Rock 'n' Roll History for
July 15


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1952 - ClassicBands.com

July 15
8-year-old Gladys Knight won $2,000 on a US television show called Ted Mack's Amateur Hour, where she sang a tune appropriately titled "Too Young". Knight would make her first record just five years later.

1957 - ClassicBands.com

July 15
Elvis Presley's tenth UK chart hit, "All Shook Up", becomes his first to reach the top, where it will stay for the next seven weeks.

1958 - ClassicBands.com

July 15
John Lennon's mother, 44-year-old Julia Lennon, was struck and killed by a car driven by an off-duty policeman while she was crossing Menlove Avenue towards a bus stop. 24-year-old Constable Eric Clague was later acquitted of the offense by a jury who attributed Julia's demise to "death by mis-adventure." He was however suspended from duty and later resigned from the Liverpool Constabulary to take a job as postman. John, who was 17 at the time and living with his Aunt Mimi, was overcome by grief and would later say "I was in a blind rage for two years. I was either drunk or fighting."

1963 - ClassicBands.com

July 15
Elvis begins filming the movie Viva Las Vegas with Ann-Margaret. When the wedding scene was filmed, many tabloid magazines published still photos and suggested that Elvis Presley and Ann-Margret really had gotten married. Although critics bashed the film, it finished at number 11 on the list of the Top 20 Movie Box Office hits of 1964. The title track was released as a single, but could only climb to #29.

1966 - ClassicBands.com

July 15
Percy Sledge earned a Gold record for the hit single, "When a Man Loves A Woman". It was his only song to make it to the top of the Hot 100 and the only one of five chart makers to break into the Top Ten. It was later ranked at #53 on Rolling Stones's list of The 500 Greatest Songs Of All Time and added to The Grammy Hall Of Fame in 1999.

1972 - ClassicBands.com

July 15
Elton John started a five week run at #1 on the Billboard album chart with "Honky Chateau", his first US chart topper. Two singles from the LP were released, "Rocket Man" (US #6, UK #2) and "Honky Cat" (US #8 UK #31).

1973 - ClassicBands.com

July 15
Ray Davies announces he's leaving The Kinks. His decision is brought on by exhaustion and his wife recently leaving him. He returned to the group within a week.

1978 - ClassicBands.com

July 15
The Rolling Stones 14th UK and 16th US album, "Some Girls" topped the Billboard 200 chart. It was the band's first LP to feature guitarist Ronnie Wood as a full-time member. The disc would feature the singles, "Miss You" (US #1, UK #3), "Beast Of Burden" (US #8), "Shattered" (US #31) and "Respectable" (UK #23). It would be nominated for the Album Of The Year Grammy, but lost to "The Concert for Bangladesh". "Some Girls" would be certified by the RIAA for selling six million copies by 2000.

1986 - ClassicBands.com

July 15
After twenty-eight years and nine Billboard Top 40 hits, Columbia Records announces that it is dropping Johnny Cash from their roster. Johnny would sign with Polygram the next year.

1988 - ClassicBands.com

July 15
MTV bans Neil Young's video "This Note Is For You", which parodied corporate Rock by showing a Michael Jackson look-alike whose hair catches fire. The ban would soon be lifted and the video was put into heavy rotation, resulting in it eventually winning the MTV Video Music Award for Best Video of the Year in 1989.

1989 - ClassicBands.com

July 15
More than 200,000 people crammed into Venice, a city of 83,000, for a free concert by Pink Floyd. The band performed on a floating stage in the Venice lagoon.

July 15
The Doobie Brothers return to the US Top Ten for first time in nine years as "The Doctor" climbs to #9.

1999 - ClassicBands.com

July 15
A couple of American radio stations got their hands slapped by Capitol Records for playing a bootlegged Paul McCartney single called "I Got Stung". The song was taken from a BBC broadcast and distributed over the Internet.

July 15
The Rolling Stones reported that they had an intake of over $337 million from the previous two years. The average nightly take on the 147 shows was over $2 1/4 million, as the band played to more than 5.6 million people, selling out all but 20 appearances.

July 15
The album simply titled "Elvis", known to fans as the soundtrack to Presley's 1969 Comeback Special, is certified Platinum by the RIAA.

2000 - ClassicBands.com

Paul Young, guitarist and vocalist for Mike And The Mechanics on their 1986, Billboard #5 hit, "All I Need Is A Miracle", died of a heart attack. He was just 53 years old.

2009 - ClassicBands.com

July 15
Paul McCartney took time out from his current tour to stop by The Late Show with David Letterman where he and his band thrilled the crowd by performing at the outdoor stage of the Ed Sullivan Theater.

2012 - ClassicBands.com

July 15
Jon Lord, who founded Deep Purple and co-wrote their biggest hit, "Smoke On The Water", died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 71.

2013

July 15
Michael Nesmith appeared on stage with The Monkees for the first time since 1997, when he quit after just a handful of European gigs.

2015

July 15
Neil Young announced on his Facebook page that he intended to remove his music from all streaming services because he was unsatisfied with the quality of the sound. Young said his songs have been "devalued by the worst quality in the history of broadcasting."

2017

July 15
The first Eagles concert since Glenn Frey passed away in January, 2016, took place at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Detroit rocker Bob Seger joined Don Henley, Timothy B. Schmit, Joe Walsh and Vince Gill for "Heartache Tonight".

July 15
67-year-old Stevie Wonder married 42-year-old Tomeeka Robyn Bracy at the Hotel Bel-Air in Los Angeles. The newlyweds had been with each other for five years and have two children together.



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