Rock 'n' Roll History for
June 3


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1949 - ClassicBands.com

June 3
Elvis Presley receives an 'A' in language but only a 'C' in music on his 8th grade report card at Humes High School in Memphis, Tennessee. Later in life he would be quoted at saying, "I don't know anything about music. In my line you don't have to."

1955 - ClassicBands.com

June 3
Buddy Holly opens for Elvis Presley at a matinee concert at the Fair Park Coliseum in Lubbock, Texas. Also on the bill were Ferlin Huskey, Jim Ed and Maxine Brown, and Onie Wheeler.

1957 - ClassicBands.com

June 3
The Isley Brothers, Ronald, Rudolph and Kelly, released their first record, "The Angels Cried". Although it failed to catch on, the Isleys would go on to have hits in five straight decades.

June 3
Pat Boone's rendition of "Love Letters In The Sand" hits #1 on the Billboard Top 100, where it stays for the next five weeks. Ted Black And His Orchestra, with vocalist Tom Brown, had the first major hit recording of the song in 1931.

1959 - ClassicBands.com

June 3
Billboard magazine splits its album chart into two separate sections: Best Selling Stereophonic LPs and Best Selling Monophonic LPs. They would publish both charts until August 10th, 1963.

1964 - ClassicBands.com

June 3
Ringo Starr was hospitalized after he collapsed during a photo session for the Saturday Evening Post. He was treated for tonsillitis and pharyngitis and rested for a couple of weeks. During his ten day absence, Jimmy Nicol sat in on drums for eight Beatle shows in Denmark, Holland, Hong Kong and Australia. When Ringo rejoined the band, Brian Epstein presented Nicol with a cheque for £500 and a gold Eterna-matic wrist watch inscribed: "From the Beatles and Brian Epstein to Jimmy - with appreciation and gratitude." Just nine months later, Nicol declared bankruptcy with debts of £4,066. After learning of his troubles in The Daily Mirror, Paul McCartney recommended him to Peter And Gordon, who hired him for a 1965 tour of England. Nicol himself would express his feelings several years later by saying, "Standing in for Ringo was the worst thing that ever happened to me. Until then I was quite happy earning £30 or £40 Pounds a week. After the headlines died, I began dying too."

1965 - ClassicBands.com

June 3
At an estimated cost of about £11,000, John Lennon takes possession of a new Rolls-Royce Phantom V to replace the used Rolls he had purchased nearly a year earlier. The enormous vehicle measured an astonishing 19 feet, 10 inches long, and six feet, seven inches wide. Not yet adorned with the distinctive Romany paint job that would follow, the car featured a cocktail cabinet, writing table, reading lamps, a television and dark tinted windows.

1967 - ClassicBands.com

June 3
A 31-year-old singer born Arnold George Dorsey was the talk of the music industry when he reached the number one spot in the UK and number four in the US with "Release Me". No one had paid much attention to him until his manager, Gordon Mills, changed his stage name to Englebert Humperdinck, the name of the Austrian composer who wrote Hansel and Gretel.

June 3
Aretha Franklin scored her only solo, US #1 hit on the Billboard Pop chart with Otis Redding's "Respect". Redding reached #35 with it in 1965. Aretha's rendition, on which she played piano, earned her two Grammy Awards in 1968 for Best Rhythm & Blues Recording and Best Rhythm & Blues Solo Vocal Performance, Female. She and George Michael would team up for a second number one in 1987 with "I Knew You Were Waiting For Me".

June 3
Jefferson Airplane appear on American Bandstand where they perform "Somebody To Love" and "White Rabbit".

June 3
The New Jersey vocal group The Happenings top the Cashbox Best Sellers list with "I Got Rhythm", a song composed by George and Ira Gershwin in 1930.

1970 - ClassicBands.com

June 3
Tamla Records releases Stevie Wonder's "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours". The record would spend six weeks at number one on the Billboard R&B chart and peaked at number three on the Hot 100.

June 3
The Kinks' Ray Davies flies 11,000 Km round trip to England from America to re-record the words "cherry cola" in the song "Lola" after the BBC refuses to air the song with the original words, "Coca-Cola".

June 3
Less than two months after its release, Jimi Hendrix's live album "Band of Gypsies" is awarded a Gold record for sales of 500,000 copies. It received a Double Platinum award on January 16, 1998, for sales of over two million.

1972 - ClassicBands.com

June 3
The Eagles' "Take It Easy" is released by Asylum Records. It will crack the Billboard chart three weeks later and become their first hit single, reaching #12.

June 3
The Rolling Stones begin their eight week Exile On Main Street North American tour in Vancouver. Stevie Wonder and Martha Reeves are the opening acts. The 32-date tour will gross over $4 million, making it the richest Rock tour in history at the time.

June 3
Jethro Tull started a two week run at #1 on the US album chart with "Thick As A Brick".

June 3
Elton John, Joe Cocker, The Beach Boys, Melanie, Richie Havens and Sha Na Na all appear at the Crystal Palace Garden Party in England.

1978 - ClassicBands.com

June 3
It had been over twenty years since Johnny Mathis had a US number one single with "Chances Are", but now he was back on top with "Too Much, Too Little, Too Late", a duet he shared with Deniece Williams. The song was a #3 hit in the UK.

1981 - ClassicBands.com

June 3
Joe Santollo of The Duprees suffered a fatal heart attack at the age of 37. The group is most often remembered for their 1962, #7 hit, "You Belong To Me".

