Monday 6pm: Max 20th Century Part I

January 4 – Fender Musical Instruments Corporation is sold to CBS for $13 million.
January 12 – Hullabaloo premieres on NBC. The first show included performances by The New Christy Minstrels, comedian Woody Allen, actress Joey Heatherton and a segment from London in which Brian Epstein introduces The Zombies and Gerry & the Pacemakers.
January 17 – The Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts’ book Ode to a High Flying Bird, a tribute to jazz great Charlie Parker, is published.
January 21
The Animals’ show at New York’s Apollo Theater is canceled after the U.S. Immigration Department forces the group to leave the theater.
The Rolling Stones and Roy Orbison travel to Sydney to begin their Australian tour.
January 23 – “Downtown” hits #1 in the US singles chart, making Petula Clark the first British female vocalist to reach the coveted position since the arrival of The Beatles.
January 24 – The Animals appear a second time on The Ed Sullivan Show.
January 27 – Paul Simon broadcasts on BBC’Five to Ten show, discussing and playing 13 songs, 12 of which would appear on his May-recorded and August-released UK-only solo album, The Paul Simon Song Book.
February 6 – Donovan performs the first of three performances on the British television program Ready, Steady, Go! This presents him to a widespread audience for the first time.
February 12 – NME reports the Beatles will star in a film adaptation of Richard Condon’s novel A Talent for Loving. The story is about a 2,253-kilometer (1,400 mi) horse race that takes place in the old west. The film is never made.
February 24 – The Beatles begin filming their second film, Help!
March 6 – The Temptations’ “My Girl”, written by Smokey Robinson and Ronald White, from Motown Records, reaches number 1.
March 18 – The Rolling Stones members Mick Jagger, Brian Jones, and Bill Wyman are fined five pounds for urinating on the wall of a London petrol station. The band had asked to use the restroom, but it was out of order.
March 20 – The 10th Eurovision Song Contest in Naples, Italy, is won by 17-year-old France Gall, representing Luxembourg, with the Serge Gainsbourg-composed “Poupée de cire, poupée de son”.
March 21 – The Supremes have their fourth number-one single, “Stop! In The Name Of Love”, written by H-D-H.
April 11 – The New Musical Express poll winners’ concert takes place featuring performances by The Beatles, The Animals, The Rolling Stones, Freddie and the Dreamers, the Kinks, the Searchers, Herman’s Hermits, The Anita Kerr Singers, The Moody Blues, Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders, Donovan, Them, Cilla Black, Dusty Springfield and Tom Jones.
April 21 – The Beach Boys appear on Shindig! performing their most recent hit, “Do You Wanna Dance?”
April 26 – Leopold Stokowski conducts the first complete performance of Charles Ives’ Symphony No. 4, more than ten years after the composer’s death.
May 5 – Alan Price leaves The Animals, to be replaced temporarily by Mick Gallagher and permanently by Dave Rowberry.
May 6 – Keith Richards and Mick Jagger begin work on “Satisfaction” in their Clearwater, Florida, hotel room. Richards came up with the classic guitar riff while playing around with his brand new Gibson “Fuzz box”.
May 8 – The British Commonwealth comes closer than it ever had, or would, to a clean sweep of the US Hot 100’s top 10, lacking only a hit at number 2 instead of “Count Me In” by the American group Gary Lewis & The Playboys.
May 9 – Bob Dylan performs the first of two concerts at London’s Royal Albert Hall, concluding his tour of Europe. Audience members include The Beatles, and Donovan.
May 30 – The Animals appear a third time on The Ed Sullivan Show.
June
Producer Tom Wilson, (Simon & Garfunkel) records a heavy backing band onto the song “The Sound of Silence”, without the knowledge of Paul Simon, for release on a 45 rpm single, and the B-side, “We’ve Got A Groovey Thing Goin'”. The single will eventually reach number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on New Year’s Day 1966.
The US music press popularize the term “folk rock”, which has been in print at least since the November 2, 1963, issue of Billboard magazine, in which “Devil’s Waitin'” by the Glencoves was said to have a “wide open folk-rock sound.” The term was also used of “Twins” by Kingtones (March 7, 1964), the Men (July 25, 1964), and even of Hoyt Axton. People outside the trade began to take notice of the term in June, 1965.
June 6 – The Supremes have their fifth consecutive number-one single, “Back in My Arms Again, written by H-D-H, from Motown Records.
July 5 – Maria Callas gives her last operatic performance, as Tosca at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.
July 9 – The release of the Tamil musical film Aayirathil Oruvan marks the end of the composing partnership between T. K. Ramamoorthy and M. S. Viswanathan.
July 25 – Bob Dylan plays the Newport Folk Festival, is booed for playing electric set with The Paul Butterfield Blues Band. Joan Baez and Donovan also play sets.
August 6
The Small Faces release “Whatcha Gonna Do About It”, their first single.
The Beatles release the soundtrack to their second movie Help!
August 14 – The husband-and-wife American pop duo Sonny & Cher earned their first number one hit I Got You Babe. It peaked at that position in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and New Zealand.
August 15 – The Beatles play at Shea Stadium, the first rock concert to be held in a venue of that size. The concert also set new world records for attendance (55,600+) and for revenue.
August 27 – The Beatles visit Elvis Presley at his home in Bel-Air. It is the only time the band and the singer meet.
September 30 – Donovan appears on Shindig! in the U.S. and plays Buffy Sainte-Marie’s “Universal Soldier”.
October 15 – Guitarist Jimi Hendrix signs a three-year recording contract with Ed Chaplin, receiving $1 and 1% royalty on records with Curtis Knight. The agreement will later cause continuous litigation problems with Hendrix and other record labels.
October 17 – The Animals appear a fourth time on The Ed Sullivan Show.
October 26 – The Beatles are appointed Members of the British Empire (MBE) by the Queen. Since it was unusual for popular musicians to be appointed as MBEs, a number of previous recipients complained and protested.[1]
November 5 – The Who release their iconic single “My Generation” in the UK. This song contains the famous line: “I hope I die before I get old”
November 14 – The Supremes have their sixth number-one record, “I Hear A Symphony”, for Motown Records.
November 26 – Arlo Guthrie is arrested in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, for the crime of littering, perpetrated the day before (Thanksgiving) in the nearby town of Stockbridge. The resultant events and adventure would be immortalized in the song “Alice’s Restaurant”.
December 3
The Beatles release their album Rubber Soul, along with the double A-sided single “Day Tripper / We Can Work It Out”. George Harrison’s performance on the sitar on the track “Norwegian Wood” leads to his becoming a pupil of Ravi Shankar.
The Who release their debut album My Generation.
Toho College of Music is established in Kawagoe, Saitama, Japan.
Michael Tippett is invited as guest composer to the music festival in Aspen, Colorado. The visit leads to major changes in his style.
Event Dates Unknown

