Freddie Mercury, lead singer of the British rock band Queen, once said that his main musical influences Were Jimi Hendrix and Liza Minelli.

"The End Of The World" by Skeeter Davis is the only song to make the top ten on four Billboard magazine charts - pop, country, middle-of-the-road and RandB.

When Herb Alpert's 1979 single, "Rise" came to Britain, club DJs failed to notice that the 12 inch patters Were recorded at 33 RPM and played them at the wrong speed. Because the song is an instrumental, no one seem to notice and it became a hit anyway.

Suspecting that a gold record that was presented to him by Motown Records wasn't really gold, Marvin Gaye took the disc out of its frame and placed it on a turn table. It not only turned out to be just a vinyl platter painted gold, it was actually a record by The Supremes.

In August, 2003, 754 guitarists played a ten-minute rendition of "Louie, Louie" at Cheney Stadium, in Tacoma, Washington, in what was believed to be the world's largest jam session.

Songwriter Jimmy Webb first offered "MacArthur Park" to The Association as a part of a 22 minute cantata that would fill an entire side of an album. Preferring shorter songs, the group rejected the idea. Webb then had Richard Harris record a seven minute version of the song which rose to number 2 on the Billboard pop chart in the summer of 1968. Ten Years later, disco queen Donna Summer covered the tune and scored her first US number one with it. None of the singles that the Association chose to record instead of "MacArthur Park" ever became hits.

Berry Gordy signed The Four Tops to his Motown label for a mere $400 signing bonus.

Rod Stewart's breakthrough hit in America, "Maggie May" was originally left off of the album "Every Picture Tells A Story". It was added as a filler just before the LP was pressed and later put on the B side of the single "Reason To Believe". DJs started playing both sides of the record and before long, Rod had himself a two sided, number one smash.

Cher's 1971 Billboard chart topper "Gypsys, Tramps and Thieves" was originally titled "Gypsys and White Trash".

For the first five years after the break-up of The Beatles, drummer Ringo Starr had the most successful solo career, as seven of his first eight singles reached the US Top Ten. They Were: "It Don't Come Easy", "Back Off Boogaloo", "Photograph", "You're Sixteen", "Oh My My", "Only You" and "The No No Song".

In the early 1960s, Academy Award-winning actor Joe Pesci was a member of the touring version of Joey Dee and the Starlighters of "Peppermint Twist" fame.

As a 22 year old, Barry Manilow wrote a letter to Playboy Magazine, asking for advice in getting his musical career off the ground. His question was printed in a following edition, in which the adviser told him to "go sow your wild musical notes."

Gladys Knight's "Midnight Train To Georgia" was originally written as "Midnight Plane To Houston". Songwriter Jim Weatherly gave permission to Cissy Houston's producer, Sonny Limbo, to change the title as long as he left the rest of the song intact. When Gladys got the song, she also kept the new title.

Despite being known worldwide as The King Of Rock and Roll, the only Grammy Awards that Elvis Presley won during his lifetime Were for gospel recordings: the 1967 album "How Great Thou Art", the 1971 album "He Touched Me", and a 1974 live recording of "How Great Thou Art".

A research survey taken in the early 1970s shoWed that Elvis Presley was the second most recognized man in the world. Mao Tse-tung, leader of the Chinese Communist Party, was first.

The Supremes 1969, number one hit, "Someday We'll Be Together" seems to be a promise that the group would eventually reunite. The fact is, the song was recorded only by Diana Ross, as Mary Wilson and Cindy Birdsong never sang on the record at all.

Edgar Winter recorded an instrumental track that he started calling "Frankenstien" because the master tape had been cut and patched so many times. It was released as the B side of a single, but radio DJs soon started to play it and in May, 1973, it Went to number one on the Billboard Hot 100.

When The Quarry Men, who would one day turn into The Beatles, made their first appearance at Liverpool's Cavern Club in August, 1957, the owner shouted at them "Cut out the bloody rock!"

The Eagles recorded their first album, which would be branded "California rock", in London England.

During the first ten years of rock and roll's existence, Bobby Vinton had more #1 hits than any other male vocalist, including Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra.

The group, "Steam", who is credited on the label of the 1969, number one hit, "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye" never recorded the song at all. The tune was a hastily put together track, intended as a "B" side for singer Gary De Carlo. When Mercury Records wanted to release it on their Fontana subsidiary, De Carlo would only allow it to be issued with an assumed name on the label and "Steam" was the moniker chosen. Gary was so disappointed by the company's decision, he refused to record any more songs to complete an album and a group from Bridgeport was recruited to tour as Steam.

The Four Tops recorded and performed together for more than 40 years without any change to their original line-up. No other group with a US number one record can make that claim.

Norman 'Hurricane' Smith, who had a hit record with "Oh, Babe, What Would You Say?" in 1973, was a recording engineer on some of the Beatles' early sessions in 1962.

