March 1st
Sun Records
is launched
July 18th
A shy 18 year old Elvis Presley drops in at the Memphis Recording Service and pays $3.98 to make a private
January 4th
Elvis returns to the Memphis Recording Service to make a second private recording.
July 12th
Elvis signs a recording contract with Sun and quits his day job.
December 17th
Bill Haley’s ‘Shake, Rattle And Roll’ becomes the first rock ‘n’ roll record to chart in the UK and peaks at number 4.
July 5th
Bill Haley’s ‘Rock Around The Clock’ reaches number 1 in the USA, and the goes on to top the UK chart in November.
November 21st
Elvis is taken under the wing of his ambitious new manager Col. Tom Parker, who works out a deal with RCA Records.
Throughout 1956
Rock ‘n’ Roll mania, led by Elvis and Bill Haley, takes off and a new era dawns for music.
March 3rd
In his first showing on the Top 100 singles chart, Elvis’ ‘Heartbreak Hotel’ debuts at number 68.
March 24th
Elvis starts his service with the U.S army.
September 23rd
Buddy Holly gains international attention when ‘That’ll Be The Day’ jumps to number 1.
June 10th
After basic training, while on his first leave, Elvis has a recording session, his last until 1960.
February 3rd
Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper are killed in a plane crash.
June
On a two week leave, Elvis visits Munich, then goes clubbing in Paris which includes a visit to the Lido. Colonel Parker has continued to keep Elvis’s career alive with promotions and hit record releases that Elvis recorded prior to departing
January 20th
Elvis is promoted to Sergeant.
March
Elvis leaves West Germany on March 1st, arriving in New Jersey the next day for a press conference, and is officially discharged from active duty on March 5th.
May 8th
ABC in the USA airs Frank Sinatra’s ‘Welcome Home Elvis’ edition of his variety show, which attracts a 41.5% share of the national television audience. Elvis sets a new television record by being paid $125,000 for his brief appearance in the show.
April 5th
Bob Dylan
(aged 19) performs his first paid gig in
New York
City.
October
In Mexico, riot behaviour in a cinema showing ‘GI Blues’ prompts the Mexican government to ban Elvis movies. Torn seats, broken windows, and other damage is reported.
December
Priscilla Beaulieu had flown from West Germany to visit Elvis in Los Angeles in the summer for their first time to see each other after his army discharge. In December her parents allow her to spend the Christmas holidays with him at Grace Land in Memphis. She returns to her family briefly, then moves to Grace Land in early 1963, finishing her senior year of high school in Memphis. She turns 18 on May 24th 1963. It will be nearly four years before she comes Mrs Elvis Presley.
1963
Philips introduces the compact audio cassette, a new tape recording format.
29th September
The Rolling Stones begin their first British tour – a 32 date package supporting the Everly Brothers and Bo Diddley.
February 9th
The Beatles start the British Invasion in the USA when they appear on The Ed Sullivan Show.
December 11th
Soul singer Sam Cooke is shot and killed under mysterious circumstances.
By the end of the year
The Beatles have 19 hits in the USA in 1964 alone, accounting for 60% of all record sales in the USA from January to March.
July 25th
Bob Dylan turns electric when he performs three songs with a backing band at the Newport Folk Festival. After a lot of booing he returns to play two folk songs on an acoustic guitar.
August 27th
The Beatles visit with Elvis for several hours at his home in California and have an informal jam session.
September 13th
What would become the most covered pop song of all time is released as a US single by The Beatles, eighteen months after it was first conceived. ‘Yesterday’ wasn’t a UK single until 1976.
May 16th
The Beach Boys release the album ‘Pet Sounds’
December
Elvis formally proposes marriage to Priscilla
May
On May 1st, Elvis and Priscilla are married in a private ceremony amongst a small group of family and friends at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas just after 9.30am. A press conference and breakfast reception follow. The couple honeymoon for a few days in Palm Springs.
June 1st
The Beatles release ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’, which ushers in the summer of love.
February 1st
Priscilla gives birth to Lisa Marie Presley nine months to the day after her marriage to Elvis.
August 15th
The original Woodstock Festival is held.
March
Simon & Garfunkel split up.
December 12th
The Doors perform in Dallas in a show that will prove to be the last time they play together live.