Monday 6pm: Max 20th Century – 1964 (Part I)

January 1 – Top of the Pops is broadcast for the first time, on BBC television in the U.K.
January 3 – Footage of the Beatles performing a concert in Bournemouth, England is shown on The Jack Paar Show.
January 13 – Bob Dylan’s The Times They Are a-Changin’ is released on Columbia Records.
January 15 – Vee Jay Records files a lawsuit against Capitol Records and Swan Records over manufacturing and distribution rights to Beatles albums. On April 9, Capitol Records is granted an injunction restraining Vee Jay Records from further manufacturing, distributing or advertising recordings by the Beatles.
January 18 – The Beatles appear on the Billboard magazine charts for the first time.

The Beatles arrive in the U.S. to great acclaim
January 25 – The late John F. Kennedy becomes the first President credited with a Top 10 album after Dickie Goodman released John F. Kennedy: The Presidential Years 1960–1963. The following week a second album, credited to the late President, would also hit the Top 10 giving Kennedy two posthumous albums simultaneously in the Top 10.
February 1 – Indiana Governor Matthew E. Welsh declares the song “Louie Louie” by The Kingsmen pornographic. He requests that the Indiana Broadcasters Association ban the record. Governor Welsh claimed that hearing the song made his “ears tingle.” Publisher Max Firetag offers $1,000 to anyone that can find anything “suggestive” in the song’s lyrics.
February 7 – The Beatles arrive in the United States and are greeted by thousands of screaming fans at New York’s Kennedy Airport.
February 9 – The Beatles perform on The Ed Sullivan Show, which breaks television ratings records.
February 12 – Anna Moffo collapses onstage at Covent Garden in the first act of Rigoletto, and her part is taken over, after a delay of 45 minutes, by Welsh soprano Elizabeth Vaughan.
February 16 – The Beatles appear on The Ed Sullivan Show.
February 22 – Plácido Domingo makes his international breakthrough at the première of Ginastera’s Don Rodrigo in New York City.
February 23 – The Beatles appear on The Ed Sullivan Show.
March 1 – Capitol Records is bombarded with requests for heavyweight boxing champion Cassius Clay’s album, I Am the Greatest, following Clay’s defeat of Sonny Liston on February 25 and his announcement two days later that he had converted to Islam. (On March 6 would come the announcement that he would adopt the name Muhammad Ali.)
American premiere of Karlheinz Stockhausen’s Momente, by Martina Arroyo (soprano), the Crane Collegiate Singers of SUNY Potsdam (Brock McElheran, chorus master), and members of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra (Lukas Foss, music director), conducted by the composer, in Kleinhans Music Hall in Buffalo, New York.
March 6 – Elvis Presley’s 14th motion picture, Kissin’ Cousins is released to theaters.
March 14 – Billboard Magazine reports that sales of Beatles records make up 60% of the entire singles market.
March 16 – Disc jockey Alan Freed is charged with tax evasion.
March 21 – Italy wins the 9th Eurovision Song Contest, held in the Tivoli Concert Hall, Copenhagen, with the song “Non ho l’età”, sung by 16-year-old Gigliola Cinquetti.
March 24 – John Lennon’s first book, In His Own Write is published.
March 27 – The Beatles occupy the top six spots on the Australian pop chart.
March 28 – Wax likenesses of The Beatles are put on display in London’s Madame Tussauds Wax Museum. The Beatles are the first pop stars to be displayed at the museum.
April – Drummer Keith Moon joins The Who.
April 4 – The Beatles occupy all five top positions on Billboard’s Hot 100 with their singles “Can’t Buy Me Love”, “Twist and Shout”, “She Loves You”, “I Want to Hold Your Hand”, and “Please Please Me”.
April 11 – The Beatles hold 14 positions on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Previously, the highest number of concurrent singles by one artist on the Hot 100 was nine by Elvis Presley, December 19, 1956.
April 16 – The Rolling Stones release their eponymous début album.
