Week in Music History

English composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor was born.

French composer Jacques Ibert was born.

Leon Theremin, inventor of the theremin, one of the first electronic musical instruments, was born in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Composer and lyricist Ned Washington was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania. He wrote lyrics for the songs “Wild Is The Wind” and “Theme From The Unforgiven”.

Composer and arranger Hugo Winterhalter was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.

Jazz pianist and composer Oscar Peterson was born in Montreal, Canada. He later became a seven-time Grammy Award winner.

R&B singer and saxophonist Jackie Brenston was born in Clarksdale, Mississippi. He sang lead vocals on Ike Turner's song “Rocket 88”.

R&B and pop singer Gil Hamilton, known as Johnny Thunder, was born in Leesburg, Florida.

Country singer and guitarist Bobby Helms was born in Bloomington, Indiana. He achieved two No. 1 hits on the country chart but became best known for the Christmas hit “Jingle Bell Rock”.

The musical film The Wizard of Oz premiered at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood after several changes of directors, scripts and cast. The film helped make Judy Garland's song “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” famous.

American country musician Don Rich was born, a member of Buck Owens' backing group The Buckaroos.

British rock drummer Pete York, a founding member of The Spencer Davis Group, was born.

American composer, singer and lyricist Jimmy Webb was born.

Founder and frontman of The Doobie Brothers Tom Johnston was born.

American singer and songwriter Billy Griffin, who later became the lead singer of The Miracles, was born.

American drummer Tommy Aldridge was born, known among other things for his work with Whitesnake, the Ozzy Osbourne Band and Thin Lizzy.

Jazz and soul singer Bobby Caldwell was born.

At a meeting in Memphis with manager Bob Neal, Colonel Tom Parker and his father Vernon Presley, he signed a new contract that appointed Parker as a “special adviser” with control over virtually every aspect of Elvis's career. On the same day, Mitch Miller of RCA Victor rejected a proposal to offer $20,000 to acquire Elvis, saying that no singer was worth that amount.

Colonel Tom Parker became Elvis's “special adviser” and effectively took over his management duties from Bob Neal.

At the age of 21, Buddy Holly married Maria Elena Santiago in a private ceremony at his parents' home in Lubbock, Texas.

At his mother Gladys Presley's funeral at Graceland, Elvis was so devastated that friends had to hold him up to keep him on his feet. More than 500 police officers supervised the funeral because of the huge crowd of fans. Fans sent more than 100,000 letters and postcards, approximately 500 telegrams and more than 200 floral arrangements.

The father of Elvis's longtime friend and Memphis Mafia member Red West died.

“The song “There Goes My Baby” performed by The Drifters with Ben E. King reached No. 1 on the Cashbox chart and No. 2 on Billboard. The recording was among the first to combine orchestral strings with a Black vocal group and later ranked No. 196 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest songs.

Cobo Arena, with a capacity of 12,000, opened in Detroit. It later became a major venue for concerts and live album recordings, hosting artists including Kiss, J. Geils Band and Bob Seger.

With the song “It's Now or Never”, he began a five-week run at No. 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and also reached No. 1 in the UK. The song was based on the Italian song “O Sole Mio” and was his first postwar number-one hit. More than 20 million copies were sold worldwide.

The founder and only permanent member of the post-punk band The The, Matt Johnson, was born.

Lennon and McCartney traveled from Liverpool to Skegness to offer Ringo Starr a place in The Beatles. Starr accepted the offer and agreed to a salary of £25 per week.

Dean Martin's “Everybody Loves Somebody” knocked The Beatles' “A Hard Day's Night” from the No. 1 spot on the US Billboard Hot 100. It became his biggest hit and reached No. 11 in the UK. The song dated back to 1949 and had been unsuccessfully recorded by several other artists before Martin.

Following the success of The Beatles film A Hard Day's Night, The Dave Clark Five signed a film deal with Warner Bros. for the project Catch Us If You Can, which was released in the US under the title Having A Wild Weekend and premiered in the UK in July 1965.

Elvis, Vernon Presley and Colonel Tom Parker visited the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor. Elvis also held a benefit concert to raise funds for the memorial.

They opened their third North American tour with a concert at Shea Stadium in New York before 55,600 fans, setting a world record at the time for attendance at a pop concert. The concert grossed $304,000, of which the group received $160,000. The bill also included Brenda Holloway, The King Curtis Band, The Young Rascals and Sounds Incorporated.

During their US tour, they performed at D.C. Stadium in Washington before more than 32,000 fans. Five members of the Ku Klux Klan, led by the Imperial Wizard of Maryland, protested against the concert.

On the day Woodstock began, he sailed on the Queen Elizabeth 2 to the Isle of Wight. He decided to skip Woodstock and performed at the Isle of Wight Festival two weeks later.

She was originally booked to perform at Woodstock but had to cancel her appearance because of a television engagement. She later wrote the song “Woodstock”.

During their North American tour, they performed at HemisFair Arena in San Antonio. Jethro Tull and Sweet Smoke were also on the bill, but only Led Zeppelin faced negative reactions from locals because of their long hair.

Their debut album Three Dog Night received a gold record for sales of one million copies. After modest success with “Nobody” and “Try a Little Tenderness”, the label released the single “One”, which reached No. 5. Later editions of the album emphasized this hit in the title, and the album was certified platinum in 2008.

The Woodstock Music and Art Fair began on Max Yasgur's 600-acre farm in Bethel, New York. Estimates of total attendance vary among sources, while contemporary figures put the number at approximately 450,000 people. The three-day festival featured 24 acts, including Jimi Hendrix, Joe Cocker, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Santana, The Who, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, The Band, Canned Heat, Joan Baez, Sly and the Family Stone and Jefferson Airplane. Three people died during the festival, two children were born, and miscarriages were reported. The festival became one of the most significant events in the history of rock music and a symbol of the 1960s counterculture.