Rock 'n' Roll History for
February 21


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1952 - ClassicBands.com

February 21
17-year-old Jerry Lee Lewis marries his first wife, preacher's daughter Dorothy Barton, in what is rumored to be a shotgun wedding. They split a year later.

1964 - ClassicBands.com

February 21
Decca Records releases The Rolling Stones' single, "Not Fade Away". Their rendition of the 1957 Buddy Holly classic would reach #3 in the UK, #48 on the Hot 100, and #44 on the Cashbox Best Sellers chart.

February 21
A New York band called The Echoes recruited a young piano player named Billy Joel. The quartet would play cover songs under the names The Lost Souls, The Commandos and The Emerald Lords before Billy split two years later to join The Hassles. He would make his breakthrough in 1973 with "Piano Man".

1970 - ClassicBands.com

February 21
Simon And Garfunkel's "Bridge Over Troubled Water" entered the UK album chart at number 1, where it would stay for 12 consecutive weeks. It would return to the top seven times, spending a total of 41 weeks there over the next two years. In the US, the LP spent 10 weeks at number 1 on the strength of three Top Ten singles and was the number 7 album of the decade in America.

February 21
The Jackson 5 make their TV debut on American Bandstand where they sing "I Want You Back".

1971 - ClassicBands.com

February 21
The Ed Sullivan Show dedicated the entire episode to the fifth anniversary of The 5th Dimension. The group opened the show with "Love's Lines, Angles and Rhymes" and later joined Connie Stevens for "Puppet Man". They came back for the last 15 minutes of the program and sang "Up, Up and Away", "One Less Bell to Answer", "Stoned Soul Picnic", "Wedding Bell Blues", and "Aquarius / Let the Sunshine In". This appearance would be the group's last on the show as the program would be canceled at the end of the season after a 23 year run.

1976 - ClassicBands.com

February 21
The Four Seasons attained their only UK #1 hit with "December '63 (Oh What A Night)". The song also topped the Hot 100 in America.

1980 - ClassicBands.com

February 21
Janet Vogel, who sang soprano for The Skyliners on their 1959, US number one hit, "Since I Don't Have You", committed suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning. She was 37.

1981 - ClassicBands.com

February 21
Dolly Parton topped the Billboard Hot 100 with her own composition, "9 to 5". The record reached #47 in the UK. At next year's Grammy Awards, it won Best Country Song and Best Country Vocal Performance, Female.

February 21
REO Speedwagon started a 15 week run at the top of the Billboard album chart with "Hi Infidelity". It went on to become the biggest-selling LP of 1981, eventually being certified 10X Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.

February 21
A novelty song called "Shaddap You Face" by Australian Joe Dolce, topped the UK singles chart. The record has remained the most successful Australian-produced single in Australian music history. Although it stalled at #53 in America, the song went to number one in eleven other countries, selling over 6 million copies.

1982 - ClassicBands.com

February 21
Disc jockey Murray "The K" Kaufman died of cancer at the age of 60. Kaufman's influence on Rock And Roll and its audience led the Beatles to seek him out when they first came to America in 1964. Kaufman's friendship with the group gave him cause to start calling himself "The Fifth Beatle", but that title was never bestowed upon him by any member of the group. At the Beatles' 1988 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, George Harrison said that there were only two "fifth Beatles": public relations manager Derek Taylor and road manager Neil Aspinall. In a 1997 BBC interview, Paul McCartney stated: "If anyone was the fifth Beatle, it was Brian Epstein."

1987 - ClassicBands.com

February 21
"Stand By Me" by Ben E. King topped the UK singles chart after it was featured in a movie by the same name. The song first became a hit in 1961.

1990 - ClassicBands.com

February 21
Paul McCartney is honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 32nd annual Grammy Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California.

February 21
Milli Vanilli are awarded the Best New Artist Grammy. It would take until the following November for producer Frank Farian to confess that the duo of Fab Morvan and Rob Pilatus never actually sang a single note on their recordings, causing the award to be withdrawn.

2001 - ClassicBands.com

February 21
Johnny Cash was released from a Nashville hospital after recovering from pneumonia in time to accept his Grammy Award that night for Best Male Country Vocal Performance for his cover of Neil Diamond's "Solitary Man".

2007 - ClassicBands.com

February 21
After a Motown spokesman had said the film Dreamgirls had upset several of their artists who felt the label was falsely depicted in a negative light, Dreamworks, the makers of Oscar-nominated musical, took out a full page ad in the movie trade papers The Hollywood Reporter and Daily Variety where they apologized to Motown Records, saying "Dreamgirls is a work of fiction. It is also an homage to Motown." Berry Gordy accepted the apology.

2008 - ClassicBands.com

February 21
A US music aficionado sold his collection of more than three million vinyl albums, singles and compact discs to an eBay buyer from Ireland for just over $3 million. An eBay spokeswoman said the sale was one of the highest ever for the online auction site.

2009 - ClassicBands.com

February 21
An exhibit of James Brown's personal belongings opened at South Carolina State University. The collection included photos, crystal-studded suits, and even the hair curlers Brown used to form his signature pompadour.

2011 - ClassicBands.com

February 21
The Cars announced that May 10th would be the release date for their first new album in 24 years.

February 21
Boy George revealed a Culture Club 30th anniversary album and tour plans for 2012.

2012 - ClassicBands.com

February 21
The US Supreme Court refused to review Phil Spector's murder conviction. The disgraced producer was jailed for 19-years-to-life in 2009 for the second-degree murder of Lana Clarkson. He would die in hospital while still incarcerated on January 16th, 2021 at the age of 81

2013 - ClassicBands.com

February 21
Cleotha Staples of The Staple Singers passed away at the age of 78. The group placed eight songs on the Billboard Top 40 chart, including two that reached number one, "I'll Take You There" in 1971 and "Let's Do It Again" in 1975.

2019 - ClassicBands.com

February 21
Monkees' bassist Peter Tork passed away at the age of 77. He had been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer that affected his tongue ten years earlier, but a regular check-up declared him cancer free in 2012.

February 21
The Recording Industry Association of America announced that the LP "The Beatles" (the White Album) had been certified 24 times Platinum.

2022 - ClassicBands.com

February 21
Elton John's private jet had to make an emergency landing at Farnborough Airport in Hampshire, England, after suffering hydraulic failure mid-air. The pilot was then forced to make three attempts to land because of high winds. Despite the ordeal, Elton quickly boarded another flight to ensure he could perform at Madison Square Garden in New York the following day.



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