May 2 – In the United States, The Beatles’ Second Album climbs to the #1 spot on the LP charts in only its second week of release.
May 20 – Judy Garland makes headlines after a disastrous concert in Melbourne, Australia
June – During a performance at the Railway, Pete Townshend of The Who accidentally breaks the head of his guitar on the low ceiling above the stage. This incident marks the start of auto-destructive art by destroying guitars and drums on stage.
June 5 – The Rolling Stones start their first U.S. tour.
July 3 – With their new manager Peter Meaden, The Who release their first single “Zoot Suit”/”I’m the Face” under the name The High Numbers in an attempt to appeal to a mod audience. It fails to reach the top 50 and the band reverts to calling themselves The Who.
July 6 – The Beatles’ first film, A Hard Day’s Night, is released.
July 10 – The album of A Hard Day’s Night is released in the U.K. All tracks are written by Lennon and McCartney.
More than 300 people are injured in Liverpool when a crowd of some 150,000 people welcome The Beatles back to their home city.
August 2 – The wreckage of the plane piloted by Jim Reeves is found near Brentwood, Tennessee, 42 hours after it crashed. There are no survivors.
August 8 – Bob Dylan releases his fourth album, Another Side of Bob Dylan.
August 17 – Indiana University Opera Theater presents Turandot at the NY World’s Fair featuring newly retired Metropolitan Opera soprano Margaret Harshaw, a member of the voice faculty, in the title role.
August 22 – The Supremes reach #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart with the first of five successive number one hits, “Where Did Our Love Go”.
August 26 – The Kinks release their iconic single “You Really Got Me”.
September 8 – The American premiere of Karlheinz Stockhausen’s Originale at Judson Hall in New York City is picketed by a group calling themselves Action Against Cultural Imperialism.
September 16 – Shindig! premieres on ABC.
September 22 – Fiddler on the Roof opens on Broadway.
October – Dr. Robert Moog demonstrates his prototype synthesizers.
October 19 – Simon & Garfunkel release Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M., which is initially a total flop upon first release. After release of their second album, Sounds of Silence, in 1966, it hits #30 on the Billboard charts.
October 24 – The Rolling Stones start their second US tour.
October 25 – The Rolling Stones perform on The Ed Sullivan Show for the first time.
October 29 – The T.A.M.I. Show is filmed.
October 31 – The Supremes reach #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart with the second of five successive number one hits, “Baby Love”.
November – A deal with U.K. impresario W. H. Miller lands the Anita Kerr Quartette on Capitol Records for North America.
December 11 – Sam Cooke is killed under mysterious circumstances in Los Angeles, California. Shortly thereafter, “A Change Is Gonna Come”, a song considered by many to be his best, is released.
December 19 – The Supremes reach #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart with the third of five successive number one hits, “Come See About Me”.
December 24 – The Beatles gain the Christmas number one in the United Kingdom for the second year running with I Feel Fine, which has topped the singles charts for the third week running. The Beatles have now had six number ones in the U.K. alone.
date unknown
Simon & Garfunkel make their first recording for Columbia Records.
Dalida is the first star to receive a Platinum Disc in Europe.
11-year-old Keith Green becomes the youngest person ever to sign a contract with the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) after publishing, recording and releasing the song “The Way I Used to Be”.
Marianne Faithfull’s musical career begins.
Sonny and Cher begin performing together as “Caesar and Cleo”.
The National Institute of Kathak Dance is established in New Delhi.
The China Conservatory of Music is established in Beijing. 

