Rock 'n' Roll History for
April 28


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1958 - ClassicBands.com

April 28
David Seville's novelty tune, "Witch Doctor" peaks at #1 on Billboard magazine's Top 100 music chart, and would go on to be the fourth best selling song of the year. Strangely enough, the record also topped the Billboard R&B chart. By year's end, the single had sold 1.4 million copies and is often given credit for saving the financially struggling Liberty Records.


1964 - ClassicBands.com

April 28
RCA releases the Elvis Presley's single, "Viva Las Vegas". Allegedly, Elvis seldom, if ever, sang the song at a live show. It would go on to reach #29 in the US and #17 in the UK. The RIAA certified the record as Gold on March 27th, 1992, for sales of 500,000 copies in the United States.

1965 - ClassicBands.com

April 28
Barbra Streisand's first television special, My Name Is Barbra, airs on CBS. The program was the 16th top ranked show in the Nielsen ratings for that week, and would win five statues at next year's Emmy Awards.

1967 - ClassicBands.com

April 28
After topping the Hot 100 chart last February 20th, "This Diamond Ring" by Gary Lewis And The Playboys is certified Gold. Lewis will have eleven more Top Twenty hits, seven of which were million sellers.

1968 - ClassicBands.com

April 28
The Seeds sing their Billboard #36 hit, "Pushin' Too Hard" on an episode of the NBC-TV comedy, The Mothers-In-Law called How Not to Manage a Rock Group. The plot has Jerry Buell, played by Jerry Fofel, convincing his folks to put up $500 for a Hippie Rock group to make a demo recording. They scare off the band with talk of crew cuts, tuxedos, and old songs.

April 28
The Broadway Musical Hair opened in New York for its first performance. The show featured songs that would become Rock and Roll standards like Galt MacDermot's "Hair" and "Aquarius / Let the Sunshine In", along with "Good Morning Starshine" and "Easy to Be Hard". The production ran for 1,729 performances, finally closing on July 1st, 1972.

1969 - ClassicBands.com

April 28
The album "Chicago Transit Authority" is released by Columbia Records. The LP will top out at #17 on the Billboard 200 and #9 on the UK Official Albums Chart. It sold over one million copies by 1970, and was awarded a Platinum disc. Singles released from the album included "Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?" (US #7), "Beginnings" (US #7) and "Questions 67 And 68" (US #24). An often repeated story says that the real Chicago Transit Authority sent a Cease And Desist letter to the group over the use of the name. In a 2019 interview with Gary James, drummer Danny Seraphine debunked this myth, saying the story was just a public relations stunt by the band's management to appease Columbia Records, who wanted to shorten the name to just Chicago.

1973 - ClassicBands.com

April 28
After reaching #13 with "Dancing In The Moonlight" last February, King Harvest sees their follow-up record, "A Little Bit Of Magic" peak at #98 on the Billboard Hot 100. Financial troubles at Perception Records are blamed for poor promotion and the New York State based group could never muster another hit.

1976 - ClassicBands.com

April 28
Bruce Springsteen And The E Street Band play the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville. It's the first time a Rock band has played the venue since The Byrds did it in 1968.

1979 - ClassicBands.com

April 28
Blondie brought a touch of New Wave music to the Hot 100 when "Heart Of Glass" reached #1. They would score three more chart toppers over the next two years.

April 28
Leo Sayer started a three week run at the top of the UK album chart with "The Very Best Of Leo Sayer". Strangely, the LP was never released in America, where Sayer had already achieved six Billboard Top 40 hits, two of which went to #1.

1980 - ClassicBands.com

April 28
Tommy Caldwell, bassist for The Marshall Tucker band, died of injures he received in a car accident in his hometown of Spartanburg, South Carolina. He was just 30 years old.

1981 - ClassicBands.com

April 28
Original T. Rex bass player Steve Currie was killed in a car accident while returning to his home near Vale de Parra, Algarve, Portugal. He was 33. The group's lead singer, Marc Bolan met his death in a similar fashion in September, 1977.

1988 - ClassicBands.com

April 28
B.W. Stevenson, who had a 1973, US #9 hit with "My Maria", died after heart surgery at the age of 38. He also wrote Three Dog Night's 1973 smash, "Shambala". The "B.W." reportedly stood for "Buckwheat."

1990 - ClassicBands.com

April 28
Singer Axl Rose of Guns 'N' Roses married Erin Everly, Don Everly's daughter. The couple would stay together for just 27 days.

April 28
Jon Bon Jovi marries his high school sweetheart, Dorothea Hurley, at the Graceland Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas. They would have four children together.

1991 - ClassicBands.com

April 28
Bonnie Raitt marries her first husband, actor Michael O'Keefe, star of the television series Against the Law. The couple would divorce in 1999.

2000 - ClassicBands.com

April 28
A fire swept through the offices of James Brown Enterprises, where the singer's tours were co-ordinated. Nobody was injured, but memorabilia and live tapes were destroyed in the blaze. An employee named Richard Glenn later pleaded guilty to forgery, property damage and stealing $75,000. Brown still considered Glenn to be a friend and asked the judge for leniency. The accused was later sentenced to fifteen years in jail.

2006 - ClassicBands.com

April 28
Sweden's tax authority accused former ABBA guitarist Bjorn Ulvaeus of owing nearly $12 million in back taxes, fees and interest. Ulvaeus' attorney denied the charges and said there was merely a misunderstanding over the musician's tax arrangements. Next October, Ulvaeus would be found not guilty.

2010 - ClassicBands.com

April 28
Corrado "Connie" Codarini, an original member of The Four Lads, passed away at the age of 80. The Canadian singing group placed twelve songs in the Billboard Top 40 between 1955 and 1958, including "Moments To Remember" (#2 in 1955), "No, Not Much" (#2 in 1956) and "Standing On The Corner" (#3 in 1956).

2011 - ClassicBands.com

April 28
Recording equipment seller MJQ Ltd. announced that it would be auctioning off microphones and equipment from John Lennon's home studio, on which he recorded early solo albums and his hit song "Imagine". The microphones were expected to fetch at least £5,000 each.

2013 - ClassicBands.com

April 28
Original Steve Miller Band bassist Lonnie Turner passed away from lung cancer. His time with the band led to songs such as "Jet Airliner", "Swingtown", "Take the Money And Run", "Jungle Love" and many more.

2015 - ClassicBands.com

April 28
Paul McCartney played Japan's famed Nippon Budokan where he included a performance of "Another Girl" live for the first time ever. The song, included on The Beatles' 1965 album "Help", had never been played on stage anywhere by the band or any of its members solo.

2020 - ClassicBands.com

April 28
Bobby Lewis, the Soul singer who topped the Billboard Hot 100 in July, 1961 with "Tossin' And Turnin'", died at the age of 95 after contracting pneumonia. His song spent seven weeks at the top of the chart, selling more than three million copies in the process.

2023 - ClassicBands.com

April 28
Tim Bachman, the co-founding guitarist and vocalist of Bachman-Turner Overdrive died of cancer at the age of 71. The Canadian band placed a string of hits on the Hot 100 in the mid-1970s, including "Let It Ride" (#23), "Takin' Care Of Business" (#12), and "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet" (#1).

2024 - ClassicBands.com

April 28
The Rolling Stones kicked off their Hackney Diamonds tour with a show in Houston, Texas. Still onboard were Ron Wood, now 76 years old, along with Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, both 80.



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