Rock 'n' Roll's
Fascinating Facts
Here is some obscure trivia about your favorite Classic Rock acts.
New trivia is added weekly.

Teen idol Frankie Avalon made his TV debut at the age of 12 on The Honeymooners, playing trumpet and dancing on the 1952 Christmas episode.

The lyrics to The Left Banke's 1966, Billboard #5 hit, "Walk Away Renee" were written by the band's keyboard player, Michael Brown, about bassist Tom Finn's then-girlfriend, Renee Fladen. In a rather sad twist, Finn was replaced on the actual recording of the song by a session musician, although his backing vocals do appear on the track.

Polio-stricken Doc Pomus scribbled down the lyrics for "Save the Last Dance for Me" at his wedding while watching men line up to dance with his new bride. The song went on to be a U.S. number one hit for The Drifters in 1960. Unfortunately, Pomus and his wife divorced six years later.

The video to Cher's 1989 song, "If I Could Turn Back Time" was banned by MTV because her outfit was too revealing.

The song "Islands In The Stream" was written by Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb, with Diana Ross in mind. The title was taken from an Ernest Hemingway novel that was published in 1970. The version recorded by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton has been certified Triple Platinum for selling three million copies.

In 1985, when producer Quincy Jones convinced the who's who of the music industry to record "We Are The World" to raise money for the victims of famine in Ethiopia, he required all participants to wear casual clothes to the recording session, telling them, "We don't want to make a hunger record in tuxedos." With sales of over twenty million copies, that song topped the charts in twenty-one countries around the globe.

In 1964, Larry Henley's distinctive falsetto led The Newbeats to #2 on the Hot 100 with the million selling hit "Bread and Butter". When the group split in the early 1970s, he went on to co-write four songs that topped the Billboard Country chart, and later co-authored Bette Midler's Grammy Award winning tune "Wind Beneath My Wings".

When he was just 17-years-old, David Jones, who went on to become David Bowie, founded the "Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Men with Long Hair" in response to being called "Darling" and being asked "Can I carry your handbag?" He told BBC Tonight host Cliff Michelmore, "I think we all like long hair, and we don't see why other people should persecute us because of this."

In a 1962 episode of The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, Ricky Nelson goes on a blind date and tells the girl his name is Rodney Dangerfield. In the early 1960s, comedian Jack Roy (born Jacob Cohen) started using that stage name. Over the course of his career he was nominated for three Grammy Awards, winning for Best Comedy Album in 1981 for "No Respect".

Weird Al Yankovic is known for his unique parodies of other artist's songs. While he's not legally required to ask permission, Al does so anyway just because of his personal philosophy of wanting to maintain good relationships with the artists.

Doc Severinsen, who led the NBC Orchestra on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson from 1967 to 1992, played trumpet on Bobby Darin's Grammy Award winning version of "Mack The Knife".

A Facebook post in 2016 claimed that during a concert in 1975, Elvis Presley was informed that there was a blind girl in the crowd. The story said that Presley stopped the show to bring the girl up on stage where they had a heartfelt exchange. After the show, Elvis was so moved by the little girl's story that he gave her a $50,000 check and a concert ticket to every one of his future shows. A spokesperson for the Elvis Presley Museum in Memphis, Tennessee, told Snopes.com that after checking with the archive team and various long-term staff members, they could find "no record of this happening."

The original Maurice Williams And The Zodiacs' recording of "Stay" is the shortest single ever to reach the top of the Billboard chart, at 1 minute 36 seconds. According to the time noted on the record label, The Four Seasons' version was even shorter, at one minute, thirty seconds, and remains the shortest charting record of all time. Lovin' Spoonful frontman John Sebastian played harmonica on The Doors' 1969 recording of "Roadhouse Blues", but had to be credited as "G. Puglese" because he was under contract to Reprise Records at the time.

Janis Ian wrote her biggest hit, "At Seventeen" at the age of 23. The inspiration to write the song came after she read a New York Times article about a young woman who thought her life would improve after a debutante ball, and her subsequent disappointment when it did not. Peaking at #3 in America, the record sold over a million copies and earned a Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.

Songwriter Dorothy LaBostrie is credited with writing "cleaned up" lyrics to Little Richard's 1955 hit, "Tutti Fruiti". By the 1980s she was still receiving royalty checks from the song in the amount of $5,000 every three to six months.

Joni Mitchell once said that she was only able to write the song "Woodstock" and understand the significance of the event because she never actually went there.

In August, 1967, Bobbie Gentry's Country / Folk flavored single "Ode To Billie Joe" rose to #17 on Billboard's Hot Country Singles chart. Oddly, it peaked nine places higher on the R&B chart.

The success of "White Room" by Cream shocked poet Pete Brown because he wrote lyrics for it merely describing an apartment that he was living in. The song reached #6 in the US, #28 in the UK, and reached the Top Ten in eight other countries. Rolling Stone later ranked it at #376 on its list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

Three of Sandy Posey's hit songs, "Born a Woman", "Single Girl" and "I Take It Back", all quit climbing at the exact same #12 spot on the Billboard Hot 100.

Mae Boren Axton and Tommy Durden were inspired to write "Hearbreak Hotel" after reading a newspaper article about the suicide of a lonely man who jumped from a hotel window. The single, recorded by Elvis Presley, topped the Billboard Top 100 for seven weeks in 1956 and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1995.

In 1992, Wayne Newton released a song he co-wrote called "The Letter", based on a discarded note written by Elvis Presley in 1976 during his final stay at the Las Vegas Hilton. The song rose to #1 on the Cashbox Top 100 Pop Singles chart and the Cashbox Top 100 Country Singles chart. Despite this success, the record never appeared on any of Billboard's charts, leading to widespread accusations of chart fixing at the time.

In 1949, Jerry Wexler, editor, reporter and writer for Billboard magazine, coined the term "rhythm and blues", and used it to replace the name of what was then called the Race Records chart.

The first television theme song to top the Billboard Hot 100 was John Sebastian's "Welcome Back", from Welcome Back Kotter, in May, 1976.

Before Atlantic Records would distribute "When A Man Loves A Woman" by Percy Sledge, label executive Jerry Wexler asked that the horns be re-recorded because they were slightly out of tune. A different set of musicians were brought in, but unfortunately the two tapes got mixed up and Atlantic accidentally released the original version. Despite the error, the song would top the Billboard Hot 100, the R&B chart and the Cashbox Top 100.

In 1985, Aretha Franklin's voice was declared a "natural resource" of the State of Michigan.

In 1965, Tommy Cash, Johnny Cash's younger brother, released a song called "I Didn't Walk The Line". That debut single didn't crack the Billboard Country Chart, but nineteen others, issued between 1968 and 2009 did make the list.

Detroit's MC5, who reached #82 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1969 with "Kick Out The Jams", had thirty official members between 1963 and 2024.

Lonnie Donegan's 1955 rendition of "Rock Island Line" was the first debut record to be certified Gold in the UK, where it helped trigger the Skiffle craze.

Paul Simon's 1976, Billboard #1 hit, "50 Ways To Leave Your Lover" was his humorous approach to documenting his divorce from Peggy Harper, to whom he was married from 1969 to 1975.

Vaudeville star Mae West released a Rock 'n' Roll album titled "Way Out West" in June, 1966. Backed by a band called Somebody's Chyldren, the LP was a surprise success, peaking at #116 on Billboard's Hot 200 chart. West was 72 at the time.

In the summer of 1953, "Crazy Man, Crazy" by Bill Haley With Haley's Comets, became the first Rock 'n' Roll song to be heard on American television when it was included on the soundtrack of Glory in the Flower, an episode of the CBS anthology series, Omnibus. The live production featured James Dean playing the type of rebellious youth he would later portray in 1955's Rebel Without a Cause.

"All I Have To Do Is Dream" by The Everly Brothers is the only song in music history to top all of Billboard's singles charts simultaneously. It was number one on the Best Sellers In Stores chart, the Most Played By Jockeys chart, the Top 100, and the R&B chart in the spring of 1958. That's quite an accomplishment for a song that was recorded in just two takes.

The Allman Brothers Band reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1973 with the hard rockin' tune "Ramblin' Man". Amazingly, it also reached #12 on the Easy Listening Chart, surrounded by songs by Johnny Mathis, Art Garfunkel and Marie Osmond.

Gordon Lightfoot's song "If You Could Read My Mind" was written in reflection about his disintegrating marriage with Brita Ingegerd Olaisson in 1973.

Eric Clapton is the only three-time inductee into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. He was elected with The Yardbirds in 1992, with Cream in 1993, and as a solo artist in 2000. As a solo act, he has sold more than 280 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling musicians of all time.

During a career spanning more than half a century, Perry Como recorded exclusively for RCA Victor from 1943 until 1987. He sold over 100 million records worldwide, and placed 136 songs on the Billboard Top 40. His final, non-holiday hit came in 1971 with a cover of Don McLean's "And I Love You So" (#29).

Led Zeppelin's sixth studio album, "Physical Graffiti" was the first album to go Platinum on advance orders alone.

Cher is currently the only artist to have achieved at #1 single on the Billboard charts for seven consecutive decades.

Nancy Sinatra's 1966, Billboard chart topping hit, "These Boots Are Made For Walkin'" was written by Lee Hazlewood, who was inspired by a line spoken by Frank Sinatra in the 1963 comedy-western film 4 for Texas: "They tell me them boots ain't built for walkin'."