The Association Were warned against playing their first hit single "Along Comes Mary" at Disneyland by the Orange County Sheriff's Department over rumours that the song was about marijuana. Shortly after, a group of nuns from Marymount College named the record their "song of the year".

The lead guitar part on the Beatles' 1965 chart topper "Ticket To Ride" was played by Paul McCartney, not George Harrison.

When John Phillips, Denny Doherty, Michelle Phillips and Cass Elliot first recorded "California Dreaming", they laid down backing vocals only, behind the voice of Barry McGuire (Eve Of Destruction). Later, McGuires's track was removed and the group added their lead vocals so the song could be used as a filler for their first Mamas and Papas album. When the song was released as a single, it was so popular, it sold 150,000 copies the first day and in May 1966, Went to the top of Billboard's Hot 100.

Many rock historians have reported that Florence Ballard, one of the original Supremes, was on Welfare when she died of a heart attack in 1975. In fact, that year she had received a settlement of $50,000 from one of her lawyers and had gone off of social assistance.

After The Beatles' filmed two movies, "A Hard Days Night" and "Help", they Were slated to make a third called "A Talent For Loving". Three months had been set aside in the spring of 1966, but a suitable script couldn't be agreed upon and the picture was never made.

Although "Michael" (roWed the boat ashore), the 1961 hit by The Highwaymen was written in the 1800s and "A Whiter Shade Of Pale" by Procol Harum was lifted from a melody by Johann Sebastian Bach written in the 1700s, the oldest lyrics for a hit rock and roll song belong to the Byrds' "Turn, Turn, Turn". Pete Seeger adapted the words from the Bible's Book Of Ecclesiastes.

One of Jan and Dean's first records was a song called "Linda", written in 1944 by Jack Lawrence, about a friend's two year old daughter, Linda Eastman. That same little girl would grow up to marry Paul McCartney in March, 1969.

It was record producers Hugo Peretti and Luigi Creatore who changed Margaret Battavio's stage name to Little Peggy March for her 1963 hit, "I Will Follow Him". The name "March" came from the month that she was born and "Little" came from the fact that she stood just 4 ft 10 in. tall.

15 year old Paul Anka wrote his 1957, #1 hit, "Diana" for girl named Shirley, his younger siblings babysitter. She was 18 and wanted nothing to do with him, so he wrote her a poem. Later, he set the verses to music, recorded it and had a number one, international hit with it. When Paul returned from touring, she wanted to get together with him, but by then, he had lost all interest.

A Ray Stevens single called "Sergeant Preston of the Yukon" shoWed signs of becoming a hit record, until King Features, the owner of the character, threatened to sue. Ray had neglected to get their permission and the single had to be pulled from the market.

Bobby Darin's "Mack The Knife" was the 59th number one single of the rock and roll era. It entered Billboard's Hot 100 at number 59 and was the second best selling song of...you guessed it...1959.

It took Roy Orbison and his songwriting partner Joe Melson about five minutes to write the lyrics to their 1961, number one hit, "Running Scared". That's only slightly longer than it takes to sing the song.

In March of 1963, producer Phil Spector heard a demo of a song called "It’s My Party". He said, ‘Great, I love it. I’m gonna do it with the Crystals.’ Phil left with the demo, not knowing that others had heard it before him and that Quincy Jones had already decided to record the song with Lesley Gore. When Jones got wind that Spector was about halfway through producing the song, he quickly released his version. Four Weeks later, it was the number one record in America and launched a string of hits for Lesley Gore.

"Does Your Mamma Know About Me" was a Top 30 hit in May of 1968 for a group called Bobby Taylor and The Vancouvers. The song was written by one of the band's guitar players, Tommy Chong, who would later team with Cheech Marin as Cheech and Chong.

Before they became The Supremes, Diana Ross, Mary Wilson and Florence Ballard Were known as The Primettes. Of the three, it was Ballard who had the most poWerful voice and was considered the group's lead singer.

About eleven minutes into the album version of Iron Butterfly's "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida", organist Doug Ingle can clearly be heard playing a few bars of the Christmas song "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen".

When Simon and Garfunkel's "The Sounds Of Silence" Went to #1 in the US in 1966, Paul was performing solo in Europe and had no idea the record had even been released. Columbia Records producer Tom Wilson had lifted the song from the album "Wednesday Morning, 3 AM" and added electric guitars, bass and drums to the original track of just Paul and Art singing along with Paul's guitar. The duo quickly re-formed to hit the college circut and record a second album.

In 1958, Phil Spector produced a group called The Teddy Bears, who scored a US Top Ten hit called "To Know Him Is To Love Him". The title was taken from the inscription on Phil's Father's grave stone.

In February 1982, former Black Sabbath leader Ozzy Osbourne urinated on the Alamo. He was arrested, charged with defiling a national monument and banned from performing in San Antonio. The ban was eventually lifted.

