Rock 'n' Roll History for
June 16


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1956 - ClassicBands.com

June 16
Patti Page saw what would be her biggest hit, "Allegheny Moon", enter the Billboard chart, where it would reach #2 during a twenty-two week run. In all, the Oklahoma native would place sixteen songs in the Top 40 between 1954 and 1965.

June 16
A 31-year-old woman named Gogi Grant knocked Elvis out of Billboard's number one spot with a song called "The Wayward Wind". It was a tune that she recorded almost as an after thought, with just fifteen minutes of studio time remaining. Six weeks later, Elvis would be back on top with "I Want You, I Need You, I Love You".

1961 - ClassicBands.com

June 16
Gary "U.S." Bonds performs "Quarter To Three" on American Bandstand. Ten days later, the song will top the Billboard Hot 100 for the first of a two week stay.

1963 - ClassicBands.com

June 16
The top four spots on the UK chart are held by acts from Liverpool, with The Beatles at #1 ("From Me To You"), Gerry And The Pacemakers at #2 ("I Like It"), Billy J. Kramer And The Dakotas at #3 ("Do You Want To Know A Secret") and Billy Fury at #4 ("When Will You Say I Love You").

1965 - ClassicBands.com

June 16
Bob Dylan finishes recording "Like A Rolling Stone" at Columbia Studios in New York City. A young session musician named Al Kooper played the now iconic organ riff for which the track is known for. At 6:13 long, the record company was hesitant to release the single, and disc jockey's shied away from playing it, but somehow the record ended up reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #4 in the UK. Kooper would go on to found Blood, Sweat And Tears, and the guitarist on the track, Mike Bloomfield would later form The Electric Flag.

June 16
Herman's Hermits were awarded their first Gold record for "Mrs. Brown You've Got A Lovely Daughter". The song was originally an album cut that got so much air play in the US, MGM Records released it as a single.

1967 - ClassicBands.com

June 16
Over 200,000 people attended the first Monterey Pop Festival this week in 1967. Many of the leading Rock acts of the time appeared, including Otis Redding, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Simon and Garfunkel, Canned Heat, The Mamas and The Papas, The Grateful Dead, Eric Burdon and The Animals, The Association, Booker T. and The MGs, The Who, Jefferson Airplane, The Byrds, David Crosby and Steve Miller.

June 16
The original Kingston Trio gave their final concert, although other editions of the popular vocal group would continue well into the new millennium.

1970 - ClassicBands.com

June 16
The sponsors of the original Woodstock Festival announce that they lost more than $1.2 million on the actual concert. They would eventually profit from the sale of the Woodstock sound track and related memorabilia.

1971 - ClassicBands.com

June 16
RCA releases Elvis Presley's fourteenth studio album, "Love Letters From Elvis". Although it was critically panned, the LP reached #33 in America and #7 in the UK. A single from the collection, "Life" / "Only Believe" was released in March, 1971 and stalled at #53 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was Elvis's lowest chart position for a single since "Almost in Love" had quit at #95 in late 1968.

1975 - ClassicBands.com

June 16
John Lennon sues the US government, charging that officials tried to deny his immigration through selective prosecution. Accusing them of harassment during deportation proceedings, Lennon named former US Attorneys General John Mitchell and Richard Kleindienst in the complaint.

1976 - ClassicBands.com

June 16
The first episode of the TV variety show The Jacksons airs on CBS as a summer replacement series. The program marks the first time the entire cast were siblings or an African-American family. It was later added to the network's Fall lineup, finishing on March 9th, 1977 after running for twelve episodes. Although Michael Jackson was the featured performer, he would later say that he "hated every minute of it" and called the project "a dumb move."

