Today In Music History
Important events in music history for the month of July.
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| July 1, 1979 | The Sony Walkman debuts in Japan, making music portable. |
| July 2, 1966 | Frank Sinatra's "Strangers in the Night" goes to #1, giving Ol' Blue Eyes his first #1 pop hit since "Learnin' The Blues" in 1955. |
| July 2, 1981 | Bruce Springsteen plays the first of six sold-out shows at the new Byrne Arena in New Jersey. He performs an average of 28 songs. |
| July 3, 1971 | Jim Morrison of The Doors is found dead. While drugs are suspected, no autopsy is performed. The official cause of death is listed as "heart attack induced by respiratory problems." He was 27. |
| July 4, 1966 | The Lovin' Spoonful release "Summer In The City." |
| July 4, 1987 | John Fogerty headlines with Neil Diamond, Stevie Wonder and Kris Kristofferson for a Vietnam veterans' benefit concert in Landover, Maryland. |
| July 5, 1954 | Elvis Presley participates in his first professional recording session at Sun Records in Memphis, TN, producing his first single, "That's Alright Mama." |
| July 5, 2004 | Elvis Presley's first single, "That's Alright," is re-released In the UK On the 50th anniversary of the day he recorded the song. It goes to #3 on the charts. |
| July 6, 1968 | Jackie Wilson releases "Higher And Higher." |
| July 6, 1971 | Louis Armstrong dies of a heart attack in his sleep, one month shy of his 70th birthday. |
| July 7, 1969 | The Plastic Ono Band releases "Give Peace A Chance" in the US. Recorded during John Lennon and Yoko Ono's Montreal Bed-In, the song features Tom Smothers on guitar and a chorus of guests, including Timothy Leary and Petula Clark. |
| July 8, 1967 | In Jacksonville, Jimi Hendrix opens for The Monkees. Hendrix is famously not well-received, and plays seven more shows with the pop stars before leaving the tour. |
| July 9, 2009 | In an article published in The Guardian, "Hallelujah" writer Leonard Cohen admits the song is overplayed. "I think it's a good song, but I think too many people sing it." |
| July 10, 1936 | Billie Holiday records the classic song "Summertime." Holiday's version becomes the new standard to which all subsequent and previous versions are compared. |
| July 11, 1968 | David Bowie's "Space Oddity" single is rush-released to beat the moon landing, which happens nine days later. |
| July 11, 1970 | The soundtrack to the film Woodstock hits #1 in America, helping recoup massive losses from the festival. |
| July 12, 1965 | The Beach Boys release "California Girls." |
| July 12, 1969 | Pop-rock duo Zager and Evans' "In The Year 2525" hits #1 in the US, holding the top spot for six weeks. The group would never have another hit. |
| July 13, 1985 | The Beach Boys, The Four Tops, Paul McCartney, Tina Turner, Elton John, David Bowie, The Who, Queen, Eric Clapton and Bob Dylan all perform at Live Aid in Philadelphia and London to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia. |
| July 14, 1967 | The Who set out on their first large-scale American tour, playing the first of 55 dates with fellow countrymen Herman's Hermits. |
| July 15, 1946 | Linda Ronstadt is born in Tucson, Arizona. Her music career starts as lead singer of the folk trio the Stone Poneys. |
| July 16, 1967 | Arlo Guthrie debuts "Alice's Restaurant Massacree" at the 1967 Newport Folk Festival. |
| July 17, 1961 | The first Newport Jazz Festival is held at the Newport Casino, in Newport, RI. Festival organizer George Wein creates the blueprint for all major music festivals that followed. |
| July 17, 1975 | Bob Marley and the Wailers play a historic concert at London's Lyceum Theater that features the acclaimed Legend version of "No Woman No Cry." |
| July 18, 1939 | Dion DiMucci, better known as Dion, is born in The Bronx, New York. |
