Fun Facts 
According to the Amusement & Music Operators Association, Patsy Cline's 1962 hit, "Crazy" is the most played song on jukeboxes across the United States. It is followed by "Old Time Rock and Roll" by Bob Seger and "Hound Dog" / "Don't Be Cruel" by Elvis Presley.
There is a five way tie for the shortest title of a song to make it to number one on the Billboard Hot 100. The songs are: The Jacksons' "ABC", Edwin Starr's "War", Frankie Avalon's "Why", and Michael Jackson's "Ben" and "Bad".
Roberta Flack recorded "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" as an album cut for her 1969 debut LP "First Take". Three years later, Clint Eastwood remembered hearing the song and included it in his film "Play Misty For Me", causing Atlantic Records to re-edit and rush release the song as a single. Six weeks later, it was the number one song in the US, where it stayed for six weeks.
During a December, 1974 interview, TV talk show host Dick Cavett asked David Bowie what his mother thought of his act. He replied "She pretends I'm not hers."
When the Righteous Brothers single "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling" was reviewed on the British TV show Juke Box Jury in January, 1965, it was voted a "miss" by all four judges. Since that time, it has become US radio's most played rock and roll song of all time, being heard over eight million times.
Paul Anka's first 45 sold just 300 copies. The follow-up, "Diana", sold nine million.
When Frank Sinatra Jr was kidnapped in December, 1963, his abductors demanded $240,000 ransom. His father offered one million dollars for his safe return, but for some un-explained reason, his captors turned the offer down and settled for the original amount. Three men were later caught and sent to prison.
Walter Murphy's 1976 disco hit, "A Fifth Of Beethoven" was based on Ludwig van Beethoven's "Symphony No. 5 in C Minor", composed in 1807.
After Capitol records had rejected “Love Me Do”, “Please Please Me” and “From Me To You” for American release, label president Alan Livingston sent a memo to their parent company, EMI in Britain that said: “We don’t think The Beatles will do anything in this market.” A year later, in January, 1964, when “I Saw Her Standing There” was issued, it became the fastest selling single in the history of recorded music and Capitol’s pressing plant was forced to run 24 hours a day, trying to fill more than one million orders.
Although it says Diana Ross on her birth certificate, her parents and friends called her Diane until her early 20s
When Dennis Edwards of The Temptations first sang "Papa Was A Rolling Stone", he was upset by the line "It Was The Third Of Sepember / That Day I'll Always Remember / 'Cause That Was The Day My Daddy Died", because Edwards father actually did die on September 3rd.
Robin and Barry Gibb wrote "How Can You Mend A Broken Heart" for crooner Andy Williams. When he declined, the Bee Gees recorded the song themselves and scored the first of their nine number one records with it.
Listen carefully to the begining of The Beatles' song "Come Together", from their Abby Road album. The bass guitar riff nearly obliterates John Lennon saying "Shoot me".
The flip side of Bobby Helms' Christmas favourite "Jingle Bell Rock" is called "Captain Santa Claus And His Reindeer Space Patrol".
The first song of the rock era to become a US #1 twice by different artists was "Go Away Little Girl", first by Steve Lawrence (Dec 1962), then by Donny Osmond (Aug 1971). The second to accomplish this feat was "The Loco-Motion" by Little Eva (July 1962), then Grand Funk (March 1974. Both songs were penned by the same songwriters, Gerry Goffin and Carole King.
The rock group Queen issued albums called "A Night at the Opera" and "A Day at the Races" which were named after movies by The Marx Brothers.
Three Dog Night's 1971 smash, "Joy To The World" was written by Hoyt Axton especially for an animated children's show called "The Happy Song" that never made it to production.
After Rick Nelson signed a one million dollar, twenty year recording contract with Decca Records in January, 1963, he had only two more hits, 1964's "For You" and 1972's "Garden Party".
About the same time that Ringo Starr received an offer from Brian Epstein to join the Beatles, he was also asked to join another Liverpool group called Kingsize Taylor and The Dominoes. Ringo chose the one offering the best wage...25 pounds a week.
Debbie Boone's 1977 hit "You Light Up My Life" became a multi-million selling smash that stayed at the top of Billboard's Hot 100 for ten weeks, becoming a far bigger hit than any song her father, Pat Boone, ever had.
The tapes for Don McLean's first album were rejected by 34 record companies before Mediarts agreed to release it in 1970. His next LP, "American Pie" would be considered a rock and roll classic and sell millions of copies.
The band Wild Cherry, who had a number one disco hit with "Play That Funky Music" in 1976, took their name from a box of cough drops.
The Miracles first number one hit, 1970's "Tears Of A Clown", was actually taken from an album that was released three years earlier. The song was issued as a single when record executives wanted another "tears" song to follow "Tracks Of My Tears" and found that the group had already recorded one.
The Osmond Brothers, Allan, Wayne, Merrill, Jay and Donny had their first number one hit in the US in February 1971 with "One Bad Apple". What most fans don't know is that there are two older brothers, Virl and Tommy, who have both suffered so much hearing loss that the entire family learned how to converse in sign language.
Disc Jockey Rick Dees, the morning man at WMPS in Memphis, recorded a novelty disco song called "Disco Duck" in 1976. After it became a US number one hit, he was forbidden to play the record on his radio show. He simply mentioned the record on the air one day and was promptly fired by the station's manager, who cited him for conflict of interest.
The only Mother and son to both have a number one hit on the Billboard Hot 100 are Shirley Jones, who sang on the Partridge Family's "I Think I Love You" in November, 1970 and her son Shaun Cassidy for "Da Do Ron Ron" in July 1977.
Glen Campbell, the country star who had a string of hits that crossed over to the pop charts in the late sixties and seventies, began his career as a highly regarded session musician, playing on hits by the Monkees, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Bobby Darin, the Association, the Mamas & the Papas, Rick Nelson, the Beach Boys and many others. In 1969, he sold more records than the Beatles and began a three year run hosting his own TV variety series. Despite all of his musical success, he can neither read or write music.
While still a struggling young musician, Billy Joel recorded a pretzel commercial with Chubby Checker.
In October, 1963, when New York disc jockey Murray “the K” Kaufman played five records for his audience to vote on, The Beatles’ “She Loves You” came in third, behind a Four Seasons single and something called “Coney Island Baby” by The Excellents.
Upon meeting the band Pink Floyd for the first time, a record company executive asked them "Which one's Pink?"
Terry Jacks recorded his 1974 number one hit, "Seasons In The Sun" in 1973, but the master tape sat on a shelf in his basement for more than a year. One day, a newspaper delivery boy heard Terry playing it and asked if he could bring some friends by to listen to it. Their enthusiasm convinced Jacks to release it on his own label and it soon topped the record charts in the US, Canada and the UK and sold over six million copies worldwide.
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 R&B.
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 feature length 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 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.
In 1963, Billy Swan replaced Kris Kristofferson as the janitor at Columbia Records' Nashville Studios. By 1970, Swan was playing in Kristofferson's band and in 1974, had a number one song in the U.S. with "I Can Help".
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 as well as 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, as well as 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 & 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.
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 as well as 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 1965, while Bob Dylan was recording his "Blonde On Blonde" album at the Columbia Record Studios in Nashville, Kris Kristofferson was there too...working as a night janitor.
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 R&B 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 & 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 to use 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 discuss the possibility of Revlon creating a line of cosmetics to be endorsed by Diana Ross, a company spokesman said that he was "certain 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 R&B 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.
For more obscure trivia about your favorite classic rock acts visit Classicbands.com
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