The Bee Gees wrote several songs that were hits for artists other than themselves. They include "Grease" by Frankie Valli (#1 in 1978), "More Than A Woman" by Tavares (#32 in 1978), "Islands In The Stream" by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton (#1 in 1983), "If I Can't Have You" by Yvonne Elliman (#1 in 1978), "Woman In Love" by Barbra Streisand (#3 in 1981), "Heartbreaker" by Dionne Warwick (#10 in 1983), "What Kind Of Fool" by Barbra Streisand (#10 in 1981), "Love Me' by Yvonne Elliman (#14 in 1976), "I Just Want To Be Your Everything" by Andy Gibb (#1 in 1977) "(Love Is) Thicker Than Water" by Andy Gibb (#1 in 1977), "Shadow Dancing by Andy Gibb (#1 in 1978), "I Can't Help It" by Andy Gibb and Olivia Newton-John (#12 in 1980), "Emotion" by Samantha Sang (#3 in 1978), "Hold On To My Love" by Jimmy Ruffin (#10 in 1980), "Butterfly" by Unit 4 Plus 2 (UK #10 in 1967).

The albums that sell millions of copies are few and far between. According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, 80% of albums sell less than 100 copies, while 94% of albums have less than 1,000 copies sold.

Although he enjoyed fifteen albums that reached the Billboard 200 between 1967 and 1979, Engelbert Humperdinck has since issued twenty-three consecutive LPs that failed to crack that chart. This includes his 2023 release, "All About Love".

After largely being replaced by cassettes and CDs in the 1980s and 1990s, vinyl records are now making a comeback. According to a 2022 report by the Recording Industry Association of America, for the first time since 1987, vinyl albums outsold CDs. Revenue from vinyl records climbed for the sixteenth year in a row, reaching $1.2 billion.

The Rolling Stones' 1970 LP "Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out!: The Rolling Stones in Concert", became the first live album ever to top the UK's Official Album Chart. It sold about 60,000 copies in Great Britain, but moved over a million in the US, where it was awarded a Platinum Record and reached #6.

Americans bought some 943 million CDs during the medium's heyday in 2000. Since then, CDs have largely fallen out of fashion, with just 33.4 million sold in 2022. The first commercially available CD in America was Bruce Springsteen's "Born In The USA", released on September 21st, 1984.

While the RIAA certifies bestselling albums as Gold, Platinum, Multi-Platinum, or Diamond, it does not dole out the iconic record plaques to artists and labels commemorating their achievement. Instead, award winners can buy an actual plaque from one of four licensed framers.

On September 10th, 1962, Brian Epstein paid £161 each ($450) for two nearly identical Gibson J-160E acoustic-electric guitars for John Lennon and George Harrison at Rushworth's Music House in Liverpool. John used his to co-compose such Beatles classics as "I Saw Her Standing There", "She Loves You", and "I Want to Hold Your Hand". After one of the Beatles' 1963 holiday concerts at the Finsbury Park Astoria Theater in London, John's guitar was left behind by the band's roadie, Mal Evans, who would later recall the moment "when I lost John's guitar" as the lowest point in his early Beatles career. After it surfaced in 2015, the guitar sold at auction for $2.41 million.

In 1966, to boost lagging income from Elvis Presley's movies and albums, Colonel Tom Parker arranged for his client's gold Cadillac to go on tour. Used to promote Presley's latest film, Frankie & Johnny, the car's appearances made more money than the film did.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics state that the average pay of musicians and singers was $30.49 per hour in 2021. A 2018 survey of more than 1,200 musicians in the United States found that 61% of them say that their music income isn't enough to pay their bills.

Bing Crosby's rendition of "White Christmas" has sold more than 30 million copies worldwide since it was released in December, 1942 and was recognized as the best-selling single in any music category for more than 50 years. In 1998, Elton John's tribute to Princess Diana, "Candle in the Wind", overtook it for that honor.

Writing credits for Bobby Helms' annual Christmas hit, "Jingle Bell Rock" are given to Joseph Carleton Beal and James Ross Boothe. Helms and the session guitarist on the song, Hank Garland would maintain until their deaths that the song they were given to record by Decca Records was titled "Jingle Bell Hop", and that it had little to no resemblance to the final song. Helms would claim that he and Garland changed the music, the lyrics, the tempo and added a previously missing bridge. Unfortunately for them, they missed out on writer's royalties.

The Eagles earned the first Platinum Album for "Eagles / Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975" when the RIAA released the prestigious status in 1976. Nearly 50 other albums would also go Platinum that year.

With sales exceeding 150 million records worldwide, Barbra Streisand is the second-highest R.I.A.A. certified female artist in the United States, with 68.5 million in sales. Her accolades include two Academy Awards, ten Grammy Awards, including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and the Grammy Legend Award, five Emmy Awards; four Peabody Awards, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and nine Golden Globes.

On October 31st, 1970, Michelle Phillips of The Mamas And The Papas married actor Dennis Hopper. Eight days later, she filed for divorce. Hopper would later say, "Seven of those days were pretty good. The eighth day was the bad one."

Not everyone was a fan of Elvis Presley, even in his heyday. When the train that he was riding in passed through Hollywood, California on March 23, 1960, a handful of teenagers pelted it with rotten tomatoes. The following day, Presley was given a key to the city, along with an apology for the tomato incident.

In 1996, the Amusement and Music Operators Association of America ranked Patsy Cline's rendition of "Crazy" as the song most played in Jukeboxes in the United States.

In 2006, Australian officials blasted Barry Manilow music from 9 PM until midnight every Friday, Saturday and Sunday to deter gangs of youths from congregating in a residential area.

Fontella Bass has admitted that the call-and-response moans heard on the fade out on her 1965, Billboard Hot 100, #4 hit, "Rescue Me" were unintentional, as she had forgotten the words to the song. Rather than ruin the take by stopping, she just sang "Ummm, ummm, ummm".

The Rolling Stones' second greatest hits compilation, "Through the Past, Darkly" was the first, and probably the last record to be issued in an eight-sided album jacket. The LP would rise to #2 on the UK Official Albums Chart and did the same on the Billboard 200 chart in America. It would go on to reach Platinum status for sales of over one million copies.

One morning in 1967, Smokey Robinson and Al Cleveland were shopping at Hudson's Department store in Detroit, Michigan. Robinson found a set of pearls for his wife, Claudette. "They're beautiful." he said to the salesperson. "I sure hope she likes them." Cleveland then added, "I second that emotion." Both men laughed at Cleveland's malapropism. He had meant to say, "I second that motion." The two were immediately inspired to write a song using the incorrect phrase. After it was recorded by Smokey Robinson And The Miracles, the tune would reach #4 on the Billboard Hot 100, top the R&B chart, and sell over a million copies.

In 2023, Elvis Presley's cherry red, Hagstrom Viking II guitar was valued at five million dollars, making it the world's most expensive guitar.

Speculation about the subject of The Rolling Stones' 1973 hit, "Angie" has raged on for years. Early rumors said it was about David Bowie's first wife, Angela, while others claimed that it referred to Keith Richards' newborn daughter, Dandelion Angela. In a 1993 interview, Richards said that the title was indeed inspired by his baby daughter. He seemed to forget that he wrote in his 2010 memoir Life, that he had chosen the name at random when writing the song, and that was before he knew that his baby would be named Angela or even that it would be a girl. To muddy things even further, Mick Jagger has claimed that he wrote the lyrics in reference to his breakup with Marianne Faithfull.

Robert Plant was once asked: "If you could sing like anybody else, who would it be?" The legendary voice of Led Zeppelin replied, "Burton Cummings".

Although the Eagles' Don Henley is considered by many to be a master word smith, his line in "Hotel California" that says, "Please bring me my wine / He said, we haven't had that spirit here since 1969," is not quite accurate. Wine is not considered a spirit. Spirits are distilled and wine is fermented.

When Bruce Gary, the drummer for The Knack, was asked who his ten favorite drummers were, he named off ten performances by different artists. He was shocked to find out that the drummer on every one of those records was actually the same person, studio musician Hal Blaine.

All four members of Queen wrote a number one hit song. Brian May penned "We Will Rock You", (#1 in France in 1978), Freddie Mercury wrote "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" (#1 in four countries in 1980), John Deacon authored "Another One Bites the Dust" (#1 in four countries in 1980), and Roger Taylor wrote "Radio Ga Ga" (#1 in nine countries in 1984). All four musicians were inducted into America's Songwriters Hall Of Fame in 2003.

In November of 1969, Murry Wilson (father of Brian, Dennis, and Carl Wilson), sold The Beach Boys' publishing company known as Sea Of Tunes to Irving Almo Music for $700,000. That would've equaled around $5.1 million in today's money. It is now considered one of the biggest blunders in music history. In 2023 the songs in the Sea Of Tunes catalog had a net worth of over $70 million, and would fetch over $100 million if it was sold today. To this day it has continued to be one of the most profitable music publishing catalogs in the history of recorded music.

When the group that came to be known simply as The Band signed their first recording contract with Capitol Records, they were still using the name The Crackers. That moniker was quickly vetoed by the label.

Artists who never won a Grammy: Jimi Hendrix, Queen, ABBA, The Beach Boys, Diana Ross, The Who, Buddy Holly, Journey, Bob Marley, Janis Joplin, The Doors and The Grateful Dead. But Kanye West has 22.

