Rock 'n' Roll History for
March 10


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1955 - ClassicBands.com

March 10
RCA Records placed a half page ad in Billboard magazine claiming that Elvis Presley was 'the new singing rage!'

1956 - ClassicBands.com

March 10
Bobby Darin makes his first television appearance on The Stage Show, where he sings "Rock Island Line". It would take two more years before he had his first US Top 40 hit, "Splish Splash", which he would follow with twenty-one more.

1960 - ClassicBands.com

March 10
Record Retailer, a publication that featured a chart showing the Top 50 records by sales, is launched in the UK. Their first number one was "Poor Me" by Adam Faith.

1962 - ClassicBands.com

March 10
Bruce Channel's "Hey! Baby" rose to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 for the first of a three week stay. The song also had success on the R&B chart where it peaked at #2 and in the UK where it also reached the #2 position.

1963 - ClassicBands.com

March 10
Little Stevie Wonder's classic live version of "Fingertips (Pt. II)" was recorded during a Motown Revue performance at the Regal Theater in Chicago, Illinois. On August 10th, it will top the Billboard Hot 100 for the first of three weeks. The song's success helped Wonder's live LP, "Recorded Live: The 12 Year Old Genius", reach the top of the Billboard Pop Albums chart, making him the youngest artist to accomplish that feat.

1964 - ClassicBands.com

March 10
Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel record "The Sounds Of Silence" as an acoustic duo. It wasn't until record company producers added electric guitar, bass and drums, without the knowledge of Paul and Art, that the song would become a US #1 hit in late 1965.

1965 - ClassicBands.com

March 10
Herb Alpert And The Tijuana Brass, along with members of The Wrecking Crew, record "A Taste Of Honey". The song would spend five weeks at #1 on Billboard's Easy Listening chart, reach #7 on the Hot 100, and win Record of the Year at the 1966 Grammy Awards.

1966 - ClassicBands.com

March 10
The instrumental tracks for "God Only Knows" by The Beach Boys were recorded at Western Studios in Hollywood. Over a four hour period, a total of twenty-two takes were attempted before Brian Wilson was satisfied. All of the instruments for the record were played by members of The Wrecking Crew, with the exception of Carl Wilson who added twelve-string electric guitar. The vocals would be added by The Beach Boys on April 11th. Somewhat surprisingly, the record we now consider a classic Beach Boys' tune only reached #39 during a two week stay in the Billboard Top 40.

1967 - ClassicBands.com

March 10
Sonny And Cher guest star as Jerry and Ramona on "The Hot Number Affair", an episode of NBC-TV's The Man From U.N.C.L.E.

1972 - ClassicBands.com

March 10
The group America receive a Gold record for their self-titled, debut album. It contained two hit singles; "A Horse with No Name" (#1 in March, 1972) and "I Need You" (#9 in July, 1972).

1973 - ClassicBands.com

March 10
Pink Floyd's "Dark Side Of The Moon" was released in America where it would spent over 741 weeks on the Billboard chart, finally falling off in 1988. On June 4th, 1998, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) certified the album 15 times Platinum, denoting sales of fifteen million in the United States. One in every fourteen people in the US under the age of 50 was estimated to own, or to have owned at one time, a copy of "Dark Side Of The Moon".

1979 - ClassicBands.com

March 10
Believe it or not, James Brown played the Grand Ole Opry. His set included "Your Cheatin' Heart", "Tennessee Waltz" and "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag". Some Country artists such as Jean Shepard complained, but others like Barbara Mandrell said that Brown should have been invited five years earlier.

March 10
Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive" found its way from B-side obscurity to the top of the Billboard Hot 100. It was also a #1 in the UK.

1984 - ClassicBands.com

March 10
Ian Gillan leaves Black Sabbath after just one year with the band. He joined the group in 1983, when asked by Sabbath manager Don Arden (Sharon Osbourne's father) to replace Ronnie James Dio (who'd taken the place of original vocalist Ozzy Osbourne). Gillan later says, "I was the worst singer Black Sabbath ever had."

