| 1960s British Rock & Pop Chronology |
| 1960 |
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| 1 | Michael Holliday: "Starry Eyed" [Columbia DB 4378, charts, RR #1] | ||
| South Africa: The government bars non-White students from registering at White universities. | |||
| 2 | "Emile Ford and the Checkmates: "What Do You Want to Make those Eyes at Me for" [RR #1 for 3 weeks] | ||
| Melody
Maker: ABC is cancelling "Boy Meets Girls" | BBC plans "Big
Beat" Donald MacLean (BBC exec): "Rock-'n'-Roll is now respectable. The wild stuff has given way to beat ballads, and this is what our audiences want to hear. After all, pop music is now the biggest force in entertainment." (1) |
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| ABC TV. Boy Meets Girls: Adam Faith, Jack Good's Firing Squade, Little Tony, The Vernons Girls. | |||
| 5 | Macmillan embarks on tour of Africa | ||
| 8 | New Musical Express: EMI's chairman, Joseph Lockwood, knighted. | ||
| 9 | ABC. Boy Meets Girls: Little Tony, The Vernons Girls, Marty Wilde. | ||
| 15 | Cliff
Richard and the Shadows: Expresso Bongo [Columbia SEG 7971 EP,
charts, RR #14] Anthony Newley: "Why" [Decca F 11194, charts, RR #1] |
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| 16 | Melody Maker: The John Barry 7 will take over as the house band for the BBC's Saturday Club as the show moves to include pop and rock oriented material into its format. | ||
| ABC TV. Boy Meets Girls: Marty Wilde (host), Eddie Cochran, Johnny Gentle, and The Vernons Girls. | |||
| 19 | London: Kenyan constitutional conference begins | ||
| 22 | Adam
Faith: "Poor Me" [Parlophone R 4623, charts, RR #1] Cliff Richard and the Shadows: "A Voice in the Wilderness" [Columbia DB 4398, charts, RR #2] Craig Douglas: "Pretty Blue Eyes" [Top Rank Jar 159, charts, RR #4] Mr. Acker Bilk and his Paramount Jazz Band: "Summer Set" [Columbia DB 4382, charts, RR #5] |
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| Johnny Kidd and the Pirates: "You Got What It Takes" / "Longin' Lips" [UK release] | |||
| 23 | ABC TV. Boy Meets Girls: Marty Wilde (host) with Eddie Cochran, Billy Fury, and The Vernons Girls. | ||
| 29 | Michael Holliday: "Starry Eyed" [RR #1 for 1 week] | ||
| 30 | ABC. Boy Meets Girls: Marty Wilde (host) with Otis Blackwell, Michael Cox, Billy Fury, Ronnie Hawkins, Janet Richard, and The Vernons Girls. | ||
| 31 | Bradford: Gene Vincent walks out of a concert after audience heckling. | ||
| Other January Artifacts | |||
| Bremerhaven, West Germany: The US Army discharges Elvis Presley | |||
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| 1 | US: black college students begin non-violent protests of segregation | ||
| 5 | Anthony Newley: "Why" [RR #1 for 4 weeks] | ||
| Emile Ford and the Checkmates: "On a Slow Boat to China" [Pye 7N 15245, charts, RR #3] | |||
| 6 | ABC TV. Boy Meets Girls: Marty Wilde (host) with Michael Cox, Adam Faith, Billy Fury, Ronnie Hawkins, Davy Jones, and The Vernons Girls. | ||
| 12 | Johnny Kidd and the Pirates: "You Got What It Takes" [HMV POP 698, charts, RR #25] | ||
| 13 | Micronesia: France detonates its first atomic weapon | ||
| ABC TV. Boy Meets Girls: Marty Wilde (host) with Jess conrad, Michael Cox, Billy Fury, The Vernons Girls, and Peter Wynne. | |||
| 16 | London: Largest British peace-time arms budget proposed | ||
| 19 | Lance Fortune: "Be Mine" [Pye 7N 15240, charts, RR #4] | ||
| London: Elizabeth II gives birth to a son, Andrew (the first to a reigning British monarch since 1857) | |||
