| 76 | years ago | 1950 | Bernie Taupin, songwriter with Elton John, is born. |
| 71 | years ago | 1955 | Police in Bridgeport, Connecticut cancel a dance scheduled to be held at the Ritz ballroom and headlined by Fats Domino. Authorities say the cancellation is because they found “rock and roll dances might be featured” and justify their action by referring to “a recent near riot at the New Haven Arena,” where rock & roll dances were featured. |
| 68 | years ago | 1958 | Jerry Lee Lewis arrives at London's Heathrow Airport to begin his first British tour. Along with his new bride, 14-year-old third cousin Myra. Although advised not to mention it, Lewis answers all questions truthfully. The public's shock over Lewis' marriage marks the start of a controversy which eventually ruins his career. |
| 67 | years ago | 1959 | Singer Morrissey is born. |
| 65 | years ago | 1961 | Mother-in-Law, written and produced by New Orleans' Allen Toussaint and recorded by Ernie K-Doe, hits #1 on the national chart. Benny Spellman, whose own hit was Fortune Teller, sings the low “mother-in-law” line. |
| 60 | years ago | 1966 | 16-year-old Bruce Springsteen and his first band, the Castilles, record their first and only record, That's What You Get backed with Baby I. It will never be released. |
| 59 | years ago | 1967 | Dan Roberts of Crash Test Dummies is born. |
| 58 | years ago | 1968 | Cream earns its first gold record with its second album, Disraeli Gears, which includes such hard-rock standards-to-be as Sunshine of Your Love, Strange Brew, and Tales of Brave Ulysses. |
| 58 | years ago | 1968 | Texan R&B group Archie Bell and the Drells receive their only gold record with the mostly instrumental dance hit, Tighten Up. |
| 55 | years ago | 1971 | The Rolling Stones' 16th album, Sticky Fingers goes to #1. The album has Mick Taylor on guitar, replacing Brian Jones. |
| 52 | years ago | 1974 | The Stylistics have the biggest hit of their career with You Make Me Feel Brand New. The ballad hits #2 and the album goes gold. |
| 51 | years ago | 1975 | Pure Prairie League, Rufus, Earl Scruggs, and Joe Cocker entertain 17,000 troops and their families at the army base in Fort Campbell, Kentucky. The concert fails to break even at the box office and base officials cancel another show planned for June 14th, the 200th anniversary of the Army. |
| 47 | years ago | 1979 | Cheap Trick's Live at Budokan goes platinum. This for an album that wasn't supposed to be released. The group was looking at Dream Police to be its fourth LP, but an import did so well, Epic Records had no choice but to release it stateside. On this date Live at Budokan hits sales of one million. |
| 46 | years ago | 1980 | An unknown thief breaks into Electric Lady Studios in New York City, the recording studio built by Jimi Hendrix, and steals five Hendrix gold records. They are for the albums Are You Experienced?, Axis: Bold as Love, Cry of Love, Rainbow Bridge and Live at Monterey. |
| 45 | years ago | 1981 | Hall and Oates' Kiss on My List goes gold. The song makes it to #1, the first of three #1s the duo will amass in the next 12 months. |
| 44 | years ago | 1982 | The original cast album of the hit Broadway musical Dream Girls, an operatic account of the rise and fall of a Supremes-type female singing group, enters the pop LP chart. One tune for the show, And I'm Telling You I'm Not Going sung by Jennifer Holliday, will be a Grammy-winning Top Forty hit. |
| 31 | years ago | 1995 | A reunited Fleetwood Mac performs the first of two MTV Unplugged specials which are taped to be aired later in the summer. |
| 27 | years ago | 1999 | Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band sets a record for number of shows during one stay at a single arena when tickets for their reunion tour go on sale for their July shows at the Continental Airlines Arena in New Jersey. E Street announced only five shows, but ended up selling tickets to 15 when demand increased. Springsteen broke the previous record of 11 shows which he set at the same arena in 1992. |
| 20 | years ago | 2006 | Prince is voted “world’s sexiest vegetarian” in PETA’s annual online poll, sharing the animal rights group’s honor with actress Kristen Bell of the UPN network’s Veronica Mars TV show. |
| 11 | years ago | 2015 | Taylor Swift powers up her “1989” tour to stadium size at LSU Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge. Then the Bayou Country Superfest takes over the stadium for the rest of the weekend with concerts featuring Kenny Chesney, Blake Shelton, and Miranda Lambert, among others. Meanwhile, 80 miles away in New Orleans, Rush rocks the Smoothie King Center next to the Superdome. |