Music History On This Day

1 May 1956
Johnny Cash released his classic song, 'I Walk the Line', which became his first No.1 Billboard country hit and remained on the charts for over 43 weeks, selling over 2 million copies. The unique chord progression for the song was inspired by backwards playback of guitar runs on Cash's tape recorder while he was in the Air Force stationed in Germany.

1 May 1962
The Beatles started a month-long residency at The Star Club, Hamburg, Germany. American musicians including Ray Charles, Bo Diddley, Fats Domino, Everly Brothers, Bill Haley, Jimi Hendrix and Jerry Lee Lewis also all appeared here.

1 May 1964
The Beatles received $140,000 dollars for the rights to having their pictures included in packages of bubble gum in the USA.

1 May 1965
Herman's Hermits started a three-week run at No.1 in the US singles chart with 'Mrs Brown You've Got A Lovely Daughter'.

1 May 1966
The Beatles played live for the last time in the UK when they appeared at the NME Poll Winners concert at Wembley Empire Pool. The Beatles set included 'I Feel Fine', 'Nowhere Man', 'Day Tripper', 'If I Needed Someone' and 'I'm Down'. Also on the bill, The Spencer Davis Group, The Fortunes, Herman's Hermits, Roy Orbison, The Rolling Stones, The Seekers, The Small Faces, Dusty Springfield, The Walker Brothers, The Who and The Yardbirds.

1 May 1967
32-year-old Elvis Presley married 21-year-old Priscilla Beaulieu, a girl he first met in 1959 when she was just 14 years old. When Elvis got out of the army in 1960, Beaulieu moved into the singer's Graceland mansion with her family's blessing. The wedding ceremony took place at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas and although the marriage license was only $15, the wedding cake cost $3,500. The couple divorced after five years of marriage on October 9, 1973.

1 May 1967
The F.B.I. arrested The Beach Boys Carl Wilson on charges of avoiding the military draft and refusing to take the Oath of Allegiance. He was later released and joined the rest of the band in Ireland for a British tour.

1 May 1969
Bob Dylan recorded an appearance for The Johnny Cash Show at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee. After two solo numbers from Dylan, Johnny Cash joined him for a rendition of 'Girl From The North Country'. In this primetime show, Cash enjoyed booking contemporary performers as guests; Neil Young, James Taylor, Ray Charles and Eric Clapton were all booked to appear on forthcoming shows.

1 May 1975
During a press conference held at the 5th Avenue Hotel in New York City to announce The Rolling Stones forthcoming American tour, the Stones themselves came down the street playing live from the back of a flat-bed truck. Stones drummer Charlie Watts came up with the idea, after the practice of New Orleans jazz musicians, who would play walking down the street.

1 May 1976
Led Zeppelin started a two-week run at No.1 on the US album chart with Presence, the group's fifth No.1 album.

1 May 1976
The Bellamy Brothers went to No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Let Your Love Flow', the duo's only US No.1.

1 May 1979
Elton John became the first pop star to perform in Israel. In three weeks' time he also became the first Western solo pop performer to tour Russia.

1 May 1980
The South African government banned Pink Floyd's single 'Another Brick In The Wall (Part 2)' after black children adopted the song as their anthem in protest against inferior education.

1 May 1984
Fleetwood Mac drummer Mick Fleetwood filed for bankruptcy. It was reported that the drummer had spent thousands of dollars of cocaine a month, and had refused to listen to financial advisers, buying up several homes, a $400,000 spread in Hawaii and a $1.8 million farm outside Sydney, Australia.

1 May 1986
American songwriter and producer Hugo Peretti died aged 70. Wrote and produced many classic hits including, 'Can't Help Falling In Love', 'Twistin' The Night Away', 'Shout', 'The Hustle' and 'You Make Me Feel Brand New.'

1 May 1993
George Michael, Queen and Lisa Stansfield went to No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'The Five Live EP' which was recorded at the Freddie Mercury tribute concert held in April 1992, at Wembley Stadium, London.

1 May 1997
The house where Kurt Cobain committed suicide went up for sale. The asking price for the five-bedroom house built in 1902 was $3 million. The carriage house where the Nirvana guitarist died had been demolished.

1 May 1999
The Paintings of Paul McCartney exhibit opened at the Lyz Art Forum, Siegen, Germany. The exhibit featured 70 paintings by the former Beatle, including a piece called 'Bowie Spewing' McCartney's representation of a young David Bowie.

1 May 2000
A writer who claimed Neil Young went back on an agreement to have a biography written about him filed a $1.8 million civil fraud suit against Young in Los Angeles Superior Court. Young had blocked the book's publication.

1 May 2003
American soul singer Barry White suffered a stroke while being treated for kidney failure. The singer died two months later on July 4th, 2003.

1 May 2005
Matchbox Twenty singer Rob Thomas went to No.1 on the US album chart with his first solo album Something To Be. This marked the first time a male artist from a rock group had debuted at No.1 with his first solo album since the Billboard Top 200 was introduced 50 years ago.

1 May 2005
Coldplay became the first British band to have a new entry in the US Top 10 singles chart since The Beatles. Coldplay's latest single 'Speed Of Sound' entered the chart at number eight, only the second time a UK band has achieved the feat. The Beatles managed it with ‘Hey Jude’ in 1968.

1 May 2013
A Minnesota man was accused of pretending to be a member of Pink Floyd at a US hospital racked up as much as $100,000 in unpaid medical bills. Phillip Michael Schaeffer, 53, went for treatment April 20 and claimed he was Pink Floyd singer-guitarist David Gilmour and that he didn't have health insurance. The man was treated and released from the St. Cloud Hospital, Minnesota, but not before he signed an autograph for an employee’s son.

1 May 2013
Chris Kelly, one half of the 1990s rap duo Kris Kross, died in an Atlanta hospital at the age of 34. Kelly had been found "unresponsive" at his home. Kris Kross was made up of Kelly, known as "Mac Daddy", and Chris "Daddy Mac" Smith. They are most widely remembered for their 1992 hit 'Jump'.

1 May 2014
Justin Bieber's personal assistant was ordered to do community service after police found ecstasy in his room. Xavier Domonique Smith, who is also known as Lil Za, was also sentenced to probation and ordered into a drug treatment program. He was fined $1,000.

1 May 2015
Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars gave The Gap Band a writing credit on their huge hit 'Uptown Funk', due to its similarities with their 1979 track 'Oops Up Side Your Head'. 'Uptown Funk', which had topped the UK chart for seven weeks and the US chart for 14, originally had six songwriters but was now credited to The Gap Band as well.