| 20 | ABC TV. Boy Meets Girls: Marty Wilde (host) with Eddie Cochran, Jess Conrad, Adam Faith, Billy Fury, The Vernons Girls, and Gene Vincent | ||
| 21 | London, Wembly: NME Poll Winners Concert | ||
| 25 | Empire Yard, 538 Holloway Road, London: Joe Meek and William Barrington-Coupe found Triumph Records | ||
| 26 | London: Princess Margaret engaged to Antony Armstrong Jones | ||
| 26 | ABC TV. Boy Meets Girls: Marty Wilde (host) with Eddie Cochran, Billy Fury, The Vernons Girls, and Gene Vincent. | ||
| 27 | Melody Maker: The BBC bans the song "Teen Angel" | ||
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| 2 | West Germany: Elvis Presley ends his tour of service | ||
| 5 | ABC TV. Boy Meets Girls: Marty Wilde (host) with The Vernons Girls | ||
| 10 | Adam Faith: "Poor Me" [RR #1 for 1 week] | ||
| Max Bygraves: "Fings Ain't Wot They Used t'Be" [Decca F 11214, charts,
RR #5] Tommy Steele: "Little White Bull" [Decca F 11177, re-entry, RR #6] Billy Fury: "Colette" [Decca F 11200, charts, RR #9] John Barry Seven: "Hit and Miss" [Columbia DB 4414, charts, RR #10] Bert Weedon: "Big Beat Boogie" [Top Rank JAR 300; charts; RR #37; re-enters 7 Apr, #29] Marty Wilde: "Johnny Rocco" [Philips PB 1002; charts; RR #30] Don Lang: "Sink the Bismark" [HMV POP 714, charts, RR #43] |
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| 12 | Melody Maker: Interviews with British teens. [On rock music in club settings] "...we have to keep it under control, otherwise the members wouldn't want to do anything else but jive and play." "What becomes obvious in talking to young people..., is that music is far more important to them than to adults. It's easy enough to understand." "'In our crowd,' said one fifteen-year-old boy, 'You have to like rock or you're dead'." (3, 8) | ||
| 17 | Johnny Preston: "Running Bear" [RR #1 for 2 weeks] | ||
| Joe Brown and the Bruvvers: "Darktown Strutters Ball" [Decca F 11207, charts, RR #34] | |||
| New £1 notes issued by Bank of England | |||
| 18 | Last naming of a British steam locomotive | ||
| 19 | Melody Maker: Liverpool Locarno manager, Cyril Isherwood, uses Melody Maker's record charts as program guide. "I had trouble in Newcastle and Liverpool. My coarse ear took time to accustom itself to local inflections of speech...." Tony Brown: "I asked two Liverpook girls to name the best singer in Britain and they responded promptly with Cliff Richard. 'No," I corrected them, 'I mean the best singer.' they looked perplexed. 'Marty Wilde'." (3) | ||
| 24 | Lonnie
Donegan: "My Old Man's a Dustman" / "The Golden Vanity" [Pye
7N 15256, charts, RR #1] Anthony Newley: "Do You Mind" [Decca F 11220, , RR #1] Cliff Richard and the Shadows: "Fall in Love with You" / "Willie and the Hand Jive" [Columbia DB 4431, RR #2] |
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| US: Chuck Berry jailed and fined | |||
| 31 | Lonnie Donegan: "My Old Man's a Dustman" [RR #1 for 4 weeks] | ||
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| 1 | Cape Canaveral, Florida: the first weather satellite, "TIROS-One," launched | ||
| 2 | Melody Maker : " Bobby Darin: "I'll never tour Briatin again in a rock-'n'-roll package show.... I have found the British audiences the noisiest I have played to anywhere in the world" (HL, 20) | ||
| 3 | BBC: The Everly Brothers appear on "Saturday Club" to promote "Cathy's Clown" (10) | ||
| 9 | Melody Maker : British Musicians' Union bans performances by members in South Africa | ||
| 13 | London: British "Blue Streak" missile program abandoned | ||
| 14 | Adam
