Rock and Roll Trivia

We collected all types of rock and jazz trivia, including birthdays and deathdays, release dates of seminal albums, and other events in music history. See an error or ommission? Email us and if we use your submission we'll send you a free sticker!

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Birthday Conway Twitty 1933

1962 Billboard's #1 Song: Tommy Roe - "Sheila"

Birthday Barry Gibb (Bee Gees) 1947

Birthday Archie Bell (of and the Drells) 1944

1984 Billboard's #1 Song: Tina Turner - "What's Love Got to Do With It"

1972 Donny Hathaway records the theme song for the television show "Maude"

Birthday Al Jardine (Beach Boys) 1942

1966 Billboard's #1 Song: Donovan - "Sunshine Superman"

Birthday Don Brewer (Grand Funk) 1948

Deathday Al "Blind Dog" Wilson (Canned Heat) (drug overdose) 1970

1982 US Festival, Ontario, CA (financed by Steven Wozniak [Apple Computers])

1983 Billboard's #1 Song: Eurythmics - "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)"

1961 Billboard's #1 Song: Michael - "The Highwaymen"

1965 Billboard's #1 Song: The Beatles - "Help!"

1971 Billboard's #1 Song: Paul and Linda McCatney - "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey"

1982 US Festival, Ontario, CA (financed by Steven Wozniak [Apple Computers])

1976 Billboard's #1 Song: Bee Gees - "You Should Be Dancing"

1982 Billboard's #1 Song: Steve Miller Band - "Abracadabra"

Birthday Freddy Mercury (Queen, born Frederick Bulsara) 1946

1964 Billboard's #1 Song: The Animals - "House of the Rising Sun"

1982 US Festival, Ontario, CA (financed by Steven Wozniak [Apple Computers])

1970 Jimi Hendrix makes his final concert appearance at the Love and Peace Festival on the Isle of Febmarn in Germany.

1975 Billboard's #1 Song: Glen Campbell - "Rhinestone Cowboy"

1980 Billboard's #1 Song: Diana Ross - "Upside Down"

Birthday Buddy Holly (born Charles Hardin Holley) 1936

Birthday Ron Pigpen McKernan 1945

1973 Billboard's #1 Song: Marvin Gaye - "Let's Get It On"

Birthday Patsy Cline (born Virginia Patterson Hensley) 1932

Birthday Ron "Pigpen" McKernan (Grateful Dead) 1945

Birthday Roger Waters 1944

Birthday Lol Creme (10 cc) 1947

1956 Elvis Presley appears on the Ed Sullivan show for the first time.

1957 Billboard's #1 Hit: Paul Anka - "Diana"

Birthday Brian Epstein (Beatles' manager) 1934

Birthday Otis Redding 1941

Birthday Billy Preston 1946

1978 Billboard's #1 Song: A Taste of Honey - "Boogie Oogie Oogie"

Birthday Dave Stewart (Eurythmics) 1952

1991 Nirvana release "Smells Like Teen Spirit"

Birthday Danny Hutton (Three Dog Night) 1946

Birthday Joe Perry (Aerosmith) (born Anthony Joseph Perry) 1950

1966 Billboard's #1 Song: The Supremes - "You Can't Hurry Love"

1983 Billboard's #1 Song: Michael Sembello - "Maniac"

Birthday Jose Feliciano 1945

Birthday Mickey Hart 1943

1971 Billboard's #1 Song: Donny Osmond - "Go Away Little Girl"

1977 David Bowie and Bing Crosby record "Little Drummer Boy"

1976 Billboard's #1 Song: KC and the Sunshine Band - "(Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty"

1976 (Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty is the number one song to reach Billboard's #1 with the most repeated words in the title.

