Rock 'n' Roll History for
July 9


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1955 - ClassicBands.com

July 9
A landmark in music history is established on July 9th when Bill Haley's "Rock Around The Clock" reaches number one on the Billboard Top 100 chart. Many music historians will eventually acknowledge the song as a dividing line, separating Rock and Roll from everything that preceded it.

July 9
Six weeks after Fats Domino released "Ain't It A Shame", Pat Boone issues his rendition of the song, re-titled "Ain't That A Shame". Domino's recording reached number ten on the Billboard Top 100, while Boone's version would go all the way to number one.

July 9
Les Paul and Mary Ford enter the Billboard Top 100 with "Hummingbird", which will reach #7 and become the first of their five chart entries.

1956 - ClassicBands.com

July 9
Dick Clark made his debut as host of Bandstand on Philadelphia TV station WFIL. He took over from Bob Horn, who had been charged with driving while intoxicated during a highly-publicized police crackdown. The show's name would be changed to American Bandstand when it went to ABC-TV in 1957. Clark relinquished his hosting duties in 1989 to 26-year-old David Hirsch, but the program died within a matter of months. Still, it had been on the air for thirty-seven years, a record for a television variety show.

July 9
After the June 30th trouble at Asbury Park, Bill Haley And His Comets are denied permission to play at the Roosevelt Stadium in Jersey City. A city ordnance was passed that read: "Rock and roll music encouraged juvenile delinquency and inspired young females in lewd bathing suits to perform obscene dances on the city's beaches."

1957 - ClassicBands.com

July 9
Bobby Helms records "My Special Angel" at Bradley Studios in Nashville, Tennessee. The song will become his first Billboard Top 40 hit when it reaches #7 later in the year. It would also climb to #8 on the R&B chart and reach #1 on the Hot C&W Sides.

July 9
Elvis Presley's second film, Loving You premiers at the Strand theater in Memphis, Tennessee. Elvis did not attend the opening since he got a special showing the night before. His parents, Vernon and Gladys were cast as audience members in this film. After Gladys died, Elvis never watched it again, saying it hurt too much to see his mother on screen.

1958 - ClassicBands.com

July 9
Johnny Cash signs with Columbia Records, where he will remain for the next thirty years. The label will release forty-seven of his albums and one hundred, six singles.

1960 - ClassicBands.com

July 9
After enjoying his first hit in England with "Handy Man" earlier in the year, 23-year-old Jimmy Jones tops the UK chart with "Good Timin'", a #3 hit in the US.

1962 - ClassicBands.com

July 9
Bob Dylan records "Blowin' In The Wind" at Columbia Recording in New York City. After it was released on August 13th, 1963, the record failed to chart, but in 2004 it was ranked at #14 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time". Peter, Paul And Mary would take the tune to #2 in America in August, 1963.

1965 - ClassicBands.com

July 9
Atlantic Records releases Sonny And Cher's "I Got You Babe". Included on the duo's debut studio album, "Look at Us", the single would spend three weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 next August, selling more than one million copies in America and was certified Gold. It also topped the charts in the United Kingdom and Canada.

1972 - ClassicBands.com

July 9
Paul McCartney and Wings played their first show of their inaugural tour when they appeared in the small French town of Chateauvillon. The band included Denny Laine, Henry McCullough, Denny Seiwell, and Paul's wife, Linda. It was McCartney's first time on the road since The Beatles quit touring in 1966.

1974 - ClassicBands.com

July 9
Crosby, Stills, Nash And Young start their two-month, thirty-one date reunion tour in Seattle. After the trek, they start recording an album, but part ways before it's finished.

1977 - ClassicBands.com

July 9
"Undercover Angel" by Alan O'Day reached the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It was his only solo hit, but it was not the first visit to the top of the Pop music world. He wrote "Angie Baby", a #1 hit for Helen Reddy and the #3 hit, "Rock And Roll Heaven" for The Righteous Brothers. "Undercover Angel" stalled at #43 in the UK.