The album cover photo for Paul Revere And The Raiders' 1966 album, "Just Like Us!" was taken at Clark Gable's ranch in Encino, California. It peaked at number five on the Billboard 200 albums chart and was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America on January 6th, 1967.

When Chuck Berry first brought a song called "Ida May" to Leonard Chess, the record company owner thought the title was "too rural." Spying a box of mascara on the floor of the studio, Chess said, "Well, hell, let's name the damn thing Maybellene", altering the spelling to avoid a suit by the cosmetic company. The song would go on to reach #5 on the Billboard chart on September 10th, 1955.

Following the release of the album "In Through the Out Door" in August of 1979, Led Zeppelin's entire catalogue returned to the Billboard 200 chart for the weeks of October 27 and November 3.

The Beatles LP "Help!" rose to #1 on the Billboard 200 chart in September, 1965, where it would stay for the next nine weeks. While the band appears to be spelling out H-E-L-P in flag semaphore on the album cover, the actual letters they are displaying are N-V-U-J. Cover photographer Robert Freeman decided that the letters that spell out the LP's title did not make a well balanced photograph.

Donna Summer's fourth studio album, "Four Seasons of Love" contained just five songs, two on Side One and three on Side Two, but all of them went to number one on Billboard's Disco chart. The album peaked at #29 on the Billboard 200 and was certified Gold for sales of 500,000 in the US.

The BBC initially refused to play The Who's 1965 song "My Generation" because it did not want to offend people who stammer. Lead singer Roger Daltrey explained that he stuttered the lyrics simply to try to fit them to the music. After the song rose in popularity, the BBC reversed its decision.

At the time that Johnny Rivers wrote his 1966 US chart topper, "Poor Side Of Town", he was living in the affluent, California city of Beverly Hills.

Randy Bachman has a rare distinction in Rock 'n' Roll history. He was the guitar player for The Guess Who when they became the first Canadian band to ever top the Billboard Hot 100 when "American Woman" rose to number one in 1970. He also played for the second Canadian band to achieve that feat when "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet" by Bachman - Turner Overdrive led the list in 1974.

Although The Beatles' "Yesterday" was nominated for Song of the Year at the 1966 Grammy Awards, it lost out to Tony Bennett's "The Shadow of Your Smile". More than 2,500 cover versions of "Yesterday" exist, making it one of the most recorded songs in history. In 2012, the BBC reported that it was the fourth-most-successful song of all time in terms of royalties paid, having earned a total of 19.5 million Pounds in payments.

English keyboardist Rick Wakeman, who had joined the Progressive Rock band Yes a year earlier, played piano on Cat Stevens' 1972 hit, "Morning Has Broken".

According to the Rolling Stones' Keith Richard, there are nine countries around the world that will not let him enter.

Although much of today's generation can't understand their appeal, The Beatles have sold over 1.6 billion singles in the US alone, and more than 600 million albums worldwide.

Willie Nelson's early draft of "Crazy", made famous by Patsy Cline in 1961, was titled "Stupid". In 1996, the Amusement and Music Operators Association of America named it as the most often played song of all time in American jukeboxes.

The narrator in Johnny Cash's 1955 hit, "Folsom Prison Blues" is serving time in a California prison. It is never made clear why he's incarcerated there for shooting a man in Reno, Nevada.

Actor John Wayne inspired two huge Rock 'n' Roll hits with lines he said in his movies. In the 1956 film Slightly Scarlet he proclaimed, "big girls don't cry", which encouraged Bob Crewe to write The Four Seasons' hit of the same name. Wayne also uttered the phrase "that'll be the day" in the 1956 movie The Searchers, which provided the hook line for The Crickets' 1957 song.

The only two performers to be inducted into both The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame and The Country Music Hall Of Fame are Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash.

Elvis Presley's 1962 hit, "Can't Help Falling In Love With You" was initially written from the perspective of a woman, as "Can't Help Falling in Love with Him", which explains the second and fifth lines ending with "in" and "sin" rather than words rhyming with "you".

When The Beach Boys first signed with Capitol Records in July, 1962, their contract stipulated that each band member would receive one cent for each single sold and three cents for each album.

KISS bassist Gene Simmons was born Chaim Witz in 1949 in Haifa, Israel. He took his stage name to honor Jumpin' Gene Simmons, an American singer and songwriter best known for his 1964, #11 novelty single "Haunted House".

The first Pop/Rock group to have their own prime-time TV series was Kenny Rogers And The First Edition, who hosted Rollin' on the River. The program ran in syndication from 1971 to 1973 and was carried by 163 US TV stations and 12 stations in Canada.

Jerry Samuels, who recorded the novelty hit, "They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!" in 1966 as Napoleon XIV, passed away on March 10th, 2023 at the age of 84. His song reached #3 in America and #4 in Great Britain, despite the fact that many people thought that it ridiculed the insane. The record actually sold over one million copies and was awarded a Gold disc.

On June 28th 1997, Bob Carlisle's LP, "Butterfly Kisses" became the first contemporary Christian album to hit #1 on the Billboard 200. It also topped the Adult Contemporary chart and the Billboard Christian Albums chart. Written for his daughter Brooke's 16th birthday, the title track received a Dove Award for Song of the Year, as well as a Grammy Award for Best Country Song.

Starting May 21^st, 1977, Fleetwood Mac's album "Rumours" topped the Billboard Hot 100 for 27 non-consecutive weeks. It's streak was interrupted the week ending July 16^th by "Barry Manilow Live".

Comedian Moms Mabley, the vaudeville star and stand-up comedian, became the oldest living person to have a Billboard Top 40 hit when her cover of Dion's "Abraham, Martin and John" reached #35 in 1969, when she was 75 years old. 63-year-old Louis Armstrong was the oldest person to ever top the list when he had a number one hit with "Hello Dolly!" in May, 1964.

Between August, 1964 and March, 1968, Herman's Hermits placed eighteen songs on the Billboard Top 40, with only two of their releases failing to chart.

In 1963, when boxer Muhammad Ali was still known as Cassius Clay, he released an album of spoken word music on Columbia Records titled, "I Am the Greatest", which sold 500,000 copies. The LP has been cited as an early example of Rap music and a forerunner to Hip Hop. It reached #61 on the Billboard 200 album chart and was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album at the 6th Annual Grammy Awards in 1964.

In February, 1981, a novelty song by Joe Dolce called "Shaddap You Face" became Australia's best selling single ever, moving 450,000 copies. It topped the chart in fifteen countries around the globe and continues to be the most successful Australian-produced single worldwide, selling an estimated six million units. In America, it reached #53 on the Hot 100.

On January 24, 1978, workers at EMI's record pressing plant in the London Borough of Hillingdon, refused to make copies of Buzzcocks' forthcoming release, "What Do I Get" because the song on the B-side was titled "Oh Shit". The same workers had refused to press "God Save The Queen" by The Sex Pistols the year before. Eventually they would relent and make the disc. The single would be released on February 3rd, and rose to #37 on the UK Singles Chart.

Aretha Franklin became pregnant at the age of 12 and gave birth to her first child, named Clarence after her father, on January 28, 1955. On August 31, 1957, at the age of 15, Franklin had a second child, Edward. Both children took her family name.

The Kingston Trio enjoyed a Billboard number one smash with "Tom Dooley" in 1959. The story is based on the 1866 murder of a woman named Laura Foster in Wilkes County, North Carolina by a man named Tom Dula. Dula's last name was pronounced "Dooley", with the pronunciation of a final "a" like "y" (or "ee"), an old feature in Appalachian speech, as in the term "Grand Ole Opry".

Paul McCartney has confirmed that the reason the drums don't start in "Hey Jude" until the first chorus is that he didn't notice that Ringo had gone to use the toilet, and started recording without him. When the drummer came back, he joined in perfectly. Of the four takes that were recorded, that one was chosen as the final track.

The song "Barbara-Ann" was written by a man named Fred Fassert, who used his sister's name as the title. His brother Chuck was in the New York, Doo-Wop group, The Regents. They recorded it in 1958, but the single wasn't released until 1961, after the group broke up. The record then climbed to #13 on the Billboard Hot 100. The Beach Boys covered the tune on their 1965 album "Beach Boys' Party!", and without their knowledge or permission, Capitol Records issued it as a single in December of that year. Dean Torrence of Jan And Dean is featured on lead vocals along with Brian Wilson. The record went to #2 on the Hot 100 and #1 on the Cash Box Best Sellers Chart.

Mae West initially refused to allow her image to be on the cover of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", but changed her mind after receiving a personal letter from the band that said they were all fans of her work. In 1978, Ringo Starr returned the favor when he appeared in West's final movie, Sextette.

During the 1960s, Home Alone actor Joe Pesci played guitar in several bands, including a touring edition of Joey Dee And The Starlighters.

By 1964, the Ludwig Drum Company had yearly sales of $6.1 million. After Ringo Starr rose to fame using his oyster black pearl Ludwig Super Classic drum kit, the company's sales more than doubled to $13.1 million and their biggest problem was keeping up with the burgeoning demand.

After Bob Dylan was injured in a motorcycle accident in July, 1966, his backing group, who eventually became known as The Band, returned to the bar and roadhouse circuit supporting other singers, including a brief stint with Tiny Tim.

When Elvis Presley bought Graceland in 1957, one of the first things he did was have a wall put up around the entire property, at a cost of $35,000.

