Rock 'n' Roll History for
August 29


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1958 - ClassicBands.com

August 29
Alan Freed's Big Beat Show opens at the Fox Theatre in Brooklyn. Those performing included Frankie Avalon, Jimmy Clanton, Chuck Berry, Bobby Freeman, Bill Haley And His Comets and The Elegants.

1959 - ClassicBands.com

August 29
The Quarrymen perform for about three hundred teenagers at the opening of The Casbah Coffee Club, located in the basement of a family home owned by Pete Best's mother, Mona. The group consists of John, Paul, George and guitarist Ken Brown. Still without a drummer, the band shared one microphone connected to the house P.A. system and would return for six more Saturday night engagements for 15 shillings each per night.

1964 - ClassicBands.com

August 29
Billboard magazine reports that guitar sales in both the US and the UK have sky rocketed in the wake of the British Invasion.

August 29
The Honeycombs top the UK chart with their first release, "Have I The Right". The record will also go to #1 in Australia, Canada and Sweden and reach #5 in America, selling two million copies in the process.

August 29
Monument Records releases Rob Orbison's "Oh, Pretty Woman". It will hit Billboard's number one spot just four weeks later and reach the Top Ten in fifteen other countries. The RIAA would later award songwriters Roy Orbison and Bill Dees a Gold Record for selling one million copies in the United States.

1966 - ClassicBands.com

August 29
Seven years to the day since John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison first performed together at Liverpool's Casbah Coffee Club, The Beatles play their last paid, public concert in front of 25,000 fans at San Francisco's Candlestick Park. The band did eleven songs in just over a half an hour, opening with "Rock & Roll Music" and closing with "Long Tall Sally". Although their latest album, "Revolver" had just been released a few weeks earlier, the band chose not to play even a single cut from it.

1967 - ClassicBands.com

August 29
Brian Epstein's funeral is held in Liverpool. The event was not attended by The Beatles, who wished to give his family privacy by not attracting the media and fans. Instead, they would be present at a memorial service at the New London Synagogue in St John's Wood on October 17th.

1970 - ClassicBands.com

August 29
Edwin Starr's version of "War" was the top tune on the Billboard Hot 100, where it would stay for three weeks. The song would go on to be nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance, but lost to "The Thrill Is Gone" by B.B. King.

1976 - ClassicBands.com

August 29
Jimmy Reed, who reached the Billboard Pop chart with "Honest I Do" (#32 in 1957) and "Baby What You Want Me To Do" (#37 in 1960), died following an epileptic seizure, just days shy of his 51st birthday. He enjoyed much more success on the R&B chart, where he had nineteen Top 40 hits between 1955 and 1965.

1977 - ClassicBands.com

August 29
Three people are arrested in Memphis, Tennessee for attempting to steal Elvis Presley's remains. Police later said that they received a tip that a group of persons planned to break into Presley's mausoleum at Forest Hills Cemetery, take the body and hold it for ransom. When the would-be thieves made their move, the cops were waiting. As a result, the corpse would be moved to Graceland after getting special permission from Memphis officials.

1987 - ClassicBands.com

August 29
The East LA band, Los Lobos had the number one single on Billboard's Hot 100 this week with a remake of Ritchie Valens' "La Bamba", from the movie of the same name. Singer Cesar Rosas said that the song itself is a traditional Mexican tune that means "wedding song."

1990 - ClassicBands.com

August 29
Elton John checks into a rehab center in Chicago to get treatment for bulimia, alcoholism and drugs.

1992 - ClassicBands.com

August 29
Billy Joel's remake of Elvis Presley's "All Shook Up" peaks at #92 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was from the soundtrack of the film Honeymoon In Vegas. It would prove to be the lowest charting single of his career, but he would bounce back the following year with "The River Of Dreams", which reached #3.

2006 - ClassicBands.com

August 29
Jumpin' Gene Simmons, an American singer and songwriter best known for his 1964, US #11 novelty single "Haunted House", died after a long illness at the age of 69. KISS bassist Gene Simmons, who was born Chaim Witz, chose his stage name to honor the Rockabilly artist.

2009 - ClassicBands.com

August 29
A 1970 interview with John Lennon, in which he revealed some of the reasons that The Beatles split, appeared in Rolling Stone magazine. John said that his band mates disrespected and "insulted" his wife, Yoko Ono, adding, "They despised her... It seemed I had to be happily married to them or Yoko, and I chose Yoko." He also took a shot at his former songwriting partner, saying "We got fed up with being sidemen for Paul."

2014 - ClassicBands.com

August 29
Smokey Robinson earned his highest charting album since 1981 when his latest release, "Smokey And Friends" went to #12 on the Billboard 200 and #2 on the R&B chart. Some of the big name artists who appeared on the LP were Elton John, Steven Tyler, John Legend, Mary J. Blige, James Taylor and Sheryl Crow.

2021 - ClassicBands.com

August 29
Ron Bushy, who performed one of Rock's most memorable drum solos on the LP version of Iron Butterfly's In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida", passed away at the age of 79 after a battle with esophageal cancer.



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