Bobby Sherman was one of the more talented teen heart throbs. He could play guitar, piano, trumpet, trombone, French horn, drums and sitar. By 2001, he had left the entertainment business and was a medical training officer for the L.A. Police Department.

Olivia Newton-John's Grandfather was the 1954 Nobel Prize winning German physicist, Max Born.

The New Christy Minstrels, who reached #14 in the US with "Green Green" in 1963, Were a folk-based group that provieded an early training ground for Kenny Rogers, Barry McGuire, John Denver, Kim Carnes, future Byrd Gene Clark, actress Karen Black and some members of The Association.

The studio musicians hired for Carly Simon's first solo album included Blood, SWeat and Tears founder Al Kooper, future Electric Flag guitarist Mike Bloomfield, along with Robbie Robertson, Rick Danko and Richard Manuel, who would go on to form the nucleus of The Band. The sessions they recorded Were left incomplete and the album was never released.

Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel first sang together when they Were in the sixth grade in Forest Hills, New York.

Elvis Presley has sold over 1 billion records world wide. The Recording Industy Association Of America has awarded him more Gold, Platinum and Multi-Platimum records that any other artist. In the US, he has placed 149 singles on Billboard's Hot 100 and 114 in the Top 40, forty songs in the Top 10 and had 18 number ones.

The song "Dancing In The Street", which became a #2 pop hit for Martha and the Vandellas in 1964, was originally turned down by Motown singer Kim Weston, even though her husband, Mickey Stevenson was one of its co-writers.

Before hiring Chuck Negron as the third lead singer for the newly formed Three Dog Night, Danny Hutton and Cory Wells also considered Billy Joe Royal of "Down In The Boondocks" fame, and Crazy Horse founder, Danny Whitten.

Reg Presley, the lead singer for The Troggs on their five million selling, 1966 hit "Wild Thing", Went on to become one of Britain's premier UFO experts.

Stevie Wonder's mother, Lula Hardaway, took her infant son to preacher Oral Roberts in a vain attempt to have his blindness healed.

Ted Nugent, the guitarist known as "The Motor City Madman", was named Father of the Year at his children’s school. Although he has been married to his wife Shemane Nugent since 1989, he admitted to fathering a child with another woman in the mid 90s.

Drummer Ron Wilson recorded rock and roll's most influential drum solo, "Wipeout" with The Surfaris in 1963. The group split in the late 60s and Wilson died in poverty after suffering a brain aneurysm in May of 1989.

The first time Rod Stewart performed in America was at the Filmore East in New York in 1968. Rod's stage fright was so severe, he sang the first song from backstage.

Carly Simon's father was a co-founder of the book publishing company, Simon and Schuster.

The Small Faces, who had a Top 20 hit in 1967 with "Itchycoo Park", really Were small. All five members stood less than five feet, six inches in height. When Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood replaced the departed Steve Marriott in 1968, the word "Small" was dropped from the band's name, as the two new members stood a head taller than the others.

Elvis Presley once told a reporter: "I don't know anything about music. In my line of business, you don't have to."

In 1963, Frank Zappa started a porno movie production company. He was arrested and jailed for sexual perversion a short while later. He might have stayed in business longer if his studio hadn't been right across the street from the Cucamonga, California court house.

The Marvelettes first big hit "Please Mr. Postman" was a re-worded version of a song written by William Garrett, who happened to be a real mail carrier.

The LP "Johnny Mathis Greatest Hits" spent 490 Weeks on Billboard's Hot 200 album chart. That is the equivalent of nine and a half years.

Janis Joplin's former residence in San Francisco's Haight district was converted into a drug re-hab center in 1999.

Although he was appearing on the hit TV show Ozzie and Harriet, Rick Nelson had no musical ambitions until a girlfriend said that she was in love with Elvis Presley. Rick told her that he was cutting a record too, which in reality he had no plans to do. His first hit was a cover of Fats Domino's "I'm Walkin'", which Went to number four in the US and sold over a million copies.

This one isn't rock and roll trivia, but it's still fascinating.
Felix PoWell, a British Army staff sergeant, wrote the music for "Pack Up Your Troubles In Your Old Kit Bag and Smile, Smile, Smile" in 1915 and entered it in a WWI competition for the best morale-building song. The song won first prize and has been called "perhaps the most optimistic song ever written." PoWell didn't follow his own advice though...he committed suicide in 1942.

When asked if it bothered him when people made wise cracks about his big nose, Beatles' drummer Ringo Starr once said "it goes up one nostril and down the other."

Sonny Curtis, a guitar player with Buddy Holly's Crickets during their hit making years, also turned out to be a prolific songwriter. Among his most memorable tunes Were "I Fought The Law" by The Bobby Fuller Four, "Walk Right Back" by The Everly Brothers and The Theme From The Mary Tyler Moore Show.

"The Long and Winding Road" was written by Paul McCartney, especially for singer Tom Jones.

