Rock History August 22
1964, The Supremes started a two week run at number one on the US singles chart with “Where Did Our Love Go” the girl group’s first chart topper. Holland–Dozier–Holland had originally composed the song for The Marvelettes to record it who rejected the song, thinking it childish.
1965, The Beatles, on tour in North America, performed two shows at Memorial Coliseum, Portland, Oregon. Between performances, The Beatles were visited in their dressing-room by Carl Wilson and Mike Love of the Beach Boys.
1967, The Jimi Hendrix Experience appeared on the BBC TV Simon Dee show. Kiki Dee and Cat Stevens were also guests on the show
1968, The Who performed at Municipal Auditorium Music Hall, Kansas City, Missouri.
1968, Ringo Starr quit The Beatles during the White Album sessions when the constant bickering and tension became too much for him. The news of Ringo’s departure was kept secret, and he rejoined the sessions on September 3. After Ringo walked out, the remaining Beatles recorded “Back In the USSR,” with Paul on drums and John playing bass.
1968, The Grateful Dead appeared at the Fillmore West in San Francisco.
1969, During a North American tour Led Zeppelin played the first of two nights at Pirates World in Dania, Florida. Also on the bill were The Royal Ascots, Brimstone and The Echo.
1969, The Beatles met at John Lennon’s Tittenhurst Park home in England for their final ever photo session. Three shots from this session (by Ethan Russell) formed the front and back covers of the Capitol compilation album Hey Jude. Yoko Ono and a pregnant Linda McCartney (she was to give birth to daughter Mary six days later) appeared in some photographs with The Beatles.
1969, Blind Faith performed at Salt Palace in Salt Lake City, Utah during their one and only tour of North America. It was not until a 2008 that Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood would share the stage again.
1970, Creedence Clearwater Revival started a nine-week run at number one on the US album charts with their fifth studio album Cosmo’s Factory. The name of the album comes from the warehouse in Berkeley where the band rehearsed. Bandleader John Fogerty was so insistent on practicing (nearly every day) that drummer Doug “Cosmo” Clifford began referring to the place as “the factory.”
1970, Bread went to number one on the US singles chart with “Make It With You,” the group’s only char topping hit, which was a number five in the UK. Many artists have covered the song including The Supremes, Aretha Franklin, Earth, Wind & Fire, Dusty Springfield, Andy Williams, and Marc Cohn.
1970, The Moody Blues started a three-week run at UK on the album chart with A Question Of Balance. It charted as high as number three in the US.
1970, Derek and the Dominos appeared at the Van Dike in Plymouth, England.
1971, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, and Peter, Paul & Mary all appeared at the Odeon Theatre, Edinburgh, Scotland.
1972, Genesis appeared at the Teatro Alcione, Genoa, Italy.
1973, Hawkwind performed at Assembly Hall in Worthing, West Sussex, England.
1974, During the recording sessions for David Bowie’s Young Americans, the fans had keeping a vigil outside Philadelphia’s Sigma Sound Studios, and were invited into the studio at 5 am to hear a playback of the album so Bowie could see their reactions to the music.
1975, Black Sabbath appeared at the International Amphitheater, Chicago, Illinois.
1975, America performed at the Canadian National Exhibition Stadium in Toronto.
1976, Yes played at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum, Fort Wayne, Indiana.
1977, Donovan performed at Cobo Arena, Detroit, Michigan.
1978, Sex Pistol Sid Vicious made his last live stage appearance when he appeared with Rat Scabies from The Damned, former Sex Pistol Glen Matlock and Nancy Spungen at London’s Electric Ballroom. In the audience were Elvis Costello, Blondie, Joan Jett, The Slits and Captain Sensible.
1979, Led Zeppelin released In Through the Out Door, their last album of original material. “Fool in the Rain” was released as a single in the US.
1980, During a North American tour Queen appeared at The Spectrum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
1982, Blue Oyster Cult played at the Pacific Coliseum, Vancouver, British Columbia.
1984, Aerosmith appeared at Golden Hall, San Diego, California.
1992, Sting and Trudie Styler held their wedding reception, (the couple married on August 20, 1992.) After The Troggs had played a set, all three members of The Police got on stage and played a couple of numbers.
2004, Al Dvorin the announcer who popularized the phrase “Elvis has left the building” died in a car crash, on his way home from an Elvis convention in California. Dvorin aged 81, was in a car driven by Elvis photographer Ed Bonja. Dvorin was never paid for recordings of his words, and was bitter towards the multi-million dollar Elvis Presley Enterprises. In the early 1970s, Colonel Parker asked Dvorin to inform fans at a gig that Presley would not be appearing for an encore. He took the stage and announced: “Ladies and gentlemen, Elvis has left the building. Thank you and goodnight.”
2009, Soul singer Johnny Carter, who was a member of do-wop groups The Dells and The Flamingos, died aged 75. Carter, who was famed for his falsetto vocals, was one of the few artists to be inducted into the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with two acts.
2011, Nicholas Ashford, one half of Ashford and Simpson, died of complications from throat cancer in New York. With his wife Valerie Simpson, they had the 1979 US number 36 single “Found A Cure,” and 1985 UK number three single “Solid.” The pair wrote hits such as “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” “You’re All I Need To Get By,” “Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing,” and “Reach Out and Touch (Somebody’s Hand.)”
2011, Songwriter and producer Jerry Leiber died at his home in Los Angeles at the age of 78 from cardio-pulmonary failure. Along with Mike Stoller, he wrote many hits including “Hound Dog,” “Jailhouse Rock,” “King Creole,” “There Goes My Baby,” “Searchin,” “Yakety Yak,” “Stand By Me,” “Poison Ivy,” and “Kansas City.”
Born on this August 22: John Lee Hooker (1920); Fred Milano, Dion and the Belmonts (1939); Donna Godchaux, Grateful Dead (1947); Ian Mitchell, Bay City Rollers (1958); Vernon Reid, Living Colour (1958); Roland Orzabal, singer, songwriter, guitarist, Tears For Fears (1961); Layne Staley, Alice In Chains (1967);
Get more Today in Rock History
America, Black Sabbath, Blind Faith, Blue Oyster Cult, Bob Dylan, Creedence Clearwater Revival, David Bowie, Derek and the Dominoes, Donovan, Genesis, Hawkwind, Joan Baez, Led Zeppelin, Queen, The Beatles, The Moody Blues, Yes.
