Rock 'n' Roll History for
April 30


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1957 - ClassicBands.com

April 30
Elvis Presley recorded "Jailhouse Rock" at Radio Recorders studios in Los Angeles, California. The song went on to top the Cashbox Best Sellers list, the Billboard Top 100, the R&B chart, and even the Country And Western chart. It also became the first single to enter the UK chart at number 1. The tune was written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller specifically for a scene in the movie of the same name.

1958 - ClassicBands.com

April 30
UK singer Tommy Steele was knocked unconscious when fans rushed the stage during the opening night of his British tour. As a result of various injuries, he was forced to cancel a week's worth of shows. Steele, whose real name was Thomas Hicks, is regarded as Britain's first teen idol and Rock 'n' Roll star. At the time, he had already racked up seven UK Top 30 hits.

1960 - ClassicBands.com

April 30
The Everly Brothers started a seven week run at the top of the UK singles chart with "Cathy's Clown", giving Warner Brothers Records a #1 hit with their very first release. The song will top the Hot 100 in America three weeks later and go on to sell eight million copies worldwide.

April 30
Fats Domino records "Walking to New Orleans" for Imperial Records. The final output was only 1:54 long, but ended up selling over two million records. It would climb to #2 on the Hot 100 and #19 in the UK.

1962 - ClassicBands.com

April 30
The Orlons record their breakthrough hit, "The Wah Watusi" for ABKCO Records in New York City. The song will become the first of their five Billboard Top 40 hits over the next year and a half, reaching #2 and selling over one million copies. It was kept out of the top spot by Bobby Vinton's "Roses Are Red (My Love)".

1964 - ClassicBands.com

April 30
The Beatles receive $140,000 for the rights to having their pictures included in packages of bubble gum in the USA. The front of each of the one hundred, fifty-six cards showed a black and white photograph with a colored autograph of one of the band members printed across the image.

1966 - ClassicBands.com

April 30
The Young Rascals enjoy the first of fourteen Billboard Top 40 hits when "Good Lovin" reached #1. Another version of the same song by The Olympics had stalled at #81 the previous year. The Rascals rendition was later ranked at #333 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list

1969 - ClassicBands.com

April 30
The Fifth Dimension are awarded a Gold record for "Aquarius / Let the Sunshine In", a medley from the Rock musical Hair. The song currently sat at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 where it enjoyed a stay of five consecutive weeks. It made the Top 20 in thirteen other countries.

1970 - ClassicBands.com

April 30
Twiggs Lyndon, the road manager for the Allman Brothers Band, was arrested for murder after he stabbed a club manager during an argument over a contract. At the ensuing trial, Lyndon's lawyers argued that he had been temporarily insane at the time of the incident and that touring with the Allman Brothers would drive anyone insane. Incredibly, Lyndon was acquitted.

1971 - ClassicBands.com

April 30
The Doobie Brothers' self-titled, debut album is released by Warner Bros. Records. Neither the LP, or the first single from it, "Nobody", would chart in America. After the band had established some touring and recording success, the song was reissued and rose to #58 on the Hot 100 in October, 1974.

1973 - ClassicBands.com

April 30
Paul McCartney And Wings' second studio album, "Red Rose Speedway" is released by Apple records. It would reach number one in America and number five in the United Kingdom. Despite sales of over 500,000 in the US and 100,00 in Great Britain, reviews were mostly harsh, with Village Voice critic Robert Christgau deriding McCartney's reliance on "aimless whimsy" and described the work as "Quite possibly the worst album ever made by a rock and roller of the first rank." The previously released single from the LP, "My Love", topped the Billboard Hot 100 for four weeks and peaked at number nine on the UK Official Singles Chart.

1976 - ClassicBands.com

April 30
After playing in Memphis during a southern tour, Bruce Springsteen climbs the fence at Graceland in an attempt to see Elvis Presley. Security guards stop him and he is escorted off the grounds.

April 30
The Who's drummer Keith Moon paid nine cab drivers to block-off both ends of a New York street so he could throw the contents of his hotel room out of the window.

1977 - ClassicBands.com

April 30
Steve Miller's "Jet Airliner" is released. It will become his fourth US Top Ten hit when it peaks at #8 during a thirteen week stay in the Top 40.

April 30
Glen Campbell reached the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 for the second time with "Southern Nights". It was his 19th Top 40 hit. The song also spent two weeks at #1 on Billboard's Hot Country Singles chart, marking Campbell's fifth and final #1 Country hit.

1982 - ClassicBands.com

April 30
40-year-old Bobbie Gentry, whose "Ode To Billie Joe" topped the Billboard Hot 100 in 1967, made her final public appearance at the Academy of Country Music Awards. After that evening, she stopped performing, recording, and giving interviews, and retired to a gated community near Memphis.