Faith: "Someone Else's Baby" [Parlophone R 4643; charts, RR #2] The King Brothers: "Standing on the Corner" [Parlophone R 4639, charts, RR #4] |
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| 15 | Finsbury Park EmpireLondon: Duane Eddy performs, Ray Davies and others observe. | ||
| 18 | Chippenham, Wiltshire: Eddie Cochrane killed in car crash, Gene Vincent injured | ||
| London: 75,000 protest nuclear weapons | |||
| 23 | ABC TV: Jack Good's Wham! debuts with Joe Brown, Johnny Carson, Jess Conrad, Billy Fury, The Four Jays, Jack Good's Fat Noise, Dickie Pride, Little Tony, and The Vernons Girls. | ||
| 27 | London: Harold Pinter's The Caretaker opens | ||
| 28 | Anthony Newley: "Do You Mind" [RR #1 for 1 week] | ||
| Craig Douglas: "The Heart of a Teenage Girl" [Top Rank JAR 340, charts, RR #10] | |||
| 30 | ABC TV: Jack Good's Wham! with Keith Fordyce (host), Richard Allen, Joe Brown, Jess Conrad, Cuddly Dudley, Billy Fury, Johnny Kidd and The Pirates, Jack Good's Fat Noise, Vince Taylor, Little Tony, and The Vernons Girls. | ||
| Other April Artifacts | |||
| South Africa: Prime Minister Hedrik Verwoerd shot in an assassination attempt.. | |||
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| 1 | USSR: Francis Gary Powers shot down in his U2 | ||
| 2 | Emile Ford and the Checkmates: "You'll Never Know What You're Missing" [Pye 7N 15268, charts, RR #12] | ||
| 3 | London: Prime ministers of the 10 British Commonwealth nations meet | ||
| 5 | The Everly Brothers: "Cathy's Clown" [RR #1 for 7 weeks] | ||
| 6 | Princess Margaret marries Anthony Armstrong-Jones | ||
| 7 | ABC TV: Jack Good's Wham! with Keith Fordyce (host), Joe Brown, Jess Conrad, The Flee-Rekkers, Billy Fury, Gill Gordon, Jack Good's Fat Noise, Dickie Pride, Danny Rivers, Little Tony, and The Vernons Girls. | ||
| 9 | US: birth-control pills approved | ||
| 14 | ABC TV: Jack Good's Wham! with Keith Fordyce (host), Richard Allen, Joe Brown, Jess Conrad, Michael Cox, Sonny Stewart and The Dynamos, Billy Fury, The Four Jays, Davy Jones, Jack Good's Fat Noise, Little Tony, and The Vernons Girls. | ||
| 16 | Paris: France-UK-US-USSR summit | ||
| 19 | Marty Wilde: "The Fight" [Philips PB 1022; charts; RR #47] | ||
| 21 | ABC TV: Jack Good's Wham! with Keith Fordyce (host), Joe Brown, Jess Conrad, Michael Cox, Bobby Deacon and The Cruisers, Billy Fury, The Four Jays, Davy Jones, Keith Kelly, Jack Good's Fat Noise, Red Price, Little Tony, The Vernons Girls, and Roy Young. | ||
| 23 | Tel Aviv: Israel announces it has captured former Nazi official Adolf Eichmann in Argentina | ||
| 26 | Lonnie
Donegan: "I Wanna Go Home" / "Jimmie Brown the Newsboy" [Pye
7N 15267, charts. RR #5] Billy Fury: "That's Love" [Decca F 11267; , RR #19] |
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| Paris: "Big Four" summit dissolves over U2 and Francis Gary Powers | |||
| 28 | ABC TV: Jack Good's Wham! with Keith Fordyce (host), Joe Brown, tommy Bruce, Jess Conrad, Billy Fury, The Four Jays, Jack Good's Fat Noise, Red Price, Dickie Pride, Danny Rivers, Vince Taylor, Little Tony, and The Vernons Girls. | ||
| Other May Artifacts | |||
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| 4 | Melody
Maker: ABC cancels Wham! Jack Good: "ABC thinks there
is no longer a public for teenage rock-'n'-roll type programmes"
(1). ——. "Lonnie Donegan Dust Up Settles" [Tyler Music (sub. of Essex Music) agrees to pay Lawrence Wright fees for the song "My Old Man's a Dustman" (10).] |
