170 Fun Facts About 50s Music

The Billboard Hot 100 chart launched in which year, with a teen TV star's single as its first number one?

'Poor Little Fool' topped the very first Hot 100 dated August 4; the song was written by a 15-year-old, Sharon Sheeley.

Who sang 'Poor Little Fool', the first song ever to top the Billboard Hot 100?

Nelson was already a TV star on his parents' sitcom The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, which is why the song took off as a radio hit from an EP.

Which future record executive was one of the three journalists credited with creating the Hot 100?

Stein went on to co-found Sire Records and sign the Ramones, Talking Heads and Madonna; he said he could not recall who picked the chart's name.

In what year did Billboard discontinue its Most Played in Jukeboxes chart?

The jukebox chart had mattered because many radio stations refused to play rock and roll, so jukebox plays were one of the few measures of what teenagers actually liked.

Which song won Record of the Year at the very first Grammy Awards, held in May 1959?

Domenico Modugno's Italian-language hit beat Sinatra, Peggy Lee and Perry Como; the ceremony was held simultaneously in Beverly Hills and New York.

Music from which TV detective series won Henry Mancini the first-ever Album of the Year Grammy?

The Music from Peter Gunn also won Best Arrangement, and Mancini shared the two-award tally with Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie and Domenico Modugno.

Which instrumental by the Champs won the first Grammy for Best Rhythm & Blues Performance?

The 1958 record features a single spoken word as its only vocal, and the Champs took their name from Gene Autry's horse, Champion.

Berry Gordy founded the label that became Motown in January 1959 under what original name?

The company was not incorporated as Motown Record Corporation until April 1960; 'Tamla Motown' later became the brand used for UK releases.

How much did Berry Gordy borrow from a family savings cooperative to start his label in 1959?

The loan came only after some family debate; the first Tamla release, Marv Johnson's 'Come to Me', went out regionally that January.

What was Gordy's 1959 Detroit recording studio on West Grand Boulevard nicknamed?

Gordy bought a second Detroit studio, Golden World, in 1966; it became Studio B to Hitsville's Studio A.

Before Motown, Gordy co-wrote 'Reet Petite' and 'Lonely Teardrops' for which Detroit singer?

Gordy wrote with his sister Gwen and Billy Davis; the modest royalties from those hits convinced him he needed to own the records himself.

Bandstand was broadcast from which city from its 1952 debut until it moved to Los Angeles in 1964?

The show began as a local program on WFIL-TV, and Dick Clark's national ABC version premiered on August 5, 1957.

Who hosted Bandstand as a local WFIL show before Dick Clark took over permanently?

The show grew out of Horn's WFIL radio program of the same name and originally featured short musical films rather than live acts.

In Bandstand's Rate-a-Record segment, teenagers scored songs on a scale that topped out at what number?

The scale ran from 35 to 98, and the segment gave the world the catchphrase 'It's got a good beat and you can dance to it.'

In which city did Alan Freed stage the 1952 Moondog Coronation Ball, the first major rock and roll concert?

Freed's Moondog persona borrowed its name from the New York street composer Louis Hardin, who later sued him over it.

Alan Freed was fired by WABC in 1959 after refusing to deny he had taken what?

The scandal over record companies paying DJs to spin their discs ended Freed's career, while a certain American Bandstand host survived the same hearings largely unscathed.

Which vocal group's 'Sh-Boom' (1954) was the first R&B record to reach the Billboard top ten?

The Chords reached number 5, then watched a Canadian white group, the Crew Cuts, take a cover of the song to number one for nine weeks.

Which Los Angeles group took 'Earth Angel' to number one on the R&B chart in 1954?

The record was produced by Dootsie Williams, and it crossed over into the pop charts in 1955 alongside doo-wop hits by the Moonglows and the Heartbeats.

The term 'doo-wop' first appeared in print in 1961, in a review of which group's 'Blue Moon'?

The Chicago Defender used the word just as the style's vogue was ending; the Marcels' record turned a 1934 Rodgers and Hart standard into a nonsense-syllable romp.

Which Billboard reporter coined 'rhythm and blues' in 1949 to replace 'race music'?