When he was trying to put the song "Michelle" together, Paul McCartney asked Jan Vaughan, a French teacher and the wife of his old friend Ivan Vaughan, to come up with a French name and a phrase that rhymed with it. She came up with "Michelle, ma belle." A few days later McCartney asked for a translation of "These are words that go together well", and got "Sont des mots qui vont tres bien ensemble." Paul explained, "Years later I sent her a cheque around. I thought I better had because she's virtually a co-writer on that."

The Beach Boys and George Harrison have accomplished a feat that has yet to be equalled. Both artists are the only members of The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame to be inducted in the same year they had a number one song on the Billboard Hot 100. (1988) Harrison's cover of the 1962 James Ray tune "Got My Mind Set On You" went to the top of the charts just a week before The Beatles were inducted into the RRHOF in January of 1988. To this day it is the last song to top the Billboard Hot 100 by any of the former Beatles. The Beach Boys would also have a number one song with "Kokomo", which topped the chart seven months after they were inducted into the Hall OF Fame, becoming their first number one song on the Hot 100 since "Good Vibrations" twenty-two years earlier, and the last number one song the group has had to date.

Rock 'n' Roll pioneer Jerry Lee Lewis earned the nickname "The Killer", not for anything he did offstage, but because of his ability to completely overshadow any other performers on the bill.
The Rolling Stones' iconic lips and tongue logo was designed by artist John Pasche, who was originally paid 50 pounds for creating the design. The Stones were so pleased with the symbol that, in 1972, they gave him a bonus of 200 pounds. It was only in 1976, when an official contract was drawn up between himself and Musidor B.V., the band's Netherlands-based law firm, that the designer began receiving 10 percent of net income on sales of merchandise displaying the image. Pasche estimated he made "a few thousand pounds" in royalties until 1982, when he sold his copyright to the band for 26,000 pounds.

The Beatles held the record on the Billboard Hot 100 chart with 34 Top Ten hits between 1962's "Love Me Do" and 1995's "Free As A Bird". Madonna tied that record with "Don't Tell Me", her 34th Top Ten hit, in February 2001, and overtook them with the James Bond theme "Die Another Day" the following year. In 2020, Canadian rapper and singer Drake scored his 39th and 40th Top Ten hits and overtook them both.

In 1971, John Lennon said the only true songs he ever wrote were "Help!" and "Strawberry Fields Forever". He said they were the only songs he wrote from experience and not by projecting himself into a situation and "writing a nice little story about it."

In 1961, The New York Daily News magazine called Robert Goulet "Just the man to help stamp out Rock 'n' Roll." Some Elvis insiders say that every time Presley saw Goulet appear on TV, he would actually shoot the set with one of the guns he stockpiled.

As a studio musician, Glen Campbell played lead guitar on The Beach Boys' "Dance, Dance, Dance", "Good Vibrations" and "Help Me Rhonda". He was also a full time member of the Beach Boys' touring group from December 1964 to early March 1965.


Len Barry, who scored a Billboard #2 hit in 1965 with "1-2-3", was the lead singer of The Dovells, who had five Top 40 hits, including "Bristol Stomp", "Hully Gully Baby", and "You Can't Sit Down". He was born Leonard Warren Borisoff.

Although "We're All Alone" had been recorded by it's writer Boz Scaggs, as well as Frankie Valli, The Walker Brothers and The Three Degrees, the rendition by Rita Coolidge was by far the most successful, reaching #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the autumn of 1977. It was her second biggest hit behind "Higher And Higher", which went to #2 earlier that same year.

The Everly Brothers "Bye Bye Love," was rejected by 30 labels before Cadence Records picked it up. The song went to #2 on the Billboard Top 100 and #1 on the Country & Western chart and the Cashbox Best Sellers list in 1957.

Peter Noone, lead singer of Herman's Hermits, got his nickname after the guys in the band remarked on Peter's resemblance to the character Sherman in the TV cartoon The Bullwinkle Show. Peter mis-heard the name as Herman.

During his final tour with The Animals, Chas Chandler saw a then-unknown Jimi Hendrix play at Cafe Wha?, a Greenwich Village, New York City nightclub. After convincing Hendrix to return to England with him, Chandler recruited bassist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell to form The Jimi Hendrix Experience. As the band's manager, Chandler was a key figure in Hendrix's rise to critical and commercial success.

Silent film star Charlie Chaplin wrote a tune called "This Is My Song" in 1966 with the intention of having Al Jolson record it. After being reminded that Jolson had died in 1950, Chaplin considered having it sung by Petula Clark, who had a home in Switzerland near his residence. Clark recorded the song in French as "C'est Ma Chanson", in German as "Love, So Heisst Mein Song", and in Italian as "Cara Felicita", but balked at an English version because she disliked the deliberately old-fashioned lyrics, which Chaplin refused to alter. With only a few minutes remaining in the recording session, Clark relented, and sang Chaplin's lyrics. She assumed that the song would only be used as an album track, and tried to block Pye Records' plans to release it as a single. The disc would go on to top the UK chart on February 16th, 1967, and reached the Top Ten in thirteen other countries, including the U.S. where it made it to #3.

"Danny's Song" was written by Kenny Loggins as a gift for his brother Danny for the birth of his son, Colin. Dave Loggins, whose "Please Come To Boston" was a 1974 hit, is their cousin.

Elvis Presley holds several music industry records, including the most RIAA certified Gold and Platinum albums, the most albums charted on the Billboard 200, the most number-one albums by a solo artist on the UK Albums Chart, and the most number-one singles by any act on the UK Singles Chart. In 2018, Presley was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Abbey Road Studios, where The Beatles recorded most of their material, had their first UK number one single in January, 1954 with Eddie Calvert's "Oh, Mein Papa", which topped the chart for nine weeks.

After Marvin Gaye Sr. shot and killed his son Marvin Jr. on April 1st, 1984, he was initially charged with first-degree murder. The charge was eventually reduced to voluntary manslaughter and Marvin Sr. received a six-year suspended sentence and five years of probation. He died at a nursing home in 1998.

Telma Hopkins of Tony Orlando And Dawn is one of the voices you hear on Isaac Hayes' song "Shaft" that tells him, "Shut your mouth".

None of Frank Sinatra's twenty-nine singing partners were actually in the studio with him for the recording of his "Duets" and "Duets II" albums in 1993 and '94.

The term 'The Big Apple' was coined by touring Jazz musicians of the 1930s who used the slang expression 'apple' for any town or city. Therefore, to play New York City Is to play the big time - The Big Apple.

Harry Chapin's "I Wanna Learn A Love Song" is actually the true story of how he met his wife, Sandy. The record reached #44 on the Hot 100 and #7 on the Adult Contemporary chart in 1974.

June 26th played an important and strange role in Elvis Presley's life. His manager, Col. Tom Parker was born on that date in 1909. On June 26th, 1954, Elvis was first called into the Sun Records office. Three years later, on that exact day, he spent his first night at Graceland. He performed his last show at the Market Square Arena, Indianapolis, Indiana on that date in 1977. Elvis' father, Vernon, died that same day in 1979.

Sheb Wooley recorded the first commercial record made in Nashville, Tennessee on December 29, 1945, on the Bullet label with "I Can't Live Without You" b/w "Oklahoma Honky Tonk Girl". It was 13 years later when Wooley scored his biggest hit, "The Purple People Eater" which was #1 for six weeks in June and July, 1958.

Norman Greenbaum's 1970 hit, "Spirit In The Sky" makes several references to Jesus, even though Greenbaum himself is Jewish.

Fats Domino had 37 Billboard Top 40 hits, 11 of which made the Top 10. Despite all of those successes, he never achieved a number one record.

Donovan Leich has said that he wrote many of his hit songs, including "Sunshine Superman", about a woman named Linda Lawrence, who he met in 1965. She was the ex-girlfriend of Rolling Stones guitarist, Brian Jones. Things didn't work out at the time and she moved to America, but they met again in 1970, married a short time later and have two children together.

Lesley Gore's 1963, Billboard number one hit, "It's My Party" was written by freelance song writer Seymour Gottlieb with John Gluck, Wally Gold and Herb Weiner, who were all staff writers employed at the Aaron Schroeder Music firm. Gottlieb's lyrics were based on actual events relating to his daughter Judy's sweet 16 party. Judy recalled to the New York Daily News in 2015, "My parents insisted that my grandparents had to be invited. I of course, being a bratty teenager, said I didn't want them there. I burst into tears, and my father said, 'Don't cry.'" She responded by exclaiming: "It's my party, and I'll cry if I want to."

Pete Best, the drummer who was kicked out of The Beatles in favor of Ringo Starr, missed out on a lot of fame and fortune. That all changed in 1995 when The Fab Four released their "Anthology" retrospective, which included several tracks with Best on drums. This entitled him to a cut of the royalties, estimated to be between $1.3 and $5.2 million.

Eric Clapton was the first person to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame three times, first with The Yardbirds, a second time with Cream, and a third time for his solo career.

Paul McCartney hasn't sung "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" since the Abbey Road sessions back in 1969, although he did deliver a spoken-word rendition at New York City's 92nd Street Y in 2001. Ringo Starr called it "The worst track we ever had to record."

"My Boy Lollipop" rose to #2 in both the UK and the US in 1964 and enjoyed worldwide sales of over seven million copies, but Millie Small would later say that she received no royalties from the single. In 1987, during a rare interview with Thames News, it was revealed that Small was destitute and had taken to living in a hostel with her toddler daughter.

