ClassicBands.com

July 6
Syreeta Wright, who teamed up with Billy Preston on the 1980, US number 1 hit "With You I'm Born Again", passed away after a two-year battle with bone cancer. She was 58.

July 6
On the 40th anniversary of the world premiere of A Hard Day's Night, a private reunion of the cast and crew was hosted in London by DVD producer Martin Lewis. The screening was attended by Paul McCartney, actors Victor Spinetti (the television director), John Junkin (the band's road manager), David Janson (the small boy met by Ringo on his "walkabout") and many of the crew members.

2005 - ClassicBands.com

July 6
The Vocal Group Hall of Fame in Wildwood, N.J. inducted The Jordanaires, The Ronettes, The Dells, The O'Jays and The Tokens.

July 6
Denis D'ell, lead singer for the English beat group, The Honeycombs on their 1964 hit "Have I The Right", died of cancer at the age of 61. After their initial success, further hits were harder to come by and the group splintered two years later.

2010 - ClassicBands.com

July 6
Harvey Fuqua, a founding member of the Doo-Wop group The Moonglows who would go on to guide the career of Soul great Marvin Gaye, died of coronary problems at the age of 80 in a Detroit hospital.

2011 - ClassicBands.com

July 6
Nielsen SoundScan's sales figures for the first six months of the year showed a 1% improvement over the same period in 2010. More CDs were sold than downloads, but digital sales were up by 19% compared to the same time last year.

2016 - ClassicBands.com

July 6
Danny Smythe, drummer for The Box Tops on their hits "The Letter" and "Neon Rainbow", passed away at the age of 67.

2018 - ClassicBands.com

July 6
Vince Martin, who reached #9 in America with "Cindy, Oh Cindy" in 1956, passed away at the age of 81 after being diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis the previous March.

July 6
According to Nielsen Music, vinyl album sales grew 19.2 percent in the US in the first half of 2018 compared with the first six months of 2017. From December 29, 2017, through June 28, 2018, there were 7.6 million vinyl albums sold, up from 6.4 million in the comparable frame a year ago.

2020 - ClassicBands.com

July 6
Charlie Daniels, the Country music star best known for "The Devil Went Down to Georgia", died following a stroke. He was 83. His song topped the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart and made it to #3 on the Hot 100 in 1979.

2024 - ClassicBands.com

July 6
Joe Egan, songwriting partner of Gerry Rafferty in Stealers Wheel, passed away at the age of 77. The band reached #6 in the US and #8 in the UK with "Stuck In The Middle With You" in 1973.



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