1982 Billboard's #1 Song: Chicago - "Hard to Say I'm Sorry"

Birthday Neil Peart (Rush) 1952

Birthday Gerry Beckley (America) 1952

Birthday Barry White 1944

Birthday David Clayton-Thomas (Blood, Sweat & Tears) (born David Thomsett) 1941

1974 Billboard's #1 Song: Eric Clapton - "I Shot the Sheriff"

1962 Billboard's #1 Song: The Four Seasons - "Sherry"

1973 Billboard's #1 Song: Helen Reddy - "Delta Dawn"

1972 Billboard's #1 Song: Three Dog Night - "Black and White"

Deathday Jimi Hendrix 1970

Birthday Jimmie Rodgers (pop singer) 1933

Birthday Frankie Avalon (born Francis Thomas Avallone) 1939

1961 Billboard's #1 Song: Bobby Vee - "Take Good Care of My Baby"

1976 Billboard's #1 Song: Wild Cherry - "Play That Funky Music"

Deathday Jimi Hendirx (choked on vomit after drug overdose) 1970

Deathday Gram Parsons 1973

1960 Billboard's #1 Song: Chubby Checker - "The Twist" (first apperance)

Birthday Mama Cass (born Ellen Naomi Cohen) 1941

1970 Billboard's #1 Song: Diana Ross - "Ain't No Mountain High Enough"

Birthday Nile Rogers (Chic) 1952

1964 The Beatles meet Bob Dylan; drugs may have been involved

1969 Billboard's #1 Song: The Archies - "Sugar, Sugar"

1975 Billboard's #1 Song: David Bowie - "Fame"

Deathday Jim Croce (plane crash) 1973

1959 Billboard's #1 Song: Santo and Johnny - "Sleepwalk"

1963 Billboard's #1 Song: Bobby Vinton - "Blue Velvet"

1968 Billboard's #1 Song: Jeannie C. Riley - "Harper Valley P.T.A."

1974 Billboard's #1 Song: Barry White - "Can't Get Enough of Your Love, Babe"

Birthday Don Felder (Eagles) 1947

Birthday Leonard Cohen 1934

Birthday Trugoy the Dove (De La Soul) (born David Jude Jolicoeur) 1968

1983 Everly Brothers perform reunion concert, Royal Albert Hall, London

Birthday Nick Cave 1957

Birthday Joan Jett 1960

1984 Billboard's #1 Song: John Waite - "Missing You"

1957 Billboard's #1 Hit: Buddy Holly & The Crickets - "That'll Be the Day"

Birthday Ray Charles (born Ray Charles Robinson) 1930

Deathday Robbie McIntosh (Average White Band) 1974

1967 Billboard's #1 Song: The Box Tops - "The Letter"

1969 The Illinois University newspaper Northern Star begins the "Paul (McCartney) is dead" rumor.

1972 Billboard's #1 Song: Mac Davis - Baby Don't Get Hooked on Me"

1966 Billboard's #1 Song: The Association - "Cherish"

1983 Billboard's #1 Song: Billy Joel - "Tell Her About It"

Birthday Gerry Marsden (Gerry & The Pacemakers) 1942

1965 Billboard's #1 Song: Bary McGuire - "Eve of Destruction"

1965 "The Beatles" cartoon show premieres on ABC.

Birthday Bryan Ferry (Roxy Music) 1945

Birthday Marty Robbins 1925

1960 Billboard's #1 Song: Connie Francis - "My Heart Has a Mind of Its Own" (first femal singer to have two consectutive singles go to #1)

1964 Billboard's #1 Song: Roy Orbison - "Oh, Pretty Woman"

1965 The Beatles receive their MBEs from the Queen; the Beatles smoked pot prior to the event.

Birthday Olivia Newton-John 1948

Birthday Tracey Thorn (Everything But The Girl) 1963

Birthday Georgie Fame (born Clive Powell) 1943

Birthday Bryan Ferry (Roxy Music, solo) 1945

Deathday Jimmy McCulloch (Thunderclap Newman, Wings) 1979

Birthday Randy Bachman (Guess Who, Bachman-Turner Overdrive) 1943

1975 Billboard's #1 Song: John Denver - "I'm Sorry / Calypso"

Birthday Alannah Currie (Thompson Twins) 1957

1968 Billboard's #1 Song: The Beatles - "Hey Jude"

1974 Billboard's #1 Song: Ady Kim - "Rock Me Gently"

1975 Jackie Wilson suffers a massive heart attack while performing "Lonely Teardrops" at a nightclub in Cherry Hill, NJ. He would remain in a vegetative state until his death in 1984.

1958 Billboard's #1 Song: Tommy Edwards - "It's All in the Game"

1958 "It's All in the Game" was written by US Vice President Charles Gates Dawes sometime in 1912.

Birthday Mark Farner (Grand Funk Railroad) 1948

1973 Billboard's #1 Song: Grand Funk - "We're an American Band"

1984 Billboard's #1 Song: Prince - "Let's Go Crazy"

1957 Billboard's #1 Hit: Jimmie Rodgers - "Honeycomb"

Birthday Johnny Mathis 1935

1978 Billboard's #1 Song: Exile - "Kiss You All Over"

1993 George Harrison guests on The Simpsons

Sources include Rolling Stone, All Music Guide, All Music Guide to Jazz, and the rock library of Steve King.