Along with children's books and TV and movie screenplays, Shel Silverstein also wrote several hit records, including "Sylvia's Mother" and "The Cover Of Rolling Stone" for Dr. Hook, "A Boy Named Sue" for Johnny Cash and "The Unicorn" by The Irish Rovers.

In 2022, 8.9 million viewers tuned in to watch the Grammy Awards. In 1964, with a much smaller population and no social media, 72 million people watched The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show. That was 1/3 of the population in the United States.

Tom Jones' 1971 hit, "She's A Lady" was written by Paul Anka, who released a new rendition of the song on his 2013 "Duets" CD that featured Jones. Anka updated the lyrics of the first verse because he said he disliked the original's chauvinistic sentiments. (She always knows her place, she's got style, she's got grace.)

Session drummer Hal Blaine played on 41 Billboard #1 hits, including "I Get Around" by The Beach Boys, "Mr Tambourine Man" by The Byrds, "Monday Monday" by The Mamas And The Papas, and "Cracklin Rosie" by Neil Diamond.

Creedence Clearwater Revival had 17 Billboard Top 40 hits, four of which made it to number 2. In their four year run between 1968 and 1972, they never achieved a chart topping record.

One of The Hollies' major hits came about by way of a happy accident. George Martin's secretary, Shirley, heard Phil Everly singing a solo album cut called "The Air That I Breathe" on the radio, and remarked that it would be a great song for The Hollies to record. Martin relayed the comment to the band's A&R man, Ron Richards, and soon the group had themselves a hit that reached #2 in the UK and #6 in America.

Smokey Robinson has said that he wrote "Shop Around" in about twenty minutes, intending to have singer Barrett Strong record it. When he played it for Barry Gordy, he insisted that The Miracles record it instead. It became Motown's first million selling record.

Most talent appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show for union scale because of the publicity it would bring them. The Beatles, on the other hand, only agreed to appear if the show covered their travel costs and paid them a $10,000 fee (roughly $90,000 in 2022 dollars). Sullivan and his producers consented only if The Beatles promised to make three appearances, which they did.

In the mid-1970s, Bruce Johnston wrote "I Write the Songs", which was originally recorded by Captain & Tennille. The song became a Billboard number one hit by Barry Manilow, for which Johnston won a Grammy Award for Song of the Year in 1977. "I Write the Songs" would go on to be recorded by over two hundred artists, including Frank Sinatra.

From its inception in 1967 until the end of 2016, over 175 musicians have been a part of Blood, Sweat And Tears' touring band.

Donovan Leich said that he wrote "Hurdy Gurdy Man" about Maharishi Mahesh Yogi while in Rishikesh in India, where he was studying Transcendental Meditation with the Beatles. In the song, Donovan finds a shimmer of enlightenment when he awakes from a sleep to see a hurdy-gurdy man singing songs of love. A hurdy-gurdy is an odd instrument resembling an organ grinder. It is played by turning a crank and pressing buttons to play notes. Oddly enough, there is no hurdy-gurdy on the track.

Lawrence Darrow Brown made several attempts to record a hit record under his birth name, but success eluded him. That began to change after someone at the small, independent Stripe Records suggested that he use the stage name "Dobie Gray", an allusion to the then-popular sitcom The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis. His vocal arrangement of "The 'In' Crowd" reached #13 in 1963 and "Drift Away" peaked at #5 in 1973.

Leo Fender, who founded the Fender Electric Instrument Manufacturing Company, makers of the Telecaster, the Stratocaster and the Precision Bass, never learned to play the guitar. He was, however, inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992. Leo passed away on March 21, 1991 at the age of 81, and true to his character, worked until the day before his death doing exactly what he loved.

Mama Cass' 1968 hit, "Dream a Little Dream of Me" was first recorded by Ozzie Nelson in 1931. Over the years the song has become a Pop standard, recorded by over sixty other artists.

Tom Jones recorded "It's Not Unusual" as a demo for English singer Sandy Shaw. When she heard it, she was so impressed with Tom's voice that she turned it down and suggested he record it instead. When he did, the record went to the top of the UK chart and to #10 in America.

Gene MacLellan wrote Anne Murray's million selling, 1970 hit, "Snowbird" in about twenty minutes after seeing a flock of snow buntings on a wintry Prince Edward Island beach as they prepared to fly South. Suffering from depression throughout his life, MacLellan committed suicide at his home on January 19, 1995, shortly after being released from an acute care hospital.

The Hollies had over 30 charting singles on the UK Singles Chart and 22 on the Billboard Hot 100. At least 60 singles or EPs and 26 albums charted somewhere in the world, spanning over five decades. They are one of the few UK groups of the early 1960s, along with The Rolling Stones, who have never disbanded.

When "Paper Roses" reached number one, 14-year-old Marie Osmond became the youngest female artist and youngest solo artist to reach the top of the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart.

When Carly Simon was a child she suffered from extreme stammering and, by her own admission, "Could hardly put together a complete sentence."

Session drummer Hal Blain set a record that will probably never be broken, as he played on forty Billboard number one hits.

Eddie Fisher, father of Star Wars actress Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia) was a major recording star in his own right. Between 1954 and 1956, he reached the Billboard Top 40 eleven times, including four that made the Top 10.

One of the reasons that Elvis Presley is remembered as The King Of Rock And Roll is that he had 114 Billboard Top 40 hits, far more than the runner up, Elton John, who had 58.

Although The Ventures had a Billboard number four hit with "Hawaii Five-O Theme" in May, 1969, the song used during the opening of the TV show of the same name was recorded by studio musicians known as The Wrecking Crew, which included John Guerin - drums, Ray Pohlman - bass, Jim Horn - sax, Tom Scott - sax, Gene Estes - tympani, and Tommy Tedesco - lead guitar.

Perry Como placed 31 songs on the Billboard Top 40 chart between 1954 and 1973, including the chart toppers "Hot Diggity", "Round And Round" and "Catch A Falling Star". His final entry, Don McLean's "And I Love You So", which reached #8, came when he was 61 years old.

When Gene Pitney was recording his 1962, Billboard #4 hit, "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance", he was surprised to learn that the song would not be included in the film by the same name as it had already opened in theatres.

22-year-old Donna Summer sang backup vocals on Three Dog Night's 1970 chart topper, "Mama Told Me Not To Come", but was not credited. It would be over five years before she broke through with her own #2 hit, "Love To Love You Baby".

Billy Ray Cyrus' Country Crossover hit, "Achy Breaky Heart" reached #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and stayed on the chart for an amazing 22 weeks in 1992. Weird Al Yankovic parodied the song the following year, but later felt that his effort was "mean spirited" and donated its proceeds to charity.

Although he placed a total of forty-four songs on the Billboard Top 40, six of which made the Top 10, James Brown never had a number one hit on that chart.

Lamonte McLemore of The Fifth Dimension was the first African American athlete to try out for the St. Louis Cardinals. He was also the first African American photographer hired by Harper's Bazaar magazine and took the cover photo for Stevie Wonder's first album.

The recording session for The Teddy Bears' "To Know Him Is To Love Him" lasted only 20 minutes and cost just $75. The single would reach #1 on the Billboard chart in early December, 1958 and sell over 1.4 million copies.

No male Rock group has had more Billboard Hot 100 number one hits than Dayrl Hall And John Oates, who achieved that feat six times. The Four Seasons, the Eagles and KC And The Sunshine Band are second with five each.

The album cover for Herb Alpert And The Tijuana Brass' 1965 chart topping album "Whipped Cream And Other Delights" featured a photo of Dolores Erickson covered in what appeared to be whipped cream. It was really cotton batting and shaving cream, because real whipped cream turned runny under hot lights. Although Dolores was posed seductively, she actually wore a bikini and was three months pregnant at the time of the photo shoot.

Kerry Chater, who was a member of Gary Puckett And The Union Gap from 1966 to 1970, went on to become a prolific songwriter, penning Lee Greenwood's 1983 smash, "I.O.U." That record reached #6 on the Billboard Country chart and #4 on the Adult Contemporary chart.

The Lovin' Spoonful and Gary Lewis And The Playboys were the only artists during the 1960s to have their first seven Billboard Hot 100 hits reach that chart's Top 10.

The Carpenters had five hits that couldn't quite reach the top and stalled at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. They are second in chart history only behind Madonna, who had six number two records.

Ruthann Friedman, the writer of The Association's 1967 hit, "Windy" has stated that she originally wrote the song about a man, and that the band changed the lyrics to make it about a woman.

Bobbie Gentry, whose 1967 hit, "Ode To Billie Joe" topped the Billboard 100 and brought her Grammy awards for Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, made her final public appearance when she attended the Academy of Country Music Awards on April 30, 1982. She was 40 years old at the time. Since then, she has not recorded, performed or been interviewed.

For 68 weeks, between August 8^th, 1963 and October 8^th, 1964, Roy Orbison was the only American artist to have a number one hit in the U.K. He actually did it twice, with "It's Over" and "Oh, Pretty Woman".

The Australian band The Easybeats scored a Billboard #16 hit with "Friday On My Mind" in 1967. Their rhythm guitarist, George Young, would go on to co-produce the first six albums for his brothers' group, AC/DC.

Songwriter Wayne Carson Thompson said it only took him about five minutes to write the words and music to "The Letter". The Box Tops took it to the top of the Billboard chart for four weeks in 1967, a version by The Arbors rose to #20 in 1969, Joe Cocker reached #7 with it in 1970, and it became a #13 hit for Deborah Washington on the Billboard Dance Chart in 1978. Over the years, the song has been recorded by over 200 artists.

