| 1960s British Rock and Pop Chronology |
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| 1961 |
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| 3 | Washington: Eisenhower breaks relations with Cuba | ||
| 5 | Cliff Richard and the Shadows: "I Love You" [continues as UK #1] | ||
| Liverpool, Litherland Town Hall: Paul McCartney takes over the duties of playing bass with the Beatles. | |||
| 7 | Melody Maker: Chris Barber sacks Monty Sunshine from his band | ||
| 12 | Johnny Tillotson: "Poetry in Motion" [UK #1 for 2 weeks] | ||
| The King Brothers: "Doll House" [Parlophone, charts, UK #21] Peter Sellers and Sophia Loren: "Bangers and Mash" [Parlophone R 4724, charts, UK #22] |
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| 19 | Billy
Fury: "A Thousand Stars" [Decca F 11311, charts, UK #14] Russ Conway: "Pepe" [Columbia DB 4564, charts, UK #19] |
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| 21 | London: A Taste of Honey reopens at the Theatre Royal, moving to the Wyndham Theatre within a month | ||
| 26 | Elvis Presley: "Are You Lonesome Tonight" [UK #1 for 4 weeks] | ||
| Petula Clark: "Sailor" [Pye 7N 15324, charts, UK #1] Marty Wilde: "Rubber Ball" [Philips PB 1101, charts, UK #9] Anne Shelton: "Sailor" [Philips PB 1096, charts, UK #10] Joe Brown: "Shine" [Pye 7N 15322, charts, UK #33] |
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| 28 | Manchester: Melody Maker Jazz Weekend begins featuring Chris Barber and Acker Bilk | ||
| Melody Maker: Southern Music forms Meridian Music to promote British songs | |||
| Other January Artifacts | |||
| Lonnie Donegan: "(Bury Me) Beneath the Willow" / "Leave My Woman Alone" [no chart action] | |||
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| 1 | London: Increase in pay rate for session musicians from £6 to £7 for a 3-hour recording session | ||
| 9 | Adam
Faith: "Who Am I?" / "This is It" [Parlophone R 4735, charts, UK #5] The Shadows: "F.B.I." [Columbia DB 4580, charts, UK #6] |
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| Liverpool: The Beatles play their first engagement as the Beatles in the Cavern Club for a lunchtime crowd. | |||
| 16 | Melody Maker: The BBC's entry for the International Festival of Television Arts and Sciences is the "Black and White Minstrel Show;" many are outraged by the "bad taste" | ||
| 23 | Petula Clark: "Sailor" [UK #1 for 1 week] | ||
| The Allisons: "Are You Sure" [Fontana H 294, charts, UK #2] Johnny Dankworth: "African Waltz" [Columbia DB 4590, charts, UK #9] Kenny Ball and His Jazzmen: "Samantha" [Pye Jazz Today 7NJ 2040, charts, UK #13] |
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| 2 | The Everly Brothers: "Walk Right Back" / "Ebony Eyes" [UK #1 for 3 weeks] | ||
| Cliff Richard and the Shadows: "Theme for a Dream" [Columbia DB 4593;
charts, UK #3] The King Brothers: "76 Trombones" [Parlophone R 4737, charts, UK #19] |
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| 6 | London: George Formby dies | ||
| 9 | Matt
Monro: "My Kind of Girl" [Parlophone R 4755, charts, UK #5] Mike Preston: "Marry Me" [Decca F 11335, charts, UK #14] Krew-Kats: "Trambone" [HMV POP 840, charts, UK #33] |
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| 11 | Melody Maker: "BBC Bans Grieg 'Rock'" [Groups — Nero and the Gladiators with guitarist, Joe Moretti — may not do rock versions of the classics, in this case, In the Hall of the Mountain King.] | ||
| 16 | Anthony
Newley: "And the Heavens Cried" [Decca F 11331, charts, UK #6] Craig Douglas: "A Hundred Pounds of Clay" [Top Rank JAR 555, charts, UK #9] |
