Rock 'n' Roll History for
August 18


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1958 - ClassicBands.com

August 18
Italy's leading male vocalist, Domenico Modugno, hit the top of the Billboard Hot 100 with "Volare" ("Nel Blu Dipinto di Blu"). The song would become the year's best selling record and win two Grammy Awards for Record of the Year and Song of the Year. Worldwide sales of the single topped twenty-two million copies.

August 18
"Patricia" by 41-year-old Perez Prado is certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America. It was the last record to ascend to #1 on the Billboard Jockeys and Top 100 charts before they were combined into the Hot 100. Three years earlier the Cuban born band leader had his first US chart topper with "Cherry Pink And Apple Blossom White".

1962 - ClassicBands.com

August 18
After a two hour rehearsal, Ringo Starr plays on stage with The Beatles for the first time at Hulme Hall in Port Sunlight, Birkenhead. Their previous drummer, Pete Best, had been fired two days earlier.

1963 - ClassicBands.com

August 18
21-year-old Wayne Newton sees his rendition of "Danke Schoen" peak at #13 on the Hot 100 and #3 on the Easy Listening chart. The song was originally intended for Bobby Darin as a follow-up to his #10 hit single "18 Yellow Roses", but after seeing Newton perform at the Copacabana, Darin decided to let Newton record the song.

August 18
"I Who Have Nothing" by Ben E. King tops out at #29, becoming his fifth solo effort to reach the Billboard Top 40 since he left The Drifters in May, 1960. Other notable versions of the song became hits for Terry Knight And The Pack (#46 in 1966), Liquid Smoke (#82 in 1970 ), Sylvester (#40 in 1979) and Tom Jones (#14 in 1970).

1964 - ClassicBands.com

August 18
The Beatles fly across the Atlantic to begin their first full concert tour of the US, with the debut show slated for the following day at The Cow Palace in San Francisco. Opening acts included The Righteous Brothers, The Exciters, Jackie DeShannon and Bill Black's Combo.

1965 - ClassicBands.com

August 18
Herman's Hermits' lead singer, 17-year-old Peter Noone interviews Elvis Presley in Honolulu, where Elvis is filming his movie Paradise, Hawaiian Style. Noone would later recall: "What I should have said was 'I have every one of your recordings and so does my big sister Denise'... but what I said was 'When are you coming to England?'."

1969 - ClassicBands.com

August 18
The Woodstock festival closes after morning performances by The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Sha Na Na and finally, at 9 AM, Jimi Hendrix, who performs his rendition of "The Star Spangled Banner".

August 18
Mick Jagger nearly had his hand blown off when an old gun backfired during the filming the movie Ned Kelly in Australia.

1971 - ClassicBands.com

August 18
John Denver's "Take Me Home, Country Roads" is certified as a million seller in the US. At the time, despite singing that West Virginia was "almost heaven", neither Denver or the song's writers, Bill Danoff and Taffy Nivert had ever been there.

1973 - ClassicBands.com

August 18
Diana Ross' "Touch Me In The Morning" hits the top of the Billboard Hot 100, where it would stay for one week. The song would enjoy a chart run of twenty-one weeks, becoming her longest-charting record up to that time.

August 18
According to Cashbox magazine, Wings had the best selling single in the US with "Live And Let Die". Produced by George Martin, the Grammy nominated song was written specifically for the James Bond film of the same name.

August 18
Jethro Tull's sixth studio album, "A Passion Play" hits #1 on the Billboard 200 chart. The LP had been recorded at the Chateau d'Hérouville studios in Herouville, France, on the advice of their management and accountants to avoid the UK's high taxes.

1977 - ClassicBands.com

August 18
Two Missouri girls were killed and a third was critically injured when a car being driven by an 18-year-old Memphis teen swerved into a crowd of over 2,000 mourners standing in front of Graceland's music gate at about 4 AM. The driver was charged with drunk driving, leaving the scene of an accident, and two counts of second degree murder.

August 18
Funeral services for Elvis Presley are held at Graceland. Inside are 150 mourners, outside are 75,000 more. Presley was entombed in a white marble mausoleum at Forest Hill Cemetery in Memphis near the grave of his mother, Gladys, but would be re-buried at Graceland the following November at his father's request.

1978 - ClassicBands.com

August 18
Melvin Franklin of The Temptations was shot four times in the hand and the leg while trying to stop a man from stealing his car in Los Angeles. He survived.

1979 - ClassicBands.com

August 18
"Good Times" by Chic tops the Billboard Hot 100 for a one week stay. It would also reach #1 on the Hot Soul Singles chart and the Cashbox Best Sellers list. Often cited as one of the most sampled tunes in music history, it would be ranked 68th on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time,

1982 - ClassicBands.com

August 18
The City of Liverpool named four streets after The Beatles, John Lennon Drive, Paul McCartney Way, George Harrison Close and Ringo Starr Drive.

1991 - ClassicBands.com

August 18
Billy Preston was arrested in Los Angeles after a 16-year-old transvestite reported being attacked. Although he pleaded not guilty, Preston was convicted and placed on five years probation early in 1992.

1997 - ClassicBands.com

August 18
The Rolling Stones announce plans for their upcoming Bridges To Babylon tour in grand style. The band rolls up to the Brooklyn Bridge in New York in a red '55 Cadillac with Mick at the wheel.

2003 - ClassicBands.com

August 18
Tony Jackson, bass player with The Searchers, died from cirrhosis of the liver. The band had a 1964 UK #1 and US #13 single with "Needles And Pins". They also enjoyed eleven other UK Top 40 hits.

2008 - ClassicBands.com

August 18
Pervis Jackson, bass vocalist and original member of the Motown group The Spinners, died of cancer at the age of 70. The band had a series of hits in the 1970s, including "I'll Be Around" (#3), "Could It Be I'm Falling In Love" (#4), "Then Came You" (#1) and "Rubber Band Man" (#2).

2010 - ClassicBands.com

August 18
French beauty brand Etat Libre D'Orange announced that they had teamed up with legendary bad boy rockers The Sex Pistols to bottle the scent of the Punk era by launching the band's first fragrance. Company executives said, "To wear this scent, you must resist tradition, fight conformity and disregard aromatic conventions."

August 18
Kenny Edwards, an original member of the Country/Rock band The Stone Poneys, died of cancer at the age of 64. The group, led by vocalist Linda Ronstadt, reached #13 in late 1967 with "Different Drum".

2012 - ClassicBands.com

August 18
Scott McKenzie, who sang the Billboard #4 hit, "San Francisco", the unofficial anthem for "the summer of love" in 1967, died of the nervous system disorder Guillain-Barre Syndrome at the age of 73. Although he released a handful of other singles, only "Like an Old Time Movie" (#24) could crack the US Top 40. He did however, gain some success as a songwriter, penning "What About Me" for Anne Murray (Billboard AC #2 in 1968), and co-authored The Beach Boys' 1988, #1 smash, "Kokomo".

2023 - ClassicBands.com

August 18
Ray Hildebrand, the "Paul" the Pop duo Paul And Paula, passed away at the age of 82. He, along with his partner Jill Jackson, topped the Hot 100 in 1963 with "Hey Paula". After reaching the Top 40 two more times, the pair split in 1965 and Hildebrand went on to have a career in Christian music.



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