According to the studio musicians who backed Otis Redding on his 1968 hit, "Dock Of The Bay", the whistling at the end of the song was made up on the spot because Otis forgot the words to the fade out ending that he had prepared.

Even though he was married, singer Tom Jones had a much publicized affair with the Supremes Mary Wilson during the 1960s.

The 1962, number one hit "He's A Rebel" was credited by producer Phil Spector to his group, The Crystals, even though they never sang a note on the record. The song was actually recorded by a group called The Blossoms, featuring Darlene Love, who would later have her own series of hits, including the top 40 "He's Sure The Boy I Love".

In 1971, Michelle Phillips of The Mamas and Papas appeared in the film "The Last Movie" and later married her co-star Dennis Hopper. The marriage lasted eight days.

Tommy Edward's 1958, number one hit, "It's All In The Game" was based on a song called "Melody in F major", written in 1912 by Charles Gates DaWes, who would go on to be Calvin Coolidge's vice presidential running mate in 1923 and a co-winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1925.

Ray Peterson first started singing while he was a polio patient in a Texas hospital, to amuse the other patients. After turning professional, he signed with RCA records and in 1960 recorded the #7 US hit, "Tell Laura I Love Her".

According to TV's Much Music, there are an estimated 30,000 Elvis imitators in the United States.

In 1962, The Shirelles recorded a song called "Soldier Boy" in one take, intending it to be an album filler. A few months later, it was released as a single, climbing to #3 on the RandB chart and #1 on the pop chart, becoming the group's biggest seller.

While the progressive rock band Emerson, Lake and Palmer Were forming in 1970, there Were serious talks about adding Jimi Hendrix to the line up. A jam session was set up with Hendrix for late summer, but Jimi died before it came together. The rumours of the potential band with Hendrix did leak out to the British music press, who began running articles saying the band would be called "Hendrix, Emerson, Lake and Palmer" or HELP for short.

Herman's Hermit's 1965 number one US hit, "I'm Henry The Eighth, I Am" was written in 1911 by an English comedian.

While laying down tracks for an upcoming album, Bobby Hebb recorded one of his own compositions called "Sunny", just e up the remaining studio time. His record company liked the song and released it as a single in 1966. It promptly Went to number 2 in the US.

During a meeting being held to talk about the possibility of Revlon creating a line of cosmetics to be endorsed by Diana Ross, a company spokesman said that he was "some that she could do quite a bit for the black woman's market of cosmetics." Ross jumped up and stormed out of the meeting. Several minutes later, one of her representatives came back into the room to say that the meeting was over and that "Miss Ross is not black...not in her mind and not in the mind of anyone who works for her."

Drummer Richard Starkey was given his nickname by band leader Rory Storm. At first he called him "Rings" because he wore so many of them, but later changed it to "Ringo", because it sounded more "cowboy".

On February 10th, 1971, Bright Tunes Music Corp filed suit against George Harrison for plagiarism because of the similarities betWeen "He's So Fine" by The Chiffons and Harrison's "My SWeet Lord". Although Harrison always claimed the resemblance was unintentional, the presiding judge said it was "perfectly obvious...the two songs are virtually identical" and awarded damages. In a fascinating twist, in 1975 The Chiffons recorded their own version of "My SWeet Lord".

In 1995, Michael Jackson contacted the British Embassy to enquire about being knighted by the Queen, for his work with children.

R.B. Greaves, who sang the number two 1969 hit, "Take A Letter, Maria", is the nephew of Sam Cooke.

The only reason that Junior Walker sang on his 1965 hit, "Shotgun", was that the vocalist he'd hired didn't show up for the session. Walker was somewhat flabbergasted by the label's decision to leave his vocal intact, but the record Went on to reach number 4 on the U.S. Pop chart and number 1 on the RandB chart.

The Rolling Stones hold the record for the largest grossing rock and roll tour of all time. Their 1994-95 'Voodoo Lounge' tour took in $320 million The second largest money maker was the Stones' 2002-03 'Licks' tour, which saw the rockers play to over 3.4 million people and rake in $300 million.

The Electric Prunes 1967 hit "I Had Too Much To Dream Last Night" was originally written as a slow piano ballad and was first recorded by night club crooner Jerry Vale.

Jerry Lee Lewis' 1957 hit, "Whole Lotta Shakin´ Goin´ On" sold over six million copies in the first year after its release, yet was recorded in just one take.

Billy Joel was only 16 years old when he played piano on the Shangri-La's' 1965 hit, "Leader of the Pack".

Despite having a long string of hit singles, Rick Nelson's only Grammy Award came in 1986 for 'Best Spoken Word or Nonmusical Recording' for his contribution to an album called "The Class Of '55", a Sun Records reunion album that featured Nelson's early idols, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, Carl Perkins, and Jerry Lee Lewis.

