Rock 'n' Roll History for
May 19
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1956
- ClassicBands.com
May 19
Lonnie Donegan kicks off a tour of the US by appearing on The Perry Como Show, where he performs "Rock Island Line".
1958
- ClassicBands.com
May 19
Bobby Darin's "Splish Splash" was released by Atco Records. Darin co-wrote the song with DJ Murray the K (Kaufman), who bet that Darin could not write a song that began with the words, "Splish splash, I was takin' a bath", as suggested by Murray's mother, Jean Kaufman. It was the first recording made on an eight track recorder at Atlantic Records and would eventually reach #3 in America and #18 in Great Britain.
May 19
Ritchie Valens records the self-penned "Come On, Let's Go" for Del-Fi Records in Los Angeles. The song would peak at #42 on the Billboard singles chart the following October.
1960
- ClassicBands.com
May 19
Deejay Alan Freed is indicted along with seven others for accepting $30,650 in payola from six record companies. Two years later, he was convicted and would receive a suspended sentence and a $300 fine.
May 19
The Drifters record "Save The Last Dance For Me", with Ben E. King on lead vocals. The song will top the US chart the following October and reach #2 in the UK in November. The group would go on to place eleven more songs on the Billboard Top 40, but this would be their only number one.
1961
- ClassicBands.com
May 19
The Everly Brothers launch their own record label, Calliope, intended for the purpose of discovering and developing new talent. Their own recordings will continue to be issued exclusively by Warner Brothers.
1962
- ClassicBands.com
May 19
B Bumble And The Stingers were at #1 on the UK singles chart with "Nut Rocker", an instrumental based on Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite.
May 19
Johnny Tillotson's self-penned Country ballad "It Keeps Right On A-Hurtin'" enters Billboard's Top 40, where it will climb to number 3 and be nominated for a Grammy Award. In the UK, the song reached #31.
1964
- ClassicBands.com
May 19
After reaching #4 on the Hot 100, Roger Miller's "King of the Road" was awarded a Gold record. The song was inspired by a sign in Chicago that read "Trailers for Sale or Rent" and a hobo he saw at an airport in Boise, Idaho.
May 19
Lawrence Wright, the founder of the British music magazine, Melody Maker, died at the age of 76. The magazine makes no mention of his passing.
1965
- ClassicBands.com
May 19
FBI agents visit Wand Records to investigate the lyrics to "Louie Louie" by
The Kingsmen. They would eventually release a statement that said that it was impossible to exactly decipher the lyrics from "the unintelligible rendition as performed by The Kingsmen."
1967
- ClassicBands.com
May 19
Two weeks before the scheduled release of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", Brian Epstein hosts an album preview party for the press at his Liverpool home. A dozen journalists, broadcasters and photographers, including Linda Eastman, were in attendance and heard the LP in its entirety while enjoying champagne, poached salmon and caviar.
1969
- ClassicBands.com
May 19
The Beatles' single "Get Back" is awarded a Gold record for sales of over 1 million copies. Paul McCartney would later say, "We were sitting in the studio and we made it up out of thin air..."
1972
- ClassicBands.com
May 19
Elton John releases his fifth studio album, "Honky Chateau", named after the 18th century French chateau where it was recorded, Chateau d'Herouville. The LP would become the first of his seven consecutive Billboard 200 chart topping albums, and included "Rocket Man" (US #6, UK #2) and "Honky Cat" (US #8, UK #31)
1973
- ClassicBands.com
May 19
Paul Simon releases the single "Kodachrome", which would become a #2 hit in the US, but was banned from air play in the UK because it contains a brand name.
May 19
Less than four months after topping the Hot 100 with "Superstition",
Stevie Wonder was back on top with "You Are The Sunshine Of My Life", a song on which Stevie played most of the instruments. The record reached #7 in the UK. It went on to win a Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, and was nominated for both Record of the Year and Song of the Year.
1975
- ClassicBands.com
May 19
Lynyrd Skynyrd release the single "Saturday Night Special", a song about the evils of misused handguns. It would rise to #27 on the Hot 100, but dropped out of the Top 40 after just three weeks.
1976
- ClassicBands.com
May 19
The Rolling Stones' Keith Richards crashes his Bentley into a highway divider in Newton Pagnell, a town 50 miles north of London. Police take various substances from his vehicle and Richards will be charged with possession of cocaine and marijuana.
