August 15th, 1958 - 21-year-old Buddy Holly was married to 25-year-old Maria Elena Santiago who he had met just two months earlier. The wedding took place at his parents home in Lubbock, Texas, only a few days after his song "Think It Over" entered the US Top 40 chart.
July 4th, 1958 - An Everly Brothers' concert at Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park, California is the last one they would perform for nearly 10 years. Entertainment director Bill Hollingshead stops the show because he felt Don was giving a poor performance. Phil smashed his guitar and walked off the stage, leaving Don to perform the third set by himself. The brothers announced their break-up on the spot and they would not sing together again until September of 1983.
July 4th, 1958 - Buddy Holly And The Crickets head out on a Summer Dance Party Tour in Angola, Indiana. They hit the road with Holly behind the wheel of his brand new Lincoln Continental.
April 7th, 1957 - CBS Radio debuts the first regularly scheduled, nationally broadcast "Rock And Roll Show, Rock 'N' Roll Dance Party", with Alan Freed as the host.
March 10th, 1997 - LaVern Baker, singer of rockabilly record hop favorite "Voodoo Voodoo," dies of heart failure at the age of 67. She placed 7 songs in the US Top 40 in the mid-1950s and early 1960s, including "Tweedlee Dee", "Jim Dandy" and "I Cried A Tear".
March 1st, 1955 - Sam Phillips launches Sun Records by releasing the song "Drivin' Slow" by 16-year-old saxophonist Johnny London.
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January 31st, 1957: Decca Records announced that Bill Haley And His Comets' "Rock Around The Clock" had sold over 1 million copies in the United Kingdom, mostly on 10 inch 78's.
January 19th, 1998: Carl Perkins, singer/guitar player/songwriter/rockabilly pioneer, dies at age 65 from throat cancer. He wrote "Blue Suede Shoes" in 1955, the first record on the Sun Records label to sell a million copies.
January 13th, 1968: Johnny Cash played a show for his forthcoming live album at Folsom Prison, near Sacramento, California in front of 2,000 inmates. The lead single, "Folsom Prison Blues" (an update of his 1956 hit) became one of the most famous recordings of his career.
January 3rd, 1955 - Elvis Presley appears in Boonesville, Virginia. The then 20 year-old singer was still a regional star, but by the end of 1956 he beacme a national sensation, recorded two albums, (which included Heartbrak Hotel and Blue Suede Shoes), appeared on national television 11 times, played over 100 concerts and had signed a seven year contract with Paramount Pictures.
September 19th, 2006: On this date in 2006, the governor of Tennessee declares it to be Carl Perkins Day in honor of its native son. Carl was born in Tiptonville, Tennessee.
August 29th, 1998 - Rockabilly pioneer Charlie Feathers passes away due to complications from a stroke induced coma. His theatrical, hiccup, energetic, rockabilly vocal style inspired a later generation of rock singers such as Lux Interior of The Cramps.
Charlie Feathers at Sun circa 1956, Photo courtesy J.Huffman/Escott and Good Rockin' Tonight
August 6th, 1956 - The Alan Freed movie Rock! Rock! Rock! starts filming, starring Tuesday Weld (her singing vocals dubbed by Connie Francis). it features performances by Chuck Berry, Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers, The Moonglows, The Flamingos and LaVern Baker.
July 15th, 1986 - After twenty eight years and nine Top 40 hits, Columbia Records announces that Johnny Cash will be dropped from their label. He would go on to sign with Polygram Records the next year.
June 24th, 1998 - Johnny Cash performs for the first time since has was stricken with Shy-Drager Syndrome the previous October. Johnny joined a surprised Kris Kristofferson, who was singing Cash’s “Sunday Morning Coming Down” at The Ryman Auditorium in Nashville.
June 20th, 1983 - Legendary guitar player Duane Eddy performs in San Francisco, kicking off his first tour in the US in fifteen years.
June 17th, 1955 - "Colonel" Tom Parker arranges a meeting with Elvis Presley's manager, Bob Neal, which results in an agreement that will have the Colonel handle Presley's shows and career strategy going forward.
June 14th, 1958 - "Johnny B. Goode," written by Chuck Berry about pianist/friend Johnnie Johnson, makes the Top 10 in the USA.
June 13, 1989 - Jerry Lee Lewis gets a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The star is located at 6631 Hollywood Blvd.
June 11th, 1955 – Fats Domino's song "Ain't That A Shame" hits number 1 on the U.S. R&B singles chart for 11 straight weeks in 1955. It would be forever identified as a classic rock ’n’ roll song.