Rock 'n' Roll History for
March 21


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1952 - ClassicBands.com

March 21
The Cleveland Arena is the site of what will become recognized as the world's first major Rock 'n' Roll concert. With over 10,000 people inside and another 20,000 waiting outside, Alan Freed is set to broadcast the event live over WJW radio. Paul Williams And His Hucklebuckers were playing their first song when city officials decided to shut the proceedings down, citing fire code violations. Doors and windows were smashed, a few fights broke out, but no one asked for their $1.75 admission back.

1960 - ClassicBands.com

March 21
Elvis Presley records "Stuck On You" at RCA Victor studios in Nashville. The song would rise to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on April 25th, knocking off Percy Faith's "Theme From A Summer Place", which had held the spot for the previous nine weeks.

1963 - ClassicBands.com

March 21
Billy J. Kramer And The Dakotas enter Abbey Road studios to record the Lennon / McCartney tune "Do You Want To Know A Secret", which will reach #1 in the UK, topping The Beatles themselves.

1964 - ClassicBands.com

March 21
The Beatles replaced one Billboard chart topper with another when "She Loves You" took over from "I Want To Hold Your Hand".

1966 - ClassicBands.com

March 21
The Beach Boys released "Sloop John B" as the lead single off their 11th studio album, "Pet Sounds". The record would go on to peak at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and would be ranked at #276 on Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. Originally a Bahamian folk song from Nassau titled "The John B. Sails", the tune was first transcribed in 1916. Although all of The Beach Boys sang on the track, the backing instruments were played by members of The Wrecking Crew.

1970 - ClassicBands.com

March 21
The Small Faces, featuring newcomers Rod Stewart and Ron Wood, released their debut LP, "First Step".

March 21
The Jaggerz, a six piece group from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, see their first Billboard Hot 100 entry, "The Rapper", peak at #2. Two other releases, "I Call My Baby Candy" (#92) and "What A Bummer" (#88) couldn't crack the Top 40.

1973 - ClassicBands.com

March 21
The BBC banned all teenybopper acts appearing on UK TV show Top Of The Pops after a riot following a David Cassidy performance.

1976 - ClassicBands.com

March 21
David Bowie, Iggy Pop and several others are arrested in New York and charged with possession of marijuana.

1981 - ClassicBands.com

March 21
Although they had been making records for ten years, REO Speedwagon enjoyed their first taste of success when "Keep On Loving You" became the top tune in the US. The band would go on to place twelve more songs in the Top 40.

1984 - ClassicBands.com

March 21
Yoko Ono opens Strawberry Fields, an area in New York's Central Park dedicated to the memory of her late husband, John Lennon.

1987 - ClassicBands.com

March 21
35 year old Dean Paul Martin of Dino, Desi And Billy, died when his F-4 Phantom fighter-jet crashed into California's San Bernardino Mountains during a snowstorm about 100 kilometers east of Los Angeles. Dino was serving in the Air National Guard at the time. His band had placed two songs on the Billboard Top 40 chart, "I'm A Fool" (#17) and "Not The Lovin' Kind" (#25), both in 1965. He was married to actress Olivia Hussey from 1971 to 1978 and to ice skater Dorothy Hamill from 1982 to 1984. His famous father, singer Dean Martin was devastated by his son's death, telling his former partner Jerry Lewis, "I just lost one of the only two male loves I had in my life. Him and you."

1990 - ClassicBands.com

March 21
Tony Orlando is awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6385 Hollywood Boulevard, between Mel Blanc and Gail Davis. Among those attending were Dick Clark, Jerry Lewis, and actress-singer Telma Hopkins, one of the two singers who backed Tony in Dawn.

1991 - ClassicBands.com

March 21
Leo Fender, who pioneered the electric guitar, passed away at the age of 81. He started mass producing solid body electric guitars in the late '40s and when he sold his guitar company in 1965, sales were in excess of $40 million a year.

1992 - ClassicBands.com

March 21
Former model Vanessa Williams started a five week run at the top of the US singles chart with "Save The Best To Last", a #3 hit in the UK.