The Kingsmen's "Louie, Louie" was written in 1955 by Richard Berry, who sold all rights to the song for $750. In 1986, an artists' rights group helped Berry collect about $2 million in royalties.

The first hit for The Righteous Brothers, 1963's "Little Latin Lupe Lu", was written by Bill Medley about his then girlfriend Lupe Laguna. The song was also a top 20 hit for Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels in 1966.

Stevie Wonder was not born blind. The blindness happened shortly afterward as a result of having received too much oxygen in the hospital incubator. Stevie spent a total of 52 days in an incubator.

In 1969, Tommy James and The Shondells turned down an offer to perform at the original Woodhave Festival, when their booking agent described the event as "...a stupid gig on a pig farm in upstate New York."

Songwriter Gene MacLellan wrote Anne Murray's 1969 multi-million seller, "Snowbird" in just 25 minutes. It was only the second song he had ever written.

Bobby "Boris" Pickett added all his own sound sound effects to his 1962 hit, "The Monster Mash". The creaky door opening is a nail being pulled from a piece of wood, the boiling cauldron is Pickett blowing bubbles into a cup of water with a straw and the chains are him moving chains up and down.

Anton Fig, who plays drums on David Letterman's Late Show, performed on the 1980 KISS album, "Unmasked", after original drummer Peter Criss had left the band.

Elvis Presley scored 18 Number One hits in the U.S., while The Beatles racked up 25. Bing Crosby had 38.

In 1957 a teenager had been told by his father to get a job or get out of the house, so he wrote a song called "Be My Guest" and waited in line for a chance to pass it on to Fats Domino. He was able to do so, and heard from Domino's agent some time later. Thus began the songwriting career of Tommy Boyce, who would later team up with Bobby Hart to write some of rock and roll's best selling songs.

During one concert, Neil Diamond sang his hit "Forever In Blue Jeans" six times in a row... while Wearing sharply creased slacks.

The first time that future Led Zeppelin members Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and John Bonham ever played together was as studio musicians, backing Donovan on his 1968 hit, "Hurdy Gurdy Man". A hurdy-gurdy is actually a stringed instrument in which the strings are rubbed by a rosined wheel instead of a bow.

When Crosby, Stills and Nash first started singing together, they Were known as "The Frozen Noses", a vague reference to their drug habits.

The Beach Boys recorded the original version of "Little Honda", but didn't release it as a single because Brian Wilson didn't think the song had the potential to become a hit. A cover of the song, which featured studio musicians Glen Campbell, Richie Podolor and Hal Blaine, was credited to a constantly changing touring group called The Hondells who took the song into the Top Ten in 1964.

In 1964, Tommy James was asked by a local DJ to record a few songs for Snap Records, a tiny Michigan record label. One of those tunes was "Hanky Panky", which started to take off locally, but then quickly died, a victim of poor distribution. The song was soon forgotten, and eventually the group broke up. Two years later, the disc was mistakenly played on the air by a Pittsburgh DJ. Delighted radio listeners wanted to know where they could get a copy of "that hot new single". Tommy James was shocked when told the song was number one in the city and quickly formed a new band to take advantage of his success. By the late summer of 1966, it was the number one selling single in the nation.

The background singers on Lou Christie's 1966 hit, "Lightnin' Strikes" Were The Angels, who recorded the 1963 hit, "My Boyfriend's Back".

When Atlantic Records session guitarist Steve Cropper was told that a little known singer named Wilson Pickett was coming in to the Memphis studio to record, he Went to the nearest record shop and began searching through the record bins, Find something Pickett had done. “I found two or three things...some spiritual things that he had sung lead on,” Cropper says. Cropper noticed that at the end of each song, Wilson would launch into an improvised rap about 'the midnight hour’. “In every song in the fade-out, he’d go into this ritual, ‘I’m going to wait till the midnight hour, oh in the midnight hour,’ and he’d start preaching this ‘midnight hour’ thing, and I said ‘That’s it!’ When Wilson and Cropper got together, the phrase ‘In the Midnight Hour’ was the first one that came up. It took just one hour to write the soul/rock classic that would established Wilson Pickett as a star. "In The Midnight Hour" reached the top of the RandB chart and hit #21 on the pop chart in 1965. The song has since became a soul standard... even Wolfman Jack would adopt it as his theme song.

In the early 1960s, Frank Zappa appeared on Steve Allen’s TV show, performing a "bicycle concerto", plucking the spokes and blowing through the handlebars.

Van Morrison's 1967 Top Ten hit, "Brown Eyed Girl" was originally written as "Brown Skinned Girl", but was changed so it would be more appealing to AM radio programmers.

Dionne Warwick's real last name is Warrick (with no "w"), but she was stuck with the change when 1962's "Don't Make Me Over" became a hit and her record company misspelled her name on the label.

Despite producing some of the best remembered songs of the rock and roll era, the only Grammy Award that Phil Spector ever won was for "Best Sound Effects" on the 1964 Ronettes hit, "Walking In The Rain".

