Rock 'n' Roll History for
July 22


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1956 - ClassicBands.com

July 22
While a song from his first recording session called "Blue Days, Black Nights" is receiving airplay in the UK, Buddy Holly heads back to a studio in Nashville to lay down additional tracks. He is currently appearing at live gigs billed as Buddy Holly And The Three Tunes.

1961 - ClassicBands.com

July 22
The Everly Brothers had the UK's number one record with "Temptation", a song that was first introduced by Bing Crosby in the 1933 film Going Hollywood. The tune reached #27 in America during a three week run on the Billboard Top 40 a month earlier.

1963 - ClassicBands.com

July 22
The Beatles' first US album, "Introducing The Beatles" was pressed by Vee-Jay Records, who thought they had obtained the legal rights from EMI affiliate, Trans-Global Records. When it was finally released in January, 1964, Capitol Records would hit Vee Jay with an injunction against manufacturing, distributing, advertising, or otherwise disposing of records by the Beatles. After a trial, Vee-Jay was allowed to release any Beatles records that they had masters of in any form until October 15th, 1964. After that time, they no longer had the right to issue any Beatles product.

1965 - ClassicBands.com

July 22
Rolling Stones' Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Bill Wyman appear in a London courtroom and are found guilty of "insulting behavior" for urinating against a London gas station wall. They argued that the owner had refused to give them the key to the men's room, but they are fined £five each.

1967 - ClassicBands.com

July 22
The Doors perform "Crystal Ship" and "Light My Fire" on American Bandstand.

July 22
After enjoying a pair of #3 hits with "See You In September" and "I Got Rhythm", The Happenings enter the Billboard Top 40 with "My Mammy", a song made famous by vaudeville artist Al Jolson in the 1920s. The Paterson, New Jersey quartet's version would rise to #13 during a six week run.

1968 - ClassicBands.com

July 22
Columbia Records releases a collaboration between Al Kooper, Mike Bloomfield and Stephen Stills called "Super Session". Hastily recorded over a two day period at a cost of just $13,000, The LP would go on to peak at #12 on the Billboard 200 during a thirty-seven week chart stay, and was certified Gold by the RIAA.

1969 - ClassicBands.com

July 22
Aretha Franklin is arrested for disorderly conduct after creating a disturbance in a Detroit parking lot. After posting 50-dollars bail, she ran down a road sign while leaving the police station.

July 22
The LP "Elvis", also known as the soundtrack to Presley's 1968 Comeback Special, is certified Gold by the RIAA. It had reached #8 on the Billboard 200 chart, a much needed improvement from its predecessor, "Speedway" which had stalled at #82. A Platinum certification for "Elvis" for sales of one million copies came on July 15th, 1999. Two singles were issued from the album, "If I Can Dream" (US #12, UK #11) and "Memories" (US #35).

1971 - ClassicBands.com

July 22
Thirteen days after lead singer Jim Morrison passed away, The Doors are awarded a Gold album for "L.A. Woman". The LP included "Lover Her Madly" (US #11) and "Riders on the Storm" (US #14, UK #22).

1977 - ClassicBands.com

July 22
While on stage in Cohasset, Massachusetts, Tony Orlando shocked the crowd and his group, Dawn, by announcing his retirement from show business. Following a short illness, Tony was back at work two months later, but could never find the chart success he once enjoyed.

1979 - ClassicBands.com

July 22
Little Richard, appearing as Reverend Richard Penniman, speaks at a revival meeting in North Richmond, CA. He warns the congregation about the evils of Rock 'n' Roll music and declares, "If God can save an old homosexual like me, he can save anybody."

1987 - ClassicBands.com

July 22
A jury in New York ruled that Morris Albert's 1975 composition "Feelings" was plagiarized from "Pour Toi", a song written in 1956 by French composer Lou Lou Geste. The jury ruled that Geste was owed at least a half million dollars in royalties. Albert's rendition had reached #6 in the US and #4 in the UK in 1975.

1994 - ClassicBands.com

July 22
More than 54,000 fans packed Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, as Billy Joel and Elton John performed the first of five concerts together.

1995 - ClassicBands.com

July 22
Canadian singer David Clayton-Thomas angered patrons at a Blood, Sweat And Tears concert in the heavily Jewish Detroit suburb of West Bloomfield. Halfway through the show he remarked that the weather was "as hot as the last train car going to Auschwitz." Clayton-Thomas later apologized, saying he spoke "in the heat of the moment."

1996 - ClassicBands.com

July 22
Scottish Folk singer Donovan was forced to postpone a comeback tour of the US when American authorities delayed granting him a waiver to enter the country because of a 30-year-old marijuana conviction in Britain. The tour was designed to promote "Sutras", Donovan's first album of new material in a dozen years. That LP failed to chart in the US or the UK.

1999 - ClassicBands.com

July 22
Gary "Gar" Samuelson, the drummer for Megadeth from 1984 through 1987, died of liver failure at the age of 41. He played on the band's first two albums, "Killing Is My Business... and Business Is Good!" (Billboard #169 in 1985) and "Peace Sells... but Who's Buying?" (Billboard #76 in 1986).

2005 - ClassicBands.com

July 22
Eugene Record, the lead singer of The Chi-lites, died of cancer at the age of 65. The group is most often remembered for "Have You Seen Her" (US #3, UK #3 in 1971) and "Oh Girl" (US #3, UK #14 in 1972).

2010 - ClassicBands.com

July 22
Grammy-award winning singer Al Jarreau was in intensive care in a French hospital after suffering breathing problems in the Alps, forcing him to cancel four concerts. Jarreau made a full recovery and continued to tour extensively until his death on February 12, 2017.

2013 - ClassicBands.com

July 22
The Rolling Stones celebrated their homecoming in London with an iTunes-only, live album titled "The Rolling Stones - Hyde Park Live", which featured many of the band's greatest hits.

2016 - ClassicBands.com

July 22
Great Britain's Official Charts Company named Paul McCartney as the UK's most successful album artist of all time. His first #1 LP, "Please Please Me", still holds the record for the most weeks at the top of the chart with 30. "Sgt Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band" is the largest selling studio album of all time in England with sales of over 5.1 million. In total, McCartney has spend a total of 191 weeks atop of the UK Albums Chart over his 50+ year career.

2019 - ClassicBands.com

July 22
Art Neville, keyboard player for The Meters ("Cissy Strut") and later The Neville Brothers ("Healing Chant") passed away at the age of 81 after years of declining health.

2024 - ClassicBands.com

July 22
Abdul "Duke" Fakir, the last surviving member of The Four Tops, passed away at his home in Detroit, Michigan at the age of 88. Between 1964 and 1988, the legendary Motown group placed twenty-four songs on the Billboard Top 40, including the chart topping "I Can't Help Myself" in 1965 and "Reach Out I'll Be There" in 1966.

July 22
British blues pioneer John Mayall died at his California home at the age of 90. Over the years his band, The Bluesbreakers included some of the world's most prolific musicians, including Eric Clapton, Peter Green, Mick Taylor, Harvey Mandel and John McVie.



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