Rock 'n' Roll History for
October 31


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1952 - ClassicBands.com

October 31
Pianist Johnnie Johnson hires 26-year-old Chuck Berry as a guitarist in his band. While playing evening gigs in the St. Louis area, Berry will keep his day job as a hairdresser for the next three years.

1958 - ClassicBands.com

October 31
The Flamingos record "I Only Have Eyes For You" at Bell Sound Studios in New York City. The song would rise to #11 on the Billboard Hot 100 and be ranked at #158 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

1960 - ClassicBands.com

October 31
The Elvis Presley LP "G.I. Blues" enters the Billboard Hot 200, where it will rise to number one and stay there for six weeks. Its chart run will finally end 111 weeks later, making it the longest charting album of Elvis' career.

October 31
Fabian's last charting record, "Kissin' And Twistin'" enters the Billboard Hot 100 at #99. Unfortunately for the 17-year-old Philadelphia native, the record would fall off the chart next week and all of his following seven releases over the next two years were flops. He did, however, continue to make dozens of movies and TV appearances well into the 1990s.

1962 - ClassicBands.com

October 31
Elvis Presley's 11th film, Girls! Girls! Girls! premiered in Honolulu, Hawaii, where it was shot. The movie is a musical comedy about a penniless fisherman who loves his life on the sea and dreams of owning his own boat.

1963 - ClassicBands.com

October 31
Ed Sullivan sees 50,000 fans cheer The Beatles at London's Heathrow Airport and later books them for three appearances on his TV show early the next year.

1964 - ClassicBands.com

October 31
The Supremes achieve their second Billboard number one single with "Baby Love". Just four months earlier, other artists at Motown Records referred to them as "the no-hit Supremes."

October 31
Sitting at the top of the Cashbox Magazine Best Sellers Chart was New Zealand-born Canadian vocalist Gale Garnett with "We'll Sing In The Sunshine". The song will also reach #4 on the Billboard chart and win a 1965 Grammy Award for Best Folk Recording. Garnett continued to record through the rest of the 1960s, but her follow-up, "Lovin' Place" was her only other single to chart in America.

October 31
Ray Charles is arrested by Logan Airport customs officials in Boston and charged with possession of heroin. This is his third drug charge following incidents in 1958 and 1961. Ray avoided prison time after kicking the habit in a clinic in Los Angeles, but spent a year on parole in 1966.

October 31
For the first time since January, The Beatles do not have a song on the Billboard Hot 100. During that time they placed fourteen records on the chart with five different labels.

1968 - ClassicBands.com

October 31
Malcolm Hale, guitarist for Spanky And Our Gang, died at his home in Chicago, Illinois at the age of 28. The cause of death was first thought to be bronchial pneumonia, but was later changed to carbon monoxide poisoning caused by faulty heaters in his house. The group placed five songs on the Billboard Top 40 between 1967 and 1968, including "Sunday Will Never Be The Same" (#9), "Lazy Day" (#14) and "Like To Get To Know You" (#17).

1970 - ClassicBands.com

October 31
Former Mamas And Papas singer Michelle Phillips marries actor Dennis Hopper (Easy Rider). The union would be annulled seven days later.

October 31
James Taylor's album "Fire and Rain" is certified Gold just as the single of the same name reaches #3 in the US. The lyrics of the song are highly personal to James, as he sang Suzanne the plans they made put an end to you about Suzanne Schnerr, a childhood friend who committed suicide, and Sweet dreams and Flying Machines in pieces on the ground, referring to his earlier band, Flying Machine, which had split before significant success.

1975 - ClassicBands.com

October 31
Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" was released as a single. It would stay on the Billboard Top 40 for thirteen weeks, nine of them at number one, and would eventually go Platinum. The song would be re-issued in December, 1991 after being featured in the movie Wayne's World and became a hit all over again.

1976 - ClassicBands.com

October 31
Elvis Presley recorded his rendition of "He'll Have to Go" over a pre-recorded backing track in the Jungle Room of his Graceland home. It is believed to be the final song he ever recorded in a studio setting.

1981 - ClassicBands.com

October 31
Timi Yuro's "Hurt" becomes a hit in the Netherlands twenty years after it reached the Top 10 in the United States. Because of Yuro's powerful, resonant vocals, people often thought that Timi was either a man or a black woman. The truth is, at the time she recorded "Hurt" in 1961, this petite, white woman was just 20 years old.

1986 - ClassicBands.com

October 31
Roger Waters, who had earlier left Pink Floyd, instigated a court injunction which disallowed remaining members David Gilmour, Nick Mason and Rick Wright from using the band's name. The ruling was over-turned in early 1987.

1988 - ClassicBands.com

October 31
Pop singer Debbie Gibson holds a seance at her Halloween party to contact the spirits of Liberace and Sid Vicious.

1995 - ClassicBands.com

October 31
62-year-old James Brown is arrested in Aiken, South Carolina for assaulting his 47-year-old wife, Adrienne, who said that her husband hit her with a mirror. Adrienne would pass away in January, 1996 and the assault charges against James were dropped.

2002 - ClassicBands.com

October 31
Claude Johnson, known as "Juan" of the R&B vocal duo Don And Juan, passed away at the age of 67. The pair reached number 7 in the US in 1962 with "What's Your Name", their only Billboard Top 40 hit.

2007 - ClassicBands.com

October 31
Forbes magazine announced its list of the top earning dead celebrities and once again Elvis Presley led the way. The King earned $49 million in the past year. In second place was John Lennon who jumped from #4 last year, earning $44 million. Other notables included George Harrison in fourth place with $22 million, James Brown was eleventh with $5 million, and Bob Marley was twelfth with $4 million.

2015 - ClassicBands.com

October 31
Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum in London, England announced that they had found a collarless mohair jacket once worn by John Lennon and would be putting it up for an online auction. The beige coat, valued at $165,000 (£107,000), was originally donated by Beatles' manager Brian Epstein, along with the three other members' jackets, for the first wax works of the band.

2017 - ClassicBands.com

October 31
Forbes magazine listed Michael Jackson as the top-earning dead celebrity for the fifth straight year, with income of $75 million. Golf legend Arnold Palmer was second, bringing in $40 million in part through sales of Arizona lemonade and ice tea beverage made in his name. He was followed by the creator of the Peanuts franchise, Charles Schulz with $38 million. Elvis Presley came in fourth with $35 million and Bob Marley ranked fifth with $23 million.

2023 - ClassicBands.com

October 31
The Rolling Stones were given a BRIT Billion Award to mark one billion career streams in the UK, as recorded by the Official Charts Company. They were also noted for being the longest-active artist to achieve that award.



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