• Wikpedia

Tuesday 6pm: Max 20th Century (Part II) – 1963

January 3 – The Beatles begin their first tour of 1963 with a five-day tour in Scotland to support the release of their new single, “Love Me Do”, beginning with a performance in Elgin.
January 4 – At Cortina d’Ampezzo in Italy, Dalida receives a Juke Box Global Oscar for the year’s most-played artist on jukeboxes.
January 7 – Gary U.S. Bonds files a $100,000 lawsuit against Chubby Checker, claiming that Checker stole “Quarter to Three” and turned it into “Dancin’ Party.” The lawsuit is later settled out of court.
January 11 – “Please Please Me” is released in the United Kingdom by the Beatles, with “Ask Me Why” as the B-side.
January 12 – Bob Dylan portrays a folk singer in The Madhouse of Castle Street, a radio play for the BBC in London.
February 16
The Beatles achieve their first No. 1 hit single, when “Please Please Me” tops the charts in the UK.
Paul Anka marries Marie-Ann DeZogheb.
February 22 – The Beatles form Northern Songs Publishing Company.
March 5 – 1963 Camden PA-24 crash: Patsy Cline is killed in small plane crash near Camden, Tennessee, while on her way to Nashville, Tennessee, from Kansas City, Missouri, at the height of her career, together with Cowboy Copas and Hawkshaw Hawkins.
March 22 – The Beatles release their first album, Please Please Me, in the UK.
March 23 – The 8th Eurovision Song Contest is held in two studios at the BBC Television Centre, London. After much confusion regarding the results of the Norwegian jury, Denmark snatches victory from Switzerland after a close run. The Danish husband-and-wife duo Grethe and Jørgen Ingmann take the prize with “Dansevise”.
April 29 – 19-year-old Andrew Loog Oldham signs a contract with the Rolling Stones, becoming their manager. Oldham had seen the band in concert the previous day at the Crawdaddy Club in London.
May 2 – The Beatles reach number one in the UK singles chart for the second time with “From Me To You”.
May 11 – The Beatles album Please Please Me goes to the top of the UK Albums Chart.
May 15 – Opening of the National Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet of Mongolia.
May 27 – The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, singer-songwriter Bob Dylan’s second and most influential studio album, is released by Columbia Records. The lead song, “Blowin’ in the Wind”, is released as a single by Peter, Paul and Mary in June and by Dylan himself in August.
June 7 – The Rolling Stones’ first single, a cover version of the Chuck Berry song “Come On”, is released in the UK and reaches No. 21.
August 3 – The Beatles perform at The Cavern Club in Liverpool for the final time.
August 28 – March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Musical performers include Mahalia Jackson, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Peter, Paul and Mary and Marian Anderson.
September 6 – Nippon Crown record label is established as Crown Records, a subsidiary of Columbia Music Entertainment.
September 12 – The Beatles reach the UK number one for the third time with the single “She Loves You” (released on 23 August).
October 15
British newspaper The Daily Mirror uses the term “Beatlemania” in a news story about the group’s concert the previous day in Cheltenham; a Scottish music promoter later claims to have originated the term a week earlier.
Berliner Philharmonie concert hall opens.
November 30 – After an unbroken 30-week spell at the top of the UK Albums Chart, The Beatles album Please Please Me is knocked off the top of the charts by the group’s latest album With the Beatles (released on 22 November).
December 12 – The Beatles reach number one in the UK for the fourth time with “I Want To Hold Your Hand” (released on 29 November).
date unknown