2001 - ClassicBands.com

March 21
Michael Jackson's interior decorator told The London Times that the singer keeps seventeen life size dolls, adult and child sizes, all fully dressed, in his bedroom for 'company.'

2002 - ClassicBands.com

March 21
John "Speedy" Keene, vocalist and drummer for Thunderclap Newman died at the age of 56. The band's biggest hit came in 1969 with "Something In The Air".

2004 - ClassicBands.com

March 21
Johnny Bristol, who had a 1973 #8 hit in America with "Hang On In There Baby", died of natural causes at the age of 65.

March 21
George Michael scored his fifth UK #1 album with "Patience". After a slow start in the US, the LP would eventually climb to #12.

2006 - ClassicBands.com

March 21
Three impoverished South African women whose father, Solomon Linda, had written "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" in 1939, won a six-year court battle that would give them 25 per cent of all past and future royalties from the song. The Tokens took it to the top of the Hot 100 on December 18th, 1961.

2007 - ClassicBands.com

March 21
US TV's American Idol featured celebrity coaches Lulu, who performed "To Sir With Love", and Peter Noone of Herman's Hermits, who sang "There's A Kind Of Hush".

2008 - ClassicBands.com

March 21
The long legal battle over the use of The Beach Boys' name came to a close after two days of talks mediated by a Los Angeles Superior Court judge. Mike Love, Brian Wilson and the estate of the late Carl Wilson had launched several law suits against former band member Al Jardine, who had been touring under various names such as Beach Boys Family And Friends. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed, but the band's three surviving co-founders would put their differences aside long enough for a 50th Anniversary Tour in 2012 before fragmenting again.

2010 - ClassicBands.com

March 21
Phil Spector was allegedly beaten at the state prison in Corcoran, California, after mouthing off to another inmate. The 70 year old former record producer, who was jailed in 2009 for murdering actress Lana Clarkson, wound up with bruises, a black eye and lost a couple of teeth.

2011 - ClassicBands.com

March 21
Loleatta Holloway, best known for the 1980 Disco hit "Love Sensation", died of heart failure at the age of 64.

March 21
A lost David Bowie album called "Toy", which went unreleased since 2001, mysteriously appeared on several file-sharing websites. The collection of mostly re-recorded tracks from Bowie's early years had been locked in a dispute with Virgin Records.

2012 - ClassicBands.com

March 21
El DeBarge escaped drug charges after the Los Angeles County District Attorney decided to drop the case due to a lack of evidence. The "Rhythm Of The Night" hit maker had been arrested three times for drug possession since 2001.

2013 - ClassicBands.com

March 21
The US Library of Congress announced that Pink Floyd's "The Dark Side of the Moon", Simon And Garfunkel's "Sounds Of Silence" and Chubby Checker's "The Twist" would all be added to the National Recording Registry as culturally or historically significant recordings.

2018 - ClassicBands.com

March 21
The US Library of Congress honored twenty-five new entries, including the 1965 soundtrack to The Sound of Music, The Ink Spots' 1939 hit "If I Didn't Care", Kenny Loggins' 1984 smash "Footloose", Gloria Estefan And The Miami Sound Machine's 1987 single "Rhythm Is Gonna Get You", Tony Bennett's "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" from 1962, Bill Haley's 1954 Rock 'n' Roll standard "(We're Gonna) Rock Around the Clock", The Temptations' 1964 chart-topper "My Girl", Kenny Rogers' 1978 hit "The Gambler", Arlo Guthrie's 1967 anti-war classic "Alice's Restaurant Massacree", and Chic's 1978 Disco sensation "Le Freak". Albums chosen for inclusion were 1946's "Folk Songs of the Hills" by Merle Travis, Harry Belafonte's "Calypso" from 1956, the Groucho Marx comedy recording "An Evening With Groucho" from 1972, Fleetwood Mac's "Rumours" from 1977, and Run-DMC's "Raising Hell" from 1986.



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