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| 23 | Elvis Presley: "Wooden Heart" [UK #1 for 6 weeks] | ||
| Helen Shapiro: "Don't Treat Me Like a Child" [Columbia DB 4589, charts, UK #3] | |||
| 24 | Johnny Kidd and the Pirates: "Linda Lu" / "Let's Talk About Us" [HMV POP 853, release] | ||
| 30 | Temperence
Seven: "You're Driving Me Crazy" [Parlophone R 4757, charts; UK #1] Cliff Richard and the Shadows: "Gee Whiz, It's You" [Columbia DC 756, charts, UK #4] |
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| Other March Artifacts | |||
| Johannesburg: South Africa withdraws from Commonwealth | |||
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| 3 | Trafalgar Square, London: The "Nuclear Eight" perform at demonstration (including Johnny Chilton, John Picard, John Armitage, Bruce Turner, Alan Elsdon, Vic Bartonc, Johnny Barnes, Johnny Burton, and Diz Disley) | ||
| 12 | Baikonur Cosmodrome, Tyuratam, Kazaksthan, USSR: Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes the first man to fly in space, orbiting the earth once before making a safe landing | ||
| 15 | Cuba: Airfields bombed | ||
| 17 | Bay of Pigs, Cuba: an invasion by expatriot Cubans attempted and ultimately fails | ||
| 20 | Craig Douglas: "A Hundred Pounds of Clay" [Top Rank JAR 555, charts, UK #9] | ||
| 27 | Adam
Faith: "Easy Going Me" [Parlophone R 4708, charts, UK #12] Billy Fury: "Don't Worry" [Decca F 11334, charts, UK #40] |
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| Other April Artifacts | |||
| London: Pye launches their Piccadilly subsidiary | |||
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| 2 | Bolton: A fire in a basement jazz club kills 19 | ||
| 4 | The Marcels: "Blue Moon" [UK #1 for 2 weeks] | ||
| Washington: Two busloads of Freedom Riders leave for a tour of Southern states to protest segregation at bus stations. | |||
| 5 | Florida: Alan Shepard returns safely after a brief suborbital flight | ||
| 11 | The
Shadows: "Frightened City" [Columbia DB 4637, charts, UK #3] Billy Fury: "Halfway to Paradise" [Decca F 11349, charts, UK #3] Shirley Bassey: "You'll Never Know" [Columbia DB 4643, charts, UK #6] Lonnie Donegan: "Have a Drink on Me" [Pye 7N 15354, charts, UK #8]/"Seven Daffodils" Kenny Ball and His Jazzmen: "I Still Love You All" [Pye Jazz 7NJ 2042, charts, UK #24] |
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| Washington: President Kennedy orders additional forces to South Vietnam | |||
| 17 | NYC:
DJ Peter Trip found guilty of 35 counts of commercial bribery Montgomery, Alabama: The first Freedom Riders end their trip after attacks and the burning of one of the buses (on the 14th) |
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| 18 | Floyd Cramer: "On the Rebound" [UK #1 for 1 week] | ||
| Matt Monro: "Why Not Now" / "Can This Be Love" [Parlophone R 4775, charts, UK #24] | |||
| London:
Richard Rogers attends the opening of The Sound of Music at the
Palace Theatre London: Lionel Bart opens his own publishing company, Apollo Music [164 Shaftesbury] |
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| 25 | The Temperance Seven: "You're Driving Me Crazy" [UK #1 for 1 week] | ||
| Temperence Seven: "You're Driving Me Crazy" [UK #1 for 1 week] Danny Williams: "We Will Never Be As Young As This Again" [HMV POP 839, charts; UK #44] Russ Conway: "Pablo" [Columbia DB 4649, charts, UK #45] |
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| US: John Kennedy declares the US will put a man on the moon by the end of the decade | |||
| 26 | London: Fire at Ember Records destroys tape collection | ||
