Rock 'n' Roll History for
August 19


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1950 - ClassicBands.com

August 19
"Hard Luck Blues" by Roy Brown And His Mighty Mighty Men hit the top of the US R&B chart. Brown wrote Wynonie Harris' 1948 hit, "Good Rockin' Tonight", which is recognized by many Rock historians as a precursor to the Rock 'n' Roll era and was covered by Elvis Presley in 1954.

1954 - ClassicBands.com

August 19
The Platters, B.B. King and Johnny Otis top the bill at a sold out show at the Savoy Ballroom in Hollywood, California.

1957 - ClassicBands.com

August 19
Pat Boone appeared on the cover of Newsweek magazine with the catch line, "His Refreshing Song Fills The Air." The inside article declared that "Teen-agers are finally revolting against the musical delinquents." At that point, Boone had placed eighteen songs on the Billboard Top 40, including four that went to number one.

1961 - ClassicBands.com

August 19
The Highwaymen had the top tune on the Cashbox chart with their million selling version of the African-American spiritual "Michael" (Row the Boat Ashore). The five Wesleyan University students would achieve another hit next year with "Cotton Fields" before splitting in 1964 after twelve consecutive singles failed to chart.

1963 - ClassicBands.com

August 19
Peter, Paul And Mary perform, "Blowin' In The Wind" for civil rights marchers in Washington D.C. who had gathered to hear Martin Luther King Jr. speak.

1964 - ClassicBands.com

August 19
More than six months after their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, The Beatles arrive in California to kick off their first American tour at the 17,000 seat Cow Palace in San Francisco. After a thirty-three minute concert, John, Paul, Ringo and George were whisked away by ambulance after their limousine was swarmed by fans. Joining them for the entire tour was journalist Ivor Davis, who would later chronicle his experience in the book The Beatles and Me on Tour.

1966 - ClassicBands.com

August 19
The Beatles are on the receiving end of an assassination threat during a concert in Memphis, Tennessee. During the second show, a firecracker is thrown on stage, but the band continued to play and the night went on without further incident.

August 19
As a follow up to her earlier hit, "Born A Woman", Sandy Posey records "Single Girl" for MGM Records in in Nashville, Tennessee. Just like its predecessor, the song will reach #12 on the Hot 100. In the UK, it went to #15.

1967 - ClassicBands.com

August 19
Ringo Starr and his wife Maureen have a baby boy named Jason. On the same day, The Beatles' "All You Need Is Love" hits #1 the Billboard Hot 100 for one week, before it is surpassed by Bobbie Gentry's "Ode To Billy Joe".

1968 - ClassicBands.com

August 19
After fifty-eight episodes, the final Monkees TV show airs on NBC. Since the its initial run, almost every major cable network has aired re-runs of the program, including a popular stint on CBS from 1969-1972.

August 19
Capitol Records releases "Stack-o-Tracks", a Beach Boys' album containing the backing tracks to fifteen songs spanning their career to that point. As the record buying public was far more interested in other artists, the band was at one of their lowest commercial ebbs in the US and "Stack-o-Tracks" would become the first Beach Boys album to fail to reach the US or UK charts. It quickly disappeared and was out of print for two decades. In 1990, Capitol re-issued it on CD, and again in 2001, both releases without the booklet that accompanied the vinyl edition.

1969 - ClassicBands.com

August 19
Jefferson Airplane, Joni Mitchell, David Crosby and Stephen Stills all appeared on The Dick Cavett Show. The episode is now often referred to as "The Woodstock Show", as many of the performers, and Cavett's audience, came directly from the concert.

1972 - ClassicBands.com

August 19
NBC debuted their Rock and Roll TV show Midnight Special, with Wolfman Jack announcing. The first episode featured the band, War performing their million selling US hit "Slippin' Into Darkness".

August 19
Chicago's "Chicago V" tops the Billboard 200 chart for the first of nine straight weeks. A single from the LP, "Saturday in the Park" would rise to #3 on the Hot 100, selling a million copies in the process.

1973 - ClassicBands.com

August 19
Rita Coolidge and Kris Kristofferson are married in Malibu, with Kris' minister/father performing the ceremony. They would divorce in 1980, but Rita would enjoy her most prolific commercial success with five Billboard Top 40 singles during the marriage, including "Higher And Higher" (#2) and "We're All Alone" (#7).

1978 - ClassicBands.com

August 19
After nine weeks at the top of the UK chart, "You're The One That I Want" by John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John is finally knocked out of first place by The Commodores' "Three Times A Lady". As of 2013 it was still the fifth best-selling single of all time in Great Britain, where it has sold two million copies.

August 19
After placing three songs on the Billboard Top 40 with Jim Messina in 1972 and 1973, Kenny Loggins has the first of his own fourteen hits when "Whenever I Call You Friend" enters the chart, on its way to #5. The duet with Fleetwood Mac's Stevie Nicks would enjoy an amazing fifteen week chart run.

1979 - ClassicBands.com

August 19
Dorsey Burnette, who reached #23 on the Hot 100 in 1960 with "There Was A Tall Oak Tree", suffered a fatal heart attack at the age of 46. When the Pop hits dried up in 1969, he went on to place fifteen songs on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart.

1980 - ClassicBands.com

August 19
A crowd of 1,400 riots in Toronto when Alice Cooper cancels a show due to illness.

1988 - ClassicBands.com

August 19
The jukebox had been around in one form or another since 1889 and "Crazy" by Patsy Cline and Elvis Presley's "Hound Dog" were named by the industry as the most played songs over that first one hundred years.

1998 - ClassicBands.com

August 19
Priscilla Presley won $75,000 in a defamation lawsuit against a man who claimed they had an affair before she married Elvis Presley. "I am very pleased that I have been vindicated by this judgment," Priscilla said in a statement.

2001 - ClassicBands.com

August 19
Betty Everett, who is most often remembered for her 1964, US #6 hit, "The Shoop Shoop Song", was found dead at her home in Beloit, Wisconsin. She was 61. After her initial success, she had released seventeen more singles, with only "Let It Be Me" (#5 in 1964) and "There'll Come a Time" (#26 in 1969) making much of a splash on the Hot 100.

2005 - ClassicBands.com

August 19
A bronze statue of Thin Lizzy front man Phil Lynott was unveiled in his hometown of Dublin, Ireland. The ceremony was attended by his former band members Gary Moore, Brian Robertson and Scott Gorham.

2008 - ClassicBands.com

August 19
Wayne Wadhams, the keyboard player and lead vocalist for The Fifth Estate on their 1967, Billboard #11 hit "Ding Dong! The Witch Is Dead", passed away at the age of 61.

2013 - ClassicBands.com

August 19
Richie Havens' ashes were scattered from a plane across the site of the original Woodstock concert. He was the first act to perform at the 1969 event held in upstate New York, where he made history with his performance of "Freedom". Havens died last April from a heart attack at the age of 72.

2016 - ClassicBands.com

August 19
The Bee Gees' Barry Gibb announced the release of his first ever solo album of new material, "In The Now" on October 7th of this year.

2019 - ClassicBands.com

August 19
Larry Taylor, the founding bassist of 1960s L.A. boogie rock band Canned Heat died at age 77 after a twelve year battle with cancer.



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