More About Music History On This Day

19 Jan 1963
The Beatles made their first national TV appearance in the UK on 'Thank Your Lucky Stars' performing 'Please Please Me'.

19 Jan 1967
The Beatles began recording 'A Day In The Life' at Abbey Road studios London, recording four takes of the new song. According to Lennon, the inspiration for the first two verses was the death of Tara Browne, the 21-year-old heir to the Guinness fortune who had crashed his Lotus Elan on 18 December 1966 in Redcliffe Gardens, London.

19 Jan 1967
Pink Floyd and Marmalade played at The Marquee Club, London, England. Marmalade went on to score a No.1 UK hit with their version of The Beatles' Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da in 1968.

19 Jan 1967
The Monkees were at No.1 on the UK singles with 'I'm A Believer', the group's only UK No.1. The song composed by Neil Diamond had 1,051,280 advance orders, and went gold within two days of release. It is one of the fewer than forty all-time singles to have sold 10 million (or more) physical copies worldwide.

19 Jan 1971
Tracks from The Beatles The White Album (including 'Helter Skelter), were played in the courtroom at the Sharon Tate murder trial to find out if any songs could have influenced Charles Manson and his followers to commit murder. Actress Sharon Tate who was married to film director Roman Polanski, was eight and a half months pregnant when she was murdered in her home, along with four others, by followers of Charles Manson.

19 Jan 1980
The Pretenders scored their first UK No.1 hit with their third single 'Brass In Pocket'. The bands self-titled debut album started a four-week run at No.1 on the UK chart also on this day. Singer Chrissie Hynde got the idea for the song's title when, during an after-show dinner, she overheard someone enquiring if anyone had, "Picked up dry cleaning? Any brass in pocket?"

19 Jan 1980
Pink Floyd's The Wall started a 15-week run at No.1 on the US album chart. The group’s third US No.1, it went on to sell over 23 million copies in the US alone. The Wall is still the third largest grossing album in the US, behind Michael Jackson’s Thriller and Eagles’ 'Greatest Hits'.

19 Jan 1988
Bon Jovi and Mötley Crüe manager Doc McGhee pleaded guilty to importing more than 40,000lb of marijuana into the US from Colombia via a shrimp boat. McGhee received a five-year suspended prison sentence, a fine of $15,000, and was ordered to set up an anti-drugs foundation.

19 Jan 1993
Fleetwood Mac re-formed to perform at Bill Clinton's inauguration. The band's "Don't Stop" was used as the theme for his campaign.

19 Jan 1998
American singer, songwriter Carl Perkins died aged 65 from throat cancer. He wrote the classic rock & roll song 'Blue Suede Shoes', the first record on the Sun label to sell a million copies. His songs were recorded by Elvis Presley, The Beatles Jimi Hendrix and Johnny Cash. Paul McCartney claimed that "if there were no Carl Perkins, there would be no Beatles."

19 Jan 2001
It was reported that Paul McCartney was set to become the world's first pop star billionaire. McCartney was said to be worth 725 million ($1,233) and was expected to become a billionaire after huge sales from The Beatles compilation hits album.

19 Jan 2006
American soul singer, Wilson Pickett died in hospital near his Ashburn, Virginia home of a heart attack aged 64. Pickett recorded the soul classics ‘Mustang Sally’, ‘Everybody Needs Somebody to Love’ and ‘In The Midnight Hour’ plus Pickett scored 15 other US Top 40 singles.

19 Jan 2007
Canadian singer songwriter and former Mamas and the Papas singer Denny Doherty died at the age of 66 at his home near Toronto, Canada after a short illness. The group scored the 1966 US No.1 & UK No.2 single 'Monday Monday.' Doherty started his musical career in 1956 with a band called the Hepsters and in 1963, established a friendship with Cass Elliot when she was with a band called The Big 3.

19 Jan 2008
American songwriter and singer John Stewart, who wrote the Monkees 1967 hit 'Daydream Believer' died aged 68 after he suffered a brain aneurysm in San Diego. Stewart was a member of folk group The Kingston Trio and went on to record more than 45 solo albums with his biggest solo success being a US top five single, 'Gold', in 1979.

19 Jan 2011
Aerosmith singer Steven Tyler made his debut appearance as a judge on American Idol, during the premiere of the show's tenth season, (replacing Simon Cowell).

19 Jan 2012
Jamaican singer, songwriter and record producer Winston Riley died aged 68. He had been shot in the head at his home in Kingston. After being in a coma since the shooting, he died on 19 January. He formed the band The Techniques in 1962 and Riley's own song, ‘Double Barrel’, performed by Dave and Ansell Collins under his own production, was one of the first international reggae hits, reaching No.1 in the Dutch and UK Singles Chart.

19 Jan 2014
Bruce Springsteen scored his 10th UK No.1 album with High Hopes, putting him ahead of the likes of Abba, David Bowie and Michael Jackson. The achievement puts him on level pegging with The Rolling Stones and U2, who also have 10 UK No.1's. The Beatles lead the way, with 15, followed by Madonna on 12, while Elvis Presley and Robbie Williams both had 11 each.

19 Jan 2017
The former business manager of Alanis Morissette has admitted stealing over $7m from the singer and other celebrities. Jonathan Schwartz was charged with fraud over claims he transferred the singer's money into his own accounts. When initially confronted about the theft, Mr Schwartz lied and said he had invested the money in an illegal marijuana growing business.

19 Jan 2018
The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner announced that Tom Petty had died accidentally from mixed drug toxicity, a combination of fentanyl, oxycodone, acetylfentanyl and despropionyl fentanyl (all opioids); temazepam and alprazolam (both sedatives); and citalopram (an antidepressant). Petty's wife and daughter said he had multiple medical problems, including emphysema, knee difficulties and most significantly a fractured hip. The statement read, "It is our feeling that the pain was simply unbearable and was the cause for his overuse of medication. We feel confident that this was, as the coroner found, an unfortunate accident."

19 Jan 2019
Scottish drummer Ted McKenna died aged 68 of a hemorrhage during a routine operation for a hernia. He worked with The Sensational Alex Harvey Band, Rory Gallagher, The Michael Schenker Group and toured with Ian Gillan for a short period in 1990.

19 Jan 2020
American R&B singer and musician Robert Parker died age 89. He was best known for his 1966 hit, 'Barefootin'. He played with most of New Orleans’ musicians, including Fats Domino, Irma Thomas, and Huey “Piano” Smith.

Date & Time

January 19, 2025

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