Rock 'n' Roll History for
April 17


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1955 - ClassicBands.com

April 17
Fats Domino's "Ain't That a Shame" is released on Imperial Records. It will rise to the top of the Billboard R&B chart and #10 on the Pop chart, becoming the first of thirty-seven Top 40 hits The Fat Man will have over the next eight years.

1960 - ClassicBands.com

April 17
Rock and Roll pioneer Eddie Cochran was just 21 years old when he was killed after the taxi in which he was riding blew a tire, then hit a lamp post. Cochran enjoyed hits with "Sittin' in the Balcony" (#18 in 1957), "Summertime Blues" (#8 in 1958) and "C'mon Everybody" (#35 in 1959). Gene Vincent, who recorded "Be Bop A Lula" in 1956, and Cochran's finance, Sharon Sheeley, survived the crash. Their touring mate, Freddy Cannon, was supposed to be with them, but was running late and took another cab.

1961 - ClassicBands.com

April 17
Paul Revere And The Raiders' first US chart hit, "Like Long Hair" tops out at #38 on the Billboard chart. The song was a boogie-woogie arrangement of Rachmaninoff's "Prelude in C-Sharp Minor" and featured Revere on piano.

1965 - ClassicBands.com

April 17
Cannibal And The Headhunters entered the Billboard chart with "Land Of 1000 Dances", which would climb to #30. Wilson Pickett's version of the same song would reach #6 the following year.

April 17
RCA and LearJet Corporation announce the development of the combination 8-track tape player and car radio that will become available in next Fall's new cars.

1966 - ClassicBands.com

April 17
"Wild Thing" by The Troggs is released. Adults hate it, the UK music trade paper Record Retailer dubbed it "A most curious record..." but by next June it will be number one in the US and number two in the UK.

1969 - ClassicBands.com

April 17
Bob Dylan's former backing group, simply known as The Band, make their first stand alone appearance at the Fillmore West in San Francisco.

1970 - ClassicBands.com

April 17
Paul McCartney releases his first solo album, officially ending his days with The Beatles. The self-titled LP, which would climb to #1 in the US and #2 in the UK, contains a studio version of "Maybe I'm Amazed", which was never released as a single. Instead, a live version of the song by Wings rose to #10 in America and #28 in Great Britain in 1977.

April 17
While performing at the White House at the invitation of President Richard Nixon, Johnny Cash is asked to perform "Okie From Muskogee". Cash declined because it was not his song, but had been a hit for Merle Haggard. Instead, Cash sang his number one hit, "A Boy Named Sue". It is not known if Nixon recorded the concert.

1971 - ClassicBands.com

April 17
Three Dog Night's "Joy to the World" hit the top of the US singles chart for the first of a six week stay. It made #24 in the UK. The record became the best selling song of the year in the US, beating out Rod Stewart's "Maggie May". Hoyt Axton, son of "Heartbreak Hotel" author, Mae Axton, wrote the song.

April 17
All four former Beatles have solo singles on the UK chart: Paul McCartney: "Another Day", Ringo Starr: "It Don't Come Easy", John Lennon: "Power To The People" and George Harrison: "My Sweet Lord".

April 17
The Doors' "Love Her Madly" is released. It would become the band's 7th Billboard Top 40 single, reaching #11. The band's guitarist, Robby Krieger, wrote the lyrics about his then-girlfriend and later-wife, Lynn.

1973 - ClassicBands.com

April 17
Pink Floyd receives a Gold Record for "The Dark Side of the Moon", one of Rock's landmark albums. The LP remained on the charts for 741 weeks from 1973 to 1988, longer than any other album in history and, as of 2013, has sold an estimated 45 million copies.

1974 - ClassicBands.com

April 17
Chris Donald, known as Vinnie Taylor when he played lead guitar for the Rock 'n Roll revival band Sha Na Na, died from an accidental heroin overdose at the age of 25.

1983 - ClassicBands.com

April 17
43-year-old Felix Pappalardi, bassist for the group Mountain, who had a Billboard #21 hit in 1970 with "Mississippi Queen", was shot and killed by his wife Gail Collins when they argued over his long-standing affair with a younger woman. Originally charged with second-degree murder, she was convicted of criminally negligent homicide and sentenced to four years in prison. On April 30th, 1985, Gail was released on parole. She was found dead by her landlord on December 6th, 2013, in the Mexican village of Ajijic, Jalisco, where she had been undergoing cancer treatments.

1987 - ClassicBands.com

April 17
Carlton Barrett, drummer for Bob Marley And The Wailers, was shot and killed outside his home in Kingston, Jamaica. Barrett's widow, her lover, and an accomplice were charged with murder two weeks later. All three were convicted and sentenced to prison on October 18th, 1991.

1993 - ClassicBands.com

April 17
David Bowie went to the top of the UK album chart with "Black Tie, White Noise", his eighth UK #1 LP. It reached #39 in America and made the Top 20 in fourteen other countries.

1998 - ClassicBands.com

April 17
56-year-old Linda Eastman McCartney, wife of former Beatle Paul McCartney, died while vacationing with her family at the McCartney family ranch near Tucson, Arizona. She had been diagnosed with breast cancer in 1995. Paul was at her bedside, speaking to her when she passed away. Paul would later say, "The doctors had told me privately that we'd caught it too late, that she'll have about eighteen months. And that was what she had." Linda was cremated in Tucson, and her ashes were later scattered at the McCartney farm in Sussex, England.

2008 - ClassicBands.com

April 17
Danny Federici, the longtime keyboard player for Bruce Springsteen, died of cancer at the age of 58. His stylish work helped define the E Street Band's sound on hits from "Hungry Heart" through "The Rising".

2013 - ClassicBands.com

April 17
The Rascals reunited for three weeks worth of shows on Broadway called Once Upon A Dream. It was the first time they had been together for any extended period of time since 1970.

April 17
Cleveland's Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame inducts Heart, Rush, Albert King, Randy Newman, Public Enemy and Donna Summer along with Lou Adler and Quincy Jones.

2014 - ClassicBands.com

April 17
Sources close to Glen Campbell revealed that the 78-year-old "Rhinestone Cowboy" singer had been moved to an Alzheimer's facility because of declining health. He would survive until August 8th, 2017.

2015 - ClassicBands.com

April 17
Eagles' drummer Don Henley settled his lawsuit with the Duluth Trading Company after the Wisconsin apparel makers sent promotional emails to their customers urging them to "Don a Henley and Take It Easy" last Fall. Duluth Trading posted an apology on its website and made an undisclosed contribution to the Walden Woods Project, the not-for-profit organization founded by Henley in 1990.

2016 - ClassicBands.com

April 17
The annual independent music retailer celebration called Record Store Day spurred sales of 521,000 vinyl albums according to Nielsen Music. Vinyl album sales in 2016 stood at 4.09 million, which accounted for 6.6 percent of all album sales.

2023 - ClassicBands.com

April 17
April Stevens, who shared singing duties with her younger brother Nino Tempo on four Billboard Hot 100 entries, passed away at the age of 93. The duo topped the chart in 1963 with "Deep Purple" and followed it the next year with "Whispering", which reached #11.



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