Rock 'n' Roll History for
March 5


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1955 - ClassicBands.com

March 5
After appearing on the radio version of Louisiana Hayride last October, Elvis Presley makes his TV debut on the televised edition of the program. Since Presley brought his own brand of music to the show, ratings had dropped steadily.

1959 - ClassicBands.com

March 5
Bobby Darin records "Dream Lover", which would reach #2 in the US the following summer.

1960 - ClassicBands.com

March 5
Sergeant Elvis Presley is officially discharged from the US army at Fort Dix, New Jersey and receives his final paycheck of $109.54. He was later quoted as saying, "You can't breathe or even go to the bathroom without them knowin' about it... I never hated anything so much in my life as I have the army."

1963 - ClassicBands.com

March 5
Patsy Cline was killed when her private plane crashed near Camden, Tennessee. Most often remembered for her hits, "Crazy", "Walkin' After Midnight", "I Fall To Pieces" and "She's Got You", Cline's "Greatest Hits" LP has sold over eight million copies, making it the largest selling female Country album of all time, until Shania Twain came along.

March 5
The Beatles recorded "From Me To You" at Abbey Road Studios in London. The song had just been written by John and Paul a few days earlier while riding a train during a tour with Helen Shapiro and was one of the last to be credited to McCartney / Lennon. Nine days later it will reach number one in the UK and stay on the chart for twenty-one weeks.

1965 - ClassicBands.com

March 5
The Yardbirds release the single, "For Your Love", which would become their first song to crack the Top Ten in both the UK (#1) and the US (#6). Most of the song was recorded with singer Keith Relf and drummer Jim McCarty backed by session musician Ron Prentice on bowed bass, Denny Piercy on bongos, and organist Brian Auger on harpsichord. Guitarists Eric Clapton and Chris Dreja only perform during the song's double-time middle break section.

March 5
The Mannish Boys, featuring a young David Bowie, released their debut single "I Pity The Fool". The guitar solo was performed by Jimmy Page, who was a session musician at the time.

1966 - ClassicBands.com

March 5
Staff Sergeant Barry Sadler's "The Ballad of the Green Berets" topped the Hot 100, selling more than two million copies in the first two weeks after its release. It made #24 in the UK. His follow up single, "The A-Team", would peak at #28 the following May. Instead of pursuing a music career, Sadler began writing a series of successful military novels called Casca, which were later written by a series of ghost writers using his name.

March 5
Herb Alpert And The Tijuana Brass had the number one album in the US with "Going Places", which featured the Billboard Top 40 hits "Tijuana Taxi" (#38), "Spanish Flea" (#27) and "Zorba The Greek" (#11).

1968 - ClassicBands.com

March 5
Sales of "Simon Says" by The 1910 Fruitgum Company reached the one million mark as the song topped out at #4 on the Billboard Pop chart. The New Jersey ensemble would go on to enjoy four more US Top 40 hits this year, including "1-2-3 Red Light" (#5) and "Indian Giver" (#5)

1971 - ClassicBands.com

March 5
Led Zeppelin kick off what they call their "Thank-you" tour by playing in some of the same UK halls and clubs that they appeared in when they were first starting out. Their contracts state that they will play for their 1968 fee if club owners agree to charge 1968 prices at the door.

1975 - ClassicBands.com

March 5
Rod Stewart meets actress Britt Eklund at a party at Joni Mitchell's house, beginning a 5-year romance.

1977 - ClassicBands.com

March 5
"The Love Theme from A Star Is Born", from the film starring Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson, was the top tune in the US. It reached number 3 in the UK.

1982 - ClassicBands.com

March 5
The naked body of 33-year-old John Belushi was found in a room at the Chateau Marmont Hotel on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. The cause of death was later ruled a drug-related accident. He and Dan Aykroyd had a hit record as The Blues Brothers in 1978 with a remake of the Sam And Dave classic, "Soul Man", while their album "Briefcase Full of Blues" reached #1 on the Billboard 200, going double Platinum.

1983 - ClassicBands.com

March 5
Michael Jackson's mega-hit "Billie Jean" topped the Billboard singles chart for the first of seven weeks. Amazingly, Michael's vocal on the track was completed in just one take.

March 5
Wham! make their US television debut when they appear on Dick Clark's American Bandstand.

1994 - ClassicBands.com

March 5
Grace Slick is arrested for pointing a shotgun at police in her Tiburon, CA home. In June, she would be sentenced to 200 hours of community service and three month's worth of Alcoholic's Anonymous meetings.

2000 - ClassicBands.com

March 5
Madonna went to the top of the UK singles chart with her version of the Don McLean hit "American Pie". It was her 50th UK hit and ninth UK #1.

2002 - ClassicBands.com

March 5
The first episode of The Osbournes TV show was aired on MTV in the US. Focusing on Ozzy and his family, they bicker, squabble, curse and hang out backstage at Ozzy's shows.

2004 - ClassicBands.com

March 5
Priscilla Paris, the youngest member of the female vocal trio The Paris Sisters, died from injuries suffered in a fall at her home. She was 59. Priscilla and her siblings Albeth and Sherrell reached the Billboard Top 40 in 1961 with "I Love How You Love Me" (#5) and again in 1962 with "He Knows I Love Him Too Much". (#34)

2006 - ClassicBands.com

March 5
David Crosby was arrested and charged with criminal possession of a weapon and marijuana after leaving his bag in a New York hotel. The luggage was found by a hotel employee looking for identification, finding instead a handgun and weed.

March 5
Diane Richie, the estranged wife of singer Lionel Richie, went to court seeking $300,000 a month in support.

2012 - ClassicBands.com

March 5
Britain's Serious Organized Crime Agency arrested two men and charged them with hacking into Sony Music's computers and stealing Michael Jackson's back catalogue. The pair, in their mid-20s, were said to have illegally downloaded more than 50,000 digital files.

2014 - ClassicBands.com

March 5
Movie director Richard Lester, who directed The Beatles' film Help!, announced that he was putting the piano John Lennon and Paul McCartney played while filming the movie was going up for auction. The instrument was expected to sell for £50,000 (over US $83,600).

2015 - ClassicBands.com

March 5
72-year-old Soul legend Aretha Franklin appeared on US TV's American Idol and told the group of sixteen finalists that they should "Keep physically fit... and stay away from the wrong kind of people... anything that would be career ending." She went on to say "Meet the challenge and kick butt!"

2018 - ClassicBands.com

March 5
The Gibson guitar company laid off about fifteen employees from it's Custom Shop as it continued to battle bankruptcy. Founded by Orville Gibson in 1902 as The Gibson Mandolin-Guitar Company, the firm reportedly had an outstanding debt of $519 million as of December 31, 2017.

2023 - ClassicBands.com

March 5
Gary Rossington, the last remaining member of the original Lynyrd Skynyrd, passed away at the age of 71. He survived the infamous 1977 plane crash that killed singer Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines, and backing vocalist Cassie Gaines, while suffering two broken arms, a broken leg, and a punctured stomach and liver.



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