May 25th, 1954 - The Starlite Wranglers, a country dance band which includes Scotty Moore on guitar and Bill Black on standup bass, record a single "My Kind of Carryin' On" for Sun Records. Scotty & Bill would go on to be in Elvis Presley's band also on Sun Records.
May 24th, 1955 - Chuck Berry is No. 2 on the R&B chart with the Chess Records single "Thirty Days."
May 23rd, 1963 – Roy Orbison performed at The Odeon Cinema, Nottingham, England. Also on the bill were The Beatles.
May 22nd, 1958 – Jerry Lee Lewis arrives in London's Heathrow Airport with his 14 year old bride Myra Lewis. He is cornered by the press and answers all their questions concerning his bride, who is his third cousin. The arrival was meant to kick off his British tour, but the news was so and shocking to the public that Jerry Lee was forced to cancel the tour.
May 21st, 1951 - Roy Brown hits #6 on the R&B chart with "Bar Room Blues". Brown had a significant influence on the early development of rock and roll. His original song "Good Rocking Tonight" was covered by Wynonie Harris, Elvis Presley, Ricky Nelson, Jerry Lee Lewis and James Brown.
May 20th 1961 - Cliff Richard made his TV debut on the UK TV show "Thank Your Lucky Stars". His song "Move It' which went to No. 2 on the UK Singles Chart was credited by John Lennon as being the first British rock record.
May 19th, 1957 - LaVern Baker hits number 7 on the R&B chart with the Atlantic single "Jim Dandy Got Married."
May 18th, 1978 - The Buddy Holly Story, the film biography starring Gary Busey in the title role, is released. Busey is nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for his performance. Twelve years later, the actor pays a quarter of a million dollars at auction for an acoustic guitar that belonged to Holly.
May 17th, 1963 – In England, Chuck Berry, Fats Domino and Little Richard appear on the same concert bill for the first time.
May 16th, 1950 - Ray Condo, Canadian rockabilly singer, is born. He released a total of seven albums from 1986 through 2000 with his two bands The Hardrock Goners and The Ricochets which played rockabilly, western swing, country, jazz and blues. He passed away at age 53 of a heart attack.
Ray Condo And His Ricochets singing "High and Wild" in Edmonton, Canada. April 2nd, 2000
May 15th, 2003 – June Carter Cash (singer, wife of Johnny Cash and member of The Carter Family), dies at Nashville’s Baptist Hospital of complications following heart surgery she underwent the previous week. She was 73 years old.
May 14th, 1993 - The acoustic guitar Elvis Presley used to make his first recordings in 1954, "That's All Right Mama" and "Blue Moon of Kentucky", sold for £130,285, ($152,000) at an auction at Christies of London.
May 13th, 1941 - Ritchie Valens (Richard Steven Valenzuela) is born in Pacoima, California. His biggest hit is "Donna" in 1959. The flip side is “La Bamba”, which Los Lobos cover, and hits #1 on the charts in 1987.
May 12th, 1960 - Johnny Cash is a guest and performs on NBC TV at The Ford Show hosted by Tennessee Ernie Ford.
May 11th, 1957 - The Everly Brothers make their debut at the “Grand Ole Opry” in Nashville, Tennessee.
May 10th 1935 - Larry Williams is born. R & B and rock and roll singer, songwriter, producer, and pianist from New Orleans, Louisiana. Best known for recording classics for Specialty Records, including Bony Moronie, Short Fat Fannie, High School Dance (1957), Slow Down, Dizzy Miss Lizzy (1958), Bad Boy and She Said Yeah (1959). The Beatles and several other British Invasion groups covered several of his songs.
May 9th, 1964 - Gene Vincent And The Shouts appear at The Rhodes Centre in Bishop's Gate, England. The poster for the show advertised that the first 50 girls would be admitted for free. The tickets at the time cost six shillings and six pence, that's $0.94 in US money.
Photo by Harry Hammond via www.eddie-cochran-info
May 8th, 1940 - Ricky Nelson (US singer/actor) is born. Some of his major hits include Poor Little Fool, Hello Mary Lou, Stood Up, It's Late plus over 30 US Top 40 hit singles. Before his music career started he played himself on his parent's TV show "The Adventures Of Ozzie and Harriet".
For more info on Ricky Nelson visit his official website: www.ricknelson.com