1977
- ClassicBands.com
May 19
Universal Pictures releases the film, Smokey And The Bandit in theatres across America. Starring Burt Reynolds, Sally Field, Jerry Reed and Jackie Gleason, the movie included Reed's song, "East Bound and Down", which featured him on lead vocals and Gordon Stoker of The Jordanaires singing harmony. When it was released as a single the following August, the record would spend sixteen weeks on the Billboard Country chart, peaking at #2. It did not, however, crack the Hot 100.
1979
- ClassicBands.com
May 19
The closest thing to a Beatles' reunion happened when Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr played together at Eric Clapton's wedding reception at his Ewhurst, England estate, Hurtwood Edge. Other musicians in attendance were Mick Jagger, Jeff Beck, Ronnie Wood, Bill Wyman, Donovan, Robert Plant, Robert Palmer, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker. For some unexplained reason, John Lennon was left off the guest list, but British Skiffle singer Lonnie Donegan showed up uninvited. Clapton had actually married Patti Boyd, the former Mrs. George Harrison, a few weeks earlier on March 29th. He would later admit that he missed his own party because he was upstairs drunk and passed out.
1980
- ClassicBands.com
May 19
Ringo Starr and his future wife Barbara Bach were involved in a car crash less than half a mile from where Marc Bolan was killed. The car was a write-off, but Starr and Bach were not seriously injured.
1988
- ClassicBands.com
May 19
The British Phonographic Industry is rebuffed by the UK's House Of Lords when it tries to prevent electronics manufacturer Amstrad from producing and marketing a dual tape deck which makes it easy for consumers to copy cassettes. Because the company includes copyright warnings with the machine, The House ruled that they were not encouraging people to break the law.
1989
- ClassicBands.com
May 19
Ron Wilson, The Surfaris' drummer who recorded Rock and Roll's most influential drum solo, "Wipe Out", died of a brain aneurysm at the age of 49.
1991
- ClassicBands.com
May 19
Odia Coates, who sang "You're Having My Baby" (US #1), "One Man Woman / One Woman Man" (US #7), "I Don't Like To Sleep Alone" (US #8) and "I Believe There's Nothing Stronger Than Our Love" (US #15) with
Paul Anka, died of breast cancer. She was 49.
1992
- ClassicBands.com
May 19
Mercury Records releases the album "Some Gave All" by Billy Ray Cyrus. Bolstered by the Country-crossover hit, "Achy Breaky Heart" the LP would top the Billboard 200 chart and became the best selling album of the year in the United States. It sold over 9 million copies in the first 12 months of release.
1998
- ClassicBands.com
May 19
Sonny And Cher receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, seventeen months after Sonny was killed in a skiing accident.
2006
- ClassicBands.com
May 19
Freddie Garrity, the lead singer of
Freddie And The Dreamers died at the age of 65 after receiving treatment for what were described as circulation problems. The group placed four songs in the UK Top Ten and four in Billboard's Top 40 in the mid '60s and had remained active until December 2000 when Garrity's health began to fail.
2008
- ClassicBands.com
May 19
A poem written by 16 year old Bob Dylan, who was still using his birth name, Robert Zimmerman, was slated to be offered for sale at a Christie's auction, where it was expected to sell for $10,000 to $15,000. Written on both sides of a single page, the verses tell the poignant story of a dog named Little Buddy who is killed at the hands of a drunkard, and the boy who mourns him.
2011
- ClassicBands.com
May 19
Kathy Kirby, who had five UK Top 40 hits between 1963 and 1965, including "Dance On", "Secret Love" and "Let Me Go, Lover!" died of a suspected heart attack at the age of 72.
May 19
Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler revealed he once had sex with a man during his wild youth. In his memoir, Does The Noise In My Head Bother You?, he revealed, "Gay sex just doesn't do it for me. I tried it one time when I was younger, but I just didn't dig it."
2018
- ClassicBands.com
May 19
Elton John performed at the wedding reception of England's Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, playing "Your Song", "Tiny Dancer", "Circle of Life" and "I'm Still Standing".
2020
- ClassicBands.com
May 19
A cassette tape containing an unreleased demo of Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr's only jointly written duet sold for $9,900 at auction in the U.K. The song, "Angel in Disguise" was recorded for Starr's 1992 solo album "Time Takes Time", but did not make the final cut.
2023
- ClassicBands.com
May 19
While being interviewed for USA Today, Ringo Starr reiterated that he would not write a memoir. "I have just never found interest in it," he said. "I don't want to do Ringo the drummer, because we're all a bit more than that.
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