| 27 | Melody Maker: Police are no longer allowing musicians to congregate on Archer Street on Mondays between 2 and 5:30 P.M. | ||
| 28 | The Observer, London: Peter Berenson publishishes "The Forgotten Prisoners" describing "prisoners of conscience" and establishing Amnesty International. | ||
| 31 | South Africa: Becomes an independent republic | ||
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| 1 | Elvis Presley: "Surrender" [UK #1 for 4 weeks] | ||
| Eden Kane: "Well, I Ask You" [Decca F 11353, charts, UK #1] | |||
| 3-4 | Vienna: John Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev summit | ||
| 6 | Zurich, Switzerland: Psychologist Carl Gustav Jung (85) dies in Kuessnacht on Lake Lucerne | ||
| 10 | Melody Maker: Frank Sinatra never records before 8 P.M. | ||
| 13 | Berlin: Workers demonstrate against Soviet occupation | ||
| 15 | Temperence
Seven: "Pasadena" [Parlophone R 4781, charts, UK #4] Anthony Newley: "Pop Goes the Weasel" / "Bee Bom" [Decca F 11362, charts, UK #12] |
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| 22-23 | Hamburg, West Germany: The Beatles accompany Tony Sheridan in a recording session for producer, Bert Kaempfert (Lewisohn 1992: 42). | ||
| 22 | Cliff
Richard and the Shadows: "A Girl Like You" [Columbia DB 4667, charts,
UK #3] Karl Denver: "Marcheta" [Decca F 11360, charts, UK #8] |
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| 25 | London: Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger open a folk club in Soho Square | ||
| 29 | Del Shannon: "Runaway" [UK #1 for 3 weeks] | ||
| Helen Shapiro: "You Don't Know" [Columbia DB 4670, charts, UK #1] Craig Douglas: "Time" [Top Rank JAR 569, charts, UK #9] |
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| 2 | Ketchum, Idaho: Ernest Hemingway commits suicide at home | ||
| 6 | Danny Williams: "The Miracle of You" [HMV POP 885, charts, UK #41] | ||
| Liverpool: Bill Harry publishes the first issue of Mersey Beat with John Lennon's On The Dubious Origins Of Beatles, Translated From the John Lennon. 5,000 copies sell, including a dozen at Brian Epstein's NEMS. | |||
| 8 | London:
Center of Sound opens at 12 Denmark Street Melody Maker: James Baring becomes the manager of Regent Sound Ltd., 4 Denmark Street, London WC2 |
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| 13 | Mr. Acker Bilk and His Paramount Jazz Band: "That's My Home" [Columbia DB 4673, charts, UK #7] | ||
| 20 | The Everly Brothers: "Temptation" [UK #1 for 2 weeks] | ||
| Adam Faith: "Don't You Know It" [Parlophone R 4735, charts, UK #12] | |||
| Liverpool: Bill Harry publishes the second issue of Mersey Beat with the cover feature on the Beatles recording with Tony Sheridan. Brian Epstein buys twelve-dozen copies for sale in his store. | |||
| 21 | Florida: Captain Virgil "Gus" Grissom safely returns after a sub-orbital flight around the Earth | ||
| 25 | Washington: John Kennedy reports to the nation on Khrushchev's demanded surrender of Berlin | ||
| 26 | Paris: MPs introduce legislation to ban rock concerts | ||
| 27 | Shirley
Bassey: "Reach for the Stars" / "Climb Ev'ry Mountain" [Columbia DB 4685,
charts, UK #1] Marty Wilde: "Hide and Seek" [Philips PB 1161, charts, UK #47] |
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| 29 | Beaulieu: Beaulieu Jazz Festival ends in riots | ||
| Other July Artifacts | |||
| Macmillan applies for UK EEC membership | |||
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| 3 | Eden Kane: "Well, I Ask You" [UK #1 for 1 week] | ||
| John Leyton: "Johnny Remember Me" [Top Rank JAR 577, charts, UK #1] Anthony Newley: "What Kind of Fool Am I?" [Decca F 11376, charts, UK #36] |