1983 - ClassicBands.com

April 30
Blues guitarist Muddy Waters, born McKinley Morganfield, died of a heart attack at the age of 68. He is considered "the father of modern Chicago Blues" and was a major inspiration for the British Blues explosion in the 1960s. He has been ranked #17 in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time

April 30
After leading the Billboard chart for seven weeks with "Billie Jean", Michael Jackson was back on top with "Beat It". His ten week run at the top was interrupted for a week by Dexys Midnight Runners' "Come On Eileen".

April 30
The original line-up of the 1960's British group Manfred Mann reunited to celebrate the 25th anniversary of London's Marquee Club.

1988 - ClassicBands.com

April 30
20-year-old Celine Dion helps Switzerland win its first ever Eurovision Song Contest with her rendition of "Ne Partez Pas Sans Moi". The success encourages her to learn English, and two years later her fifteenth studio album, "Unison" (1990), reaches #4 on the Billboard 200 chart.

1999 - ClassicBands.com

April 30
All five members of Aerosmith visit shooting victim Lance Kirklin in a Colorado hospital before their show in Denver that evening. The band dedicates "Living On The Edge" to the student, who was one of twenty-eight wounded and thirteen killed by two deranged classmates at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado on April 20th.

April 30
51-year-old Darrell Sweet, drummer of the Scottish Rock group Nazareth, suffered a fatal heart attack just as the band was embarking on the second leg of a US tour. The band had arrived at the Amphitheater in New Albany, Indiana, when Sweet began feeling ill and within minutes went into cardiac arrest. He was rushed to the New Albany Hospital where he was pronounced dead. Nazareth is best remembered for their 1976, US #8 hit "Love Hurts", which was first released as an album track by The Everly Brothers in 1960.

2004 - ClassicBands.com

April 30
Michael Jackson was arraigned in a Santa Maria, California courtroom after a grand jury determined that there was sufficient evidence to send him to trial. The jury handed down a ten-count indictment, including four counts of committing lewd acts upon a minor.

2007 - ClassicBands.com

April 30
Zola Taylor, who broke gender barriers as the first female member of the 1950s R&B group The Platters, singing on their hit "The Great Pretender", died from complications of pneumonia. She was 69.

2008 - ClassicBands.com

April 30
Gail Renard, who was given the hand written words to "Give Peace A Chance" by John Lennon in 1969, announced plans to sell the lyric sheet at a Christie's auction. At the time, Lennon told Renard to hang on to the piece of paper, saying "It will be worth something someday." The piece of music history was expected to fetch around $400,000, but when it was actually sold in July '08, it went for $790,000 (£400,000).

2013 - ClassicBands.com

April 30
Ozzy Osbourne's wife, Sharon, was subpoenaed to testify for the prosecution in the Michael Jackson wrongful death trial. She reportedly had evidence to support Katherine Jackson's claim that promoters were negligent in ignoring life-threatening health concerns while organizing Michael's This Is It comeback concerts.

2014 - ClassicBands.com

April 30
The Association's guitarist Larry Ramos, who made vocal contributions to "Windy" and "Never My Love", died of metastatic melanoma at the age of 72. As a member of The New Christy Minstrels, he won a 1963 Grammy Award for Best Performance by a Chorus for the band's debut album, "Presenting the New Christy Minstrels".

2015 - ClassicBands.com

April 30
R&B legend Ben E. King passed away at the age of 76. He was a member of The Drifters and sang lead on their biggest singles, "This Magic Moment", "Save The Last Dance For Me" and "There Goes My Baby". King also reached the Billboard Top 40 seven times as a solo artist, including his 1961 #4 hit, "Stand By Me".

April 30
John Fogerty paid a visit to The Late Show With David Letterman during a week-long farewell to the legendary host who was set to retire on May 20th. Fogerty performed a medley of his CCR hits, including "Travelin' Band", "Proud Mary" and "Fortunate Son".

2022 - ClassicBands.com

April 30
Country music star Naomi Judd died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at her home in Leiper's Fork, Tennessee. The 76-year-old singer and actress was to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, along with her daughter Wynonna, the next day.

2024 - ClassicBands.com

April 30
Duane Eddy, the King Of The Twangy Guitar, passed away at his home in Franklin, Tennessee at the age of 86. Between 1958 and 1964 he placed ten albums on Billboard's Hot 200 Album Chart and thirty singles on the Hot 100, including "Rebel-'Rouser" (#6 in 1958), "Forty Miles of Bad Road" (#9 in 1959) and "Because They're Young" (#4 in 1960). In 1994 Eddy was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and into the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum in 2008.



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