Rock 'n' Roll History for
August 14


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1956 - ClassicBands.com

August 14
A Washington D.C. disc jockey named Bob Rickman created the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Elvis Presley. Much of the national coverage of the singer has been critical, as evidenced by the many headlines which refer to him as a hillbilly and a threat to society.

1958 - ClassicBands.com

August 14
While resting at his Graceland home after visiting his mother at a Memphis hospital, Elvis Presley receives a call from his father, telling him that his mother has passed away. At her funeral two days later, Elvis was so overcome with grief he was unable to stand and had to be supported by friends. Over five hundred police were at the service to keep the gigantic crowd at bay. Fans sent Elvis more than one hundred, thousand cards and letters, around five hundred telegrams, and more than two hundred floral arrangements to express their sympathy for his loss.

1961 - ClassicBands.com

August 14
Wanda Jackson's "Right Or Wrong" enters the Billboard Pop chart on its way to #29. She would follow it with the #27 hit, "In The Middle Of A Heartache" next November.

1964 - ClassicBands.com

August 14
Rockabilly singer Johnny Burnette died in a boating accident while fishing at Clear Lake, California. He was 30 years old. Burnette is most often remembered for his two, 1960 million-sellers, "Dreamin" (#11) and "You're Sixteen" (#8). She would switch to Country music soon after and placed sixteen songs on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart over the next twenty years.

1965 - ClassicBands.com

August 14
After several minor hits, Sonny And Cher topped both the Billboard Hot 100 and the Cashbox Best Sellers chart with "I Got You Babe". The record would also lead the UK chart two weeks later and become a Top Ten hit in nine other countries. Written by Sonny Bono, the song would earn a Gold Record for sales of over one million copies in the United States.

August 14
25-year-old Charles Fizer, of the R&B vocal group The Olympics, was shot and killed during the Watts Riots. The Los Angeles quintet reached #8 in the US and #12 in the UK in 1958 with "Western Movies". After Fizer's death, a revamped group continued to record into the early 1970s, but were unable to attain any chart success.

August 14
The McCoys' "Hang On Sloopy" is released. It will enter the Hot 100 three weeks later and top the chart by the first week of October. The record was also a success across the pond, where it reached #5 in the UK.

August 14
19-year-old Davy Jones debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 with the single "What Are We Going To Do?", which would peak at #93. The following year he would be chosen to become a member of The Monkees.

1966 - ClassicBands.com

August 14
London's Catholic Herald calls John Lennon's remark regarding The Beatles being more popular with teens than Jesus, "arrogant." However, the publication went on to say that "It's probably true."

1970 - ClassicBands.com

August 14
Stephen Stills is arrested on cocaine possession charges at a motel in La Jolla, California after being found crawling along a corridor in an incoherent state. He was later released on $2,500 bail.

1971 - ClassicBands.com

August 14
Seven months into her marriage to music executive Robert Ellis Silberstein, Diana Ross gives birth to her first child, a daughter named Rhonda. The child's biological father was later revealed to be Motown Records owner Berry Gordy Jr. Silberstein would raise Rhonda as his own daughter, despite knowing her true paternity, which Rhonda would learn when she was 13.

August 14
Rod Stewart's "Maggie May" is released in the US where it will reach #1 and become his first Billboard chart hit. Rod would later remark: "I cannot see how the single is such a hit. It has no melody." Melody or not, the record would go 2X Platinum in the United States, be ranked at #130 on Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, and be inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2017.

August 14
The Stampeders' "Sweet City Woman" debuted at #83 on the Billboard Hot 100, on its way to #8 the following October. The million selling disc would stay on the chart for sixteen weeks. Despite having many more hit songs in Canada, the band would score just two more Hot 100 entries, "Devil You" (#61 in 1971) and a cover of "Hit The Road Jack" (#40 in 1976).

1974 - ClassicBands.com

August 14
Paul Anka's duet with Odia Coates, "You're Having My Baby", is awarded a Gold Record despite its denouncement by feminists who object to the use of the word "my" as in "my baby", not "our baby." The record buying public feels differently as the song climbed to #1 in the US and #6 in the UK.