1982 - ClassicBands.com

June 3
Elvis Presley's Graceland mansion is opened to the public for the first time. It has since become the second most-visited private home in America with over 600,000 visitors a year. Only the White House has more.

June 3
36-year-old Rusty Day, who sang with both The Amboy Dukes and Cactus, was murdered by unknown assailants at his home in Longwood, Florida. His son, his dog, and a guest named Garth McRae were also killed in the attack. The case remains officially unsolved.

1983 - ClassicBands.com

June 3
Jim Gordon, a member of Derek And The Dominos and co-writer of "Layla", killed his mother with a hammer and knife. He was convicted of second-degree murder in 1984 and sentenced to sixteen years to life. He was denied parole several times and passed away on March 13th, 2023, at the age of 77.

1987 - ClassicBands.com

June 3
Britain's BBC announces that it has banned George Michael's "I Want Your Sex" because of its sexually explicit content. Michael said the song was about love, not lust.

1989 - ClassicBands.com

June 3
Benny Mardones accomplished the rare feat of having a song re-enter the US chart long after it had fallen off. "Into the Night" went to #11 when it was originally released in 1980 and a newly recorded version landed at #20 nine years later. Some other records that have returned to the charts are "The Twist" by Chubby Checker, "The Monster Mash" by Bobby "Boris" Pickett and "Wipe Out" by The Surfaris.

June 3
Queen's 13th album, "The Miracle", hits #1 in the UK. It would also top the charts in Germany, the Netherlands, and Switzerland, and reached #24 on the Billboard 200 chart.

1990 - ClassicBands.com

June 3
Michael Jackson is admitted to St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica after complaining of chest pains. Tests show he bruised some ribs during dance practice.

1991 - ClassicBands.com

June 3
To help pay off his $16 million tax bill, Willie Nelson releases an album of tunes seized by federal agents. The disc was called "Who'll Buy My Memories - The IRS Tapes".

1994 - ClassicBands.com

June 3
Bob McBride, the former lead singer of Lighthouse, was sentenced to 90 days in jail for robbing a drugstore twice to feed his heroin addiction. McBride cried as he pleaded for clemency and apologized for his crimes. The judge also ordered McBride to organize two benefit concerts to raise awareness of the dangers of drugs. Lighthouse reached the US Top 40 with "One Fine Morning" (#24 in 1971) and "Sunny Days" (#34 in 1972).

2001 - ClassicBands.com

June 3
Tom Petty marries Dana York in a low-key ceremony attended by a few close friends and family members in Las Vegas. They would host a second ceremony at their home in Malibu on June 21st, 2001, that was officiated by Little Richard. The pair would stay married until Tom passed away at his Malibu home on October 2, 2017.

2003 - ClassicBands.com

June 3
Barry Manilow suffered a broken nose after he accidentally walked into a wall at his home in Palm Springs, California and knocked himself unconscious. Although he was passed out for four hours, he didn't endure any lasting effects as doctors determined that surgery was not necessary.

2010 - ClassicBands.com

June 3
Hundreds of fans walked out of Whitney Houston's show in Denmark after her voice continually faltered. Music critic Thomas Soie Hansen, of the Berlingske Tidende newspaper, wrote: "She looked and sounded like a person who doesn't have many years left to live. At the end of the show she looked like she was ready to explode."

2011 - ClassicBands.com

June 3
Andrew Gold, who reached #7 in the U.S. in 1977 with "Lonely Boy" and #25 a year later with "Thank You For Being A Friend", died of cancer at the age of 59. Along with his solo career, he also arranged songs for and performed on several Linda Rondstadt albums, including "Heart Like a Wheel", and did session work for James Taylor and Carly Simon.

2015 - ClassicBands.com

June 3
Led Zeppelin announced on their official website that they would issue remastered, expanded versions of their final three albums later this year, concluding a project that began in 2014 with 1969's self-titled debut.

2017 - ClassicBands.com

June 3
Gregg Allman of The Allman Brothers Band was laid to rest at Rose Hill Cemetery in Macon, Georgia. He died of complications from cancer on May 27th at the age of 69. Along with his family, those in attendance included bandmates Jaimoe, Dickey Betts and Derek Trucks, as well as former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, Peter Frampton, and Gregg's ex-wife Cher.

June 3
Fifty years after it first topped the UK Official Albums Chart, The Beatles' "Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" returned to #1. A 50th anniversary special of the LP sold 37,000 combined units of CD and vinyl across the country to become the best-selling studio album ever in the UK. It also became the third biggest selling LP of all-time, behind "Queen's Greatest Hits" and "ABBA Gold", having sold 5.2 million UK copies in its lifetime.

2022 - ClassicBands.com

June 3
Media reports began to surface that said Authentic Brands Group, which owned the rights to Elvis Presley's image, sent letters to an unknown number of Las Vegas businesses, threatening legal action if they continued to use trademarked items including "Elvis", "Elvis Presley" and "The King of Rock and Roll." Wedding chapel owners who use Elvis themes in their ceremonies were worried that they could be put out of business. ABG released a statement that said they were not interested in ending Elvis weddings, but wanted to "ensure that their use of Elvis' name, image and likeness were officially licensed and authorized," meaning they wanted businesses to pay for using the name.

2024 - ClassicBands.com

June 3
Cyndi Lauper announced her "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun Farewell Tour." The trek, which was to begin in Montreal, Canada, would take her through New York City, Boston, Nashville, Los Angeles, and more before concluding in Chicago on December 5th. During the course of her recording career, she placed ten songs on the Billboard Top 40, including two chart toppers, "Time After Time" in 1984, and "True Colors" in 1986.



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