1988 - ClassicBands.com

March 10
30 year old Andy Gibb, younger brother of Bee Gees Robin, Maurice and Barry, died from a viral infection in his heart. Andy hadn't had a chart hit since 1981, but did have a stint as host of the Solid Gold TV show. Shortly before his death and just after he declared bankruptcy, Andy had signed a record deal and was working on a new album for Island Records that was never completed.

1990 - ClassicBands.com

March 10
According to Billboard magazine, New Kids On The Block receive 125,000 calls a day to their 1-900 number.

1997 - ClassicBands.com

March 10
R&B singer LaVern Baker, who placed seven songs in the Billboard Top 40 in the mid-1950s and early 1960s, including "Tweedlee Dee" (#14 in 1955) and "I Cried A Tear" (#6 in 1959), died of heart failure at the age of 67.

2005 - ClassicBands.com

March 10
Michael Jackson arrived at the Santa Moria court an hour late, still dressed in his pajamas after being treated for a back injury.

March 10
53-year-old Danny Joe Brown, the original lead singer of Molly Hatchet, died from renal failure due to complications from diabetes. Brown was the front man for the band's self-titled album in 1978, which went Platinum. In 1979, the next album, "Flirtin' With Disaster" sold over 2 million copies.

2008 - ClassicBands.com

March 10
Pop diva Madonna, rocker John Mellencamp, singer/songwriter Leonard Cohen, British Invasion pioneers The Dave Clark Five and instrumental Rock legends The Ventures were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame during a ceremony at New York's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel.

March 10
Barry Burton, lead guitarist for The Amazing Rhythm Aces on their 1975, US #14 hit, "Third Rate Romance", died of blood cancer at the age of 61.

2010 - ClassicBands.com

March 10
An anti-abortion activist was arrested after allegedly making threats on Elton John's life. The man was upset when the singer suggested that Jesus Christ was gay in a Parade magazine interview in February, and he wrote an angry online response, entitled Why Elton John Must Die.

March 10
Pink Floyd won a court battle with EMI that prevented the record company from selling single downloads and ringtones on the Internet from the group's albums. Pink Floyd's back catalogue is second in sales to only The Beatles.

2016 - ClassicBands.com

March 10
Eagles' drummer Don Henley told BBC Radio 2's Simon Mayo that the band would not re-group after the death of its co-founder Glenn Frey in February. Referring to the tribute to Frey at the Grammy Awards, Henley said, "I think it was an appropriate farewell. I don't think you'll see us performing again. I think that was probably it." He would change his mind a few months later, adding Glenn Frey's son Deacon and Country musician Vince Gill for a long series or shows.

March 10
Just over a month after "American Pie" singer Don McLean was arrested on charges of domestic assault, his wife, Patrisha McLean, filed for divorce.

March 10
Gogi Grant, whose million selling hit "The Wayward Wind" spent six weeks at Billboard's number one spot in 1956, passed away at the age of 91.

2017 - ClassicBands.com

March 10
Joni Sledge, a part of the trio known as Sister Sledge, died of natural causes at the age of 60. The group is most often remembered for their 1979, Disco hit, "We Are Family", which reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100.

2023 - ClassicBands.com

March 10
Jerry Samuels, who recorded the novelty hit, "They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!" in 1966 as Napoleon XIV, passed away at the age of 84. His song reached #3 in America and #4 in Great Britain, despite the fact that many people thought that it ridiculed the insane. The record actually sold over one million copies and was awarded a Gold disc.

March 10
The music streaming service, Spotify announced that Creedence Clearwater Revival's 1971 hit, "Have You Ever Seen the Rain" had exceeded 1 billion streams. CCR was also ranked #3 on the list of the most overall monthly Spotify listeners of bands from the 1960s.



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