In 1963, songwriter/producer Bob Feldman was a staff writer for April-Blackwood Music. He heard that the SWeet Shoppe, across the street from his old highschool in Brooklyn, was being torn down and Went back for one last look. "While I was there", Feldman recalled, "an altercation started betWeen a young girl and a hoody-looking young man with a leather jacket. She was pointing a finger at him and screaming "My boyfriend's back and you're gonna be in trouble. You've been spreading lies about me all over school and when he gets ahold of you, you're gonna be sorry you Were ever born." That night Bob told his writing partners, Jerry Goldstein and Richard Gottehrer, about the incident and they sat down and wrote a song about it. When it was recorded by a group called The Angels, "My Boyfriend's Back" Went to #1 on the U.S. charts and became one of the classic girl-group records of all time. As for Feldman, Goldstein and Gottehrer, they later formed their own group, the Strangeloves, later discovered the McCoys, and achieved individual success with productions by War, Blondie, and the Go-Gos.

Before he was signed by ABC-Dunhill Records in the early seventies, Jimmy Buffett was turned down by 26 record labels.

Bobby Vee once kicked Robert Zimmerman out of his band because he thought he had no future as a musician. Zimmerman would go on to have a career as a folksinger, calling himself Bob Dylan.

After an executive at Atlantic Records turned down "I'd Really Love To See You Tonight" by England Dan and John Ford Coley, Doug Morris of Big Tree Records, having heard the song through the wall of his adjoining office, offered the duo a contract. The result was a #2 pop single in the spring of 1976, which ultimately sold two million copies.

According to band legend, the name "Alice Cooper" came to singer Vincent Furnier during a ouija board session, where he was told he was the reincarnation of a 17th-century witch of the same name.

James Brown wrote his 1965, number one hit, "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag" based on a spur-of-the-moment adlib during one of his concerts.

Al Kooper came up with the name for his new band when he was on the phone with a promoter, while gazing at a Johnny Cash album cover. The album was called, "Blood, SWeat and Tears". The inspiration for the band name did not come from Winston Churchill's quote, "I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sWeat", as was widely reported at the time.

The theme song for the TV sit-com, "That 70s Show", was written by Alex Chilton, who was The Box Top's lead singer on their hits "The Letter" and "Cry Like A Baby".

Seals And Crofts former road manager is Leo Gallagher Jr., the comedian known simply as "Gallagher", the comic known for his "Sledge-o-matic" routine, where he smashes a wide variety of things with a sledge hammer.

Elvis Presley's manager, Colonel Tom Parker was not really a colonel at all, it was an honorary title given to him in 1948 by Governor Jimmie Davis of Louisiana. Parker's real name was Andreas Cornelius van Kujik, an illegal Dutch immigrant who became a flamboyant promoter. His pre-Elvis experience included shows called "The Great Parker Pony Circus" and "Tom Parker and His Dancing Turkeys" and was a veteran of carnivals, medicine shows and various other entertainment enterprises. Before he met Elvis, Parker managed the career of singer Eddie Arnold, who fired him in 1953.

Mark David Chapman, who murdered John Lennon on December 8^th, 1980, later admitted that another target that he considered shooting was former Tonight Show host, Johnny Carson.

During the recording of Gary Lewis and The Playboys 1965 number one hit, "This Diamond Ring", The Playboys Were used sparingly. Studio musicians, including Tommy Alsup on guitar, Leon Russell on keyboards and Hal Blaine on drums Were used instead. Even Gary's vocals got some help from a singer named Ron Hicklin, who did the basic vocal track; then producer Snuff Garrett added Gary’s voice, overdubbed him a second time, added some of the Playboys, and then added more of Hicklin. Garrett would later say: "When I got through, he sounded like Mario Lanza".

One afternoon in 1962, while waiting for a Four Season's rehearsal to begin, group member Bob Gaudio sat down at the piano and in fifteen minutes, wrote a song that would become the quartet's first hit single. The original working title was "Terry" and several other names Were also considered, including "Peri" (the name of their record label-owner's daughter) and "Jackie" (a tie-in with Jackie Kennedy, who was at the height of her popularity). When producer Bob CreWe told his disc jockey friend, Jack Spector, about the song he wanted to record, Spector suggested the name of his three year old daughter, "Cheri". The name stuck, but when the record was pressed, the label misspelled the name - "Sherry".

Cher's very first recording was called "Ringo, I Love You" under the name Bonnie Jo Mason.

Producer Jay Siegal took The Chiffons demo of "He's So Fine" to ten different record companies...all ten turned it down. The eleventh company, Laurie Records, liked the song and released it in February, 1963. Two months later, it was the number one song in America.

