Rock 'n' Roll History for
December 11


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1958 - ClassicBands.com

December 11
The Coasters record "Charlie Brown", which would go on to reach number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and the Cashbox Best Sellers list in March, 1959. It was kept out of the top spot on both charts by Frankie Avalon's "Venus". The song was so popular that over the years more than eighty cover versions have been recorded.

1960 - ClassicBands.com

December 11
Aretha Franklin makes her New York stage debut, singing Blues and Pop standards at the Village Vanguard.

1961 - ClassicBands.com

December 11
Motown Records achieves their first number one record when The Marvelettes' "Please Mr. Postman" reaches the top. The song, which included 22-year-old Marvin Gaye on drums, would stay on the Hot 100 for twenty-three weeks.

December 11
Elvis Presley started a twenty week run at the top of the Billboard album chart with "Blue Hawaii", his seventh US #1 album. It would be certified Gold on December 21st, 1961, Platinum and 2X Platinum on March 27th, 1992, and 3X Platinum on July 30th, 2002.

1964 - ClassicBands.com

December 11
Sam Cooke was shot and killed in a Los Angeles motel. According to court testimony, Cooke picked up a 22-year-old woman named Elisa Boyer at a party. He promised her a ride home but they ended up at a motel. Boyer claims Cooke forced her into the motel room and began ripping her clothes off. She managed to escape while he was in the bathroom. While she called police from a phone booth, Cooke began pounding on the office door of the motel's manager, Bertha Franklin. He demanded to know where the girl was and allegedly broke the door open. Cooke reportedly attacked Franklin, who then shot him three times. By the time the police arrived, Sam Cooke was dead. A jury would later return a verdict of justifiable homicide.

1965 - ClassicBands.com

December 11
In a year that saw the Billboard Hot 100 dominated by Rock 'n' Roll artists from England and America, 48-year-old Dean Martin enjoys his fifth Top 40 hit when "I Will" peaks at #10. It also reached #3 on the Easy Listening Chart.

1967 - ClassicBands.com

December 11
A London Appeals Court commutes Brian Jones' nine-month prison stay for possession of cannabis after hearing testimony from three psychiatrists that Jones is "an extremely frightened young man" and could not stand nine months behind bars. He was given three years probation and a £1,000 fine.

1968 - ClassicBands.com

December 11
Filming began for The Rolling Stones' Rock and Roll Circus, which included John and Yoko, The Who, Eric Clapton and Jethro Tull, along with clowns and acrobats. The film was intended to be shown on the BBC, but the Stones held it back because they felt their performance wasn't up to par. It would not be issued until 1996.

1970 - ClassicBands.com

December 11
Apple Records releases John Lennon's debut solo album, "John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band". Recorded in September and October at Abbey Road Studios in London, the LP would peak at #6 on the Billboard 200 and #8 on the UK's Official Albums Chart. Although critics gave it mixed reviews at the time, the album was ranked at #23 on Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time in 2012.

1971 - ClassicBands.com

December 11
Carly Simon's "Anticipation" enters the Billboard Hot 100 at #61. The song will reach #13 during a ten week run and be nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Performance - Female, which it lost to Helen Reddy's "I Am Woman".

1972 - ClassicBands.com

December 11
James Brown is arrested after a show in Knoxville, Tennessee and charged with disorderly conduct. A man told police that Brown was trying to incite a riot. After Brown threatens to sue to city for $1 million, the charges are dropped and the whole thing is deemed "a misunderstanding."

1973 - ClassicBands.com

December 11
The Carpenters' "Top Of The World" is certified Gold by the RIAA for sales of 500,000 units. It had reached number one in America and number five in the UK.

1976 - ClassicBands.com

December 11
KISS guitarist Ace Frehley is nearly electrocuted during a concert in Florida when he touches a short circuited light. He is carried from the stage but returns ten minutes later to finish the show.

1982 - ClassicBands.com

December 11
Lionel Richie appears on Saturday Night Live and sings his current US number one hit, "Truly".