1981 - ClassicBands.com

July 9
The Jacksons begin a thirty-six city tour that would produce the LP "The Jacksons Live". The series of concerts will gross five and a half million dollars, $100,000 of which they will donate to the Atlanta Children's Foundation.

1983 - ClassicBands.com

July 9
The Police started an eight week run at #1 on the US singles chart with "Every Breath You Take", also a chart topper in the UK.

July 9
"Fantastic", the debut album by Wham!, enters the UK chart at #1. In America, it would stall at #83, but still sold a respectable 500,000 copies.

1990 - ClassicBands.com

July 9
The Rolling Stones were forced to cancel a show for the first time ever when Keith Richards' index finger becomes inflamed in Glasgow, Scotland.

1999 - ClassicBands.com

July 9
Mick Jagger's eight year marriage to Jerry Hall is annulled. After hearing evidence on behalf of Hall, the judge ruled their marriage in Bali in 1990 was not valid either in Indonesia or under English law, and a decree of nullity was granted.

2006 - ClassicBands.com

July 9
Milan B. Williams, one of the founding members of The Commodores, died at the age of 58 after a long battle with cancer. He wrote the band's first hit, "Machine Gun".

2012 - ClassicBands.com

July 9
70-year-old Bobby Rydell underwent both a kidney and liver transplant at Thomas Jefferson University in his hometown of Philadelphia. Six months later, he would be back onstage. Rydell, born Robert Ridarelli, placed nineteen songs on the Billboard Top 40 between 1959 and 1964, including "Swingin' School" (#5), "Volare" (#4) and "Forget Him" (#4).

2013 - ClassicBands.com

July 9
Elton John told the British tabloid The Sun that he considered himself lucky to be alive after unknowingly battling appendicitis. The Rocket Man played through the pain during a series of concerts before seeking medical attention. He told the press, "I'm lucky to be alive. I was a ticking time bomb. I guess I could have died at any time."

July 9
Jon Bon Jovi returned to his home town of Sayreville, New Jersey to donate $1 million to the Hurricane Sandy Relief Fund. Presenting a check to Governor Chris Christie, the singer told a crowd in front of the town hall, "One thought came to me. What can I do? One of the residents responded, saying, 'Use your voice.'"

2015 - ClassicBands.com

July 9
Transport for London, the government body that runs the metro rail system, banned posters promoting The Rolling Stones' forthcoming exhibition, "Exhibitionism", at London's Saatchi gallery, because of its artwork. The neon advert showed Rolling Stones iconic tongue and lips design plastered over a woman's bikini bottoms.

July 9
Songwriter Michael Masser passed away at the age of 74. He is most often remembered for writing Whitney Houston's "The Greatest Love of All", Diana Ross' "Touch Me In the Morning" and "Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You" by Roberta Flack and Peabo Bryson.

July 9
A New Zealand judge sentenced AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd to eight months of home detention after the musician pleaded guilty to threatening to kill a man who used to work for him, along with possession of methamphetamine and marijuana. The 61-year-old Rudd could have faced up to seven years in prison.

July 9
The American on-line news source, The Huffington Post, published a story that detailed a previously unreported rape of Runaways bassist Jackie Fuchs by her now-deceased, former band manager, Kim Fowley. According to the graphic account, the alleged attack occurred on New Year's Eve 1976 when Fuchs, known then as Jackie Fox, was only 16.

2024 - ClassicBands.com

July 9
Joe Bonsall, a fifty-year member of The Oak Ridge Boys, passed away from complications of ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease) at the age of 76. Along with reaching the Top 40 of the Billboard Country chart thirty-eight times, including seventeen that went to #1, the band reached #5 on the Hot 100 in 1981 with "Elvira" and #12 in 1982 with "Bobby Sue".

July 9
Welsh singer Shirley Bassey was made a Companion of Honour by King Charles III at a ceremony at Windsor Castle. Best known for recording the theme songs to three James Bond films, she also placed twenty-nine hits on the UK Top 40. Her biggest success stateside was 1964's "Goldfinger", which climbed to #2 on the Billboard Hot 100.



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