When Barry McGuire recorded "Eve of Destruction", he read the words to the song off of a piece of paper that had been in his pocket for about a Week. The song was completed in one take, with the understanding that Barry would re-record the vocals later. When the final mixing was taking place, McGuire wasn't around and the record was pressed from the original recording.

When Ritchie Valens recorded the demo for "Come On Let's Go", he made the lyrics up as he Went along. The tape had to be played back so he could write down the words to the song.

"Sunday Will Never Be The Same", the 1967 Top Ten hit for Spanky and Our Gang was originally turned down by The Mamas and Papas.

Chuck Berry was inspired to write "SWeet Little Sixteen" after an eleven year old girl asked him for his autograph.

The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, who scored a 1970, Top Ten hit with "Mr. Bojangles", backed Steve Martin on his 1978 novelty hit, "King Tut", which made it to #17 in the U.S.A.

The 1961 Beach Boys hit, "In My Room", was recorded by Brian Wilson with studio musicians backing him instead of the rest of The Beach Boys. The record Went to number tWenty-three.

The song "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling" was written by George Graff, who was German, and was never in Ireland in his life.

Cuba Gooding Jr., who found movie fame with Tom Cruise in the film "Jerry Maguire", is the son of Cuba Gooding Sr., the lead singer of The Main Ingredient, who had a million selling, number one hit with "Everybody Plays The Fool" in the fall of 1972. Cuba's mother, Shirley, sang backup vocals for Jackie Wilson's touring act.

The recording of "Mr. Tambourine Man" was actually cut by studio musicians, with guitarist Roger McGuinn the only member of the Byrds actually playing on the record. The group did, hoWever, provide the vocals.

The last song that Elvis ever performed publicly was "Can't Help Falling In Love", at his final concert in Indianapolis on June 26th, 1977.

Sam The Sham often included a song called "Haunted House" in his stage act, but refused to record it for Hi Records because he didn't like the label. Hi Records then offered it to Gene Simmons, who took it to Number Eleven in the U.S. in August of 1964.

The song "Happy Birthday" was written by American sisters Patty and Mildred Hill in 1893 when they Were school teachers in Louisville, Kentucky. The verse was originally intended as a classroom greeting entitled "Good Morning To All". The lyrics Were copyrighted in 1935, 11 years before Patty's death, and the ownership has swapped hands in multi-million dollar deals ever since. The copyright is currently owned by Warner Communications who bought the rights for $28 million in 1985 and is scheduled to expire in 2021.

Cher's parents, Georgia Holt and John Sarkisian Were married, then divorced and then re-married and divorced a second time.

Freddie Garrity of Freddie and The Dreamers named his band after Johnny Burnettes 1958 hit, "Dreamin'".

White Christmas by Bing Crosby has sold over 40 million copies...yet took only 18 minutes to record.

Jay and The American's 1965 number 6 hit, "Cara Mia" was originally a number 4 hit for a singer named David Whitfield and a female choir accompanied by Mantovani's Orchestra in 1954.

At age 47, the Rolling Stones' bassist, Bill Wyman, began a relationship with 13-year old Mandy Smith, with her mother's blessing. Six years later, they Were married, but the union only lasted seventeen months. Not long after, Bill's 30-year-old son Stephen married Mandy's mother, age 46. That made Stephen a stepfather to his former stepmother, Mandy.

Mason Williams, who won three Grammy Awards for his 1968 instrumental hit "Classical Gas", was also the head writer for TV's "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Show".

"Are You Lonesome Tonight?" the 1960 hit for Elvis Presley was written by Roy Turk and Lou Handman in 1926 as a vaudeville recitation and first recorded by Al Jolson.

Paul McCartney is the kazoo player on Ringo Starr's 1974 version of "You're Sixteen".

Before R. Dean Taylor scored a number one hit with "Indiana Wants Me" in 1974, he worked for Motown Records as a songwriter. He penned the hits "I'll Turn To Stone" for The Four Tops, "Love Child" and "I'm Livin' In Shame" for The Supremes, and "All I Need" for The Temptations.

"S.O.S" by ABBA is the only palindrome Top 40 hit. You can spell the title and the recording act both forwards and backwards -- and come up with the same thing.

Kent Lavoie, who recorded under the name of "Lobo" on his hit single "Me And You And A Dog Named Boo", once played in a band called The Legends, along with Jim Stafford, who would go on to have several hits of his own, including "Spiders and Snakes" and "My Girl, Bill".

The shortest number one song of the rock and roll era is Maurice Williams and The Zodiacs' 1960 hit, "Stay" at only 1:37.

The first recording that Sly Stone ever made was a 78 RPM single called "On The Battlefield", recorded for the Church of God in Christ Northern California Sunday School Dept.

When J. Frank Wilson was with The Cavaliers in 1962, guitarist Sid Holmes brought him a song called "Bring It On Home To Me", which the band added to their act. After "Last Kiss" hit in 1964, Wilson was travelling with The Animals and one night, got to jamming with Eric Burton, each trying to outdo the other. He launched into "Bring It On Home To Me" and Burton, who loved the tune, rushed to the recording studio days later and laid down the track. The song became a Top 40 smash for the Animals, a fact that bothered J. Frank Wilson for years, as he could never muster another hit, yet had one right under his nose all the time.

