1964, The Beatles set a new chart record when they had 14 songs on the Billboard Hot 100. The songs ranged from “Can’t Buy Me Love” at number one to “Love Me Do” at number 81.
1965, Performing at the New Musical Express poll winners concert, at London’s Wembley Empire Pool, England, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Tom Jones, Freddie and the Dreamers, The Animals, The Kinks, Herman’s Hermits, Moody Blues, Them, Cilla Black, The Seekers and Donovan.
1966, Buffalo Springfield made their live debut at The Troubadour in Hollywood, California. The folk rock band are renowned both for their music and as a springboard for the careers of Neil Young, Stephen Stills, Richie Furay and Jim Messina. Buffalo Springfield were among the first wave of North American bands to become popular in the wake of the British invasion.
1967, During a 18-date European tour The Rolling Stones played two shows at the Olympia Theatre in Paris, France
1968, Janis Joplin and Big Brother & the Holding Company perform on ABC’s Hollywood Palace.
1970, Peter Green quit Fleetwood Mac while on tour in Germany, to avoid breach of contract he agreed to finish the current tour.
1970, The Beatles started a two week run at No.1 on the singles chart with ‘Let It Be’. It became the group’s 19th No.1 in 6 years.
1973, The Beach Boys appeared at the Omni Coliseum in Atlanta, Georgia. The Beach Boys were at a very low ebb in popularity in America and this show proved a financial disaster for the promoter, with less than 3,000 tickets sold for the 16,000 capacity venue. Opening act was Mothers Finest and middle of the bill was Bruce Springsteen who played a 60-minute set.
1974, David Bowie Arrives in New York on the SS France. Checks into the Sherry Netherlands Hotel on 5th Avenue. During his stay in New York Bowie spent time putting together a new tour band and seeing live music, particularly black artists such as The Temptations, The Spinners and Marvin Gaye at venues in Harlem such as the Apollo Theatre.
1976, During a tour of Australia, Queen appeared at the Entertainments Centre in Perth.
1977, Alice Cooper played to an audience of 40,000 in Sydney, Australia, the largest crowd to attend a rock concert in the country’s history. After the show Cooper was placed under house arrest at his hotel until he posted a bond for $59,632. That amount was the sum that a promoter claimed to have paid Cooper for a 1975 Australia tour he never made. The two settled when it was found that the promoter did not fulfill his part of the agreement either.
1981, Eddie Van Halen married actress Valerie Bertinelli, co-star of the 1980’s television hit, One Day at a Time. The two had met eight months earlier when Bertinelli’s brother took her to a Van Halen concert in Shreveport, Louisiana.
1992, Def Leppard scored their second UK chart topping album with Adrenalize, the follow-up to the multi million selling Hysteria album.
1994, Oasis released their first single “Supersonic,” which peaked at number 31 on the UK charts. However, over time it has amassed sales of over 215,000, making it their 13th biggest selling single ever in the UK. “Supersonic” was also the band’s first single to chart in the United States, where it peaked at number eleven on the US Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart.
2006, June Pointer, the youngest of the four Pointer Sisters who went from teenage Gospel singers to the top of the Pop charts with such hits as “Fire,” “Slow Hand,” and “I’m So Excited,” died of cancer at the age of 52.
2014, Nirvana were enshrined to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, alongside the likes of KISS and Beatles manager Brian Epstein. REM’s Michael Stipe inducted the group, saying, “Nirvana tapped into a voice that was yearning to be heard. Nirvana were kicking against the mainstream. They spoke truth and a lot of people listened.”
Born on April 11: Neville Staples, The Specials (1956); Stuart Adamson, Big Country (1958); Nigel Pulsford, Bush (1965); Joss Stone, singer (1987)