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| ABC: Jack Good's Wham! with Keith Fordyce (host), Joe Brown, Jess Conrad, Michael Cox, Alan Fielding, Billy Fury, The Four Jays, Jonny Kidd and The Pirates, Jack Good's Fat Noise, Red Price, Dave Sampson and The Hunters, Little Tony, and The Vernons Girls. | |||
| 6 | UK and US announce agreement to share air-launch ballistic missiles | ||
| 9 | Bert Weedon: "Twelfth Street Rag" [Top Rank JAR 360; charts; RR #47 | ||
| 11 | ABC: Jack Good's Wham! with Keith Fordyce (host), Joe Brown, Jess Conrad, Cuddly Dudley, Peter Elliott, Billy Fury, The Four Jays, Don Neilson, Jack Good's Fat Noise, Red Price, Danny Rivers, Little Tony, The Vernons Girls, Peter Wynne. | ||
| 16 | Johnny Kidd and the Pirates: "Shakin' All Over" [HMV POP 753, charts RR #1] / "Yes Sir, That's My Baby." Release | ||
| New York City: Alfred Hitchcock's movie, Psycho opens | |||
| 18 | Melody Maker: Gene Vincent announces that he's headed home because his daughter has died (HL). | ||
| ABC TV: Jack Good's Wham! with Keith Fordyce (host), Joe Brown, Jess Conrad, Michael Cox, Karl Denver, Billy Fury, The Four Jays, Jack Good's Fat Noise, Red Price, Danny Rivers, Little Tony, and The Vernons Girls. | |||
| 23 | Eddie Cochran: "Three Steps to Heaven" [RR #1 for 2 weeks] | ||
| Tommy Steele: "What a Mouth" [Decca F 11245, charts, RR #5] | |||
| 25 | Melody Maker: Gene Vincent's manager, Norman Riley, admits that the telegram was a hoax and that Vincent wanted to return home. | ||
| 27 | Paris: Kruschev et al. walk out of the disarmament conference. | ||
| 29 | London: Television Center opens. | ||
| 30 | Cliff
Richard and the Shadows: "Please Don't Tease" [Columbia DB 4479, charts,
RR #1] Adam Faith: "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" / "Made Your" [Parlophone R 4665, charts, RR #5] |
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| 1 | Sakhalin Island: Soviets shoot down US reconnaissance aircraft | ||
| 4 | UK protests Cuban nationalization of Havana Shell Oil refinery | ||
| 6 | Aneurin Bevan, Labour architect of the National Health Service, dies | ||
| 7 | Jimmy Jones: "Good Timin'" [RR #1 for 3 weeks] | ||
| The Kaye Sisters: "Paper Roses" [Philips PB 1024, charts, RR #7] Ken Dodd: "Love is Like a Violin" [Decca F 11248, charts, RR #8] |
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| 9 | Kruschev pledges military defense of Cuba | ||
| 14 | US reasserts Monroe Doctrine [re Cuba] | ||
| 16 | Melody
Maker : "Death Disc Too Grim for Fans?" [Decca postpones
British release of Ray Peterson's "Tell Laura I Love Her," even
though 530,000 copies of the recording have already been sold internationally]
(HL) ——. "This Copying Must Stop!" by Pete Murray [Juke Box Jury has to decide which cover version of "Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini" to review] (3). ——. "Let's Face the Facts," by George Martin [promotes Parlophone's Paul Hanford cover of Bryan Hyland's recording] (3). |
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| 21 | The Shadows
(London 1958): "Apache" [Columbia DB 4484, charts; RR #1] George Formby: "Happy Go Lucky Me" / "Banjo Boy" [Pye 7N 15269, charts, RR #40; last charting release] |
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| 25 | 304 Holloway Road, North London: Joe Meek and Major Wilfred Alonzo Banks form a production company | ||
| 28 | Cliff Richard and the Shadows: "Please Don't Tease" [RR #1 for 1 week] | ||
| Bert Weedon: "Apache" [Top Rank JAR 415, charts, RR #44; re-enters 11 Aug, RR #24] | |||