| July 18, 1953 | Elvis Presley stops into Memphis Recording Service, and records "My Happiness" and "That's When Your Heartaches Begin." He pays $3.98 for the service, hoping to give the record to his mother for Mother’s Day |
| July 19, 1966 | Johnny Rivers records "Poor Side Of Town." |
| July 19, 1975 | On the Natty Dread tour, Bob Marley & the Wailers play the Lyceum Theatre in London, producing the live single "No Woman, No Cry." |
| July 20, 1963 | Jan and Dean hit #1 on the US singles chart with "Surf City", written by Brian Wilson and featuring The Beach Boys on backing vocals. |
| July 20, 1968 | Hugh Masekela's trumpet composition "Grazing In The Grass" hits #1 in America, knocking off trumpet player Herb Alpert's "This Guy's In Love With You." |
| July 21, 1971 | Carole King's "It's Too Late" hits #1 in America. |
| July 21, 1990 | More than 350,000 people attend Roger Waters' performance of The Wall to commemorate the fall of the Berlin Wall eight months earlier. Van Morrison, Bryan Adams, Joni Mitchell, The Scorpions, Cyndi Lauper, Sinead O’Connor take part. |
| July 22, 1967 | The Vanilla Fudge's rock cover of "You Keep Me Hangin' On" peaks at #67 in America as the band plays their first concert in support of The Byrds at the Village Theater in NYC. |
| July 22, 1996 | Donovan has to cancel a North American tour when he is denied entry to the US because of a 1966 marijuana possession conviction. |
| July 23, 1969 | Three Dog Night's self-titled album (AKA One) is certified gold. |
| July 24, 1965 | The Beach Boys record the song "California Girls" from their album Summer Days (and Summer Nights!!). The song was conceived by Brian Wilson while the songwriter came down from his first acid trip. |
| July 24, 1993 | UB40 started a seven week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with "Can't Help Falling In Love," a song Elvis Presley recorded in 1961 and Corey Hart hit the top 30 with in 1987. |
| July 25, 1965 | Dylan plugs in! At the Newport Folk Festival, Bob Dylan plays an electric set for the first time, horrifying folkies everywhere. |
| July 25, 1972 | The musical A Chorus Line debuts on Broadway, the first of 6,137 performances in a 15-year run. |
| July 26, 1987 | As the Cold War winds down, American Billy Joel plays a concert in Leningrad; the performance would have been impossible just a few years earlier. |
| July 26, 2000 | The file-sharing service Napster is ordered by a US federal judge to cease trading copyrighted music files in the next 48 hours. |
| July 27, 1940 | Billboard issues its first chart detailing what records are selling the most copies. "I'll Never Smile Again" by Tommy Dorsey (featuring Frank Sinatra on vocals) is #1 and three songs by Glenn Miller land in the Top 10. |
| July 28, 1973 | The Grateful Dead, The Allman Brothers Band and The Band play to a crowd of $600,000 at The "Summer Jam" concert at Watkins Glen racetrack in NY. Tickets are $10, though many reportedly sneak in for free. |
| July 28, 1992 | Mary J. Blige releases her debut album, What's The 411?, produced by Sean "Puffy" Combs. It lands the top spot on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Chart as well as #6 on the Billboard 200. |
| July 29, 1966 | A US magazine targeted to teenagers called Datebook causes an uproar when they reprint some of John Lennon's interview from four months earlier in the London Evening Standard where Lennon said, "We're more popular than Jesus now." |
| July 29, 1978 | The soundtrack to the film Grease hits #1 in the US, thanks to the hits "You're the One That I Want" and "Summer Nights." |
| July 30, 1966 | The Beatles' "Yesterday" and "Today" albums hit #1 in America. |
| July 30, 1969 | The Beatles assemble the first rough cut of the proposed Abbey Road medley. |
| July 31, 1995 | Jamaica issues a commemorative series of postage stamps honoring local reggae legend Bob Marley. |