Rock 'n' Roll History for
February 12


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1960 - ClassicBands.com

February 12
Pat Boone is awarded a Gold record for the album "Pat's Great Hits", which included 18 of his highest charting singles. Interestingly, his 1956 renditions of Little Richard's "Tutti Frutti" (US #12) and "Long Tall Sally" (US #8) were left out of the collection.

1961 - ClassicBands.com

February 12
The Miracles' "Shop Around" becomes Motown Record's first million-selling single. It was the label's first #1 hit on Billboard's R&B singles chart, also reaching #2 on the Hot 100. In the following ten years, The Miracles will have six more million sellers.

1965 - ClassicBands.com

February 12
18 year old Donovan Leitch appears on the UK music show Ready Steady Go!, where he performs his debut single "Catch The Wind". The tune will reach #4 in his homeland and #23 in the US.

1966 - ClassicBands.com

February 12
The Rolling Stones tape a performance for The Ed Sullivan Show, which will be shown the following night. The band played "Satisfaction", "As Tears Go By" and "19th Nervous Breakdown".

1968 - ClassicBands.com

February 12
Jimi Hendrix was presented with a key to the city of Seattle. He also played a free show for students at Garfield High School, where he was given an honorary diploma. Hendrix was thrown out of the school at the age of 16, apparently for holding the hand of a white girl in class.

February 12
Chynna Phillips, who would one day make up one third of the singing group, Wilson-Phillips, is born to John and Michelle Phillips of The Mamas And The Papas.

1970 - ClassicBands.com

February 12
John Lennon performed "Instant Karma!" on BBC TV's Top Of The Pops, becoming the first Beatle to appear on the program since 1966. John sang live over a pre-recorded backing tape, as was normal on the show.

1972 - ClassicBands.com

February 12
Al Green's "Let's Stay Together" tops the Billboard Hot 100. Although it was number one for just one week, the song would stay on the chart for 16 weeks, and also topped Billboard's R&B chart for nine weeks. In 2010, it was chosen by the Library of Congress as an addition to the National Recording Registry, which selects recordings annually that are "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

1974 - ClassicBands.com

February 12
Stevie Wonder jammed with Johnny Winter and Dr. John at the opening of the Bottom Line club in New York. Also appearing were James Taylor, Carly Simon and Mick Jagger.

1976 - ClassicBands.com

February 12
37 year old Sal Mineo, a singer and actor who reached number nine on the Billboard chart in 1957 with "Start Movin' In My Direction", was stabbed to death by an unknown assailant. Over three years later, a man named Lionel Williams was tried and convicted for the murder.

1989 - ClassicBands.com

February 12
Tiny Tim declares himself a New York City mayoral candidate. Five weeks later he will drop out of the race, saying the campaign was his manager's idea, "But it never seemed to catch fire."

1992 - ClassicBands.com

February 12
At the 11th annual BRIT awards in London, Queen's "These Are The Days Of Our Lives" is named Best British Single and the late Freddie Mercury is honored for Outstanding Contribution to British Music. For the fourth time in the last five years, U2 is named as the Best International Group.

1999 - ClassicBands.com

February 12
Miss Toni Fisher, who scored a Billboard #3 hit in 1959 with "The Big Hurt", died of a heart attack at the age of 67.

2000 - ClassicBands.com

February 12
Screamin' Jay Hawkins died at the age of 70 after complications from surgery. He recorded the R&B classic, "I Put A Spell On You" in 1956. Although that song only reached #80 on the Top 100, it went to #1 on the UK Fab 40, and was ranked at #313 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

February 12
William Oliver Swofford, known better by his stage name, Oliver, passed away after a lengthy battle with Non-Hodgkin lymphoma. He reached #3 in the US with "Good Morning Starshine" and #2 with "Jean", both in 1969.

2003 - ClassicBands.com

February 12
Former Doors drummer John Densmore took legal action against the group's keyboard player Ray Manzarek and guitarist Robby Krieger for breach of contract, trademark infringement and unfair competition. The band had reformed with ex-Cult singer Ian Astbury and former Police drummer Stewart Copeland. Densmore said, "It shouldn't be called The Doors if it's someone other than Jim Morrison singing." He would win the lawsuit in July, 2005 and the new ensemble were forced to stop calling themselves The Doors.

2005 - ClassicBands.com

February 12
Sammi Smith, best known for the 1971 Billboard #8 hit, "Help Me Make It Through the Night", died of emphysema at the age of 61. She won a Grammy award for her rendition of the song written by Kris Kristofferson, establishing him as a leading Nashville songwriter.

2006 - ClassicBands.com

February 12
Lenny Dee, a solo organist who reached #19 on the Billboard chart in 1955 with the million selling "Plantation Boogie", died at the age of 83. He was a one-time performer with Jimmy Dorsey and appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, The Tonight Show with Jack Paar and The Lawrence Welk Show.

February 12
"The Greatest Songs Of The Fifties" became Barry Manilow's second Billboard chart topping album. His first had come in 1977 with "Barry Manilow Live".

2007 - ClassicBands.com

February 12
71-year-old Eldee Young, bass player with the Ramsey Lewis Trio on the 1965 instrumental smash "The In Crowd", died of an apparent heart attack in Thailand where he was performing. In 1968 he formed Young - Holt Unlimited and reached #3 with "Soulful Strut".

February 12
Over 50 years after he first appeared on the US charts with a cover version of The Charms' "Two Hearts", Pat Boone was receiving major US radio airplay for his new CD "Pat Boone R&B Classics - We Are Family". His rendition of "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" was the track most in-demand by listeners.

2009 - ClassicBands.com

February 12
A full frontal nude photo of Madonna, taken in 1979 before she became famous, sold at auction for $37,500. The black and white picture was taken at a time when Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone was a 20-year-old dancer trying to make ends meet in New York.

2015 - ClassicBands.com

February 12
Sam Andrew, a founding guitarist for Big Brother And The Holding Company, died at the age of 73, ten days after suffering a heart attack.

2016 - ClassicBands.com

February 12
On what would have been Ray Manzarek's 77th birthday, his surviving Doors bandmates, Robby Krieger and John Densmore celebrated by reuniting on stage for the first time in 15 years at Los Angeles Fonda Theatre.

2017 - ClassicBands.com

February 12
Singer, Al Jarreau died of respiratory failure at the age of 76. He is most often remembered for his 1981, Hot 100 #15 hit, "We're In This Love Together", and the theme from the TV show Moonlighting, which rose to #23 in 1987.

2018 - ClassicBands.com

February 12
Vic Damone, who reached #4 in America in 1956 with "On The Street Where You Live", died from complications of a respiratory illness at the age of 89. His easy-listening, romantic ballads sustained a half-century career in recordings, movies and nightclub, concert and television appearances. Frank Sinatra once said that Damone had "the best pipes in the business".

2022 - ClassicBands.com

February 12
Miguel Vicens Danus, founding member and bass guitarist for Los Bravos, died of pneumonia at the age of 78. The band reached #4 in America and #2 in the UK in 1966 with "Black Is Black".

2024 - ClassicBands.com

February 12
A week after performing her 1988 hit, "Fast Car" at the Grammy Awards, Tracy Chapman saw her tune return to the Billboard Hot 100 at #42.



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