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| 4 | Johnny Kidd and the Pirates: "Shakin' All Over" [RR #1 for 1 week] | ||
| Shirley Bassey: "As Long as He Needs Me" [Columbia DB 4490, charts, RR #2] | |||
| 11 | Cliff Richard and the Shadows: "Please Don't Tease" [RR #1 for 2 weeks] | ||
| 13 | Melody Maker: Executives at Top Rank Records are planning for its closure | ||
| First two-way telephone conversation by satellite takes place with the help of Echo 1, a balloon satellite | |||
| 16 | Cyprus: independence from the UK | ||
| 17 | Hamburg, West Germany: The Beatles begin performing at the Indra Club. | ||
| 19 | Moscow: A tribunal convicts American U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers of espionage | ||
| 23 | Doylestown, Pa.: Broadway librettist, Oscar Hammerstein II dies | ||
| 25 | The Shadows: "Apache" [RR #1 for 5 weeks] | ||
| Lonnie Donegan: "Lorelei" / "In All My Wildest Dreams" [Pye 7N 15275, charts, RR #10] | |||
| 30 | Berlin: East German government imposes 5-day partial blockade of West Berlin over rallies | ||
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| 1 | Emile Ford and the Checkmates: "Them There Eyes" [Pye 7N 15282, charts, RR #12] | ||
| 12 | 304 Holloway Road, North London: Wilfred Banks and Joe Meek register RGM Sound | ||
| UK: MOT tests on motor vehicles introduced | |||
| New York City: Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev pounds on his desk with a shoe at a U.N. General Assembly session | |||
| 13 | London: The play, Billy Liar opens at the Cambridge Theatre with Albert Finney | ||
| 15 | Adam Faith "How about That" [Parlophone R 4689, charts, RR #4] | ||
| Berlin: East German government imposes additional 5-day partial blockade of West Berlin over rallies | |||
| 22 | Cliff Richard and the Shadows: "Nine Times Out of Ten" [Columbia DB 4506, charts, RR #3] | ||
| 24 | Newport News, Va.: The USS Enterprise, the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, launched | ||
| 29 | Ricky Valance: "Tell Laura I Love Her" [RR #1 for 3 weeks] | ||
| 30 | Johnny Kidd and the Pirates: "Restless" / "Magic of Love" [release] | ||
| Other September Artifacts | |||
| Beaulieu, Hampshire: The Beaulieu Festival ends abruptly with fights between supporters of tradder Mr. Acker Bilk and modernist, Johnny Dankworth. | |||
| 304 Holloway Road, North London: Joe Meek sets up his RGM studios | |||
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| 1 | Melody Maker: The arrival of Sony transistor radios | ||
| 6 | Johnny Kidd and the Pirates: "Restless" [HMV POP 790, charts, RR #22] | ||
| 17 | Washington: The US will embargo American shipping to Cuba | ||
| 20 | Roy Orbison: "Only the Lovely" [RR #1 for 2 weeks] | ||
| 21 | Britain launches first nuclear-powered submarine | ||
| 22 | Melody Maker. "The Duke of Denmark Street: The Lawrence Wright Story — 50 Years of Show Business," Hubert W. David (8-page supplement). | ||
| 24 | Baikonur, USSR: An R-16 intercontinental ballistic missle explodes on the launch pad. The worst space program disaster in history injures 30 and kills 92, including Marshal Mitrofan Nedelin. | ||
| 26 | London: The film, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning opens at the Warner Theatre, Leichester Square | ||
| 27 | Bert Weedon: "Sorry Robbie" [Top Rank JAR 517, RR #28] | ||
| Paris: Formation of Les Nouveau Réalistes. | |||
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| 1 | London: Macmillan announces that the US will use the UK for Polaris bases | ||
