Rock 'n' Roll History for
May 7
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1955
- ClassicBands.com
May 7
Ray Charles reaches the top of the Billboard R&B chart for the first time with "I Got A Woman". It was later ranked #235 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
1961
- ClassicBands.com
May 7
Tony Orlando makes his first appearance on Billboard's Hot 100 with "Halfway to Paradise", which peaks at #39. He'll place two more songs on the chart with "Bless You (#15) and "Make Believe" (#28) before reappearing in 1970 with his group, Dawn, singing "Candida".
1966
- ClassicBands.com
May 7
Simon And Garfunkel's "I Am a Rock" enters the Hot 100. During its eleven week chart run, it will peak at #3.
May 7
Del Shannon cracks the Billboard Hot 100 for the 16th time with "The Big Hurt", which will stall at #94.
May 7
The Mamas And Papas hit #1 in the US with "Monday, Monday", a song that the group (except for writer John Phillips) would later admit that they didn't really like. The record made #3 in the UK. On March 2nd, 1967, the effort would bring them a Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal.
1967
- ClassicBands.com
May 7
Soviet youths openly defied police and danced The Twist in Moscow's Red Square during May Day celebrations.
1968
- ClassicBands.com
May 7
Aretha Franklin records her live album, "Aretha In Paris" for Atlantic Records. When released the following October, the LP would climb to #13 on the Billboard 200 and #2 on the R&B chart.
1973
- ClassicBands.com
May 7
George Harrison releases "Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)". The song will peak at number one on June 10th, 1973, and push Paul McCartney's "My Love" back to the number two position. That would mark the only occasion that two former Beatles held the top two chart positions in America. Joining George on the track were Nicky Hopkins on piano, Klaus Voormann on bass, Jim Keltner on drums, and Gary Wright on organ. Wright would go on to enjoy two big hits in 1976, "Dream Weaver" (US #2) and "Love Is Alive" (US #2).
1977
- ClassicBands.com
May 7
Ten weeks after entering the Billboard singles chart,
The Eagles' masterpiece, "Hotel California" became the band's fourth US #1 hit. It made #8 in the UK. The song would be awarded the Grammy Award for Record of the Year in 1978, and in 2009 it was certified Platinum by the RIAA for sales of 1,000,000 digital downloads. The iconic two minute and twelve second electric guitar solo performed by Don Felder and Joe Walsh was voted the best guitar solo of all time by readers of the British magazine, Guitarist in 1998.
1978
- ClassicBands.com
May 7
The 90,000 tickets on sale for Bob Dylan's upcoming concerts at London's Wembley Empire Pool sell out in less than eight hours.
May 7
Five thousand spectators showed up to watch a softball game between The Eagles and the staff of Rolling Stone magazine at Dedeaux Field at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. The band and the magazine had been at odds for years after a series of negative reviews and the game was set up raise money for UNICEF. Final score: Eagles 15. Rolling Stone 8.
1983
- ClassicBands.com
May 7
After cracking the Top 20 a year earlier with "The Break-up Song", San Francisco's
Greg Kihn Band reaches #2 on the Hot 100 with a song called "Jeopardy". A year later, Weird Al Yankovic will parody the song as "I Lost On Jeopardy", which has since been referenced several times on the game show itself.
1991
- ClassicBands.com
May 7
Soul singer Wilson Pickett was arrested in his hometown of Englewood, New Jersey after repeatedly driving over the lawn of his neighbor, Mayor Donald Aronson. Pickett was charged with drunk driving and threatening to kill the mayor. Police seized a knife and a baseball bat from Pickett's van. The threatening charge was dropped after Pickett agreed to perform a free charity concert. He was later sentenced to a year's probation on the drunken driving charge to run concurrently with a one-year jail term for a later drunk driving incident in which Pickett hit and seriously injured an 86-year-old pedestrian.
May 7
A judge in Macon, Georgia dismisses a wrongful death suit against
Ozzy Osbourne after a local couple fails to prove their son was inspired to attempt suicide by Ozzy's music.
May 7
54-year-old Rolling Stone bassist Bill Wyman officially ended his 23-month marriage to 21-year-old Mandy Smith. She received a $6.5 million divorce settlement, even though she spent only eight weeks with Wyman during their marriage. They first met when Smith was only 13, and wed when she was 18 and he was 52.
1994
- ClassicBands.com
May 7
Randy Bachman led 1,322 guitarists who had gathered in Vancouver to play Bachman-Turner Overdrive's "Takin' Care of Business", for 68 minutes and 40 seconds.
1998
- ClassicBands.com
May 7
Alphonso Howell of The Sensations died at the age of 61. The group reached #4 in the US in 1962 with "Let Me In".
May 7
Eddie Rabbitt, the Country star who crossed over to the US Pop chart with "Drivin' My Life Away" (US #5 in 1980) and "I Love A Rainy Night" (US #1 in 1981) , died of lung cancer at the age of 56. Over the course of his career he placed thirty nine songs in the Top 40 of Billboard's Country chart.
2002
- ClassicBands.com
May 7
After an investigation that lasted nearly four months, police in London, England cleared Pete Townsend on charges that he downloaded child porn from the Internet. Investigators did confirm that Townsend had accessed a site containing such images in 1999 and as a result, he has been listed on a national register of sex offenders.
2004
- ClassicBands.com
May 7
Rudy Maugeri, the baritone voice of the 1950s doo-wop group, The Crew Cuts, died of pancreatic cancer at his home in Las Vegas. He was 73. Taking their name from a popular hair style of the day, the quartet formed in Toronto and went on to have several hits in the US, including the number one "Sh-Boom" in 1954 and the number three "Earth Angel" in 1955.
2010
- ClassicBands.com
May 7
Dave Fisher, who formed The Highwaymen with four university pals in the late 1950s, died at the age of 69 after a battle with a bone marrow disorder. The quartet topped the Billboard chart in 1961 with "Michael (Row The Boat Ashore)".
2011
- ClassicBands.com
May 7
John Walker, lead vocalist for The Walker Brothers, died of liver cancer at the age of 67. The group enjoyed Billboard Top 20 hits with "Make It Easy On Yourself" (#16 in 1965) and "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore" (#13 in 1966).
2015
- ClassicBands.com
May 7
Three of B.B. King's eleven surviving children lost a bid in a Las Vegas court to take control over their father's affairs after they said they suspected the 89-year-old Blues legend's manager of stealing his money and neglecting his medical care while blocking them from seeing him in home hospice care.
2016
- ClassicBands.com
May 7
Following his unexpected death on April 21st, Prince holds down the top two spots on the Billboard 200 albums chart with "The Very Best of Prince" at #1 and "Purple Rain" at #2.
2017
- ClassicBands.com
May 7
The British publication The Sunday Times named 74-year-old Paul McCartney as the richest musician in the UK. He was followed by Andrew Lloyd-Webber, the members of U2, Elton John and Mick Jagger.
2023
- ClassicBands.com
May 7
Lionel Richie and his American Idol co-host, Katy Perry, were featured performers at the coronation concert for England's King Charles III at Windsor Castle.
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