This Day in Music
On September 9, 1956, Elvis Presley made his first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, performing “Don’t Be Cruel,” “Love Me Tender,” and “Ready Teddy” from the CBS TV Studios in Los Angeles. On the show, Presley, who was only 21 years old, was introduced by British actor Charles Laughton, who was playing host for Sullivan, as he was recovering from a car accident. With the performance of “Love Me Tender,” Variety reported that, “For the first time in the history of the record business, a single record has achieved one million sales before being released to the public.” With 60 million viewers – or 82.6 percent of TV viewers at the time – tuning in, the performance earned the show’s best ratings in two years and became the most-watched TV broadcast of the 1950s.
In 2007, Taylor Swift released “Our Song,” the third single from her self-titled debut. It became Swift’s first No.1 single on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart, where it maintained the position for six consecutive weeks. The accomplishment also broke new records, making Swift the youngest person to single-handedly write and perform a No.1 song on the chart. Additionally, “Our Song” crossed over to the Billboard Hot 100 – peaking at number 16 and becoming the third consecutive Top 40 single off Swift’s debut.
In 1995, Coolio scored his first US No.1 single with “Gangsta’s Paradise (Feat. L.V.).” The song, which earned a Grammy for Best Rap Solo Performance, sampled the chorus of the 1976 Stevie Wonder song, “Pastime Paradise,” and was featured in the 1995 movie Dangerous Minds.
In 2004, guitar maker and entrepreneur Ernie Ball died at the age of 74. In the late 50s, Ball opened America’s first guitar store in Tarzana, CA. He also developed guitar strings called Slinkys, specifically designed for the electric guitar. Eventually, he would grow his business into a global, multimillion-dollar enterprise.
In 1975, Paul McCartney and Wings kicked off their historic 13-month world tour – captured in the triple live album, Wings Over America. The run of dates also found McCartney playing his first US shows since The Beatles’ final tour in 1966.
In 1963, The Beatles scored their second No.1 hit in the UK with “She Loves You.” Concurrently, their debut album, Please Please Me, was also atop the UK album chart. “She Loves You” became The Beatles’ best-selling single in the UK, and was also named Britain’s best-selling single of 1963.
BORN ON SEPTEMBER 9
1941: Otis Redding
1946: Bruce Palmer (Buffalo Springfield)
1950: John McFee (The Doobie Brothers)
1952: Dave Stewart (Eurythmics)
1975: Michael Bublé