July 3rd
Jim Morrison dies in Paris
October 30th
The album ‘Imagine’ by John Lennon tops both the US and UK charts in the same week.
January 15th
Don McLean’s ‘American Pie’ hits Number 1.
March 23rd
Pink Floyd release ‘Dark Side Of The Moon’.
July 1st
The Broadway production of the musical ‘Hair’ closes after 1,752 performances.
1975
The Beatles & Co. partnership is officially dissolved at a private hearing in the London High Court.
Throughout the year
Elvis tours on one of his most heavy concert schedules ever
May 25th
Mike Oldfield’s ‘Tubualr Bells’ is released on Richard Branson’s newly launched Virgin label.
February
Elvis has a week of recording sessions in the den at Grace Land, with RCA bringing in mobile recording equipment.
August 16th
Elvis passes away at his Memphis home, Graceland.
April 1st
Apple Computer Company is formed by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak.
July 2nd
The first Walkman (the TPS-L2) is made available by Sony.
December 8th
Millions mourn as the news breaks across the world that John Lennon is murdered on the steps of the Dakota.
August 1st
MTV launches its music video channel.
August 9th
The first British nudist beach is established in Brighton, Sussex.
1983
CDs, a new format developed jointly by Philips and Sony, begin appearing on the shelves.
September 26th
Grandmaster Flash’s "Adventures on the Wheels of Steel" is the first recording to use scratching.
July 13th
Live Aid is held in London and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to help starving Africans.
March 25th
Michael Jackson performs the moonwalk for the first time during his performance of Billie Jean on the Motown 25 TV special
May 16th
U2 make number one with ‘With Or Without You’.
April 23rd
New Coke is launched to mark the 99th Anniversary of Coca-Cola but devastating public reaction saw ‘Classic Coke’ returning to the shelves less than 3 months later.
January 20th
Terry Waite, the special envoy of the Archbishop of Canterbury in Lebanon, in kidnapped in Beirut and remains captive until 1991.
July 13th
Bryan Adams sets a UK record when ‘(Everything I Do) I Do It For You’ begins a 16 week hold on the number 1 spot.
By the end of the year
CDs outsell cassettes
January 25th
The Berlin Wall comes down.
February 2nd
In South Africa President F. W. de Klerk allows the African National Congress to legally function again and promises to set Nelson Mandela free.
Described by Queen Elizabeth II as an Annus Horribillis due to the numerous scandals that dogged the Royal family.
April 8th
Kurt Cobain, lead singer with Nirvana, commits suicide at his home in Seattle, Washington.
September 22nd
Elton John’s musical tribute to Princess Diana, ‘Candle In The Wind 1997’ is released. It takes only 37 days to sell almost 32 million copies making it the best selling single of all time.
May 14th
The Dali Lama proclaims 6 year old old Gedhun Choekyi Nyima as the eleventh reincarnation of the Panchem Lama.
July 5th
Dolly the sheep, the first mammal to be successfully cloned from an adult cell, is born.
September 21st
David Bowie’s newest album ‘Hours’ becomes the first by a major artist to be made available by Internet download
May 1st
The Labour party ends 18 years of Conservative rule in the winning the UK General Election.
Throughout
Music file sharing is very popular at sites like MP3.com and through the use of Napster software, before lawsuits bring the free services to a halt.
February 23rd
Carlos Santana makes it into the record books when he collects 8 Grammy Awards in recognition of his popular ‘Supernatural’ album and it’s singles.
3rd January 2005
In celebration of the 70th anniversary of Elvis Presley's birth, January 8th 2005, RCA/Sony BMG embark on the most ambitious single release campaign in the history of the UK record industry. All of the Kings 18 UK #1 singles are re-released over 17 consecutive weeks beginning On January 3rd '05 and ending on April 25th '05. Each classic single is released on limited edition numbered CD and 10" format, which are beautifully packaged using original artwork. Never before has an artists contribution to popular music been celebrated in such a groundbreaking way but as we know... there has never been an artist like Elvis Presley.
June 16th
Elvis reclaims the record in the U.K. for the most number 1 singles, with 18, when a remix of ‘A Little Less Conversation’ hits the top spot.
Late April
Elvis begins filming and recording for his first port-army movie, his fifth film ‘GI Blues’