This Week in
Rock History
Feb. 19 (1940) — William Robinson Jr. is born in Detroit, Mich. Smokey Robinson will become the founder and front man of the Miracles, one of the original acts signed by Motown Record Corp. The group will produce 25 Top 40 hits with Robinson as lead vocalist, principal songwriter and producer, including a 1970 No. 1, “The Tears of a Clown.”
Feb. 19 (1966) — Lou Christie’s “Lightning Strikes” reaches No. 1 on the Billboard pop chart. A plea for a sexual double standard — “Listen to me, baby, it's hard to settle down/Am I asking too much for you to stick around” — it will remain atop the chart for only one week, and Christie won’t record another Top 10 hit.
Feb. 25 (1957) — Buddy Holly and the Crickets record their first charting single, “That’ll Be the Day,” in a Clovis, N.M., studio. The song is a No. 1 hit, and is considered a rock classic — but is not the first version Holly and his band recorded.
This Week in
Rock History
May 23 (1958) — “Yakety Yak” by the Coasters enters the Billboard Hot 100, at No. 52. Seven weeks later, the Leiber and Stoller-penned song about parent-teenager relations will become the first and only No. 1 for the doo-wop-inspired group originally from Los Angeles. But they will follow it up with a No. 2, “Charlie Brown,” and will record 10 Top 40 hits, including four other Top 10s.
May 28 (1910) — Aaron Thibeaux Walker is born in Linden, Texas, to parents who are both musicians. T-Bone Walker will leave school at age 10, become a professional blues musician at age 15 and go on to be a pioneer in electrified blues music. He will also co-write one of the best-known blues songs, “Call It Stormy Monday.”