| Washington: Eisenhower announces US determination to defend the US base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba | |||
| 3 | Elvis Presley: "It's Now of Never" [RR #1 for 8 weeks] | ||
| 6 | Austin, Texas: Johnny Horton dies in car crash after concert | ||
| 8 | United States: John F. Kennedy elected President | ||
| 10 | Peter
Sellers and Sophia Loren: "Goodness Gracious Me" [Parlophone R 4702, charts,
RR #4] The Shadows: "Man of Mystery" / "The Stranger" [Columbia DB 4530, charts, RR #5] |
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| 12 | Melody Maker: "The Short, Busy Life of Cliff Richard" [called "nigger" when he first moved to England] (15) | ||
| 16 | Liverpool: The Iron Door Club closes under the burden of facilities fines | ||
| 17 | Adam Faith: "Lonely Pup (In a Christmas Shop)" [Parlophone R 4708, charts, RR #4] | ||
| UK: last men called up under universal conscription | |||
| 24 | Lonnie Donegan: "Lively" / "Black Cat (Cross My Path Today)" [Pye 7N 15312, charts, RR #13] | ||
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| 1 | Cliff
Richard and the Shadows: "I Love You" [Columbia DB 4547, charts, RR #1] Max Harris: "Gurney Slade" [Fontana H 282, charts, RR #11] |
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| Liverpool: The Beatles begin arriving home after Hamburg officials revoked their visas | |||
| 2 | Johnny Kidd and the Pirates: "Big Bon' Baby" [rec 7 Oct] / "Weep No More, My Baby" [ditto] | ||
| 5 | Life : "British Couple's Kooky Styles" [comments on Mary Quant] | ||
| 8 | Emile
Ford and the Checkmates: "Counting Teardrops" [Pye 7N 15314, charts, RR #4] Mr. Acker Bilk and his Paramount Jazz Band: "Buona Sera" [Columbia DB 4544, charts, RR #7] Lonnie Donegan: "Virgin Mary" / "Beyond the Sunset" [Pye 7N 15315, charts, RR #27] |
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| 9 | ITV: Coronation Street premieres. | ||
| 10 | Melody Maker: BBC bans Irish "Rebel" discs | ||
| 15 | Matt Monro: "Portrait of My Love" [Parlophone, charts, RR #3] | ||
| 17 | The Casbah Coffee Club, West Derby, Liverpool: The Beatles regroup and rehearse after returning from Hamburg, initiating a new bassist, Chas Newby (to replace Stu Sutcliffe who had chosen to remain in Germany). | ||
| 22 | Marty Wilde: "Little Girl" [Philips PB 1078; charts; RR #16] | ||
| 27 | Town Hall Ballroom, Hatton Hill Road, Litherland, Liverpool: The Beatles play a remarkable show in which they stun locals (some of whom think the band is from Germany). | ||
| 29 | Cliff Richard and the Shadows: "I Love You" [RR #1 for 2 weeks] | ||
| Tommy Steele: "Must Be Santa" [Decca F 11299; charts; RR #40] | |||
| 31 | The Casbah Coffee Club, West Derby, Liverpool: Chas Newby plays bass with the Beatles one last time, having decided to return to school. | ||
| Other December Artifacts | |||
| The Clissold Arms, Muswell Hills, London: Ray and Dave Davies make appearances as The Kelly Brothers. | |||
| Other 1960 Artifacts |
| London: Vox introduces its Continental electronic organ |
| Switzerland: Studer introduces its professional studio quality tape recorder, the Studer C37 |
| Venice, Italy: John Schlesinger's documentary Terminus wins an award at the International Film Festival |
| London: Royal Shakespeare
Company formed London: Ian Fleming publishes his novel, For Your Eyes Only |
| Return to UK Rock Chronology Index |
| 1959 |  |
1961 |
| This site is a living document. I welcome corrections and suggestions. Gordon Thompson, Department of Music, Skidmore College |
| Copyright © 1995 — 31 May, 2018 ; Gordon Thompson |