Monday 7pm: Max 20th Century – 1961 (Part I)

January 15 – Motown Records signs The Supremes.
January 20 – Francis Poulenc’s Gloria receives its premiėre in Boston, USA.
February 12 – The Miracles’ “Shop Around” becomes Motown’s first million-selling single.
February 13 – Frank Sinatra forms his own record label, Reprise Records, which will later release recordings by The Beach Boys, Ella Fitzgerald, The Kinks and Jimi Hendrix.
February 14 – The Platters file a lawsuit against Mercury Records for breach of contract after the record company refuses to accept recordings on which Tony Williams does not sing lead. The group’s lawsuit contends that their contract does not require Williams to sing lead.
March 21 – The Beatles perform at the Cavern Club in Liverpool for the first time.
March 25 – Elvis Presley performs a benefit show at the Block Arena in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The show raises $62,000 for the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial fund.
April 17 – Dalida and Charles Aznavour receive Radio Monte Carlo Oscar Awards for Best Song.
April 23 – Judy Garland’s concert at Carnegie Hall.
April 29 – Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti makes his operatic debut as Rodolfo in La Bohème at the Teatro Municipale (Reggio Emilia).
May 1 – The Pulitzer Prize for Music is awarded to Walter Piston for his Symphony No. 7.
June 14 – Patsy Cline is hospitalized as a result of a head-on car collision. While she is in hospital, the song “I Fall to Pieces” becomes a big Country/Pop crossover hit for her.
June 25 – The Bill Evans Trio completes a two-week stay at The Village Vanguard in New York. It is the last time this trio will play before virtuoso bassist Scott LaFaro’s death 10 days later. The five sets they play on the 25th are recorded, resulting in two albums, Sunday at the Village Vanguard and Waltz for Debby.
July 1 – French composer Olivier Messiaen marries pianist Yvonne Loriod privately in Paris.
July 17 – Billboard magazine first publishes an “Easy Listening” chart, listing songs that the magazine determines are not rock & roll records. The first #1 song on this chart is “The Boll Weevil Song” by Brook Benton. This chart will be renamed a number of times, becoming the Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart.
October – John Cage’s book Silence: Lectures and Writings is published in the United States.
October 17 – Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, later of The Rolling Stones, first meet at Dartford railway station in Kent, England.
December 8 – The Beach Boys release their debut 45rpm single: Surfin’/Luau on the small California label Candix Records.
December 9 – The Beatles play their first gig in the south of England, at Aldershot. Due to an advertising failure, only 18 people turn up. In the early hours of the following morning they play an impromptu set at a London club.
William Alwyn sets up home with fellow-composer Doreen Carwithen, his former pupil, at Blythburgh in England.
The Leeds International Pianoforte Competition is founded in the north of England by Marion, Countess of Harewood and Fanny Waterman.
Bob Seger’s musical career begins.
Indian tabla player Keshav Sathe and sitar player Bhaskar Chandavarkar perform with Larry Adler.
The Country Music Association (CMA) creates the Country Music Hall of Fame and inducts, Jimmie Rodgers, Fred Rose and Hank Williams as the first three members.
The score of Haydn’s Cello Concerto No. 1 is discovered by musicologist Oldřich Pulkert in the Prague National Museum.

