Rock 'n' Roll History for
July 27


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1955 - ClassicBands.com

July 27
Chuck Berry's first hit record, "Maybellene" enters the Billboard R&B chart where it will reach #1 during an eleven week run. The song, which also climbed to #5 on the Hot 100, was adapted from the traditional fiddle tune "Ida Red", and tells the story of a hot rod race and a broken romance. It went on to sell a million copies by the end of the year and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1988.

July 27
Billboard magazine claims that only two singing stars can be considered guaranteed hit makers these days: Nat King Cole and Country star Webb Pierce. Cole has already placed seven songs on the Pop chart and will go on to add twenty-two more. The flamboyant Pierce had achieved twelve number one records on the Country charts and would enjoy a streak of thirty-four consecutive Top Ten hits running into 1957. His version of "In The Jailhouse Now" topped the chart for twenty-one weeks in 1955.

1957 - ClassicBands.com

July 27
The Bobbettes' first and only Billboard Top 40 single, "Mr. Lee" entered the chart, where it will reach #6. The song implies that the girls had a crush on one of their high school teachers, but in reality they strongly dis-liked the real Mr. Lee. Atlantic Records had the original lyrics re-written before they would record the tune. After a series of unsuccessful novelty songs, The Bobbettes recorded a number about how they really felt, "I Shot Mr. Lee", which Atlantic refused to issue. The tiny Triple-X label would release it however, and it went as far as #52 on the Billboard Hot 100.

July 27
The Everly Brothers had the best selling song in America with "Bye Bye Love". The tune has been ranked 210th on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time and has also been recorded by Connie Francis, Roy Orbison, Ray Charles, Trini Lopez, Ray Stevens and Simon And Garfunkel.

July 27
"That'll Be the Day" by Buddy Holly And The Crickets is released on the Brunswick label, a subsidiary of Decca Records. The song would reach #1 in the UK and #3 in the US and was later ranked at #39 on Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Songs Of All Time. In 2005, the recording was placed in the National Recording Registry, a list of sound recordings that "are culturally, historically, or aesthetically important, and/or inform or reflect life in the United States."

1968 - ClassicBands.com

July 27
The Bee Gees' Robin Gibb collapsed from exhaustion as the group was about to set out on their first US tour. He was later admitted to a London nursing home before being moved to a facility in Sussex to continue his recuperation.

July 27
The Who release the single, "Magic Bus", a song that Pete Townshend had written three years earlier. Included on their LP, "Magic Bus: The Who on Tour", the song rose to #25 in America and #26 in Great Britain.

1974 - ClassicBands.com

July 27
John Denver's "Annie's Song", a tribute to his then wife, Annie Martell, topped the Billboard Hot 100 for the first of two weeks. It was the second of his four number one hits on that chart. Denver would later say that he wrote the song in ten minutes while he was on a ski-lift. Sadly, he and Annie would divorce in 1982.

1976 - ClassicBands.com

July 27
Tina Turner files for divorce from her husband Ike, ending their violent sixteen-year marriage and successful musical partnership.

July 27
John Lennon finally received his US Green Card, three years after he was ordered to leave by immigration officials.

1979 - ClassicBands.com

July 27
Alice Cooper's Indian art store in Scottsdale, Arizona is destroyed by a firebomb. $200,000 worth of artifacts and some of Cooper's Gold records, which were stored in the back, were lost. Cooper said maybe a "disco-music freak" was responsible because he had been making some anti-Disco remarks.

1981 - ClassicBands.com

July 27
While taking a break from the band Blondie, Debby Harry releases her debut solo album, "KooKoo". The LP would go on to become a moderate success, rising to #25 on the Billboard 200 and #6 on the UK's Official Albums Chart. The two singles that were released from the album did not fare quite as well, with "Backfired" reaching #43 in America and #32 in Great Britain, and "The Jam Was Moving" stalling at #82 in the States.

1985 - ClassicBands.com

July 27
Paul Young's cover of the Daryl Hall and John Oates tune, "Everytime You Go Away" led the Billboard Hot 100 for a one week stay. Included on the duo's 1981 album, "Voices", the song is the only cover of a Hall And Oates tune to ever make the US Top 40. It was Young's first American number one record, although he had already topped the UK chart with a cover of Marvin Gaye's "Wherever I Lay My Hat (That's My Home)".

1987 - ClassicBands.com

July 27
Rick Astley's debut single, "Never Gonna Give You Up" is released. It will go on to top the charts in sixteen countries around the globe, including the United States, Canada, and England. Considered his signature song, Astley often closed his live shows with this tune.

1990 - ClassicBands.com

July 27
Bobby Day, known for his 1958 hit "Rockin' Robin", died of cancer at the age of 60. Day was also an accomplished songwriter who had success with "Over and Over", made popular by the Dave Clark Five in 1965, and "Little Bitty Pretty One" by Thurston Harris in 1957.

1992 - ClassicBands.com

July 27
Michael Jackson sued the British tabloid Daily Mirror over photos and an article that said he was left a "scar face" from numerous plastic surgeries. The suit was later settled out of court.

2001 - ClassicBands.com

July 27
Leon Wilkeson, bassist for the southern Rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd was found dead in a Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida hotel room. Allegedly suffering from chronic liver and lung disease, the official cause of death was deemed from natural causes. He was 49.

2006 - ClassicBands.com

July 27
Sharman Networks, the company that produced software called Kazaa, which made it easy for an estimated 389 million computer users to download music and movies over the Internet, agreed to pay more than $115 million to music companies and the movie industry to settle global piracy lawsuits.

2010 - ClassicBands.com

July 27
A year after her son's death, Michael Jackson's mom, Katherine, said she is still heartbroken, insisting she undergoes a daily struggle to cope with her grief. The 80-year-old Jackson family matriarch was subsequently named guardian of the singer's children, Prince, 13, Paris, 12, and 8-year-old Prince Michael Jackson II, aka Blanket.

2012 - ClassicBands.com

July 27
The Beatles were headed back to the Top 40 of the Billboard 200 albums chart with the iTunes-exclusive compilation "Tomorrow Never Knows". The set includes fourteen classic songs by the band and marked the first time The Beatles released an album exclusively to iTunes that had never been previously issued.

2016 - ClassicBands.com

July 27
Three of Michael Jackson's nephews, Taj, TJ and Taryll Jackson, filed a $100 million libel lawsuit against Radar Online over stories published last June that alleged they were sexually abused by their uncle and accepted gifts to cover it up. Radaronline.com is a website that focuses on celebrity news, fashion and pop culture.

July 27
Pat Upton, singer/guitarist for Spiral Starecase, passed away at the age of 75 after a long illness. The band reached #12 on the Hot 100 in 1969 with "More Today Than Yesterday".



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