Rock 'n' Roll History for
June 23


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1960 - ClassicBands.com

June 23
With eleven Billboard Top 40 hits already under his belt, 20-year-old Paul Anka becomes the youngest act to ever appear at New York's Copacabana. His current hit, "My Home Town" sat at #16, still climbing towards its peak of #8.

1965 - ClassicBands.com

June 23
The Kinks shared the stage with Paul Petersen, The Hollywood Argyles and The Rivieras at a show in Springfield, Illinois. That concert was organized by John Wayne Gacy, vice-president of the local Jaycees. He would later become a notorious serial killer and sex offender who raped, tortured, and murdered at least thirty-three young men and boys. Kinks' bassist Peter Quaife later remembered Gacy as "a real grease ball."

June 23
Motown Records releases "Tracks Of My Tears" by Smokey Robinson And The Miracles. The song was written by the group, based on a riff that Miracles guitarist Marv Tarplin had come up with. Their version would reach number 16 on the US Pop chart, while Johnny Rivers' rendition would reach number 10 two years later.

June 23
The Yardbirds played at The City Hall in Salisbury, England. Admission: 10 shillings ($1.40).

1967 - ClassicBands.com

June 23
Aretha Franklin records "Chain Of Fools", which will become the sixth of her forty-five Billboard Top 40 hits, reaching #2 in the US the following January.

June 23
Arthur Conley receives a Gold record for sales of one million copies of "Sweet Soul Music", a song that reached number two in the US on both the Pop and R&B charts. It was one of nine records that Conley put on the Billboard charts between 1967 and 1970.

1968 - ClassicBands.com

June 23
Elvis Presley records "If I Can Dream" and "Memories" at Western Recorders, in Burbank, California. The songs were written especially for the TV special, Elvis, commonly referred to as the '68 Comeback Special, that would air on NBC on December 3rd, 1968. "If I Can Dream" would reach #12 and "Memories" peaked at #35 on the Billboard Hot 100.

1970 - ClassicBands.com

June 23
RCA Records releases the Elvis Presley live album, "On Stage". It would peak at #13 on the Billboard 200 and the Billboard Country chart, and was certified Gold on February 23rd, 1971, and Platinum on July 15, 1999. One of the included songs, "See See Rider", became Presley's standard opening number, which was reprised at the show's end as Elvis left the building.

1972 - ClassicBands.com

June 23
Smokey Robinson appears in concert for the last time with The Miracles in Washington, DC. After enjoying twenty-seven Billboard Top 40 hits with the group, Robinson would go on to have nine more as a solo artist while The Miracles would have just two without him.

1973 - ClassicBands.com

June 23
23-year-old B.W. Stevenson records "My Maria", which will reach #9 in the US later in the year. Although his real first name was Louis, he used the initials B.W., which stood for Buck Wheat.

June 23
George Harrison's album, "Living In The Material World" displaces Paul McCartney's "Red Rose Speedway" at the top of the Billboard 200 chart. It was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America two days later. The LP spawned the international hit, "Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)", which led the Hot 100 and reached #8 on the UK Official chart.

1975 - ClassicBands.com

June 23
Alice Cooper broke six of his ribs after he fell off the stage during a concert in Vancouver. Several dates on his Welcome to My Nightmare tour had to be canceled.

June 23
Jefferson Starship's LP "Red Octopus" was released. The album, marking the return of singer Marty Balin, went to number one in the US and became the band's biggest seller, eventually being certified 2X Platinum.

1976 - ClassicBands.com

June 23
Paul McCartney And Wings complete their Wings Over America tour at the Forum in Los Angeles. At a Forum show two days earlier, Ringo Starr appeared on stage during the band's final number and presented his old friend with flowers.

1979 - ClassicBands.com

June 23
Supertramp's album, "Breakfast in America" rose to the top of the US album chart on the strength of three hit singles, "The Logical Song" (#6), "Goodbye Stranger" (#15), and "Take the Long Way Home" (#10). The LP would win two Grammys and sell in excess of 18 million copies worldwide.

1988 - ClassicBands.com

June 23
The Jets, an eight piece family band from Minneapolis, Minnesota, enjoy their sixth and final US Top 40 hit when "Make It Real" peaks at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100. The lead vocals were handled by 14-year-old Elizabeth Wolfgramm, who had also led the group to #3 a year earlier with "You Got It All".

1990 - ClassicBands.com

June 23
Actor Gary Busey, who played Buddy Holly in The Buddy Holly Story, pays $237,419 for one of Holly's acoustic guitars at an auction at Sotheby's in New York. The guitar came in a tooled leather case made by Holly himself.

June 23
The decline of the music industry was never more evident than when MC Hammer's "U Can't Touch This" topped the Billboard R&B chart. By simply talking over Rick James' 1981, #16 hit, "Super Freak", Hammer (real name: Stanley Kirk Burrell) would go on to win Grammy Awards for Best Rhythm & Blues Song as well as Best Rap Solo Performance.

1994 - ClassicBands.com

June 23
The one hour stage musical Copacabana, based on the Barry Manilow song, opens in London, England at the Prince of Wales Theatre, where it will play for twenty-six months.

1995 - ClassicBands.com

June 23
Riding high on the success of "Leave Virginia Alone", Rod Stewart headlined the Rock Over Germany festival, along with Joe Cocker and Elton John.

2003 - ClassicBands.com

June 23
Diana Ross was in court and testified that she was coerced and felt intimidated to take the breath test that showed her blood alcohol level was 0.2 (well over the 0.08 limit). "He said if I don't take the breath tests, I was either going to go to the hospital or to jail," Diana said. Her lawyer had asked for all evidence to be suppressed. After the hearing, Diana asked the judge if it would be possible to have court paperwork processed using her married name of Diana Naess. The City Magistrate said he thought it was "a little late" for that now.

2008 - ClassicBands.com

June 23
Culture Club frontman Boy George was denied entry into the United States by US authorities who cited looming legal issues overseas. George was arrested in 2007 after a 28-year-old male escort from Norway accused the singer of false imprisonment and assault.

2010 - ClassicBands.com

June 23
62-year-old Gregg Allman underwent a successful liver transplant operation at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida. Allman had begun a series of treatments for Hepatitis C, but chronic damage of his liver led doctors to recommend a transplant. In a statement to the press, Allman said "I changed my ways years ago, but we can't turn back time. Every day is a gift." Allman would survive until May 27th, 2017 when he died of liver cancer.

June 23
Pete Quaife, the original bassist for The Kinks, died of kidney failure at the age of 66. Quaife played on such early hits as "You Really Got Me", "All Day and All of the Night" and "Tired of Waiting for You" before leaving the group in 1969. He was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame with the rest of the original band in 1990.

2013 - ClassicBands.com

June 23
Bobby "Blue" Bland, who placed three songs on the Billboard Top 40, including the 1962, US #28 hit, "Turn On Your Love Light", passed away at the age of 83. Over the course of his career, Bland released twenty-seven studio albums, twenty of which reached the Billboard Top 100 R&B Album chart, and eighty-nine singles, fifty-four of which made the Billboard R&B Top 100 Singles Chart.



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