Random selection from around 1,200 Facts
Click to filter results
Open Up Your Heart [And Let The Sun Shine In] by Stuart Hamblen and The Cowboy Church Sunday School enters the Billboard Top 40 Singles Chart in the USA, where it will peak at No8.
Elvis Presley tops the bill at the Grand Prize Saturday Night Jamboree in Eagles Hall, Houston, Texas, USA.Brian Thomas Ray is born in California, USA. He will find success as session musician, guitarist, bassist, singer-songwriter and musical director, Brian Ray, best known for his work as guitarist and bassist with Paul McCartney, although he will work with many others and pursue his own solo career.
The Browns record Cool Green and Do Memories Haunt Me at Western Recorders, 6000 Sunset Boulevard, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA.
Bill Haley And His Comets record Birth Of The Boogie and Mambo Rock for Decca Records in The Pythian Temple studio, 135 West 70th Street, New York City, USA.
Vocalist Helen Carr records the LP ...Down In The Depths On The 90th Floor [named after the Cole Porter song of that title], for Bethlehem Records in Los Angeles, California, USA.
Faron Young records Live Fast Love Hard Die Young for Capitol Records in Castle Studio, Tulane Hotel, Nashville, Tennessee, USA.
Muddy Waters records Young Fashioned Ways, I Want To Be Loved and My Eyes, for Chess Records, in Chicago, Illinois, USA.
A sixty-day long package tour,The Top 10 R'n'B Show, featuring The Clovers, Faye Adams, The Charms, Joe Turner, The Moonglows, Lowell Fulson, The Paul Williams Orchestra, The Bill Doggett Trio, and The Spence Twins, plays in Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Doo-wop quartet The Penguins' only hit single, Earth Angel, on DooTone Records, peaks at No8 in the Billboard US Top 40 singles.
In WBML Studio, Macon, Georgia, USA, Little Richard records a demo tape of the songs He's My Star and Wonderin'.
Elvis Presley plays in Watson Chapel High School, Pine Bluff, Mississippi, supporting The Duke Of Paducah and Mother Maybelle & The Carter Sisters, as part of the WSM Grand Ole Opry Show.
Johnnie Ray records Flip, Flop And Fly for Columbia Records in Hollywood, California, USA.
R'n'B star LaVern Baker appeals to the United States Congress for legislation to prevent note for note copying of original singles by other acts. Black artists in particular, such as Fats Domino, Little Richard and LaVern Baker herself, suffered from the success of insipid white cover versions of their R'n'B hits.
The Gil Melle Quintet record Life Begins At Midnight, Night Train To Wildwood and other tracks for Blue Note Records at Van Gelder Studios, Hackensack, New Jersey, USA.
Jazz saxophone giant Charlie `Bird` Parker dies of drug-related problems in Baroness
Nica De Koenigswarter's New York City apartment.
Teddy Foster And His Orchestra play at The Festival Hall, Kirkby In Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, England, UK, Europe.Hollywood musical star Vera-Ellen provides the first night entertainment with a show billed as The Magic Carpet Review, when The Dunes Hotel opens in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.
Jimmy Witherspoon records I Don't Know Why (Why Do I Love You Like I Do), Crying and It Ain't No Secret for Chess Records, in Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Little Willie John has his first recording session for King Records in New York City. He records a version of Titus Turner's newly released All Around the World (Grits Ain't Groceries), with a backing group that includes Champion Jack Dupree.
Little Walter records Crazy For My Baby for Chess Records subsidiary label Checker, in Chicago, Illinois, USA.
B.B. King with "his sensational ten-piece band" plays at the Pleasure Pier, Galveston, Texas, USA.
Ella Fitzgerald records A Satisfied Mind for Decca Records in New York City, USA.
R'n'b singer/guitarist Lowell Fulson records Trouble Trouble, It's A Long Time and Rollin' Blues, in Los Angeles, California, for Chess Records.
International famed samba singer and movie star Carmen Miranda, noted for her exotic outfits and exuberant personalty, dies aged 46, following a heart attack, in Beverly Hills, California, USA.
An advance team from Twentieth Century Fox arrives in Boothbay
Harbor, Maine, USA, to begin pre-production work on the movie
version of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Carousel.
A Federal District Court judge refuses to order the US State Department to issue a passport to singer Paul Robeson, but implies that one could be issued if Robeson denounces the Communist party. Robeson refuses, and tells reporters, "Of course I won't sign it. I consider it an invasion of every constitutional liberty I have."The Jay McShann Orchestra records Hands Off, with Priscilla Bowman on vocals, for Vee Jay Records in Chicago, Illinois.
Chuck Berry plays the fifth night of a week-long engagement at The Paramount Theater, Brooklyn, New York City, USA, as part of deejay/promoter Alan Freed's First Anniversary Rock'n'Roll Show.
Blues/be-bop vocalist Babs Gonzales records House Rent Party in New York City, USA, with Champion Jack Dupree on piano.
Tropical cyclone Hurricane Janet attains Category 3 status as it passes Barbados. It will go on
to kill 500 people
across the Caribbean. Calypso artist Lord Melody will be inspired by this disaster to write his song Hurricane
Janet, which will also be recorded by Lord
Christo.
Cool Water by Frankie Laine reaches No1 in the pop singles chart compiled by UK pop paper Record Mirror.
Miles Davis has his first recording session for Columbia Records - while he is still under contract to Prestige Records.
The Clifford Brown /
Max Roach Quintet plays at the Bee Hive, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Bo Diddley records Diddy Wah Diddey, Dancing Girl and I'm Looking For A Woman, for Chess Records, in Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Sam Phillips, owner of Sun Records, Memphis, Tennessee, USA, sells Elvis Presley's recording contract to a partnership consisting of 'Colonel' Tom Parker plus Hill and Range Song Publishers.
Twenty Tiny Fingers reaches No1 in the Sheet Music Sales Chart in the UK. The position is achieved by amalgamating sales of two versions of the song, one by The Stargazers and one by Alma Cogan.
The Best-Selling record of 1955 according to the year-end poll in Cashbox Magazine in the USA is Rock Around The Clock by Bill Haley And The Comets.
Jan |