Rock 'n' Roll History for
May 16


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1960 - ClassicBands.com

May 16
Billboard magazine reports that Berry Gordy Jr, a songwriter and publisher in Detroit, is working on his own record label after successfully producing a series of hit records.

1964 - ClassicBands.com

May 16
21 year old Mary Wells led the Billboard Pop chart with the Smokey Robinson written "My Guy". The record was Wells' 9th Top 40 entry and would prove to be her highest charting US single. It made #5 in the UK.

1965 - ClassicBands.com

May 16
The Beach Boys appear on The Ed Sullivan Show performing their latest hit, "Help Me Rhonda". Although all of the group sang on the record, only Carl Wilson (guitar) and Brian Wilson (piano and organ) played instruments on it. The rest of the music was provided by The Wrecking Crew, a group of Los Angeles studio musicians who would be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000.

1966 - ClassicBands.com

May 16
The Beach Boys' "Pet Sounds" album was released, featuring "Sloop John B." (#3), "Wouldn't It Be Nice" (#8), "God Only Knows" (#39), and "Caroline No" (Brian Wilson solo release, #32). Paul McCartney picked it as one of his favorite albums of all time.

May 16
Frank Sinatra records "Summer Wind" for his own Reprise Records. The song had stalled at #75 a year earlier for Wayne Newton, but Ol' Blue Eyes would take it to #25 during a five week stay on the Billboard Top 40.

1967 - ClassicBands.com

May 16
The Monkees' third LP, "Headquarters" was released. It was their first album recorded primarily by the four members of the group and would reach #1 in the US for one week before being relegated to second place for eleven consecutive weeks by "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band".

1968 - ClassicBands.com

May 16
Louisiana's Tony Joe White records his own tune, "Polk Salad Annie" at RCA Studio B, in Nashville, Tennessee. The song would rise to #8 on the Billboard Hot 100 in August, 1969, nine months after it had been released. In the UK, the song reached #23.

1969 - ClassicBands.com

May 16
Jefferson Airplane bass player Jack Casady is arrested for possession of marijuana at the Royal Orleans Hotel in New Orleans. At his trial he gets a two and a half year suspended sentence.

May 16
John Lennon, declared "an inadmissible immigrant to the US", seeks a visa to visit America. Lennon's standing visa was revoked by the US Embassy in London ten days before because of his drug conviction in November 1968.

May 16
Pete Townshend of The Who spent a night in jail in New York City after being charged with assault. The group was performing at the Fillmore East when a fire broke out at a supermarket next door. A plainclothes policeman leapt onto the stage to warn the crowd and Townshend, thinking the cop was a member of the audience, booted him off. The guitarist was also fined $30.

1970 - ClassicBands.com

May 16
Jefferson Airplane singer Marty Balin is arrested for possession of marijuana and for contributing to the delinquency of minors in Bloomington, Minnesota. Balin's hotel room was raided by police at 5:30am. They found Balin and friends with several girls aged between 12 to 17 years old. He is sentenced to one year's hard labor and a $100 fine. He appeals and ends up paying only the fine.

May 16
Because his recent conversion to Mormonism caused dissatisfaction with the Rock 'n' Roll lifestyle, lead guitarist Randy Bachman quits The Guess Who, He would later form Bachman-Turner Overdrive and enjoy six Billboard Top 40 hits over the next six years that included "Let It Ride (#23), "Takin' Care Of Business" (#12) and "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet" (#1).

May 16
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young enjoy their first US #1 album when "Deja Vu" hits the top spot on the Billboard 200 chart. Single releases include "Woodstock" (US #11), "Teach Your Children" (US #16) and "Our House" (US #30).

1978 - ClassicBands.com

May 16
Joe Walsh releases his fourth album, "But Seriously, Folks...". Guest musicians included the other four members of the Eagles, Don Henley – backing vocals, Glenn Frey – backing vocals, Timothy B. Schmit – backing vocals, and Don Felder – pedal steel guitar. The album would climb to #8 on the Billboard 200 and an included single, "Life's Been Good" made it to #12 on the Hot 100.

1980 - ClassicBands.com

May 16
Dr. George C. Nichopoulous is indicted in Memphis on fourteen counts of over prescribing drugs to Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and nine other patients.

