Rock 'n' Roll History for
March 30


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1957 - ClassicBands.com

March 30
Buddy Knox became the first artist in the Rock 'n' Roll era to write his own number one hit when "Party Doll" topped the Billboard chart. Buddy would go on to place four more songs in the Top 40 between 1957 and 1961.

1958 - ClassicBands.com

March 30
Little Richard had his final US Top 10 hit with a song he had recorded in October, 1956, "Good Golly Miss Molly". The previous Autumn he had given up Rock 'n' Roll and had enrolled at Oakwood College in Huntsville, Alabama, to study theology.

1962 - ClassicBands.com

March 30
The Russian newspaper Pravda warns communist youths about the dangers of dancing the Twist.

1963 - ClassicBands.com

March 30
16 year old Lesley Gore records her breakthrough hit, "It's My Party". Producer Quincy Jones hurried Gore into the studio when he found out that Phil Spector was going to cut the song with The Crystals. The single would reach #1 in the US and #9 in the UK the following June.

March 30
The Chiffons enjoy the first of their five Billboard Top 40 hits when "He's So Fine" climbs to #1. In the UK, it reached #16.

1964 - ClassicBands.com

March 30
Former Beatles drummer Pete Best appears on US TV's I've Got A Secret. It only took a handful of questions before the panel guessed his former occupation and when host Gary Moore asked him why he left the group, he said "I thought I'd like to start of group of my own and I thought at that time they weren't going to go as big as they are now."

March 30
Darl Records releases Millie Small's rendition of "My Boy Lollipop". Originally written as "My Girl Lollypop" in 1955 by Robert Spencer of the doo-wop group The Cadillacs, the song was first recorded in New York in 1956 by Barbie Gaye. In later years, Millie would insist that it was Rod Stewart who played harmonica on the track, but Rod has denied this. The record rose to #2 in both the UK and the US and enjoyed worldwide sales of over seven million copies, but Small would later say that she received no royalties from the single. Further recording success was harder to come by, and Millie retired from the music business in 1970.

1967 - ClassicBands.com

March 30
Cindy Birdsong, formerly of Patti LaBelle's Bluebelles, was asked to fill in for Florence Ballard of The Supremes after Ballard missed a number of shows in New Orleans, Los Angeles and Montreal. Birdsong became a permanent member a few months later.

March 30
The photograph for the cover of "Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" was taken at the studio of photographer Michael Cooper in the Chelsea section of London. The cover was designed by the pop artists Peter Blake and Jann Haworth, based on an ink drawing by Paul McCartney. Directed by Robert Fraser, 59 cut-outs and 9 wax figures were used, with each Beatle picking some of the images to put in the collage. John Lennon wanted to include Adolf Hitler, but the other Beatles vetoed the idea. Mahatma Gandhi was also left out because record executives feared a backlash from the lucrative Indian record-buying market. The final cost for the photo would be £3000, making it the most expensive album cover ever shot at the time.

1969 - ClassicBands.com

March 30
After having two giant hits with "The Letter" (#1) and "Cry Like A Baby" (#2), The Box Tops' "Sweet Cream Ladies" tops out at #28 on the Billboard Hot 100. They would reach #18 later in the year with "Soul Deep", their final Top 40 entry.

1971 - ClassicBands.com

March 30
28 year old Arlester "Dyke" Christian, of Dyke And The Blazers, was shot to death in a bar-room altercation. The shooter was arraigned on murder charges but the case was delayed several times and eventually dismissed because of evidence indicating self-defense. The band reached number 35 in 1969 with "We Got More Soul".

March 30
Six months after his death, Jimi Hendrix's album, "The Cry of Love" is certified Gold. The LP entered Billboard's Hot 200 chart at #17 on March 6th and eventually reached #3. In the UK, it entered the UK Albums Chart on April 3rd, and peaked at #2.

1974 - ClassicBands.com

March 30
Nine weeks after entering the Billboard Hot 100, John Denver's "Sunshine On My Shoulders" goes to #1. John would later say that he wrote the song on a dreary day when it was pouring rain. The single would eventually be certified Gold for selling one million copies.

1985 - ClassicBands.com

March 30
Phil Collins started a two week run at #1 on the US singles chart with "One More Night", his second US chart topper. The song reached #4 in the UK.

1989 - ClassicBands.com

March 30
After her backup group The Pips decided to retire the previous year, Gladys Knight performs without them for the first time since grammar school at a show at Bally's in Las Vegas.

