Category: On This Day…

April 24, 1961 – “Runaway” by Del Shannon hit #1 in the US and made itself at home there for 4 weeks. #ROCkabillyHop #RocHop @dickclarkprod #DickClark #AmericanBandstand #DelShannon #Runaway
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April 24, 1959 – Buddy Holly’s “It Doesn’t Matter Anymore” (written by Paul Anka) goes to #1 for three weeks in the UK nearly three months after his death. It’s his only UK #1 and the first posthumous #1 hit in UK chart history. In the US it would reach #13 and was Holly’s last US top 20 hit. @buddyholly @BuddyHollyCtr #ROCkabillyHop #buddyholly #TheCrickets #ItDoesntMatterAnymore #PaulAnka
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April 23, 1960 – Paul Anka headlines “The Dick Clark Show” performing “I Miss You So.” Also appearing are Billy Bland, and Billy and Lilly. #ROCkabillyHop #RocHop #IMissYouSo #PaulAnka #TheDickClarkShow @dickclarkprod #DickClark
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April 23, 1956 – Capitol records auditions for “the next Elvis Presley.” Out of more than 200 auditions, they signed 21-year-old Gene Vincent from Norfolk, Virginia. #ROCkabillyHop #RocHop @CLaceVIncent #GeneVincent #TheNextElvis
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April 23, 1956 – Elvis, with Scotty Moore and Bill Black, begins a disastrous concert stint at the Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas at the insistence of Colonel Tom Parker. The audience, miles removed from Elvis’s teen fanbase, is completely indifferent to him, and his contract is soon torn up. However, while there, Presley witnesses a band called Freddie Bell and the Bellboys doing a wild rave-up version of Big Mama Thorton’s blues hit “Hound Dog.” He soon works it into the live act. #ROCkabillyHop @ElvisPresley #Elvis #theKing #HoundDog #FreddieBell
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April 21, 1956 – “Heartbreak Hotel” by Elvis Presley booked a room at #1 for eight weeks. The song spent a total of twenty-seven weeks in the top 100, also topping the Cashbox and the Country and Western charts. #ROCkabillyHop @ElvisPresley #Elvis #theKing #HeartbreakHotel
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April 20, 1934 – Ray Campi was born “Raymond Charles Campi” in New York City. An American rock and roll musician, sometimes called “The King of Rockabilly,” he first recorded in the mid-1950s. Campi’s trademark is his white double bass, which he often jumps on top of and “rides” while playing. #ROCkabillyHop #RayCampi #KingOfRockabilly #HappyBirthday #RocHop
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April 19, 1958 – Carl Perkins appears on ABC-TVs “The Dick Clark Show.” Also appearing on the show; are The Aquatones, The Four Aces, David Seville, and Pat Shannon. #ROCkabillyHop #RocHop #CarlPerkins @dickclarkprod #DickClark
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April 17, 1970 – While performing at the White House at the invitation of President Richard Nixon, Johnny Cash was asked to perform “Okie From Muskogee”. Cash declined because it was not his song, but had been a hit for Merle Haggard. Instead, Cash sang his #1 hit, “A Boy Named Sue.” #ROCkabillyHop @JohnnyCash #ManInBlack #ABoyNamedSue #RocHop #JohnnyCash
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April 16, 1958 – Dion and the Belmonts perform “I Wonder Why” on “American Bandstand.” “I Wonder Why” was released as Laurie Records’ first single, and was the group’s first national pop chart hit, in 1958. The song topped out at #22 on the Hot 100. #ROCkabillyHop #RocHop @dickclarkprod #DickClark #AmericanBandstand #DionAndTheBelmonts #IWonderWhy @OfficialDion
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