Rock 'n' Roll History for
November 27


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1958 - ClassicBands.com

November 27
Elvis Presley is promoted to Private First Class in the US Army. His rank would rise to Specialist Fourth Class on June 1, 1959 and to Sergeant on January 20, 1960.

1961 - ClassicBands.com

November 27
Patsy' Cline's rendition of the Willie Nelson tune "Crazy" peaks at #9 on the Billboard Hot 100. It would be the biggest of her four records to cross over to the Hot 100 from the Country chart where it reached #2. The tune would later be ranked at #85 on Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

November 27
The Beach Boys first recording, "Surfin'", is released on Candis Records, a small L.A. based company. The song was written by Brian Wilson and his cousin Mike Love and recorded with Brian's brothers, Carl and Dennis and their friend Alan Jardine. Carl played acoustic guitar, Al played double bass and Brian kept time on a garbage can.

1963 - ClassicBands.com

November 27
Elvis' movie Fun in Acapulco, co-starring Ursula Andress, debuts across North America. While some exterior shots were filmed on location, Elvis' scenes were all done in Hollywood. The King never set foot in Acapulco, Mexico in his life.

1965 - ClassicBands.com

November 27
The Lovin' Spoonful's "You Didn't Have To Be So Nice" enters the Billboard Hot 100 at #75, and The Vogues' "5 O'clock World" debuts at #94. The former would reach #10 and the latter would top out at #4.

1967 - ClassicBands.com

November 27
Capitol Records releases The Beatles' "Magical Mystery Tour" LP in the US. It would rise to number one on the Billboard chart where it would stay for eight weeks and be nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Album in 1968. (It lost to Glen Campbell's "By The Time I Get To Phoenix")

November 27
The Association were presented with a Gold record for their hit, "Never My Love", which had risen to #2 in the US. It had been kept out of the number one spot by "The Letter" by The Box Tops.

1968 - ClassicBands.com

November 27
Steppenwolf's self-titled, debut album is certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America. The LP features "Born to Be Wild" (US #2), as well as "The Pusher", both of which would be used in the 1969 film Easy Rider. It is the only album by the band to be issued in both stereo and mono.

1970 - ClassicBands.com

November 27
George Harrison releases his first post-Beatles album, "All Things Must Pass", produced by Phil Spector and featuring Eric Clapton, Dave Mason, Ringo Starr and Jim Gordon. The triple disc set would go on to be certified 6X Platinum by the RIAA, making it the best selling album by a solo Beatle.

1976 - ClassicBands.com

November 27
Brian Wilson appears on NBC-TV's Saturday Night Live, where he performs "Back Home", "Love Is A Woman" and "Good Vibrations".

November 27
"20 Golden Greats" by Glen Campbell started a six week run at the top of the UK album chart. It would be Glen's biggest selling LP in Great Britain, staying on the chart for twenty-seven weeks.

1981 - ClassicBands.com

November 27
The British Phonographic Industry, with the endorsement of Rock stars like Elton John, Gary Numan, Cliff Richard, 10cc and the Boomtown Rats, places advertisements in the British press claiming that "Home taping is wiping out music."

November 27
A concert by The Allman Brothers Band and The Grateful Dead, scheduled at the Tangerine Bowl in Orlando, Florida, is canceled because only 10,000 of 60,000 tickets have been sold. When the two groups played together in New York eight years ago, they drew over 600,000.

1982 - ClassicBands.com

November 27
Lionel Richie reaches the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart with "Truly", his first solo effort since leaving The Commodores. The song would also reach the Top Ten in United Kingdom, and would go on to win a Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance.

1985 - ClassicBands.com

November 27
42-year-old Allan Ramsay, the original bassist for Gary Lewis And The Playboys, was killed when the Beechcraft C90 twin turbo prop he was piloting crashed in Rhode Island. He left the group in 1965, the same year the band placed seven songs on the Billboard Top 40.

1989 - ClassicBands.com

November 27
Stevie Wonder joins Paul McCartney on stage at Paul's Los Angeles concert to sing their 1982 duet, "Ebony and Ivory". The song had reached number one in both the UK and the US and was among the top-selling singles of the year. However, the tune seemed to wear out its welcome quickly and in 2007, BBC 6 Music listeners voted it "the worst duet in history." Two years later, Blender magazine named it as the tenth-worst song of all time.

1991 - ClassicBands.com

November 27
Freddie Mercury's funeral was held at the West London Crematorium in London, England. The service was an extremely small and private affair, with less than forty people invited. The guests included were the singer's Queen bandmates and their wives, as well as Elton John, Mary Austin and Freddie's partner Jim Hutton.

1992 - ClassicBands.com

November 27
Neil Diamond's Christmas Special debuts on HBO. The one-hour show featured Diamond performing many of the favorites heard on "The Christmas Album" while joined by such diverse vocal ensembles as a doo-wop group, a children's choir and a mixed chorale. The LP became a Top 10, Platinum best-seller.

1995 - ClassicBands.com

November 27
According to Nielson Soundscan, the album "Beatles Anthology Volume I" sold 856,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release. It has since been certified 8X Platinum by the RIAA.

2001 - ClassicBands.com

November 27
Elvis Presley was inducted into The Gospel Association Hall Of Fame, an organization dedicated exclusively to recognizing meaningful contributions by individuals in all forms of Gospel music. Other notable inductees are Pat Boone, Tennessee Ernie Ford and Al Green.

2002 - ClassicBands.com

November 27
Connie Francis filed a second suit against her record company, Universal Music Group, alleging the label had inflicted severe emotional distress on her and violated her moral rights. Some of her recordings had been played during the films, Post Cards From America (1994), The Craft (1996), and Jawbreaker (1999). Just as her March 2002 legal action had been, this suit was also dismissed.

2005 - ClassicBands.com

November 27
Joe Jones, a musician and producer who sang the 1961 Billboard #3 hit "You Talk Too Much", passed away at the age of 79. After his hit making days were over he went on to become an independent music publisher and advocate for Black artists' rights.

2006 - ClassicBands.com

November 27
Alan 'Fluff' Freeman, one of the UK's most popular radio broadcasters, died after a short illness at the age of 79. He had been a radio personality in the United Kingdom for forty years, best known for presenting Pick of the Pops from 1961 to 2000.

2008 - ClassicBands.com

November 27
Cliff Richard And The Shadows announced that they would reunite for an arena tour in 2009 to celebrate their 50th anniversary. The band was one of the UK's top selling acts from 1958 to 1963 during the pre-Beatles era. It has been estimated that Richard's worldwide sales are over 260 million units, which makes him the second highest selling British male solo artist of all time, behind Elton John.

2012 - ClassicBands.com

November 27
Mickey Baker, of the duo Mickey And Sylvia, died after suffering a heart attack at the age of 87. The pair reached #11 on the Billboard Top 100 with "Love Is Strange" in early 1957.

2023 - ClassicBands.com

November 27
Dolly Parton's latest album, "Rockstar" became the highest-charting LP of her career when it debuted at #3 on the Billboard 200 chart. The album included guest appearances by Stevie Nicks, Chris Stapleton, Miley Cyrus, Elton John, and Joan Jett.



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