May 16
Paul McCartney releases his second solo album, "McCartney II". Like his first solo album, "McCartney" (1970), Paul played all the instruments himself. The LP yielded three singles: "Coming Up" (US #1 and UK #2), "Waterfalls" (UK #9), and "Temporary Secretary" (did not chart).

1981 - ClassicBands.com

May 16
"Bette Davis Eyes" by Kim Carnes rocketed to the top spot on Billboard's singles chart, where it would remain for six weeks. Carnes received a personal thank-you letter from actress Bette Davis, saying that it had impressed her young grandson. The song had actually been written by Donna Weiss and Jackie DeShannon, and was included on DeShannon's 1974 album, "New Arrangement".

1985 - ClassicBands.com

May 16
A royalty cheque totaling $6.5 million from the sales of "We Are The World" is handed over to the USA for Africa Foundation by Columbia Records executive Al Teller. The total raised would eventually rise to over $50 million.

1986 - ClassicBands.com

May 16
Country singer Johnny Paycheck (born Donald Eugene Lytle) was found guilty of shooting and wounding a man after an argument in a bar in Hillsboro, Ohio. Paycheck, best known for his 1978 hit "Take This Job and Shove It", was sentenced to nine and a half years in prison. After several years spent fighting the conviction, he began serving his time in 1989, spending twenty-two months behind bars before being pardoned by Ohio Governor Richard Celeste.

1990 - ClassicBands.com

May 16
Sammy Davis Jr. died of throat cancer at the age of 64. Davis was a member of The Rat Pack, along with Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop, and had several US Top 40 hits including "Something's Gotta Give" (#9 in 1955), "Love Me or Leave Me" (#12 in 1955), "That Old Black Magic" (#13 in 1955), "I've Gotta Be Me" (#11 in 1969) and "The Candy Man" (#1 in 1972).

May 16
Jim Henson, The Muppets creator who scored two Billboard Top 40 hits with "Rubber Duckie" (#16 in 1970) and "Rainbow Connection" (#25 in 1979), died of Streptococcal Toxic Shock Syndrome at the age of 53.

1993 - ClassicBands.com

May 16
Marv Johnson, an R&B artist who reached the Hot 100 nine times, including two Top 10 hits in 1960; "You Got What It Takes" (#10) and "I Love The Way You Love" (#9), died following a stroke. He was 54.

1998 - ClassicBands.com

May 16
Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards fell while reaching for a book of nude art in his Connecticut home. The fall breaks his ribs, causing the Stones to postpone many dates on their Bridges To Babylon tour.

2000 - ClassicBands.com

May 16
The Artist Formerly Known As Prince reverts back to the name Prince. Because his publishing contract expired December 31, 1999, Prince says his birth name was emancipated from "long-term restrictive documents," and he could stop using the unpronounceable symbol he used to identify himself when he was committed to what he called "undesirable relationships."

2007 - ClassicBands.com

May 16
Mike Love's lawsuit against fellow Beach Boys member Brian Wilson and the British newspaper Mail On Sunday was dismissed as being without merit. Love had sued over the free distribution of a 2004 CD that included the Beach Boys' name and Love's image.

2010 - ClassicBands.com

May 16
Ronnie James Dio, the powerful voice for Elf, Rainbow, Black Sabbath, Dio and Heaven & Hell, lost his battle with stomach cancer at the age of 67.

May 16
Paul McCartney told Scotland's Sunday Mail newspaper that he is convinced The Beatles would have reformed in recent years if all their members had survived, because they would have signed up for a reunion "just for a laugh". He pointed out that the band was asked to reunite shortly after they split, but said "It wasn't really a good idea then, but I think if this much time had elapsed, I could easily see it happening. Somebody would have said, 'Oh go on. Just for a laugh.'"

2016 - ClassicBands.com

May 16
Irish singer Sinead O'Connor was found safe two days after being reported as missing in Chicago. Her brief disappearance came six just months after a similar incident in November 2015 when she posted a dire note on Facebook where she threatened to commit suicide. Recently, O'Connor accused Arsenio Hall of being Prince's longtime drug dealer, an accusation that resulted in a $5 million lawsuit from the late-night host. The suit was dropped after she apologized.

2022 - ClassicBands.com

May 16
Eric Clapton's anti-lockdown and anit-vaccine stance came back to haunt him when he was forced to cancel two shows in Zurich and Milan because he had contracted COVID-19.



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