Rock 'n' Roll History for
September 21


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1955 - ClassicBands.com

September 21
The Platters' "Only You" enters the Billboard Pop chart at #24 on its way to becoming a million selling, US number one hit. The song would also become the first record to sell more than a million copies in France. In 1999, it was inducted into the Grammy Hall Of Fame.

1956 - ClassicBands.com

September 21
Pittsburgh city officials barred Elvis Presley from Syria Mosque, except for one previously scheduled show, because of the damage done to the auditorium by teenage audiences.

1957 - ClassicBands.com

September 21
Scotty Moore and Bill Black quit Elvis Presley's backup band in a salary dispute with Colonel Tom Parker. Drummer D.J. Fontana stays on. Black went on to form Bill Black's Combo and placed eight songs in the US Top 30 before his death in 1965.

1959 - ClassicBands.com

September 21
A guitar and steel guitar instrumental called "Sleep Walk" by Santo And Johnny tops the Billboard Hot 100. In the UK, more than twenty cover versions flooded the air waves and held the Farina brothers' rendition to #22.

1963 - ClassicBands.com

September 21
Bobby Vinton's second US Top Ten entry, a cover of Tony Bennett's 1951 hit, "Blue Velvet", climbed to the top of the Billboard Hot 100. It was a song that Bobby recorded in two takes as a filler for an album of all "blue" songs. Session musicians on the track included Floyd Cramer ("Last Date") and Boots Randolph ("Yakety Sax").

September 21
33 year old Trini Lopez enjoys his biggest hit as "If I Had A Hammer" reaches #3 on the Billboard Pop chart. He would go on to have three more Top 40 hits and co-star in the Oscar winning film The Dirty Dozen in 1967.

1968 - ClassicBands.com

September 21
The Grass Roots' "Midnight Confessions" enters the Billboard Pop chart where it will peak at #5, becoming their most successful record. The music was recorded by The Wrecking Crew, with The Grass Roots' Rob Grill singing the verses and Warren Entner, the choruses.

September 21
Janis Joplin announced that she would be leaving Big Brother And The Holding Company at the end of the year. The band's musicianship had long been suspect by Rock critics. Joplin would later be backed by The Kozmic Blues Band.

September 21
It was rare that a Country tune could top the Billboard Pop chart, but Jeannie C. Riley's "Harper Valley P.T.A." did just that. The record sold over 1,750,000 copies in the first two weeks after its release. Although she never cracked the Top 50 on the Hot 100 again, Riley went on to have several big Country hits, including five that made the Top Ten.

September 21
Jimi Hendrix's "All Along the Watchtower" is released in the US where will become his only Top 40 hit single, topping out at #20. In the UK the song will reach #5 and be awarded a Platinum Record for sales of 600,000.

1971 - ClassicBands.com

September 21
Paul McCartney is awarded a pair of Gold records for "Another Day" (US #5, UK #2) and "Uncle Albert / Admiral Halsey" (US #1).

1974 - ClassicBands.com

September 21
Canada's Bachman-Turner Overdrive release "You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet", which will become their third US Top 30 entry and their only number one.

September 21
At three hundred pounds, he didn't look like a Rock star, but Barry White scored his first US number one and second of five Top Ten singles with "Can't Get Enough Of Your Love, Babe". It made #8 in the UK.

September 21
Walter Brennan, a well known actor who reached number five on the Hot 100 in 1962 with a spoken word hit called "Old Rivers", died at the age of 80.

1976 - ClassicBands.com

September 21
The Bee Gees' 20th album, "Children of the World", goes Gold. It contains two of their latest hits "You Should Be Dancing" (US #1, UK #5) and "Love So Right" (US #3, UK #41).

1979 - ClassicBands.com

September 21
New York's Madison Square Garden played host to The No Nukes concert that featured Poco, Tom Petty, The Doobie Brothers, Stephen Stills, David Crosby, Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt, Carly Simon, James Taylor and Bruce Springsteen.

1980 - ClassicBands.com

September 21
Bob Marley collapsed during a morning jog in Central Park. Although he recovered in a few hours, a neurologist examined the Jamaican singer the next day and said he had just two weeks to live. Marley ignored the prognosis and performed what would prove to be his last concert in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on September 23rd. He would die of cancer on May 11th 1981, at the age of 36.

1986 - ClassicBands.com

September 21
Michael Jackson is shown on the cover of The National Enquirer in what is said to be an oxygen chamber, along with the headline: "Michael Jackson's Bizarre Plan To Live To 150". Jackson refuted the story, saying the picture of him was taken in a burn victim machine that he donated to the Brotman Memorial Hospital.