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| 10 | Helen Shapiro: "You Don't Know" [UK #1 for 3 weeks] | ||
| 12 | Berlin: 2,400 flee from East to West Berlin | ||
| 13 | Berlin: East Germany seals the border between the city's eastern and western sectors to halt the flight of refugees | ||
| 15 | Berlin: East Germany begins construction of a wall to isolate their part of the city | ||
| 17 | Tommy Steele: "Writing On the Wall" [Decca F 11372, charts, UK #30 — his last charting single] | ||
| 19 | Melody Maker: The Board of Trade reports that record sales are up 15% over the previous year | ||
| 24 | Rus Conway: "Say It with Flowers" [Columbia DB 4665, charts, UK #23] | ||
| 31 | John Leyton: "Johnny Remember Me" [UK #1 for 1 week] | ||
| Lonnie Donegan: "Michael Row the Boat" / "Lumbered" [Pye 7N 15371, charts;
UK #6] Kenny Ball and His Jazzmen: "Someday" [Pye Jazz 7NJ 2047, charts, UK #28] |
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| 1 | Soho, London: The Flamingo Club celebrates its ninth anniversary | ||
| 7 | The Shadows:
"Kon Tiki" [Columnbia DB 4637, charts, UK #1] The Highwaymen: "Michael" [HMV POP 910, charts, UK #1] Billy Fury: "Jealousy" [Decca F 11384, charts, UK #2] Terry Lightfoot and His New Orleans Jazzmen: "True Love" [Columbia DB 4696; charts; UK #33] |
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| 14 | Cleo
Laine: "You'll Answer to Me" [Fontana H 326, charts, UK #5] Eden Kane: "Get Lost" [Decca F 11381, charts, UK #10] |
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| 21 | Shirley Bassey: "Reach for the Stars" / "Climb Ev'ry Mountain" [UK #1 for 1 week] | ||
| London: Dick James opens his own music publishing company, Suite 2, Charing Cross Road, WC2 | |||
| 28 | John Leyton: "Johnny Remember Me" [UK #1 for 3 weeks] | ||
| Helen Shapiro: "Walkin' Back to Happiness" [Columbia DB 4715, charts, UK #1] | |||
| 30 | Paris: Formation of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (beginnings of a movement for a "United States of Europe") | ||
| Other July Artifacts | |||
| William Grimshaw Secondary Modern School, Muswell Hill, London: The Ray Davies Quartet forms. | |||
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| 5 | The
Shadows: "Kon Tiki" [UK #1 for 1 week] John Leyton: "Wild Wind" [Top Rank JAR 585, charts, UK #2] |
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| 6 | London: Brian Bennett replaces Tony Meehan in the Shadows | ||
| 12 | The Highwaymen: "Michael" [UK #1 for 1 week] | ||
| 19 | Helen Shapiro: "Walkin' Back to Happiness" [UK #1 for 3 weeks] | ||
| Cliff Richard and the Shadows: "When the Girl in Your Arms Is the Girl
in Your Heart" [Columbia DB 4716, charts, UK #3] Karl Denver: "Mexicali Rose" [Decca F 11395, charts, UK #8] Hayley Mills: "Let's Get Together" [Decca F 21396, charts, UK #17] |
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| Litherland, Liverpool: The Beatles and Gerry and the Pacemakers temporarily join forces to play as the "Beatmakers" at the Litherland Town Hall (Lewisohn 1992:47). | |||
| 26 | Adam Faith: "The Time Has Come" [Parlophone R 4837, charts, UK #4] | ||
| 28 | Temperence Seven: "Hard Hearted Hannah" / "Chili Bom Bom" [Parlophone R 4823, charts, UK #28] | ||
| Liverpool: A customer asks Brian Epstein if he carries the recording, "My Bonnie" by the Beatles | |||
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| 1 | London: Clubs with music and dance may serve alcohol until 3 A.M. seven nights per week | ||
| 2 | Danny
