Rock 'n' Roll History for
April 2


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1956 - ClassicBands.com

April 2
Johnny Cash records "I Walk The Line" at Sun Studio in Memphis. After an early attempt, label boss Sam Phillips asked Johnny to speed up the tempo, which he did. The lyrics describe Johnny's promise to remain faithful to his first wife, Vivian Liberto, while he was on the road. Unfortunately, that promise didn't stick, and Cash would end up in a romance with June Carter, who he married in 1968. "I Walk The Line" would prove to be Johnny's breakthrough hit, topping the Billboard Country chart and reaching #17 on the Top 100.

1957 - ClassicBands.com

April 2
Elvis Presley played two concerts before 23,000 people at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. Presley performed outside the US only four times in his career, the two concerts in Toronto, one the next night in Ottawa, and a later performance in Vancouver.

1964 - ClassicBands.com

April 2
The Beach Boys record "I Get Around", which will become their first US #1 single by the following July, selling nearly two million copies. It reached #7 in the UK. All of the band played on the track, with Mike Love on lead, backing and harmony vocals, Brian Wilson on piano, harpsichord, Hammond B-3 organ and vocals, Al Jardine on bass guitar and backing and harmony vocals, Carl Wilson on lead and rhythm guitar and vocals, and Dennis Wilson on drums and backing vocals. Adding to the mix were Glen Campbell on six-string electric bass guitar, Hal Blaine on timbales, Steve Douglas on tenor sax, Jay Migliori on baritone sax, and Ray Pohlman on six-string bass guitar.

April 2
RCA releases the soundtrack to the Elvis Presley film, Kissin' Cousins. The LP would peak at #6 on the Billboard Top LPs chart and was certified Gold on March 27, 1992 by the Recording Industry Association of America. Only the title track would reach the US Top 40, climbing to #12.

1965 - ClassicBands.com

April 2
"She's About A Mover" by Sir Douglas Quintet enters the Hot 100 at #69. A Texas band trying to sound English, the group was playing a bar gig in San Antonio when a lovely lady began dancing in front of the stage. Group leader Doug Sahm said to his bandmates, "She's a body mover, isn't she?" He later used that phrase to write the song, but knew it was too risque for radio air play, and changed the lyrics to the nonsensical "She's About A Mover". The record would prove to be their biggest hit, peaking at #13, but they would also enjoy two more Top 40 singles, "The Rains Came" (#31 in 1966) and "Mendocino" (#27 in 1969).

April 2
Freddie And The Dreamers record "Do The Freddie", a song that was put together quickly after American audiences wanted to know more about the swaying motion that lead singer Fred Garrity seemed to do on stage. Although it reached #18 in the US, it was dismissed as "silly" in the UK and never released.

April 2
The UK music show Ready Steady Go! takes on a temporary name change to Ready Steady Goes Live!. Acts would now perform their songs live instead of miming to their records. The series ran until December 23rd, 1966, with the last show being titled Ready Steady Goes!.

1966 - ClassicBands.com

April 2
Herb Alpert And The Tijuana Brass become the first act to have four LPs in the Top 10 of the Billboard album chart. The band's albums spent more weeks at number one than The Beatles did that year.

April 2
The Pozo Seco Singers, consisting of Susan Taylor, Don Williams and Lofton Kline, enjoy their first Billboard Hot 100 hit when "Time" peaks at #47. The song had greater success on the Easy Listening Chart where it climbed to #3.

1967 - ClassicBands.com

April 2
Eighteen year old Steve Winwood left The Spencer Davis Group to join Dave Mason, Jim Capaldi and Chris Wood in Traffic. Winwood had been with Spencer Davis since he was fifteen.

April 2
The Bee Gees release "New York Mining Disaster 1941", their debut single in America. The record would reach #14 in the US and #12 in the UK. In reality there was no mining disaster in New York in that year, although there was one in McIntire, Pennsylvania which killed six people. This was the first Bee Gees single to include Australian drummer Colin Petersen as an official member of the band. He would leave the group two years later.