1976 - ClassicBands.com

August 14
Cliff Richard's biggest US hit, "Devil Woman" entered the Billboard Top 40 where it would peak at #6. A huge star in his native UK, Richard achieved nine US Top 40 entries, including "We Don't Talk Anymore" (#7 in 1979} and "Dreaming" (#10 in 1980).

1981 - ClassicBands.com

August 14
Judge Joseph Evans orders that Elvis' estate does not have to make any more payments to Colonel Tom Parker, ending his thirty-six year hold on much of the King's finances.

August 14
The BBC recording of the Royal Wedding of England's Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer reached #1 on the UK album chart. The LP contained the bridal procession, vows, speeches and hymns. Dubbed "The wedding of the century", the union would dissolve in December, 1992, with the split becoming official in August, 1996. Charles would later write to a friend, "How awful incompatibility is... I never thought it would end up like this."

1982 - ClassicBands.com

August 14
Marshall Crenshaw's "Someday Someway" enters the Billboard Hot 100 where it will peak at #36. The song was included in the soundtrack to the film Night Shift, which helped launch the careers of actors Michael Keaton and Shelley Long.

1985 - ClassicBands.com

August 14
Michael Jackson outbids Paul McCartney for the entire ATV music publishing catalogue, which includes most of the Lennon/McCartney songbook. Jackson paid 47.5 million US dollars for the company, in an act that will permanently sour the friendship between the two stars.

1992 - ClassicBands.com

August 14
Tony Williams of The Platters died of emphysema at the age of 64. He sang most of the group's hits up until 1961 when he was replaced by Sonny Turner.

2006 - ClassicBands.com

August 14
Wearing an orange Department of Sanitation vest, dark Capri pants and none of his trademark stage makeup, former Culture Club front man Boy George (real name: George O'Dowd) swept trash and leaves off a New York City sidewalk. The singer was sentenced to community service after pleading guilty in March to falsely reporting a burglary at his Manhattan apartment where responding police officers found cocaine. He was eventually reassigned to sweep a gated Department of Sanitation parking lot after the media surrounding him on the street caused too much chaos, but news crews still crowded outside the fence.

2009 - ClassicBands.com

August 14
George Michael was arrested and questioned on suspicion of driving under the influence of drink or drugs. The 46-year-old singer was later released without charge after his Land Rover was in collision with a lorry on the A34 in Berkshire, England

2013 - ClassicBands.com

August 14
Michael Jackson's former wife, 54-year-old Debbie Rowe, testified in Los Angeles Superior Court that "Michael had a very low pain tolerance." Giving evidence in a civil action filed by Katherine Jackson over her son's death in 2009, Ms Rowe went on to say "Unfortunately, some of the doctors decided that when Michael was in pain, they would try to see who could give him the best pain killer."

August 14
Allen Lanier, a founding member of Blue Oyster Cult, who scored a Billboard #12 hit in 1976 with "(Don't Fear) The Reaper", passed away after a long battle with lung disease. He was 67.

2014 - ClassicBands.com

August 14
Paul McCartney performed at the final show held at San Francisco's Candlestick Park before it was to be torn down to make way for a housing, retail and entertainment development.

2015 - ClassicBands.com

August 14
73-year-old Aretha Franklin canceled a performance at The Colosseum at Las Vegas' Caesar's Palace due to exhaustion.

2016 - ClassicBands.com

August 14
Ringo Starr became the first Beatle to become a great grandfather when his granddaughter, Tatia Starkey gave birth to Stone Zakamo Low. Tatia is the daughter of Ringo's son Zak Starkey.

2017 - ClassicBands.com

August 14
Collectors from around the world gathered at Graceland in Memphis, Tennessee to bid on pieces of Elvis Presley artifacts and memorabilia. All of the 315 items offered came from third-party collectors and not from the treasured Graceland Archives owned by Lisa Marie Presley.

August 14
Just days after Ted Nugent claimed that his involvement with National Rifle Association has played a part in keeping him out of the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, double inductee David Crosby wrote on his Twitter account that Ted "just isn't good enough."



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