Rock 'n' Roll History for
August 28


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1960 - ClassicBands.com

August 28
15-year-old Barry White is granted parole after serving three months of a four month sentence for stealing $30,000 worth of car tires. He would leave gang life behind and began singing with a group called The Upfronts. By the early 1970s he would enjoy a career as a singer and producer that saw him earn twenty Gold and ten Platinum singles, with worldwide record sales in excess of 100 million.

1961 - ClassicBands.com

August 28
Joe Dowell has Billboard's top tune with a cover version of an Elvis Presley album cut, "Wooden Heart". Session musicians included Floyd Cramer on piano, The Anita Kerr Singers, The Jordanaires and Ray Stevens on organ.

August 28
Tamla Records releases The Marvelettes' first single, "Please Mr. Postman". The song will sell over a million copies and become the group's biggest hit, reaching the top of both the Billboard Pop and R&B charts.

1964 - ClassicBands.com

August 28
The Beatles smoke marijuana for the first time, supplied by Bob Dylan, who joins the band after one of their concerts in New York state. Dylan was surprised the boys hadn't tried it before, as he thought they sang "I get high" in their song "I Want To Hold Your Hand," when the real lyrics were actually "I can't hide."

1965 - ClassicBands.com

August 28
The Rolling Stones announce that Allen Klein, who they met three days ago, will co-manage the group along with Andrew Long Oldham. At the same time, they sign a five year recording deal with Decca Records.

August 28
Billy Joe Royal enjoys his biggest Pop hit when "Down In The Boondocks" peaks at #9 on the Hot 100. He would reach the Top 40 three more times with "I Knew You When" (#4 in 1965), "I've Got To Be Somebody" (#38 in 1966) and "Cherry Hill Park" (#15 in 1969) before finding success on the Country charts with twelve Top 40 hits in the 1980s. Although his name sounds like a show biz moniker, he really was born Billy Joe Royal to Clarence Royal and Mary Sue Smith.

1967 - ClassicBands.com

August 28
The Grateful Dead and Big Brother And The Holding Company play at the wake of a Hell's Angels member who was struck by a car in San Francisco.

1968 - ClassicBands.com

August 28
The Doors are awarded a Gold record for "Hello, I Love You", which had reached #15 in the UK and #1 in the US. Largely a rip-off of The Kinks' "All Day and All of the Night", neither the band nor die-hard fans cared for the tune, saying it was not representative of the The Doors' harder-edged sound. Jim Morrison would later say, "Sure, 'Hello, I Love You' isn't one of our best songs, but I am not ashamed of it."

1969 - ClassicBands.com

August 28
Paul and Linda McCartney become parents to a daughter they name Mary, after Paul's mother. The child would grow up to enjoy a prolific career as a photographer, documentary filmmaker, and cookbook author.

1971 - ClassicBands.com

August 28
John Denver's first big hit, "Take Me Home Country Roads" peaks at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100, kept out of first place by The Bee Gees' "How Can You Mend A Broken Heart". Denver will go on to place fourteen more songs on the chart over the next eleven years.

August 28
Canada's Five Man Electrical Band saw their hit single "Signs" peak at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100. It would go on to sell over a million copies and be awarded a Gold Record by the RIAA. A string of other releases followed: "Absolutely Right" (#26 in 1971), "Money Back Guarantee" (#72 in 1972), "I'm A Stranger Here" (#76 in 1972), and "Werewolf" (#64 in 1974), but none could match the band's earlier success.

1973 - ClassicBands.com

August 28
Deep Purple received a Gold record for "Smoke On the Water", which hit #5 in the US on its way to selling over two million copies. It was the band's biggest success since "Hush", which also reached #5 in 1968.

1976 - ClassicBands.com

August 28
A live version of Peter Frampton's "Baby, I Love Your Way" peaks at #12 on the Billboard Hot 100. In 2017, while discussing inequitable payments from streaming music services like iTunes and Spotify, Frampton would tell US lawmakers, "For 55 million streams of 'Baby I Love Your Way', I got $1,700."

1984 - ClassicBands.com

August 28
The Jacksons' Victory Tour broke the record for concert ticket sales as they surpassed the 1.1 million mark in only two months.

1986 - ClassicBands.com

August 28
Stevie Nicks, Mick Fleetwood and Neil Young perform in a show that's billed as, Get Tough On Toxics, in Long Beach, California. The show also featured all of the Eagles except Glenn Frey, who was in the hospital with an intestinal disorder.

1993 - ClassicBands.com

August 28
Billy Joel had the number one album in the US when "River of Dreams" reached the top on the strength of the title track and "All About Soul". The LP would go on to sell over four million copies in America, but the album cover, which was painted by Billy's then wife Christie Brinkley, was bashed by critics, some calling it the worst album cover of the year. The couple would divorce a year later.

1996 - ClassicBands.com

August 28
Isaac Hayes, who co-wrote Sam And Dave's classic "Soul Man", sends a protest letter to presidential candidate Bob Dole, requesting Dole stop using his song, which supporters had changed to "I'm A Dole Man."

1998 - ClassicBands.com

August 28
Warner Bros. Pictures releases the romantic drama Why Do Fools Fall In Love, a biographical film about singer Frankie Lymon, lead singer of Frankie Lymon And The Teenagers. The movie's plot highlights three women in his life, each of whom claim to have married Lymon and lay claim to his estate. The real Frankie Lymon died of a heroin overdose on February 27th, 1968 at the age of 25.

2004 - ClassicBands.com

August 28
Ohio's Wilberforce University announced that it was awarding Lou Rawls an honorary doctorate in recognition of his charity work with the United Negro College Fund and his "lifelong service to the education of historically disadvantaged populations." Rawls, a three-time Grammy Award-winner, is best known for the hits "Love Is a Hurtin' Thing" (#13 in 1966), "A Natural Man" (#17 in 1971) and "You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine" (#2 in 1976).

2005 - ClassicBands.com

August 28
Art Garfunkel, who pleaded guilty last year to pot possession in upstate New York, was charged again after a marijuana cigarette was allegedly found in the ashtray of his car.

2012 - ClassicBands.com

August 28
The Website Celebritynetworth.com named Ringo Starr as the world's richest drummer, with an estimated fortune of $300 million. Phil Collins was ranked second with $250 million, former Nirvana percussionist Dave Grohl was third with $225 million, the Eagles' Don Henley came in forth with $200 million and Metallica's Lars Ulrich rounded out the top five with $175 million. Also making the top ten were U2 star Larry Mullen and The Rolling Stones' Charlie Watts.

2014 - ClassicBands.com

August 28
Glenn Cornick, the original bass player for Jethro Tull, died of congestive heart failure at the age of 67. Cornick performed with Tull from its inception in late 1967 until 1970.

2016 - ClassicBands.com

August 28
John Lennon's killer, Mark David Chapman, was denied parole for the ninth time. Earlier newspaper reports said that five letters recommending Chapman's release this year had been received by the board, but Lennon's widow Yoko Ono had written the three-man board opposing it. Chapman's next hearing was scheduled for 2018.

2024 - ClassicBands.com

August 28
As the US presidential campaign raged on, ABBA group members and their record label, Universal Music complained that their song "The Winner Takes It All" was played at one of Donald Trump's presidential campaign rallies without gaining permission. They joined a long list of artists who also objected to unauthorized music being played at the former president's rallies, including Foo Fighters, Celine Dion, Adele, REM and The Rolling Stones.



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