Rock 'n' Roll History for
April 26


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1960 - ClassicBands.com

April 26
Production begins on Elvis Presley's first post-Army movie, G.I. Blues in Los Angeles. After it was released the following November, it became the fourteenth biggest box office grossing film of the year, generating $4.3 million. Reviews, however, were mixed, with Bosley Crowther of The New York Times writing, "Gone is that rock 'n' roll wriggle, that ludicrously lecherous leer, that precocious country-bumpkin image, that unruly mop of oily hair... Elvis is now a fellow you can almost stand."

1962 - ClassicBands.com

April 26
Four days after his three year old son drowned in the family swimming pool, Jerry Lee Lewis' arrives in London to begin a tour of England. It has been four years since Lewis fled the UK because of the disclosure that he was married to his thirteen-year-old cousin, Myra Gale Brown. Lewis would perform thirty-two times and gross nearly $50,000.

April 26
Sam Cooke records "Bring It On Home To Me" and "Having A Party" at RCA Studio 1 in Hollywood. When issued two weeks later, the double-sided hit will be his sixteenth and seventeenth Billboard Top 40 hits, climbing to #13 and #17 respectively.

1963 - ClassicBands.com

April 26
Frankie Avalon inks a deal to appear in the Hollywood movie, Beach Party, where he and Annette Funicello would sing, battle a motorcycle gang led by Eric Von Zipper, and dance to Dick Dale And The Del Tones.

1967 - ClassicBands.com

April 26
16-year-old Janis Ian sings "Society Child" on the CBS-TV show, Inside Pop - The Rock Revolution. A year before, the song was banned by many radio stations because of its interracial love affair theme. Following her television appearance, the record shot up to #14 on the Billboard Hot 100.

April 26
Mama Cass Elliot gives birth to a daughter she names Owen Vanessa. She never told anyone who the father is, but many years later Michelle Phillips helped Owen locate her biological dad. Owen grew up to become a singer as well and toured with Beach Boys member Al Jardine.

1969 - ClassicBands.com

April 26
The fortunes of Canada's Guess Who were about to change as their latest single "These Eyes" entered the Billboard Top 40. It would climb to #6 and was followed by twelve more hits over the next five years. Lead singer Burton Cummings would later recall; "We fought RCA tooth and nail not to release that as a single because we wanted to be a Rock band."

April 26
"Oh Happy Day" by The Edwin Hawkins Singers enters the Billboard Hot 100 at #72, becoming the first pure Gospel song to appear on that chart. The tune will rise to #4 and would win Hawkins a Grammy Award for Best Soul Gospel Performance in 1970.

1971 - ClassicBands.com

April 26
John Lennon, Ringo Starr and George Harrison officially end their plans to appeal Paul McCartney's efforts to legally dissolve The Beatles.

1975 - ClassicBands.com

April 26
B.J. Thomas not only reached the top spot on both the Cash Box Best Sellers list and the Billboard Hot 100, he also set a record for the number one song with the longest title with "Hey Won't You Play Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song". The tune was not a hit in the UK.

1978 - ClassicBands.com

April 26
Ringo Starr's TV special, Ringo, a musical version of The Prince and the Pauper, airs on American television. Ringo played both characters and George Harrison provided the narration, but the effort still finishes 53rd out of 65 shows.

1982 - ClassicBands.com

April 26
Rod Stewart was robbed of his $50,000 Porsche on Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles. Stewart had recently released a remake of the 1975 hit by the band Ace, "How Long", which failed to crack the US Top 40.

1984 - ClassicBands.com

April 26
Count Basie, the Big Band leader who scored a #28 hit on the Billboard Top 100 in 1956 with "April In Paris", died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 79.

1988 - ClassicBands.com

April 26
A jury in White Plains, New York ruled that Mick Jagger did not pirate an unknown Reggae musician's song and turn it into his 1985 hit, "Just Another Night". Patrick Alley of New York City had accused Jagger of copyright infringement.

1994 - ClassicBands.com

April 26
Grace Slick pleads guilty to pointing a shotgun at police in her Tiburon, California home on March 5, 1994. She says that she was under stress because her Mill Valley home had burned down the previous Fall and she lost most of her possessions. On June 7th, she will be sentenced to 200 hours of community service and four Alcoholics Anonymous meetings a week for three months.

1997 - ClassicBands.com

April 26
ABC's telecast of U2: A Year in POP becomes the lowest-rated prime-time program in the history of major network television.

2007 - ClassicBands.com

April 26
During opening statements in Phil Spector's murder trial, defense attorney Bruce Cutler told the jury that before police even had a cause of death, they had murder on their mind. "Fame and success come back to haunt you." After months of testimony, jurors would announce a deadlock of ten for guilty and two for not guilty. The judge then declared a mistrial and a new trial was slated to begin in August, 2008. Spector was convicted on April 14th, 2009.

2011 - ClassicBands.com

April 26
Dionne Warwick and the surviving members of The Shirelles launched a lawsuit against the producers of a new Broadway musical called Baby It's You, accusing them of cashing in on the plaintiffs' stories and successes while using plaintiffs' names, likenesses and biographical information without their consent. The suit would be settled out of court the following December.

April 26
Phoebe Snow, the velvet voiced singer / songwriter who reached #5 in the US in 1975 with "Poetry Man", died of complications from a stroke at the age of 60.

2016 - ClassicBands.com

April 26
In the first week after the death of Pop star Prince, fans bought 654,000 copies of his albums and downloaded 2.82 million of his songs. "The Very Best of Prince", "Purple Rain" and "The Hits / The B-Sides" re-entered the Billboard 200 albums chart at #1, #2 and #6, respectively.

April 26
The National Film And Sound Archive of Australia published previously unseen footage of The Beatles getting ready for a television performance in Manchester on November 1st, 1965. The 49 second silent video was donated by Melinda Doring, daughter of make-up artist Dawn Swane, who shot the original film while helping to prepare the band for their show.



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