Rock and Roll June 6

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1960 – Roy Orbison scores it big on the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S. and on the U.K. charts with “Only the Lonely”. 1964 – The first American rock group to top the Billboard chart was The Dixie Cups when their single “Chapel of Love” rose to the number one spot. 1969 – Originally the lead singer of the Jeff Beck Group, Rod Stewart signed on with Mercury Records as a solo singer. 1982 – Among the performers at the We Have a Dream anti-nuclear concert at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California were Stevie Wonder, Jackson Browne, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Tom Petty, Linda Ronstadt, Dan Fogelberg and Crosby, Stills and Nash. 1987 – For the third time a song gets into the Top 10 and it is “You Keep Me Hangin’ On”. This time it rose up on the Billboard Pop chart sung by Kim Wilde. The first time was by the Supremes in 1966 and a remake by Vanilla Fudge in 1968. 2000 – Alice Cooper caused quite a ruckus when he recorded a song on his album “Brutal Planet” titled “Wicked Young Man”. The song described a teen with “a pocket full of bullets and a blueprint of the school” in reference to the shootings at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado on April 29, 1999. 2015 – Singer Ronnie Gilbert passed away at the age of 88. He was part of a folk quartet named The Weavers. The reason I mention him here is that this group was quite popular in the 1950s and sang the song “Kisses Sweeter Than Wine” which I particularly like. Take a listen to the song. http://www.classicbands.com/day/june%206.htm