Williams: "Moon River" [HMV POP 932, charts, UK #1] Mr. Acker Bilk and His Paramount Jazz Band: "Stars and Stripes Forever" / "Creole Jazz" [Columbia SCD 2155, charts, UK #22] The Moontrekkers: "Night of the Vampire" [Parlophone R 4814, charts, UK #50] |
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| 4 | Melody Maker: Drum City opens at 114 Shaftesbury Avenue, London | ||
| New York, Carnegie Chapter Hall: Bob Dylan performs | |||
| 9 | Elvis Presley: "Little Sister" / "His Latest Flame" [UK #1 for 4 weeks] | ||
| Frankie Vaughan: "Tower of Strength" [Philips PB 1195, charts, UK #1] Kenny Ball and His Jazzmen: "Midnight in Moscow" [Pye Jazz 7NJ 2049, charts, UK #2] Marty Wilde: "Tomorrow's Clown" [Philips PB 1191, charts, UK #33] |
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| Liverpool, The Cavern Club: Brian Epstein attends a lunchtime performance by the Beatles. | |||
| 14 | Indianapolis: Ray Charles arrested on drug charges | ||
| 16 | The Shadows: "The Savage" [Columbia DB 4726, charts, UK #10] | ||
| 18 | Paris: Audience riots after a Vince Taylor concert | ||
| 23 | Shirley
Bassey: "I'll Get By" [Columbia DB 4737, charts, UK #10] Terry Lightfoot and His New Orleans Jazzmen: "King Kong" [Columbia SCD 2165; charts; UK #29] |
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| 30 | Mr. Acker
Bilk with the Leon Young String Chorale: "Stranger on the Shore" [Columbia
DB 4750, charts, UK #2] Russ Conway: "Toy Balloons" [Columbia DB 4738, charts, UK #7] |
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| 2 | Melody Maker: Equity suspends Frankie Vaughan after he crosses a picket line to perform on Sunday Night at the London Palladium | ||
| 3 | Liverpool: Brian Epstein meets with the Beatles to talk about "matters to their mutual advantage" (Lewisohn 1992: 35) | ||
| 7 | Frankie Vaughan: "Tower of Strength" [UK #1 for 3 weeks] | ||
| Temperence Seven: "Charleston" [Parlophone R 4851, charts, UK #22] Aretha Franklin: "Rockabye Your Baby with a Dixie Melody" [Fontana release, no chart] |
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| 10 | London: Blues Incorporated plays the interval at the Marquee Club (Shapiro 1996: 95). | ||
| 13 | Liverpool:
Mike Smith travels to the Cavern Club to audition the Beatles for a possible
Decca audition (Lewisohn 1992: 37). London: The Musicians' Union blacklists The Mecca circuit for the Bradford Locarno Ballroom's policy of refusing admission to single black males London: Cliff Richard's The Young Ones premiers |
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| 14 | Billy Fury: "I'd Never Find Another You" [Decca F 11409, charts, UK #5] | ||
| 23 | Melody Maker: Seven band leaders will resign from the Musicians' Union to form a breakaway organization (the British Federation of Musicians) over the Mecca Locarno blacklisting. | ||
| 28 | Danny Williams: "Moon River" [UK #1 for 2 weeks] | ||
| John Leyton: "Son, This Is She" [HMV POP 956, charts, UK #15] | |||
| 31 | Britain: A major snowstorm blankets the nation, cancelling New Year's Eve shows and blocking highways | ||
| The Marshall Plan expires after distributing more than 12 billion dollars in foreign aid | |||
| Other 1961 Artifacts | |||
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| Detroit: James Jamerson switches from double bass to a Fender Precision electric bass |
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| Return to 1960s UK Rock Chronology Index | |||
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| This site is a living document. I welcome corrections and suggestions. Gordon Thompson, Department of Music, Skidmore College | |||
| Copyright © 1995 — 23 June, 2008 Gordon Thompson |