In July, 1971, "Indian Reservation" by Paul Revere And The Raiders became the only number one song credited to the group. It was Columbia Record's biggest-selling single ever, and stayed that way for almost a decade, moving over six million units. The only caveat was that none of The Raiders, including Paul Revere, actually played on the recording. Mark Lindsay was backed by members of The Wrecking Crew, including Hal Blaine on drums, Al Casey on guitar, Carol Kaye on bass guitar and Artie Butler on piano and organ.

Bruce Johnston, who would go on to become a member of The Beach Boys and later pen Barry Manilow's 1975 hit, "I Write The Songs", played piano on Sandy Nelson's 1959, instrumental hit, "Teen Beat".

Paul McCartney once called The Beach Boys' "God Only Knows" 'the greatest song ever written.'

Mason Williams' 1968, Billboard #2 hit, "Classical Gas" was originally named "Classical Gasoline", but the title was later inadvertently shortened by a music copyist.

Carly Simon told interviewer Howard Sturn that she wrote her 1972, #13 hit, "Anticipation" while waiting for her date, Cat Stevens, to show up.

The Beatles, The Jackson 5, The Monkees, The Bay City Rollers, New Kids On The Block and MC Hammer have all had their own Saturday morning cartoon shows.

The song "Angel of the Morning" was originally offered to Connie Francis, but she turned it down because she thought that the love affair lyrical message was too risque for her image. Merrilee Rush took the song to #7 on the Hot 100 in 1968, and Juice Newton had a #4 hit with it in 1981.

Johnny Cash was named J. R. Cash at birth. When he enlisted in the Air Force, he was not permitted to use initials as a first name, so he assumed the name John R. Cash.

Before she became a recording star, Martha Reeves of The Vandellas worked at Motown Records, answering phones and doing payroll.

Anne Murray was the first solo Canadian female to be awarded a Gold Record in the United States. (for "Snowbird")

Henry Gross, who would enjoy a Billboard #6 hit in 1976 with "Shannon", was the youngest person, at age 18, to play on the main stage at the Woodstock Music & Art Fair in 1969 as a member of Sha Na Na.

When asked about The Bee Gees' #11 hit, "Massachusetts" in 1967, Robin Gibb said, "We have never been there, but we loved the word, and there is always something magic about American place names."

On October 19th, 1961, The Beatles and their friends Jerry And The Pacemakers joined forces for a show at the Litherland Town Hall, where they appeared as The Beatmakers.

Chris Montez, who had two big hits in the 1960s, "Let's Dance" (#4 in 1962) and "The More I See You" (#16 in 1966), is the youngest of twenty children.

Sam Cooke's 1960, #12 hit, "Wonderful World" was co-written by trumpeter Herb Alpert.

Engelbert Humperdinck's wife, Patricia, once said that she could wallpaper their bedroom with all of the paternity lawsuits filed against her husband. Two of those suits were successful in the 1970s and 1980s.

Dan Seals of England Dan and John Ford Coley earned the nickname, "England Dan" from his family, because as a youngster he had fixated on The Beatles and briefly affected an English accent. Dan is the brother of Jim Seals of Seals and Crofts.

Among those who sang the chorus of The Beatles' "All You Need Is Love" were Mick Jagger, Eric Clapton, Marianne Faithfull, Keith Richards, Keith Moon, Graham Nash, Pattie Boyd, and Mike McGear.

British crooner Arnold George Dorsey uses the stage name Englebert Humperdinck, the name of the Austrian composer who is best known for having composed the opera Hansel and Gretel.

British singer Lulu, best remembered for her 1967 hit "To Sir With Love", was married to Maurice Gibb of The Bee Gees from 1969 until early 1973.

From 1962 to 1975, Bobby Vinton had more #1 hits than any other male vocalist, including Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra.

When comedian Jerry Lewis died on August 20^th, 2017, all of his children and grandchildren from his first wife Patti Palmer, including singer Gary Lewis, were excluded from inheriting any part of the estate. Gary has publicly called his father a "mean and evil person."

The Rolling Stones became the first Rock group to ever receive royalties from record sales in Russia when Soviet copyright laws were changed in 1975.

British singer Cilla Black, most often remembered for her U.K. number one hit "Anyone Who Had a Heart", had her stage name changed by accident. She was featured in the first edition of the local music newspaper Mersey Beat, but the editor used the wrong color as her surname, which Cilla then decided to keep. Her real name is Cilla White.

Before she broke through as an actress on Married With Children), Katey Sagal was a backup singer for Bob Dylan, Bette Midler and Etta James.

Although he seldom played in public, Elvis Presley was an accomplished pianist.

Linda Ronstadt's first Billboard Top 40 hit, "Different Drum" was written by Mike Nesmith in 1964, over a year and a half before he became a member of The Monkees. Ronstadt's rendition rose to #13 in early 1968.

The Tremeloes 1967, Billboard #13 hit, "Here Comes My Baby" was written by Cat Stevens, who also recorded the song and included it on his debut album, "Matthew And Son", in March of that same year.

Ray Sawyer, vocalist for Dr. Hook, wore an eye patch because he lost an eye in a 1967 auto accident.

Johnnie Taylor's 1976 hit, "Disco Lady" was the first single to be certified Platinum by the RIAA, ultimately selling over 2.5 million copies.

Barry Manilow was once a page boy at CBS and was later Bette Midler's musical director. Before having his first hit record with "Mandy" in early 1975, Barry earned a living writing commercials, including the jingles for State Farm Insurance, Band Aids, Stridex, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Dr. Pepper, Pepsi, and McDonalds.

The Bellamy Brothers' 1976, Billboard number one hit, "Let Your Love Flow" was written by Larry Williams, a one-time roadie for Neil Diamond.

John Lennon's killer, Mark David Chapman remained married to his wife Gloria, whom he wed on June 2^nd, 1979. Even after the horrible crime he committed, she refused to divorce him.

Songwriter Mike Campbell of The Heartbreakers has said that he came up with the music to Don Henley's 1991 hit "The Heart of the Matter" during a bowel movement.

On June 7, 1979, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service charged Chuck Berry with three counts of tax evasion. Just hours later, he performed at a concert for President Jimmy Carter on the front lawn of the White House.

The B-side of Nino Tempo and April Stevens' 1963, #1 hit, "Deep Purple" was called "I've Been Carrying A Torch For You So Long That It Burned A Great Big Hole In My Heart". It was the longest title of a flipside of a Billboard number one record until Prince's "When Doves Cry" in 1984 had "17 Days (The rain will come down, then U will have 2 choose. If U believe, look 2 the dawn and U shall never lose.)" on its flipside.

In June, 1972, Elvis Presley offered the press a chance to interview him for a fee of $120,000. There were no takers.

Roy Orbison's trademark look came about in 1963 when he accidentally left his regular glasses on an aeroplane and had to rely on a pair of prescription sun-glasses. His management liked the mysterious look it gave him, and soon, they were the only ones he wore.

The Beach Boys 1964 album "Beach Boys Concert" was the first live album to ever top the Billboard 200 chart. It stayed at number one for a month and remained on the chart for sixty-two weeks.

The Hollies' 1969 version of "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother" featured 22-year-old Elton John on piano.

Gary Lewis of Gary Lewis And The Playboys was supposed to be named "Carey" at birth, after actor Cary Grant, but the hospital made a mistake and recorded his name as "Gary".

While playing in front of a large lake at the Crystal Palace Bowl in London in 1970, Pink Floyd played so loud, a number of fish were killed.

Before forming The Dave Clark Five and scoring seventeen Billboard Top 40 hits, drummer Dave Clark worked as a stunt man in over 40 films.

Songwriter Mike Stoller, the co-writer of Elvis Presley's "Hound Dog", survived the sinking of the Italian ocean liner Andrea Doria in the Atlantic Ocean on July 25th 1956. Forty-six others died.

Three members of The Young Rascals, Felix Cavaliere, Gene Cornish and Eddie Brigati, were once members of Joey Dee And The Starlighters' touring band. That group is most often remembered for their 1961, number one hit, "The Peppermint Twist".

Gene Vincent's 1956, Billboard #7 hit, "Be-Bop-A-Lula" was first sent in to Capitol Records as part of an Elvis sound-alike contest. A re-recorded version gave Vincent his first chart maker.

In 1958, the Esso Research Center reported that "tuning in rock & roll music on a car radio can cost a motorist money, because the rhythm can cause a driver to unconsciously jiggle the gas pedal, thus wasting fuel."

Woodstock Ventures, the sponsors of the original, 1969 Woodstock Festival, lost more than $1.2 million on the concert. It wasn't until the early 1980s that they were finally able to pay off the last of their debt.

When 'Mama' Cass Elliot died on July 29th, 1974, London Metropolitan Police told reporters that a partially eaten sandwich found in her room might have been relevant to the cause of death. An autopsy was later performed and it was determined that Elliot had died of heart failure, and that no food was present in her windpipe.

Florists Transworld Delivery (FTD) reported that on August 17^th, 1977, the day after Elvis Presley died, the number of orders for flowers to be delivered to Graceland had surpassed the number for any other event in the company's history.

In August, 1983 Paul Simon married actress Carrie Fisher, who played Princess Leia in the Star Wars trilogy. The marriage lasted less than a year.