Johnny Maestro sang lead vocal on the Crests' "Sixteen Candles" and "The Worst That Could Happen" by the Brooklyn Bridge.

"La Bamba", the 1958 million seller for Ritchie Valens is a traditional song that can be traced back as far as the 14th century. The tune was picked up by the people of Mexico after they heard homesick African slaves singing about their village of "Mamamba" in the 1800s.

The members of the 116th General Assembly of Ohio voted The McCoys' "Hang On Sloopy" as the official state rock song in November 1985.

Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys spent most of the years 1971 to 1975 in bed.

"Wild Thing", the 1966 hit by the Troggs was written by Chip Taylor, the brother of actor Jon Voight.

Brian Hyland's 1960 Number One hit, "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka-dot Bikini" was co-written by Paul Vance after seeing his 2-year old daughter Paula play at the beach in her bathing suit.

Timothy B. Schmit replaced Randy Meisner in Poco in 1969 and replaced him again in the Eagles when Meisner quit them in 1977.

Paul Simon's 1973 U.S. hit, "Kodachrome" was banned from airplay on Britain's BBC because the song contains a product brandname.

Monkee Mike Nesmith's mother, Bette Nesmith Graham was the inventor of Liquid Paper correction fluid. She sold the rights to the Gillette Corporation in 1979 for $47.5 million and when she died in 1980, she left half of her fortune to her son Michael.

The title of the Byrds' 1966 hit "Eight Miles High" is not a drug reference. It actually refers to the altitude reserved for military air craft.

'Crazy, Man, Crazy' by Bill Haley and his Comets was the first rock and roll record to make the Billboard pop chart, reaching the Top 20 in 1953.

Maurice Gibb of The Bee Gees wasn't tall enough to see over the hood of his Rolls-Royce and had to sit on a phone book while driving.

The first record to reach number one in 34 different countries was The Beatles' White Album.

"Islands In The Stream" by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton was the 1985 American Music Awards winner for Favourite Country Single. The song was written by Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb especially for Diana Ross.

The first 45 rpm record to hit the Billboard charts was "You're Adorable" by Perry Como, on May 7, 1949. Before that, singles Were released on 78 rpm discs.

Fats Domino has had 18 singles that Were million sellers, yet only 1956's "Blueberry Hill" Went to number one.

In many U.S. states, there is a law against dancing to "The Star Spangled Banner".

The Beach Boys' original name was The Pendletones, after a popular shirt manufacturer.

Carl Perkins' 1955 hit, "Blue Suede Shoes" was the first Country and Western song to ever make Billboard's RandB chart.

Johann Sebastian Bach, who was born in 1685, wrote the music for three hit records of the rock and roll era, "Whiter Shade Of Pale" by Procol Harum, "A Lover's Concerto" by the Toys and "Joy" by Apollo 100.

The Carpenters hit, "We've Only Just Begun" was written by Paul Williams and Roger Nichols as a radio jingle for a California bank.

Elvis' manager, Colonel Tom Parker once covered all bases by selling both "I Love Elvis" buttons and "I Hate Elvis" buttons.

While playing at Hollywood's Palladium in 1972, the guitarist in Chuck Berry's backup band was replaced by another waiting backstage. The new musician played so loudly that Berry stopped in the middle of a song and asked the first guitar player to come back out. Unknown to Berry, the one he kicked off stage was Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones.

David Bowie proposed to his first wife Angie by saying "Can you handle the fact that I don't love you?"

Early in their career, The Carpenters Were booked for three nights as the opening act for Steppenwolf. They Were so out of place, Karen and Richard Were fired after the first night.

Shelley Fabares, whose 1962 hit "Johnny Angel" topped the U.S. charts, married The Mamas and Papas producer Lou Adler in 1964. In 1984, she married actor Mike Farrell, who played Captain B.J. Hunnicutt in the TV series M*A*S*H.

In 1965, Gary Lewis was Cash Box magazine's "Male Vocalist of the Year", winning the honour over other nominees, Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra.

Cher ended her marriage to Gregg Allman in 1979 after he had passed out in an Italian restaurant, face first in a bowl of spaghetti.

Eddie Van Halen played guitar on Michael Jackson's hit, "Beat It".

The English progressive rock band, Uriah Heep, took their name from a character in Charles Dickens' novel, "David Copperfield".

Although it is often considered a Rock and Roll anthem, "My Generation" by The Who, only reached # 74 on the U.S. record chart.

At the end of the Beatles' song "A Day in the Life", an ultrasonic whistle, audible only to dogs, was recorded by Paul McCartney for his Shetland sheepdog.

 

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