Monday 7pm: MaxMusic 20th Century – 1959

1959 Music News
January 5 – The first sessions for Ella Fitzgerald’s George and Ira Gershwin Songbook are held.
January 12 – Tamla Records is founded by Berry Gordy Jr. in Detroit, Michigan.
January 22 – Buddy Holly records some acoustic demos in his New York City apartment, the last songs he recorded. Songs included “Peggy Sue Got Married”, “Crying, Waiting, Hoping”, “Learning the Game”, “What to Do”, “That’s What They Say”, and “That Makes It Tough.”
February 3 – “The Day the Music Died”: Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and The Big Bopper are killed in a plane crash in Iowa. Future country star Waylon Jennings was scheduled to be on the plane, but instead gave his seat up to The Big Bopper.
March 2 – April 22 – The recording sessions for the extremely influential Miles Davis jazz album Kind of Blue take place at the CBS 30th Street Studio in New York City. The album is released on August 17 in the United States.
March 11 – The 4th Eurovision Song Contest is held in Cannes, France, and won by the Netherlands with the song “Een beetje” performed by Teddy Scholten.
April 3 – The BBC bans the Coasters song “Charlie Brown” because of the word “spitball”, a decision it reverses later in the month.
April 24 – The Your Hit Parade television series airs its last episode
September 13 – Bo Diddley’s single “Say Man” enters the US R&B charts.
Fall – Bill Haley & His Comets end their groundbreaking association with Decca Records, for whom they had recorded since 1954. Their first recording for the label, “Rock Around the Clock”, helped usher in the rock and roll era. Haley signs with Warner Bros. Records.
Joan Baez performs at the first Newport Folk Festival as a surprise guest and becomes an underground favorite
Otto Luening and Vladimir Ussachevsky co-found the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center in New York City.
The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences sponsors the first Grammy Award ceremony for music recorded in 1958.
Dalida receives a Music Oscar for Best Song and a first foreign award (a “Golden Lion” in Berlin).
Jacques Loussier forms the Play Bach Trio with bassist Pierre Michelot and percussionist Christian Garros.
Ornette Coleman plays a legendary and controversial concert at New York’s Five Spot.
Roy Orbison signs with Monument Records.
The Supremes are founded as a quartet (“The Primettes”).
Jimi Hendrix buys his first electric guitar: a White Single pickup Supro Ozark 1560 S.
Veteran sarodiya and multi-instrumentalist Allauddin Khan records for All India Radio.
Jilin opera is developed in China.

Monday 7pm: Max 20th Century 1958

This week we feature the music of 1958.

March 12 – Billie Holiday is given a year’s probation by a Philadelphia court following her arrest and guilty plea on narcotics possession charges in 1956.

In Hilversum, Netherlands, “Dors, mon amour” sung by André Claveau (music by Pierre Delanoë, text by Hubert Giraud) wins the third annual Eurovision Song Contest for France. Domenico Modugno places third for Italy with “Nel blu, dipinto di blu” which, retitled “Volare”, will reach No. 1 in the US Billboard Hot 100, and will win two Grammy Awards next year for Record of the Year and Song of the Year for 1958.

March 24 – Elvis Presley enters the U.S. Army.

August 4 – Billboard magazine launches its “Hot 100” singles chart, with Ricky Nelson’s “Poor Little Fool” as the #1 record.

September 24 – Marvin Gaye begins recording with his first group.

Otis Williams & the Distants begin their musical career. They will later join with The Primes and become The Temptations.

Phil Spector begins his recording career.

Dalida receives the Music Hall “Bravos” along with Yves Montand.

RCA introduces its first stereo LPs.

The major record labels begin to cease production of 78 rpm records.

