April 20: Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

On this date in History .... 1983:

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame was created, but remained a homeless organization, at least temporarily.  

Several cities were considered and Cleveland lobbied hard with signed petitions and $65 million pledged toward the building. Part of their argument for putting it in Cleveland is that Cleveland DJ Alan Freed is credited with the birth of rock and roll and with organizing the first rock and roll concert, the “Moondog Coronation Ball”, March 21, 1952, which was held in Cleveland.  (“Moondog” was Freed’s nickname.) 

Groundbreaking was held June 7, 1993 with Pete Townshend and Chuck Berry “doing the honors”.  The building is a 7-level pyramid design and includes costumes from famous artists plus a theater to show musical films. The inductee ceremony located is rotated among various cities, but every third year it is held in Cleveland. 

February 6: "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling"

On this date in History .... 1965:

 

The Righteous Brothers song "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" hits #1.

 

In 1999, it was ranked as the song having more radio and television play in the United States than any other song in the 20^th century.  It is one of the rare songs that has no instrumental intro but starts right in with the lyrics.

 

One of the background singers in the 1964 release was a young singer who would become a national icon by using only her first name:  Cher. 

 

The BBC put out a list in 2012 that placed this song in third place on the list of “most profitable” songs.  It was beat out by “Happy Birthday” (first place and now a public domain song) and “White Christmas” (2^nd place).

Click here to listen to the song!!

February 3: Buddy Holly Dies

On this date in History ..... 1959:

Rock stars Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson are killed when their chartered plane crashes in Iowa. Waylon Jennings, who was supposed to be on the plane, gave up his space to Richardson, who was ill. 

Pilot error (pilot was not qualified to fly by instruments) and bad weather were blamed for the accident. Holly and his band, the Crickets, had just scored a No. 1 hit with "That'll Be the Day."  

                                                                         Holly used a shorter spelling of his name (it was actually “Holley”) when it was recorded wrong in a contract and he just liked the shorter spelling better.  

He was a charter (first year) inductee into the newly formed Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986. 

Singer Don McLean memorialized Holly, Valens and Richardson in the 1972 No. 1 hit "American Pie," which refers to February 3, 1959 as "the day the music died." 

Click here to hear "American Pie" by Don McLean

.

January 3: Aretha Franklin

On this date in History .... 1987:

Aretha Franklin 1987 Album

Aretha Franklin becomes the 1^st woman admitted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Of the current 159 inductions in the Performer’s Category, only 10 are solo women performers and 13 are groups containing women.

Part of the reason is the criteria used to be inducted: The person/group must have released their 1^st album 25 years earlier.  In 1987, the board had to look in the early 60s when women were not prominent in the Rock-n-Roll genre.

Franklin moved to Detroit when she was two and as a teenager traveled with her minister father's traveling gospel shows.  She has won more Grammy Awards than any other female artist.

December 19: Carl Perkins....Blue Suede Shoes

On this date in History ... 1955:

Carl Perkins records “Blue Suede Shoes”, a song that is considered one of the first “rockabilly” songs that led to the birth of rock and roll. 

 

Johnny Cash first suggested Perkins write a song about blue suede shoes when Cash had an airman refer to the military shoes as blue suedes. Perkins told Cash he had no idea how to write a song about shoes! 

 

Perkins was playing at dance and overheard a young man tell his date, “Hey! Don’t step on my suedes!” Perkins noticed the man’s suede shoes were blue, but his thought was how the kid was dating “a pretty young thing like that and all he can think about is his blue suede shoes.” He went home and in two weeks had a song written and recorded. When writing the song, he spelled it “Blue Swade” and said, “I couldn’t even spell it right!” 

 

Perkins became the first country singer to hit the R&B charts with the song and earned Perkins a gold record. Elvis Presley's version reached #20 on the charts, not coming close to Perkin’s version which topped the charts.