When Tina Turner left her husband and former bandmate, Ike Turner in 1975, she was carrying nothing more than thirty-six cents in change and a gas station credit card. In August, 1984 she was awarded a Gold Record for "What's Love Got To Do With It".

Keith Moon, drummer for The Who, died in a London flat owned by Harry Nilsson. Cass Elliot had died there four years earlier.

Tom Jones lost a paternity suit in July of 1989 and was ordered to pay $200 a week in child support to 27 year old Katherine Berkery of New York. The judge in the case was Judge Judy Sheindlin, who was still serving in her fifteen year tenure as a New York Family Court judge before appearing in her court TV show, Judge Judy.

The Swedish quartet ABBA is generally thought of as being made up of two married couples, but this was only true for a short time. Three months after Benny Anderson married his long time live-in girl friend, Anni-Frid Lyngstad in 1978, Bjorn Ulvaeus and Agnetha Faltskog separated, and divorced soon after. Benny and Anni-Frid also split in 1981.

Hank Ballard And The Midnighters made music history in September, 1960, when they became the first group to have three songs in the U.S. Hot 100 at the same time: "Finger Poppin’ Time", "Let’s Go, Let’s Go, Let’s Go" and "The Twist".

Before he was convicted of murder, Charles Manson befriended Beach Boys' drummer Dennis Wilson, who convinced the rest of the band to record a Manson composition called "Cease To Exist". The title was changed to "Never Learn Not To Love" and was released as the B-side of the single "Bluebirds Over The Mountain", which eventually climbed to number 61 in early 1969, giving Manson a hit record on Billboard's Hot 100.

The Nelsons are the only family in history to have three generations that had a Billboard number one hit. Ozzie Nelson lead his orchestra to the top of the chart in 1932 with "And Then Some", Rick Nelson topped all others in 1961 with "Poor Little Fool" and "Travelin' Man", and Rick's sons, Gunnar and Matthew had a chart topper in 1990 with "Love & Affection".

When Pink Floyd's "Dark Side Of The Moon" finally fell off of Billboard's album chart in October 1988, it had set a record of 741 weeks on the list. Only one of those weeks was at number one.

In 1968, on the night before they were scheduled to perform on The Ed Sullivan Show, Country Joe And The Fish played at a beer festival in Central Park, where they debuted their soon-to-be-famous "Fish Cheer", where Country Joe McDonald leads the audience, "Gimme an F! Gimme a U!", and so on. Sullivan himself was in the audience that night, and was so angry that he approached the band backstage and told them they could keep their $2,500 appearance fee, but they would never, ever appear on his television program. Thus, Country Joe And The Fish became the only band ever paid not to appear on the Sullivan show.

"To Sir With Love", the 1967 hit by Lulu, topped both the Billboard Hot 100 and the Cashbox Best Sellers chart in the United States. In her homeland of Great Britain, the song failed to chart at all and appeared only as the B-side to "Let's Pretend".

In 1966, Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys spent six months recording, editing and re-mixing "Good Vibrations" in seventeen different sessions, in four Los Angeles studios, at a cost of over sixteen thousand dollars. The recording engineer would later say that the last take sounded exactly like the first, six months earlier.

In 1955, Billboard magazine published its annual disc jockey poll that named Elvis Presley as "the most promising Country And Western artist."

The Beatles recorded "Strawberry Fields Forever" during the sessions for "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" in the fall of 1966. The song was left off the album, but appeared on 1968's "Magical Mystery Tour".

Paul McCartney's younger brother, Michael, formed a comedy/music group of his own in 1962 called The Scaffold. In 1968 they topped the U.K. chart with a song called "Lily The Pink". Known professionally as Mike McGear, he is mentioned in the lyric of "Let 'Em In" as Brother Michael

The phrase "Teenage Idol" was first used by Time magazine to describe 16 year old Rick Nelson in the cover story of their December 1958 issue. Nelson would release a song called "Teenage Idol" in July of 1962 that would reach number 5 in the U.S.

"The First Cut Is The Deepest" was written by Cat Stevens in 1967. Since then it has become a hit song for several different artists, including P.P. Arnold (#18 in the UK in 1967), Keith Hampshire (#1 in Canada in 1973), Rod Stewart (#1 in the UK in 1976), Papa Dee (#5 in Sweden in 1995) and Sheryl Crow (#14 in the US in 2003).

While many fans assumed that Johnny Cymbal, the artist who sang "Mr. Bass Man" in 1963, used a stage name, that is not the case. Born John Hendry Blair, Johnny was later adopted by his mother's second husband, Nick Cymbal, and took that surname.

In 1996, Ringo Starr appeared in a Japanese advertisement for apple sauce. Coincidentally, "Ringo" means apple in Japanese.

Elvis Presley made only one television commercial in his life, an ad for Southern Maid Doughnuts recorded on November 6, 1954.

The artwork for the 1975 album "History: America's Greatest Hits" was created by a graphics designer by the name of Phil Hartmann, the same funny-man who later appeared on Saturday Night Live, and then News Radio, before he was murdered by his wife on May 28^th 1998.

The very first CD available for commercial release was a re-issue of Billy Joel's 1978 album, "52nd Street", launched in Japan in 1982.

When Steve Winwood left the Spencer Davis Group in the summer of 1967, one of the rejected applicants to be auditioned was a young piano player named Reginald Dwight, who would later launch a solo career, re-naming himself, Elton John.

"Stranger On The Shore", the 1962 hit by Mr. Acker Bilk, was the first UK single to reach number 1 in the USA. This was nearly two years before the Fab Four reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 with "I Want to Hold Your Hand" on February 1, 1964.

James Cobb and Dean Daughtry, members of The Classics IV, who had five Top 30 hits in the late 1960s, including "Spooky" and "Traces Of Love", went on to help form The Atlanta Rhythm Section. They would have two Top 10 hits of their own with "So In To You" and "Imaginary Lover" in the mid '70s.

Zager and Evans' 1969 hit, "In the Year 2525" was written in just thirty minutes, but spent twelve weeks on the Billboard Top 40 chart, six of them at number one, while selling over five million copies.

More than 2,200 cover versions of The Beatles' "Yesterday" exist, making it one of the most recorded songs in history.

The Hollies' 1967, Billboard #9 hit, "Carrie Anne" was written about Marianne Faithfull, but lyricist Graham Nash said he was too shy to use her real name. Faithful (yes, her real name), would have four U.S. hits of her own, including "As Tears Go By", which reached #22 in 1965.

Before Robert Patrick got the role in Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Billy Idol was chosen to play the liquid T-1000, but was side-lined by an injured leg suffered in a 1990 motorcycle accident.

In mid-January, 1965, a group known as The Detergents scored a Billboard #19 hit with a takeoff on The Shangri-Las' "Leader Of The Pack" entitled "Leader of the Laundromat". Subsequently, a lawsuit was filed by songwriters Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich and George "Shadow" Morton against the group and the composers. The suit was later settled out of court.

The Beatles' "Hey Jude" is the longest #1 hit in history during the Rock 'n' Roll era at 7 minutes and 7 seconds. Don Mclean's "American Pie" is 8 minutes and 32 seconds long, but it was the edited version of the song that got the most airplay on American radio, clocking in at 4:08. The same holds true for Donna Summer's version of "MacArther Park". The album version was 8:40 long, but it was the shortened cut that became her first Billboard #1 hit. Taylor Swift's rendition of "All Too Well (Taylor's Version)" set a new, more modern record in November, 2021 with a time of 10 minutes and 13 seconds.

David Lee Roth's 1985, Billboard #12 hit "Just A Gigolo/I Ain't Got Nobody", was written in 1928 and recorded by Jazz artist Ted Lewis in 1931.

"Last Kiss", a teenage death song recorded by J. Frank Wilson And The Cavaliers was based on a true-life tale. Sixteen-year-old Jeanette Clark was out on a date in Barnesville, Georgia on December 22, 1962, the Saturday before Christmas. She was with a group of friends in a '54 Chevrolet. Her friend, J.L. Hancock, also sixteen, was driving the car in heavy traffic and while traveling on Highway 341, collided with a logging truck. Jeanette, the driver and another teenager were killed, and two other teens in the car were seriously injured. The song reached number two on the U.S. chart in the late summer of 1964. Ironically, J. Frank Wilson was injured and Sonley Roush, the producer of "Last Kiss" was killed in a head-on car crash in Lima, Ohio in October of the same year.

Although Sam Cooke's "You Send Me" was issued as the B-side of his first single, American disc jockey's preferred it over the A-side, "Summertime". Record buyers felt the same and bought over 1.5 million copies in the first two months following its release, sending it to Billboard's #1 spot in December, 1957.

Doug Fieger of The Knack wrote "My Sharona" for 17 year old Sharona Alperin, a girl that he dated for four years. She went on to become a realtor in Los Angeles, promoting her listings on her website, MySharona.com

Even though he has recorded some of the most memorable Rock 'n' Roll classics, the only Gold record that Chuck Berry ever received was for the 1972 novelty song, "My Ding-a-ling".

When Freddie Mercury died on November 24th, 1991 at the age of 45, his close friend, Dave Clark of The Dave Clark Five, was at his bedside.

The first group to be inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame were the 1958 configuration of The Coasters.

"The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia" was a number one hit in 1973 for Vicki Lawrence. The song was written by her then husband Bobby Russell, who also wrote "Honey" and "Little Green Apples". Cher was offered the song first, but turned it down.

