Category: On This Day…

December 13, 1956 – In a year when he had eleven US Top 40 hits, Elvis Presley endures a rare miss when a song called “Paralyzed” peaks at #78 during a one week stay. In the UK however, the record would reach #8 in August, 1957. #ROCkabillyHop @ElvisPresley #Elvis #theKing #Paralyzed
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December 12, 1957 – Jerry Lee Lewis marries his second cousin, Myra Gale Brown, in Hernando, Mississippi. She’s the daughter of J.W. Brown, his bass player and cousin. Myra is 13 years old, though she claims in the marriage license to be 20. @jerryleelewis #ROCkabillyHop #JerryLeeLewis
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December 12, 1955 – Bill Haley and His Comets record “See You Later Alligator.” It would become Haley’s third and final million-selling single, although it did not hit the top of the American charts. #ROCkabillyHop @billhaleymusic #BillHaley #SeeYouLaterAlligator
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December 11, 1961 – Elvis Presley started a 20-week run at No.1 on the US album chart with ‘Blue Hawaii’, his seventh US No.1 album. It is the soundtrack to the film of the same name starring Presley. In the United States, the album spent 20 weeks at the number one slot and 39 weeks in the Top 10 on Billboard’s Top Pop LPs chart. #ROCkabillyHop #Elvis @ElvisPresley #BlueHawaii
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December 11, 1958 – In a letter to his parents, Buddy Holly relates: “I’ve been writing a few songs. Some of them are fairly good. The best one to date is a ‘top secret’ one titled ‘Peggy Sue Got Married.’ Please don’t mention it to anyone either. I want it to be a complete surprise.” Source: The Buddy Holly Center, 1801 Crickets Ave., Lubbock. @buddyholly @BuddyHollyCtr #ROCkabillyHop #buddyholly #TheCrickets #PeggySueGotMarried
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December 10, 1991 – Alan Freed, the disc jockey who coined the phrase “rock and roll,” is posthumously awarded a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame. #ROCkabillyHop #AlanFreed #RockAndRoll
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December 10, 1949 – Fats Domino recorded his first tracks for Imperial Records at J&M Studio in New Orleans, “Detroit City Blues,” backed with “The Fat Man.” The B-side becomes the hit, the first of many for Domino. “The Fat Man” later became his nickname. #ROCkabillyHop #TheFatMan @RealFatsDomino #fatsdomino
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December 9, 1955 – Elvis Presley performs at the B&I Club in Swifton, Arkansas, and introduces his new song, “Heartbreak Hotel,” by claiming “It’s gonna be my first hit.” The single topped Billboard’s Top 100 chart for seven weeks, Cashbox’s pop singles chart for six weeks, and the Country and Western chart for seventeen weeks as well as reaching No. 3 on the R&B chart, becoming Presley’s first million-seller, and one of the best-selling singles of 1956. #ROCkabillyHop @ElvisPresley #Elvis #theKing #heartbreakhotel
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December 8, 1958 – “The Chipmunk Song” by David Seville And The Chipmunks entered the Billboard Top 40 chart on its way to a four week stint at #1, selling 4.5 million copies in seven weeks. The record would go on to win three Grammy Awards: Best Comedy Performance, Best Children’s Recording and Best Engineered Record (non-classical.) #ROCkabillyHop #ChipmunkSong #Chipmunks #DavidSeville
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December 7, 1956 – Rock! Rock! Rock!, one of the earliest Rock and Roll movies, opens in theaters. The film features the popular disc jockey Alan Freed along with Chuck Berry, Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers and LaVern Baker. #ROCkabillyHop @ChuckBerry #AlanFreed
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