1979 - ClassicBands.com

June 16
Donna Summer's album "Bad Girls" tops the Billboard 200 chart for a one week stay. It would go on to become the best-selling and most critically acclaimed LP of her career, not counting her two "Greatest Hits" packages. The album was certified Platinum (later Double Platinum) by the Recording Industry Association of America within a week of its release. Containing two Billboard Hot 100 number-one hits, "Hot Stuff" and "Bad Girls", the LP was nominated for Album of the Year and Summer was considered for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the 21st Annual Grammy Awards. She lost the former to "Saturday Night Fever - Soundtrack" and the latter to "You Needed Me" by Anne Murray.

1982 - ClassicBands.com

June 16
Pretenders guitarist, 25 year old James Honeyman Scott, died in his sleep in London, England. The official cause of death is "cocaine related heart failure."

June 16
Donny Van Zant of .38 Special is arrested on stage in Tulsa, Oklahoma for public drinking. Tulsa was a dry town.

1983 - ClassicBands.com

June 16
Ringo Starr releases his ninth solo album, "Old Wave" on the German label Bellaphon. Despite his previous success in The Beatles, no major UK or US record company was interested in signing him. The LP was a poor seller and would be Starr's last studio album until 1992's "Time Takes Time".

1989 - ClassicBands.com

June 16
Celebrating thirty years in the music business and one hundred singles released, Cliff Richard performs at London's Wembley Stadium to a sell out crowd of over 72,000. Supporting acts included some old friends from his early days, Gerry And The Pacemakers, The Kalin Twins and The Searchers.

1993 - ClassicBands.com

June 16
The United States Postal Service issues a booklet of commemorative Rock And Roll stamps featuring Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, Otis Redding, Bill Haley, Ritchie Valens, Clyde McPhatter, and Dinah Washington. They represented a multi-ethnic portfolio of White, Black, and Hispanic performers whose careers spanned the evolution of America's special style of music.

1997 - ClassicBands.com

June 16
John Wolters, drummer for Dr. Hook And The Medicine Show, died of cancer at the age of 52.

1999 - ClassicBands.com

June 16
48-year-old Phil Collins gets a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. "I'm pleased for my kids," Collins said. "When they have their own children, they will ask, what did granddad do? And they will show them my star."

2002 - ClassicBands.com

June 16
Nearly twenty-five years after his death, Elvis Presley was at number one again in the UK. A remix of his "A Little Less Conversation" by Dutch disc jockey JXL claimed the top spot on the British singles charts, bringing the King's total of chart-topping hits to eighteen, one more than the Beatles' current tally.

2010 - ClassicBands.com

June 16
Gary Shider, the guitarist for Parliament-Funkadelic who was featured on their hit "One Nation Under A Groove", died from complications of cancer at the age of 56.

2013 - ClassicBands.com

June 16
Black Sabbath established a new UK chart record for the longest gap between #1 albums when their new release, "13" debuted at the top, forty-two years and eight months after their second album, "Paranoid" reached the peak.

2016 - ClassicBands.com

June 16
England's Crown Prosecution Service announced that there was insufficient evidence to prosecute Sir Cliff Richard on charges of historical sex abuse. In a statement to the press, Richard said, "I have always maintained my innocence, co-operated fully with the investigation, and cannot understand why it has taken so long to get to this point."

June 16
Meat Loaf was hospitalized after collapsing during a concert in Edmonton, Alberta. The singer, whose real name is Marvin Lee Aday, was later listed in "stable and in good condition" and was expected to make a full recovery.

2021 - ClassicBands.com

June 16
US auction house, Julien's Auctions sold an estimated $5 million worth of Rock 'n' Roll memorabilia, including a blue Cloud guitar owned by Prince ($281,250), a red Yamaha Elton John Signature Series C-1 Baby Grand Piano ($150,000) and signed, handwritten lyrics by Bernie Taupin for John's hit single "Candle In The Wind" ($76,800).

2024 - ClassicBands.com

June 16
On Instagram, Alice Cooper announced his bid for the President Of The United States, just as he did every year since releasing his classic "Elected" in 1972. The post said in part, "Well, I'm Alice Cooper and I'm a troubled man for troubled times. I have absolutely no idea what to do, so I should fit right in."



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