Month: January 2023

January 7, 1956 – Columbia Pictures began production on “Rock Around the Clock” featuring the song of the same name by Bill Haley and His Comets. Alan Freed is also featured and serves as a technical consultant. It was also announced that Freed had made a deal with Columbia Records and WINS to take packaged rock and roll shows cross country to appear in local movie theaters. #OTD #RockNRoll #ROCkabillyHop @billhaleymusic #BillHaley RocHop
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January 7, 1955 – “Rock Around the Clock” by Bill Haley and his Comets, entered the UK chart for the first time. The original full title of the song was “We’re Gonna Rock Around the Clock Tonight!” and it is often cited as the biggest-selling vinyl rock and roll single of all time with sales of over 25 million. #ROCkabillyHop @billhaleymusic #BillHaley #RockAroundTheClock #OTD #RockNRoll #RocHop
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January 7, 1950 – Gene Autry’s “Rudolph, The Red-nosed Reindeer” was the top song on Santa’s playlist and the charts. #ROCkabillyHop #GeneAutry #RudolphTheRedNosedReindeer #OTD #RockNRoll #RocHop
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January 6, 1958 – “Great Balls of Fire” by Jerry Lee Lewis hits #2, where it stays for four weeks before dropping down. It is held out of the top spot all four weeks by “At The Hop” by Danny & the Juniors. @JerryLeeLewis #ROCkabillyHop #GreatBallsOfFire #OTD #RockNRoll #RocHop
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January 6, 1958 – “At The Hop” by Danny and the Juniors hits #1 for the first of seven weeks. The song was released in the fall of 1957 and would become one of the top-selling singles of 1958. #ROCkabillyHop #AtTheHop #DannyAndTheJuniors #OTD #RockNRoll #RocHop
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January 6, 1957 – Elvis Presley makes his third and final appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show.” Careful camera work ensures that “Elvis the Pelvis” is only seen from the waist up! #ROCkabillyHop @ElvisPresley #Elvis @EdSullivanShow #theKing #TCB #OTD #RockNRoll #RocHop
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January 6, 1929 – Wilbert Harrison was born “Wilbert Huntington Harrison” in Charlotte, North Carolina. Harrison is known for the 1959 US #1 single “Kansas City” which was released on Fury Records while he was under contract to Savoy Records. Litigation kept him from releasing any follow-up songs while “Kansas City” was still hot. It would be ten years before he scored another hit with “Let’s Work Together” which would also be a hit for Canned Heat and for Bryan Ferry. #OTD #RockNRoll #ROCkabillyHop #HappyBirthday #WilbertHarrison #KansasCity
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January 5, 1958 – Bo Diddley receives his custom-built, square guitar from the Gretsch Guitar Co. He designed the guitar and Gretsch built it to his specifications. #OTD #RockNRoll #ROCkabillyHop #RocHop @BoDiddley #BoDiddley
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January 5, 1923 – Record producer Sam Phillips, founder of Sun Records (which launched careers for Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Johnny Cash), is born in Florence, Alabama. @sunrecords #ROCkabillyHop #HappyBirthday #OTD #RockNRoll #RocHop
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January 4, 1963 – Johnny Thunder sings “Loop De Loop” on “American Bandstand.” #OTD #RockNRoll #ROCkabillyHop #RocHop @DickClarkProd #DickClark #AmericanBandstand #JohnnyThunder #LoopDeLoop
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