1953 : No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit: St. George and the Dragonet by Stan Freberg.

1955 : The Four Aces’ “Love Is A Many-Splendored Thing” hits #1

1957 : Recorded on this day, Jerry Lee Lewis – “Great Balls Of Fire”

1962 : Little Richard, who gave up show business to preach in 1957, returns to rock with a UK tour that also includes Sam Cooke and Billy Preston.

1963 : No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit: Sugar Shack by Jimmy Gilmer & the Fireballs.

1964 : Roy Orbison was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Oh Pretty Woman’, his third UK No.1. The title was inspired by Orbison’s wife Claudette interrupting a conversation to announce she was going out; when Orbison asked if she was okay for cash, his co-writer Bill Dees interjected “A pretty woman never needs any money.”

1964 : Working at Abbey Road studios in London, The Beatles recorded their next single ‘She’s a Woman’ in seven takes plus overdubs, recording the song from start to finish in five hours.

1965 : During a UK The Rolling Stones appeared at The ABC, Stockton on Tees. Also on the bill, Spencer Davis Group, Unit Four + 2, The Checkmates, The End, and Charles Dickens and The Habits.

1965 : The Florescents supported by The Castiles, which featured a young singer called Bruce Springsteen appeared at the I.B. Club in Howell, New Jersey. This was The Castiles first publicly advertised nightclub appearance. Admission was $1.00

1966 : Cream drummer Ginger Baker collapsed during a gig at Sussex University, England after playing a 20 minute drum solo. He later recovered in a local hospital.

1967 : Jimi Hendrix, Arthur Brown and John’s Children all appeared at the Saville Theatre in London, England.

1968 : Mama Cass Elliot makes her solo debut at Caesars’ Palace in Las Vegas, but her planned 6-week run ends after one night when she collapses with a throat hemorrhage and is forced to undergo surgery.

1968 : Recorded on this day, The Beatles – “I’m So Tired” & “The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill”

1971 : Led Zeppelin II was enjoying its 100th week on the UK album charts. It was the band’s first album to hit No.1 in the US, knocking The Beatles’ Abbey Road twice from the top spot, where it remained for seven weeks. When first released the album had advance orders of 400,000 copies in the USA, (the advertising campaign was built around the slogan Led Zeppelin II Now Flying). In 1999, it was certified 12 times Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for US sales in excess of 12 million copies.

1975 : No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit: Bad Blood by Neil Sedaka.

1977 : The Paul Simon Special airs on NBC-TV (Art Garfunkel guests, singing “Old Friends” with Paul.

1977 : Billy Joel’s LP The Stranger enters the charts

1977 : One half of TV cop show “Starsky & Hutch” (he was blonde Hutch), David Soul was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Silver Lady’, his second and last UK No.1 single.

1980 : During his performance at Pittsburgh’s Stanley Theater, Bob Marley collapses on stage and is rushed to New York’s Sloan-Kettering Hospital for treatment, then flown to Ethiopia for rest. It was to be his last stage performance before losing his battle with cancer in 1981.

1987 : The three members from ZZ Top made advance bookings for seats on the first passenger flight to the Moon. The boys are still waiting for confirmation of the trip.

1987 : Chuck Berry was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. His film biography, Hail, Hail Rock & Roll also premiered on the same night.

1988 : On their 12th single release, U2 scored their first UK No.1 with ‘Desire.’ The track which was also a US No.3 hit was taken from their album ‘Rattle And Hum.’

1988 : Pink Floyd’s ‘Dark Side Of The Moon’ finally left Billboard’s Hot 200 Album Chart after a record breaking 741 weeks.

1988 : Keith Richards plays his first solo single, “Take It So Hard,” on Saturday Night Live.

1989 : After Rolling Stones Ron Wood suggested The Who were reforming for the money alone, Who guitarist Pete Townshend publicly answered: “Mick needs a lot more than I do. His last album was a flop,” referring to The Rolling Stones’ legendary miscue Dirty Work.

1990 : Eddie Vedder flies from his home in San Diego to Seattle, where he meets his Pearl Jam bandmates for the first time and starts a week of recording that becomes the bulk of their debut album Ten. Vedder was chosen based on vocals he added to a 3-song instrumental demo the band made.

1992 : The US Postal Service issued a set of commemorative stamps to celebrate pop music legends. The stamps included Elvis Presley, Bill Haley, Buddy Holly, Otis Redding, Ritchie Valens, Clyde McPhatter and Dinah Washington.

1996 : Bonnie Raitt and Jackson Browne play a benefit show for environmental groups at the Britt Pavilion in Jacksonville, Oregon. They are greeted by the roar of chainsaws wielded by loggers upset at their efforts to stifle their livelihood.

1998 : Bruce Springsteen gives evidence in London’s High Court in his case against Masquerade Music over that company’s attempt to release some of his early ’70s recordings in the U.K. The artist says that he was living hand-to-mouth at the time the songs in question were written, relying on handouts from Mike Appel, his co-manager at the time.

2000 : Radiohead started a two-week run at No.1 on the UK album chart their fourth studio album ‘Kid A’. The album became the first Radiohead release to debut at No.1 in the US.

2003 : Coldplay singer Chris Martin asked Australian police to drop a charge of malicious damage after allegedly attacking a photographer’s car. Martin was charged in July after breaking a windscreen with a rock after being photographed surfing. Martin did not appear in court at Byron Bay, New South Wales, when his lawyer, Megan Cusack, asked for the charge to be dropped.

2004 : Ray Charles, who died in June, scores his first Platinum album when Genius Loves Company, released in September, sells over a million copies.

2012 : Green Day is forced to cancel their appearance at the New Orleans’ Voodoo Music Festival, citing Billie Joe Armstrong’s problems with substance abuse and rehab. Armstrong had previously had an onstage outburst mid-show in Las Vegas in September of 2012, which began the band’s decision to get treatment for Billie.