1992 - ClassicBands.com

September 21
PolyGram Records releases "ABBA Gold", a collection of the Swedish group's greatest hits. With worldwide sales of over 30 million copies, "Gold" goes on to become one of the best selling albums of all time. It topped the charts in twelve countries around the globe, but only reached #25 on the Billboard 200.

1996 - ClassicBands.com

September 21
Paul Simon begins holding auditions for his new musical The Capeman, which will recount the true story of Puerto Rican, Salvador Agron, a New York gang member who was convicted of murdering two teenagers in 1959. Chosen to play the lead role is 28-year-old Marc Anthony. Plagued with problems from the outset, the show is still remembered as one of Broadway's biggest flops, but Anthony would go on to score two big hits, "Melody Of Love" (#3 in 1999) and "You Sang To Me" (#2 in 2000).

1998 - ClassicBands.com

September 21
Oz Bach, bassist for Spanky And Our Gang on their 1967 hit, "Sunday Will Never Be The Same", died of cancer at the age of 59.

2000 - ClassicBands.com

September 21
The Guess Who teamed up with Lenny Kravitz at the Much Music Video awards in Toronto to perform "American Woman". Kravitz had recorded the Randy Bachman / Burton Cummings tune for the soundtrack to Mike Myers' The Spy Who Shagged Me nearly thirty years after the original became The Guess Who's biggest hit.

2001 - ClassicBands.com

September 21
America: A Tribute to Heroes, a commercial-free, live TV program was broadcast on all of the major US TV networks to raise money following the September 11th terrorist attacks. The show featured performances by Bruce Springsteen ("My City in Ruins"), Tom Petty ("I Won't Back Down"), Paul Simon ("Bridge Over Troubled Water"), Billy Joel ("New York State of Mind"), U2 ("Walk On"), Celine Dion ("God Bless America") and Willie Nelson ("America The Beautiful"). Accepting pledges over the telephone were Robin Williams, Meg Ryan, Danny DeVito, Sally Field, Jack Nicholson, Goldie Hawn, Cuba Gooding Jr., Kurt Russell, Adam Sandler, Jim Carrey, Whoopi Goldberg and many more. The broadcast and soundtrack album helped raise over $128 million for the victims and their families.

2004 - ClassicBands.com

September 21
A passenger plane carrying Yusuf Islam, formerly Cat Stevens, to Washington, D.C. was diverted to Bangor, Maine so he could be escorted off the flight by FBI agents and sent back to Britain. In a statement released by his record label, Universal Music, the musician said: "I want to make sure that people are aware that I've never, ever, knowingly supported any terrorist groups past, present or future."

September 21
John Fogerty, the former leader of Creedence Clearwater Revival, released "Deja Vu (All Over Again)", his first new album in seven years. It will peak at #23 on the Billboard 200, and the title track reached #4 on the Billboard Adult Alternative chart.

2006 - ClassicBands.com

September 21
Boz Burrell, bass guitarist known for his involvement in King Crimson and Bad Company, died following a heart attack at the age of 60.

2011 - ClassicBands.com

September 21
A contract revealing that The Beatles refused to perform in front of a segregated audience at the Cow Palace in Daly City, California on August 31st, 1965, sold for $23,033 at an auction in Los Angeles. In addition to the desegregation clause, the contract guaranteed the band $40,000 and at least 150 police officers to provide security at the show.

2015 - ClassicBands.com

September 21
74-year-old Canadian Folk icon Buffy Saint-Marie picked up a Polaris Music Prize when her album "Power In The Blood" was named the best Canadian record of the past year by a panel of 11 music critics, bloggers and broadcasters. The award, which came with $50,000 in prize money, would join her impressive collection of two Juno Awards, an Academy Award, a Golden Globe and a Gemini Award.

September 21
Trumpeter Ben Cauley, a member of the Stax Records group The Bar-Kays and the only survivor of the 1967 plane crash that killed Otis Redding, passed away at the age of 67.

2020 - ClassicBands.com

September 21
Tommy DeVito, a founding member of The Four Seasons, died at the age of 92 from what was reported to be complications caused by COVID-19. The group enjoyed thirty-one Billboard Top 40 hits between 1962 and 1994, including five that reached #1.

2021 - ClassicBands.com

September 21
Marty Fried, drummer for The Cyrkle on their two, 1966 Billboard Top 40 hits, "Red Rubber Ball" (#2) and "Turn Down Day" (#16), died of pancreatic cancer at age 77. At the time of his death, he was a retired bankruptcy lawyer who practiced in Southfield, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit.



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