1957 - Elvis Presley bought the Graceland mansion from Ruth Brown-Moore for $102,500. The original building had at one time been a place of worship, used by the Graceland Christian Church and was named after the builder's daughter, Grace Toof.
1958 - The first "Greatest Hits" compilation is released, and it's by Johnny Mathis. It's a huge hit, and the format catches on quickly. The Mathis album stays in the Billboard 200 album chart for over nine years, a record not broken until Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon.
1967 - Working at Abbey Road studios in London, The Beatles finished the recording of "She's Leaving Home" after adding backing vocals to the track. Harpist Sheila Bromberg, who was part of the string section heard on the track, became the first woman to play on a Beatles recording.
1968 - Mick Jagger joins a demonstration at Grosvenor Square in London to protest the Vietnam War. When the group, estimated at 25,000, marches to the American embassy, they are met with police resistance and rioting ensues. Jagger leaves the protest before it reaches the embassy, but uses the events as inspiration for the Rolling Stones song "Street Fighting Man."
1979 - Talking Heads make their first major TV appearance, performing "Take Me to the River" on American Bandstand. The lip-synced performance goes well, but the interview is a little awkward. Dick Clark chats up frontman David Byrne, but he only gives terse answers, prompting the host to turn to bass player Tina Weymouth and ask, "Is he always this enthusiastic, Tina?" Her response: "I guess he's organically shy." This leads to an insight, as Clark asks Byrne how he can perform if he's so shy. "I don't know the people," he replies. "I get really nervous if there's friends out there."
1978 - The Irish high school band U2, which just recently changed their name from The Hype, won £500 ($850) and a chance to audition for CBS Ireland in a talent contest held in Dublin, The Limerick Civic Week Pop '78 Competition. Just two years later, U2 were signed to Island Records and released their debut album, Boy. U2 have released 12 studio albums and are among the all time best-selling artists, having sold more than 150 million records worldwide. They have won 22 Grammy Awards and, in 2005, they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in their first year of eligibility. (Photo by Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images)
2010 - At a hospital in New Orleans, Alex Chilton died. As a teenager Chilton had been a member of The Box Tops who had the 1967 hit 'The Letter' and later in 1971 co-founded the power-pop group Big Star, with Chris Bell. In the 1980s both R.E.M., and the Replacements cited Big Star group as a major influence.
Birthdays:
Paul Kantner founding member of Jefferson Airplane was born on this day in 1941.
Nat "King" Cole was born today in 1919. He died of lung cancer in 1965.
Pattie Boyd is 77. She would marry George Harrison and Eric Clapton, and also inspire the song "Layla" and "Something."
John Sebastian, a founder of The Lovin' Spoonful, is 77. In August 1969, Sebastian made a memorable, albeit unscheduled appearance at Woodstock. He was not on the performance bill and traveled to the festival as a spectator, but he was asked to appear when the organizers suddenly needed an acoustic performer after a rain break.
Scott Gorham, guitarist for Thin Lizzy, is 70.
Flaming Lips' bassist Michael Ivins is 58.
Billy Corgan of The Smashing Pumpkins is 54.
Bassist Mellisa Auf der Maur (Hole, Smashing Pumpkins) is 49.
Hozier is 31.
On This Day In Music History is sourced from This Day in Music, Paul Shaffer's Day in Rock, Song Facts and Wikipedia.