1992 - ClassicBands.com

March 30
The soundtrack to Wayne's World was the number 1 album in the US. It featured the return to the charts of Queen's, "Bohemian Rhapsody", actually making the song a bigger hit the second time around. Tracks by Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Alice Cooper, as well as a new version of "Dream Weaver" from Gary Wright, were also included on the LP.

1994 - ClassicBands.com

March 30
Pink Floyd played their first concert in more than five years, opening a North American tour before more than 55,000 fans in Miami. The trek, called The Division Bell Tour, was in support of their album of the same name.

1996 - ClassicBands.com

March 30
The Beatles had the #1 album on the UK chart with "Anthology 2". It had similar success in America where it topped the Billboard Hot 200 and sold over 1.7 million copies.

2004 - ClassicBands.com

March 30
Timi Yuro passed away at the age of 63. She began singing in her family's restaurant when she was a child and signed with Liberty Records when she turned 18. During the next five years, Timi reached the US charts nine times, including "Hurt", which climbed to #4 in the US in 1961, as well as "Make The World Go Away" and "What's A Matter Baby (Is It Hurting You)". She was troubled by throat problems throughout her career and retired from performing in the 1970s. In 1981, "Hurt" resurfaced in the Netherlands and went to #1, prompting Timi to return to the stage where she played to sold out audiences across Europe. In 2002 she was diagnosed with throat cancer and an inoperable brain tumor. She died in her sleep at her Las Vegas home.

2005 - ClassicBands.com

March 30
Neil Young underwent surgery to address a brain aneurysm. He made a full recovery that came with some serious lifestyle changes, including quitting smoking.

2007 - ClassicBands.com

March 30
A man was arrested after trying to force his way into Paul McCartney's mansion, screaming: "I must get to him." The man, driving at high speeds, burst through security patrols and drove across fields and gardens until he was finally halted by trees and a fence just yards from Sir Paul's six-bedroom home at Peasmarsh. The man fled as teams of police arrived, but gave himself up after a three-mile chase. He was later detained under the Mental Health Act and did not face any criminal charges.

2011 - ClassicBands.com

March 30
Buffalo Springfield, who split in 1968, announce a reunion tour with original members Neil Young, Stephen Stills and Richie Furay. The tour lasted just seven shows before Young backed out to focus on a Crazy Horse resurgence. Stephen Stills would later say, "We were supposed to work for most of the summer. It left me in a lurch for three quarters and ruined my financial planning. Also, 150 people got laid off that were supposed to work on the tour."

March 30
Harper / Collins announced that Billy Joel had decided to back out of a book deal that would have seen him publish his memoirs. Tentatively called The Book of Joel, the autobiography was slated to deal with Joel's musical history, his failed marriage to Christie Brinkley, as well as his battles with substance abuse.

March 30
The Australian band Men at Work lost a Federal Court appeal of a ruling which found their 1983 hit single "Down Under" was partly copied from a Folk song called "Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree". The decision cleared the way for copyright owners Larrikin Music to claim millions of dollars in unpaid royalties from "Down Under" writers Colin Hay and Ron Strykert.

2012 - ClassicBands.com

March 30
"Weird Al" Yankovic launched a $5 million lawsuit against Sony Music Entertainment for under payment of royalties. The case would be settled in December, 2013 in Yankovic's favor for undisclosed terms.

2013 - ClassicBands.com

March 30
Madonna's homeless brother, Anthony Ciccone, lashed out at his super-star sibling for not supporting him in his times of trouble. Those claims were refuted by a family friend who said that both Madonna and her father have made several attempts to help, but none have been successful.

2016 - ClassicBands.com

March 30
British musician Andy "Thunderclap" Newman died of unspecified causes at the age of 73. Newman led a self-named band that included Speedy Keen, Jimmy McCulloch and Pete Townshend to #37 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1969 with "Something In The Air".

2017 - ClassicBands.com

March 30
Rosie Hamlin, who was just fourteen years old when she led her group Rosie And The Originals to #5 in 1960 with "Angel Baby", died in her sleep at the age of 71.

2020 - ClassicBands.com

March 30
Bill Withers, the Soul singer most often remembered for the hits "Ain't No Sunshine" (#3 in 1971), "Lean On Me" (#1 in 1972), "Use Me" (#2 in 1972) and "Just The Two Of Us" (#2 in 1981, died from heart complications at the age of 81. During his career he won three Grammy Awards, was nominated for four more, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2015.



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