Kenny Rogers signs his first recording contract with a major record label and makes his first national TV performance on American Bandstand.

Fred Foster opens Monument Records in Hendersonville, Tennessee.

Bob Bogle and Don Wilson founds the surf instrumental group The Ventures.

The Country Music Association (CMA) is founded as the first trade association dedicated to a single music genre.

Monday 7pm: Max 20th Century – 1956

Today we feature the music of 1956

January 26 – Buddy Holly’s first recording sessions for Decca Records take place in Nashville, Tennessee. Roy Orbison signs with Sun Records.
January 27 – Elvis Presley’s single “Heartbreak Hotel” / “I Was the One” is released. It goes on to be Elvis’s first #1 hit.
January 28 – Elvis Presley makes his national television debut on The Dorsey Brothers Stage Show.
March – The Coasters’ recording career begins, with “Turtle Dovin'”.
March 10 – Carl Perkins’ single “Blue Suede Shoes” enters the R&B charts, the first time a country music artist has made it on the R&B charts.
March 22 – Carl Perkins is injured in a car accident near Wilmington, Delaware, on his way to New York City to make an appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. He spends several months in hospital.
March 24 – The first regularly scheduled nationally broadcast rock & roll show, Rock ‘n Roll Dance Party, with Alan Freed as host, premières on the CBS Radio Network.
March 26 – Colonel Tom Parker formally becomes Elvis Presley’s manager.
March 31 – Elvis Presley films a screen test for Paramount Pictures.
April 3 – Elvis Presley makes his first appearance on The Milton Berle Show.
April 6 – Paramount Pictures signs Elvis Presley to a three-picture deal.
May 2 – For the first time in Billboard magazine history, five singles appear in both the pop and R&B Top Ten charts. They are Elvis Presley’s “Heartbreak Hotel” (#1 pop, #6 R&B), Carl Perkins’ “Blue Suede Shoes” (#4 pop, #3 R&B), Little Richard’s “Long Tall Sally” (#9 pop, #1 R&B), the Platters’ “(You’ve Got) The Magic Touch” (#10 pop, #7 R&B) and Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers’ “Why Do Fools Fall in Love” (#7 pop, #4 R&B). Presley’s and Perkins’ singles also appeared on the country and western Top Ten chart at #1 and #2 respectively.
May 6 – Elvis Presley appears on the Milton Berle show.
In Paris, Heitor Villa-Lobos records his Bachiana Brasileira No. 9 with the strings of the Orchestre National de la Radiodiffusion Française, for EMI.
May 24 – First-ever Eurovision Song Contest from the Kursaal Theatre, Lugano, Switzerland. Seven countries participate, each with two songs. Switzerland is declared the winner, with Lys Assia singing “Refrain”.
June 3 – Fred Diodati replaces Al Alberts as lead singer of The Four Aces.
June 5 – Elvis Presley introduces his new single, “Hound Dog”, on The Milton Berle Show, scandalizing the audience with his suggestive hip movements.
July 9 – Dick Clark hosts American Bandstand for the first time
July 22 – The first UK Albums Chart is published, in Record Mirror; Frank Sinatra’s Songs for Swingin’ Lovers! tops it for the first two weeks.
Summer – John Lennon forms a skiffle group, The Quarrymen, with friends from Quarry Bank High School in Liverpool, England, originally Eric Griffiths and Pete Shotton.
September 9 – Elvis Presley appears on The Ed Sullivan Show.
November 5 – Nat King Cole becomes the first major black performer to host a variety show on national television, when The Nat King Cole Show is broadcast.
November 28 – Yoko Ono, recently divorced from Japanese composer Toshi Ichiyanagi, marries Anthony Cox.
December 4 – Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash record together at Sun Studios in Memphis, Tennessee. The sessions are later released under the name “the Million Dollar Quartet”
December 19 – Breaking the record for the highest number of concurrent singles by a single artist, Elvis Presley holds 9 positions on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Presley would hold the record until 1964 when the Beatles hold 14 positions on the chart. Gene Vincent signs a publishing contract with Bill Lowery. Cameo-Parkway Records is formed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, by Kal Mann and Bernie Lowe. – Wikipedia