1989 - ClassicBands.com

December 11
The Recording Industry Association of America certifies four Led Zeppelin albums as multi-Platinum: "Presence" (2 million), "Led Zeppelin" (4 million), "Physical Graffiti" (4 million) and "In Through The Out Door" (5 million).

1990 - ClassicBands.com

December 11
The album "Led Zeppelin IV" is certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. On November 8th, 2021, it would be designated 24X Platinum.

2001 - ClassicBands.com

December 11
David Soul wins a $70,000 judgment in a lawsuit against Matthew Wright, a London theatre critic who criticized Soul's stage performance without even seeing it. Wright's column made reference to the Monday performance, when in fact, the play did not run on Mondays. Soul had topped the music charts in the US and the UK in the mid-1970s with "Don't Give Up on Us".

2002 - ClassicBands.com

December 11
What was left of the original Napster's computers, laptops and servers were auctioned off in San Francisco as the online file sharing company cleaned out its remaining physical assets. A federal judge ordered Napster offline until it could comply with an order to halt the unauthorized trade of copyright music.

December 11
Musicologist and author Rob Durkee compiled a list of The Top Ten Christmas Songs Of All Time (according to sales and radio air play)


1. White Christmas - Bing Crosby - 1942
2. Silent Night - Bing Crosby - 1936
3. Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer - Gene Autry - 1949
4. The Little Drummer Boy - Harry Simeone Chorale - 1958
5. Jingle Bell Rock - Bobby Helms - 1957
6. The Christmas Song - Nat King Cole - 1946
7. The Chipmunk Song - David Seville and the Chipmunks - 1958
8. Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree - Brenda Lee - 1958
9. Blue Christmas - Elvis Presley - 1957
10. Jingle Bells - Bing Crosby / The Andrews Sisters - 1943

2008 - ClassicBands.com

December 11
Roman Catholic Cardinal Jorge Medina criticized Madonna's first concert in Santiago, Chile, saying "This woman comes here and in an incredibly shameless manner, she provokes a crazy enthusiasm, an enthusiasm of lust, lustful thoughts, impure thoughts." About 60,000 fans were expected to attend each of the two scheduled performances.

2012 - ClassicBands.com

December 11
Ravi Shankar, the Indian sitar player whose sound had a major influence on The Beatles, died from upper-respiratory and heart issues at the age of 92.

December 11
Dave "Doc" Robinson, lead vocalist, bassist and keyboard player for King Harvest on their 1973, Billboard #13 hit, "Dancing In The Moonlight", passed away at the age of 67.

2013 - ClassicBands.com

December 11
Rod Stewart confirmed a reunion with The Faces in 2015, which is the 40th anniversary of the band's breakup. They planned on getting together after Ronnie Wood's next tour with the Rolling Stones.

December 11
Tommy Ruger, drummer for The Nightcrawlers on their 1967 song "The Little Black Egg", died from complications of diabetes. He was 67. Although the record only got as far as #85 on the Billboard Hot 100, it is fondly remembered as a Garage Band classic.

2015 - ClassicBands.com

December 11
More than a hundred relatives, friends, fans and former employees gathered to dedicate the stone that will become the centerpiece of a memorial garden outside the B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center in Indianola, Mississippi.

2019 - ClassicBands.com

December 11
An anonymous buyer of the leather jacket that Olivia Newton-John wore in the 1978 film Grease, gave it right back to the singer after he bought it at her charity auction. A tearful Newton-John hugged him and said: "That is the most incredibly generous thing to do for me. I'm so grateful and I'm just blown away." The man responded by saying, "It should not sit in a billionaire's closet for country-club bragging rights."

2021 - ClassicBands.com

December 11
Paul McCartney's Yamaha BB-1200 bass guitar sold at auction for a record-breaking $496,100. The former Beatle used the guitar in the studio and on tour with Wings. The event was organized by U2's The Edge and producer Bob Ezrin and raised over $2 million for their Music Rising charity, which aimed to benefit musicians in the Gulf South following the devastation the COVID-19 pandemic wrought on musicians and musical communities.



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