Despite all of the hits that they've had, The Who have never had a number one record in the U.K. or the U.S.

In 1963, Johnny Cymbal (born John Hendry Blair) scored a U.S. number sixteen hit with a song called "Mr. Bass Man". After several unsuccessful follow ups, he changed his stage name to "Derek" and re-appeared on the record charts in 1969 with the number eleven hit, "Cinnamon".

On Ray Steven's 1970 Billboard chart topping hit, "Everything Is Beautiful", the children heard singing the chorus of the hymn, "Jesus Loves the Little Children" were from the Oak Hill Elementary School in Nashville, Tennessee. The group included Stevens' two daughters.

John Denver was killed on October 12th, 1997 when his light plane crashed because its main fuel tank was empty and the singer was unable to switch over to the reserve tank.

British singer Lulu, best remembered for her hit "To Sir With Love", was married to Maurice Gibb of The Bee Gees from 1969 until early 1973.

The Righteous Brothers, Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield, took their stage name after an appreciative fan said about their music, "That's righteous, brothers".

Chris de Burgh said that he wrote his 1987 hit, "Lady In Red" in reference to the first time he met his future wife, Diane.

Herb Alpert is the only recording artist to hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 as both a vocalist ("This Guy's in Love with You", 1968) and an instrumentalist ("Rise", 1979).

In 2000, Yes keyboard player Rick Wakeman told BBC Radio 5 Live that he was hired to play piano on Cat Stevens' "Morning Has Broken" for 10 Pounds and was "shattered" that he was omitted from the credits, adding that he never received the money either. On his return to performing as Yusuf Islam, Stevens paid Wakeman and apologized for the original non-payment, which he said arose from confusion and a misunderstanding on the record label's part.

Although "The Munsters's Theme" is officially credited as being written by Jack Marshall, Pat Vegas of the band Redbone helped write the music.

Between March, 1956 and February, 1981, Elvis Presley placed 114 songs in the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100. Two of them, "My Way" in December, 1977 and "Guitar Man" in February 1981, came after his death.

During the summer of 1959, Bobby Vee and his band, The Shadows were looking for a piano player. A young man who introduced himself as Elston Gunnn was auditioned and hired in time to play a gig in Gwinner, North Dakota. Unfortunately Gunnn didn't have his own piano and the only one available was terribly out of tune. Without any money to acquire an instrument, Gunnn and The Shadows parted company soon after. A few years later Vee spotted a picture on an album that looked a lot like Gunnn. It turned out that his old friend had found solo success under a new name, Bob Dylan.

Darlene Love, who sang lead vocals on the 1962 #1 smash "He's A Rebel", is the sister of Edna Wright who sang lead on Honey Cone's 1971 Billboard chart topper, "Want Ads".

In the mid-1960s, Michael Johnson, who scored two Billboard Top 20 hits with "Bluer Than Blue" (#12 in 1978) and "The Night Won't Last Forever" (#19 in 1979), joined John Denver in what was left of The Chad Mitchell Trio.

Throughout their career, Ringo received far more fan mail than any of the other Beatles.

The Bee Gees' Robin Gibb survived one of England's worst train wrecks. More than fifty people were killed and over a hundred injured, while Robin escaped unharmed.

An article that appeared in London's Sunday Times in early May, 2019, claimed that Queen, the band, had amassed wealth totaling 445 million Pounds, eclipsing British monarch Queen Elizabeth II, who was worth 375 million Pounds.

In 1969 Tommy James turned down an offer to perform at The Woodstock Festival after his booking agent described the event as "A stupid gig on a pig farm in Upstate New York." That decision cost the band millions in royalties.

Stevie Wonder's 1969, #4 hit, "My Cherie Amour" was originally entitled "Oh, My Marsha", and was written about his girlfriend while he was at the Michigan School for the Blind in Lansing, Michigan. By the time he recorded the song, Marcia was out of the picture, so Wonder changed the title.

The Beach Boys had two Billboard Top Ten hits in 1964 that consisted of just one word repeated three times: "Fun, Fun, Fun" (#5) and "Dance, Dance, Dance" (#8).

Often thought of as primarily a Country music artist, Kenny Rogers has also placed twenty-eight songs on the Billboard Hot 100, including seven with The First Edition, fourteen as a solo artist, and seven more with various singing partners.

Of Bruce Springsteen's nineteen Billboard Top 40 hits, none have ever topped the list. His highest charting single was 1984's "Dancing In The Dark", which reached #2.

To promote their 1969 hit, "Gimme Gimme Good Lovin'", a story about the discovery of the group Crazy Elephant was planted by publicity people to Cashbox magazine. The tale went that the band were a bunch of coal miners who "mined by day and played Rock 'n' Roll by night." In reality, they were a studio creation put together by veteran Bubblegum music masters, Jerry Kasenetz and Jeff Katz. Leading that group was the former lead singer of The Cadillacs, Richard Spencer.

Elvis Presley's 1956 hit "Love Me Tender" was based on a sentimental Civil War ballad called "Aura Lee", first published in 1861.

On the original recording of his 1968, Billboard number two hit, "MacArthur Park", Richard Harris clearly mispronounces the title as "MacArthur's Park".

In October, 1979, The Guinness Book of World Records named Paul McCartney as the most successful composer of all time for writing 43 songs that sold over a million copies.

The 1977 Disco hit "Star Wars Theme and Cantina Band" by Meco is the largest selling instrumental hit of all time. It is the only instrumental to be awarded Platinum status by the Recording Industry Association of America, having sold over 2 million units.

"Bad Finger Boogie" was the original working title of The Beatles' "With A Little Help From My Friends" because John Lennon had been forced to rely on his middle finger when playing the song's piano part, having injured his forefinger earlier.

The first album ever to receive Platinum certification from the Recording Industry Association of America was the Eagles' "Greatest Hits 1971 - 1975" on February 24th 1976.

British singer Petula Clark co-wrote The Vogues' 1965 Billboard #4 hit, "You're The One". Clark's version reached #23 in the U.K.

Rock 'n' Roll Hall Of Fame member Chuck Berry served three jail terms: two and half years for armed robbery in 1944, twenty months for violation of The Mann Act in 1959, and four months for tax evasion in 1979.

Songwriter Richard Rodgers hated The Marcels' Doo-Wop arrangement of "Blue Moon" so much that he took out advertisements in UK trade papers, urging people not to buy it.

Session drummer Hal Blaine played on every Record Of The Year Grammy winner between 1966 and 1971, as well as 150 Top Ten singles and 40 Number Ones.

The Band recorded their second studio album in the pool house of a home once owned by Judy Garland, Wally Cox and, at the time the group worked there, Sammy Davis, Jr.

Richard Armin is a cellist, who in 1964 and 1965, played with Don Shirley, the musician featured in the Oscar winning film Green Book. He went on to join the Canadian band Lighthouse, and can be heard on their 1971, Billboard #24 hit, "One Fine Morning".

Before enjoying success as a musician, Glen Campbell drove a garbage truck for a living.

Paul Simon wrote "50 Ways To Leave Your Lover" just after separating from his first wife, Peggy Harper in 1975.

According to Pat Vegas of the band Redbone, Jimi Hendrix wanted to join the group, but was prevented from doing so because he was already under contract.

During a seven year recording career, Otis Redding never had a Billboard Hot 100 hit that reached any higher than #21. His only chart topper, "Dock Of The Bay" came after his death.

A line in David Bowie's hit, "Space Oddity" says And the papers want to know whose shirt you wear. "Whose shirt you wear" is English slang for "What football team are you a fan of?"

The original Eagles, Glen Frey, Don Henley, Randy Meisner and Bernie Leadon first met when they were members of Linda Ronstadt's touring band.

Jan Berry of Jan And Dean was reported to have an I.Q. of 180, which puts him well into the genius category.

Before he became a musician, Dave Clark of The Dave Clark Five worked as a stunt man in over 40 films. He stopped drumming after he broke four knuckles in a tobogganing accident in 1972.

On September 4th, 1971, Paul McCartney reached #1 in America with a song called "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey". He would later state that Admiral Halsey was US Admiral William "Bull" Halsey of World War II fame, and Uncle Albert was his real uncle, Albert Kendall, who married Paul's aunt Milly.

Of the twenty-five instrumental songs that have topped the Billboard Hot 100 in the Rock 'n' Roll era, half of them occurred between 1955 and 1962.

Christmas classics like "Do You Hear What I Hear", "Silver Bells", "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer", "Holly Jolly Christmas", "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree", "Winter Wonderland", "It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year", "White Christmas" and "Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!" were all written by members of the Jewish Faith.

Guitarist Onnie McIntyre and drummer Robbie McIntosh, who later that year went on to form the Average White Band, played on Chuck Berry's 1972 hit, "My Ding-a-Ling".

Jose Feliciano's Christmas song "Feliz Navidad" first charted at #70 on the Billboard Hot 100 on January 3rd, 1998, more than two decades after it was recorded. It ranks eighth on the list of all-time best-selling Christmas/holiday digital singles according to Nielsen SoundScan.

P.J. Proby's 1967 hit, "Niki Hoeky" was co-written by two future members of Redbone, Pat and Lolly Vegas, who would go on to score a #5 hit in 1974 with "Come And Get Your Love".

In 1938, Elvis Presley's father, Vernon, served nine months in the Parchman Penitentiary for altering a check. Elvis was just three years old at the time.

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