1969 - ClassicBands.com

April 2
Frank Sinatra's version of "My Way" entered the Billboard Hot 100 where it would rise to #27. It had better luck on the Easy Listening chart, where it climbed to #2. In the UK, the song would spend an amazing 75 weeks in the Top 40, peaking at #5. Recorded in one take the previous December, Sinatra came to despise the song, saying it was "self-serving and self-indulgent."

1971 - ClassicBands.com

April 2
Lobo's "Me And You And A Dog Named Boo" enters the Billboard Hot 100 at #82. The singer would later say that while writing the song he was trying to rhyme something with "Me and you" when his German Shepard, Boo, came around the corner and gave him the answer. He also revealed that he had never been to any of the places named in the song except Georgia. The record would rise to #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 and became the first of Lobo's eight Top 40 hits.

1973 - ClassicBands.com

April 2
Capitol Records issued two Beatles' greatest hits packages - "The Beatles: 1962-1966" (US #3, UK #3), and "The Beatles: 1967-1970" (US #1, UK #2). Fans call them "the red album" and "the blue album." Photographer Angus McBean took the distinctive photographs of the group looking down over the stairwell inside EMI's London headquarters in Manchester Square, London.

1977 - ClassicBands.com

April 2
Fleetwood Mac's "Rumours" album went to #1 on the Billboard 200 chart. It only stayed at the top for two weeks, when on April 16th, the Eagles' "Hotel California" took the top spot for five weeks, residing there until May 21st when "Rumours" went back to #1. "Rumours" then stayed on top for eight weeks until the July 16th edition of the chart when "Barry Manilow Live" took over. Barry's album only remained there for one week, and on the July 23rd chart, "Rumours" climbed back to number one for the next nineteen weeks, until Linda Ronstadt's "Simple Dreams" LP went to the top. Worldwide, "Rumors" would sell over 25 million copies.

1980 - ClassicBands.com

April 2
At the Canadian equivalent of the Grammys, Anne Murray won four Juno Awards, including best single for "I Just Fall in Love Again". The show's host, Burton Cummings, former lead singer of The Guess Who, was named top male vocalist.

1983 - ClassicBands.com

April 2
Pink Floyd's "The Final Cut" becomes their third UK number one album. It reached #6 in the US and received double Platinum certification in 1997.

1987 - ClassicBands.com

April 2
Often referred to as the world's best drummer, Jazz legend Buddy Rich died of complications caused by a brain tumor. He was 69 years old. Frank Sinatra, a friend of Buddy's since their days in Tommy Dorsey's band, would deliver a eulogy at Rich's funeral.

1997 - ClassicBands.com

April 2
Singer Joni Mitchell is reunited with Kilauren Gibb, the daughter she gave up for adoption thirty-two years earlier. "I've had pain and joy in my life, but nothing like this," Ms. Mitchell said at the time of the reunion. "It's an unparalleled emotional feeling."

1998 - ClassicBands.com

April 2
Cor van Beek, drummer for the Dutch group, Shocking Blue on their 1969, US number one hit, "Venus", died at the age of 49. The band sold 13.5 million records by 1973, but disbanded in 1974.

2003 - ClassicBands.com

April 2
61-year-old Soul singer Edwin Starr died following a heart attack at his home in Nottinghamshire, England. His biggest hits on the Billboard Top 40 chart included "Agent Double-O Soul" (#21 in 1965), "Twenty-five Miles" (#6 in 1969) and "War" (#1 in 1970).

2010 - ClassicBands.com

April 2
Two men received minor injuries and a third suffered a broken leg when part of the stage being set up for a concert by Elton John at the Chichen Itza ruins in Mexico collapsed during construction.

2011 - ClassicBands.com

April 2
Elton John appeared on TV's Saturday Night Live where he and Leon Russell performed a couple of songs together. He also joked about being gay, performing at the royal wedding and being a new father.

2013 - ClassicBands.com

April 2
A decade after its physical release, the stripped-down, Phil Spector-free version of The Beatles' "Let It Be" made its debut on iTunes.



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