Rock 'n' Roll History for
April 12


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1954 - ClassicBands.com

April 12
Bill Haley records "(We're Gonna) Rock Around The Clock" at Pythian Temple studios in New York City. It was a song that was first released by Sunny Dae in 1952. The record will become a modest hit, selling 75,000 copies, but would become a national sensation when it was featured in the movie The Blackboard Jungle twelve months later. The song was later ranked at #159 on the Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. In 2018, it was chosen for preservation in the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or artistically significant."

1957 - ClassicBands.com

April 12
Alan Freed's Rock 'n' Roll Easter Jubilee opens for a ten-day run at Brooklyn Paramount. Buddy Knox, Charlie Gracie and Bo Diddley are also included on the show.

1961 - ClassicBands.com

April 12
At the third annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, Ray Charles wins three trophies, including Best Pop Single for "Georgia On My Mind". Marty Robbins took home a statue for Best Country and Western Performance for "El Paso".

1964 - ClassicBands.com

April 12
22-year-old Chubby Checker marries 21-year-old Catharina Johanna Lodders, who had won the Miss World Pageant in 1962. She is said to be the subject of his 1963, Billboard #12 hit, "Loddy Lo".

1966 - ClassicBands.com

April 12
Jan Berry, the younger half of Jan And Dean, was paralyzed after he ran his Corvette into a parked truck on a side street in Beverly Hills. Berry suffered total physical paralysis for over a year as well as extensive brain damage which made it impossible to return to performing. The pair started their hit streak in 1958 with "Jennie Lee" and followed with "Baby Talk", "Surf City", "Sidewalk Surfin'", "Drag City", "Dead Man's Curve", "The Little Old Lady From Pasadena" and "Popsicle". Jan's accident ended their career as hit makers, although they attempted a comeback in 1978 after the biographical movie, Dead Man's Curve, was shown on TV.

1968 - ClassicBands.com

April 12
"Tignten Up" by Archie Bell And The Drells entered the Billboard Hot 100 at #81. The song was written by Bell and the group's guitarist, Billy Butler, and would top the chart on May 18th. At the time the record was on the radio, Archie Bell was serving in the US Army in Vietnam. He had been shot in the leg and the song went to #1 while he was in a military hospital, trying to convince people the tune on the radio was his. Starting out as a B-Side, a Houston disc jockey flipped it over and began playing it. The record soon caught on across America and eventually sold over four million copies.

1969 - ClassicBands.com

April 12
After scoring a series of instrumental hits in the early 1960s, including "Walk Don't Run" and "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue", The Ventures were back on Billboard's Top 40 for the last time with the theme from the TV show, Hawaii Five-0. It would peak at #4 a month later.

April 12
The Fifth Dimension score their first #1 and their eighth Billboard Top 40 hit with "Aquarius / Let The Sunshine In". The song will remain in the lead spot for six weeks and eventually be given Platinum status by the R.I.A.A. It made #11 in the UK.

April 12
Blood, Sweat And Tears' first hit, "You've Made Me So Very Happy", tops out at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. They would have two more second place finishes with "Spinning Wheel" and "And When I Die", but never enjoyed a number one record on the Hot 100.

1973 - ClassicBands.com

April 12
Stevie Wonder appeared on TV's Sesame Street, where he performed "123 Sesame Street" and his hit "Superstition".

1975 - ClassicBands.com

April 12
Elton John led the US Pop chart with "Philadelphia Freedom", a song inspired by Billie Jean King's World Team Tennis League entry. It would be certified Gold later in the year and Platinum in 1995 by the Recording Industry Association of America.

1979 - ClassicBands.com

April 12
Mickey Thomas replaces Marty Balin as the lead singer for Jefferson Starship. Thomas' voice had previously been heard on the 1976, Elvin Bishop #3 hit, "Fooled Around and Fell in Love".

1988 - ClassicBands.com

April 12
Sonny Bono is elected Mayor of Palm Springs, California, an office he held until 1992 when he ran for the Republican nomination for United States Senate. He was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1994 to represent California's 44th congressional district.

1989 - ClassicBands.com

April 12
Herbert Mills of the Mills Brothers died of viral meningitis at the age of 77. The vocal group had several hit records in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s and are most often remembered for their 1968, #23 hit, "Cab Driver". Donald Mills, the last of the original group passed away in 1999.

April 12
After two DJs at Los Angeles station KLOS asked "What ever happened to David Cassidy?", the singer phoned the station and was invited on the show. David played three songs live on air and was subsequently signed by a new record label.

1990 - ClassicBands.com

April 12
James Brown is put on work release after spending sixteen months in jail on charges of drug possession and resisting arrest. He makes $3.80 per hour, counseling youths about drug abuse.

1993 - ClassicBands.com

April 12
The Grateful Dead sang the US national anthem before the San Francisco Giants' home opener.

2006 - ClassicBands.com

April 12
Martha And The Vandellas' version of "Dancing in the Street" is announced as one of fifty sound recordings preserved by the Library of Congress to the National Recording Registry.

2007 - ClassicBands.com

April 12
The Beatles' company, Apple Corps, settled a £30 million ($59.2 million) royalties dispute with the band's label, EMI. The suit alleged unpaid royalties on Beatles albums based on an audit of sales between 1994 and 1999, a period which included the release of three Anthology compilations. Details of the settlement were not disclosed.

2010 - ClassicBands.com

April 12
The Vatican's official newspaper L'Osservatore Ramano published a story praising The Beatles and saying that it forgives John Lennon's 1966 comment that the group was "bigger than Jesus."

2011 - ClassicBands.com

April 12
The auction house Profiles In History announced that they would be placing the handwritten lyrics for John Lennon's "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" up for auction. The expected price was to be $200,000.



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