Rock 'n' Roll History for
May 15


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1961 - ClassicBands.com

May 15
Brenda Lee guests on Make Room For Daddy on CBS-TV. The story had Danny Thomas discovering a talented, young, female singer he thinks could make it big, but the girl's mother wants her to finish her education first.

1963 - ClassicBands.com

May 15
The winners of the fifth annual Grammy Awards are announced. Record of the Year is Tony Bennett's "I Left My Heart in San Francisco". Peter, Paul And Mary's "If I Had a Hammer" wins both Best Performance by a Vocal Group and Best Folk Recording.

1965 - ClassicBands.com

May 15
The Byrds enter the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time with their version of Bob Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man", which will climb to #1 by June. Becoming the first record to be dubbed "Folk Rock" by the US music press, it will also top the charts in England, Ireland and South Africa.

May 15
37-year-old composer Burt Bacharach marries 33-year-old actress, Angie Dickinson. It was a second union for both, and lasts sixteen years, ending on August 4th, 1981.

1971 - ClassicBands.com

May 15
Mountain, The Faces, and Pink Floyd play at the Crystal Palace Bowl in London. Performing in front of a large pond, a number of fish are killed when Floyd set off smoke flares under water. They were later billed for the damage.

1974 - ClassicBands.com

May 15
Frank Zappa and his wife Gail announce the birth of their third child, a boy named Ahmet Rodan Zappa. The lad is named after legendary music executive Ahmet Ertegun and his middle name came from a Japanese monster movie. Ahmet's older brother and sister are Dweezil Zappa and Moon Zappa, and his younger sister is Diva Zappa.

1982 - ClassicBands.com

May 15
Five weeks after first appearing on the Billboard Hot 100, "Ebony and Ivory" by Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder reached #1. The duet would stay at the top for seven weeks and would be ranked as the fourth-biggest hit of 1982.

May 15
After cracking the Billboard Top 40 in 1980 with "Angel Say No", the four man Rock group from San Francisco named Tommy Tutone reached #5 with "867-5309 / Jenny". Lead singer Tommy Heath said that he really did know a girl named Jenny whose parent's phone number was 867-5309. Many folks with that phone number had it changed to avoid prank calls.

1986 - ClassicBands.com

May 15
Sam Phillips is a guest on The Late Show With David Letterman where the host spends six awkward minutes trying to interview the record producer about the early days of Rock 'n' Roll. Instead of answering the questions put to him, a disinterested Phillips seems bent on making silly comments about Letterman's teeth and giving short, flippant answers.

1992 - ClassicBands.com

May 15
44-year-old Barbara Lee Jones of The Chiffons suffered a fatal heart attack. The group had a string of hits in the mid-60s, including "He's So Fine" (#1 in 1963), "One Fine Day" (#5 in 1963). and "Sweet Talkin' Guy" (#10 in 1966).

1996 - ClassicBands.com

May 15
Independent Television in Britain broadcast the earliest known footage of The Beatles, shot in February 1961. That was three years before the group became world-famous. The film, which had no soundtrack, was found in a drawer in a house in Liverpool.

1997 - ClassicBands.com

May 15
Governor George W. Bush declares May 15th as ZZ Top Day in the state of Texas.

2003 - ClassicBands.com

May 15
June Carter Cash died at the age of 73 after complications from heart surgery. Along with Merle Kilgore, June wrote the Johnny Cash hit "Ring of Fire" about their stormy courtship. That song became the biggest hit of his career, staying at number one in the US for seven weeks. Actress Reese Witherspoon portrayed June in the 2005 film Walk The Line.

2009 - ClassicBands.com

May 15
Randy Bachman, a founding member of The Guess Who and Bachman-Turner Overdrive, was invested as an officer of the Order of Canada by Governor General Michaelle Jean in a ceremony at Rideau Hall in Ottawa. The Order of Canada is the country's highest civilian honor and recognizes a lifetime of outstanding achievement.

2020 - ClassicBands.com

May 15
Phil May, the frontman of the UK band The Pretty Things, died at the age of 75 after suffering complications from emergency hip surgery. The band enjoyed seven Top 100 hits in Great Britain between 1964 and 1966, but did not enjoy the same success stateside.



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