Wexler later became a partner at Atlantic Records and produced Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles and Wilson Pickett.

Elvis Presley was born in 1935 in which Mississippi town?

His twin brother Jesse Garon was stillborn 35 minutes before him, and the family moved to Memphis when Elvis was 13.

Sun Records sold Presley's contract to RCA Victor in 1955 for how much?

The sale relieved Sun's money troubles and let Sam Phillips fund the careers of Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis.

What was Presley's first RCA Victor single, released in January 1956 and his first pop number one?

It took twelve weeks to reach the top; the moody recording was inspired by a newspaper story about a suicide note.

Which actor hosted Elvis Presley's first Ed Sullivan Show appearance in 1956 while Sullivan recovered from a car crash?

The broadcast drew about 60 million viewers, an 82.6 percent share; Sullivan had earlier declared Presley unfit for family viewing.

On The Steve Allen Show in 1956, Presley sang his new single to what animal in a top hat and bow tie?

Allen's stunt was meant to tame Presley's image; the next day Elvis went into the studio and cut 'Hound Dog' and 'Don't Be Cruel'.

Which TV host persuaded Presley to leave his guitar backstage for a June 1956 performance, freeing his hips?

The Berle appearances drew such ratings and outrage that Presley was immediately booked for The Steve Allen Show.

Presley's third and final Ed Sullivan appearance in January 1957 is famous because the cameras did what?

The legend that he was always shot from the waist up is false; it happened only on that final visit.

After being drafted in 1958, Presley served as an armor intelligence specialist in which country?

It was in Bad Nauheim that the 24-year-old met 14-year-old Priscilla Beaulieu; he donated his Army pay to charity and bought TVs for the base.

Presley bought which 18-room Memphis mansion in March 1957?

The stretch of Highway 51 South it sits on was later renamed Elvis Presley Boulevard, and the house opened to the public in 1982.

Who founded Sun Records in Memphis in 1952?

Sun grew out of his Memphis Recording Service, and before Elvis it concentrated on Black blues artists such as Howlin' Wolf and B.B. King.

Which newspaper's headline named the December 1956 Sun Studio jam the Million Dollar Quartet?

Entertainment editor Bob Johnson's story ran with the now-famous photo of Presley at the piano; the uncropped version also shows his girlfriend Marilyn Evans sitting on it.

Which Sun engineer recorded Jerry Lee Lewis's first session and taped the Million Dollar Quartet jam?

Clement said he thought he would be remiss not to hit record on the jam; the tapes sat unreleased until 1981.

How old was Jerry Lee Lewis's cousin-wife Myra Gale Brown when the 1958 scandal broke?

The story broke during a British tour when the only reporter at Heathrow asked who the girl was; the rest of the tour was cancelled and his bookings collapsed almost overnight.

What was Jerry Lee Lewis's nickname?

He grew up in Ferriday, Louisiana, learning piano alongside two cousins who also became famous: Mickey Gilley and Jimmy Swaggart.

Which future televangelist was Jerry Lee Lewis's cousin and childhood piano-playing partner?

Alec Baldwin played the cousin in the 1989 biopic Great Balls of Fire!, which starred Dennis Quaid as Lewis.

Johnny Cash's 1955 debut Sun single paired 'Hey, Porter' with which song?

Cash had auditioned for Sun with gospel songs and was told to come back with something more commercial.

Cash, born with only the initials 'J. R.', adopted 'John R.' when he enlisted in which service in 1950?

He spent much of his four years in West Germany as a Morse code operator, and met his first wife Vivian at a San Antonio roller rink during basic training.

What were Luther Perkins and Marshall Grant, Johnny Cash's Sun-era backing duo, known as?

The trio's boom-chicka-boom sound was partly a product of Perkins's limited technique; when drummer W. S. Holland joined they became the Tennessee Three.

Cash left Sun in 1958 to sign a more lucrative deal with which label?

One of his early projects there was a gospel album, the kind of record Sun had refused to let him make.

Which Chuck Berry song is the only rock and roll track on the 1977 Voyager Golden Record?

The song's opening riff was lifted almost note for note from Louis Jordan's guitarist Carl Hogan.

Berry's 1955 breakthrough 'Maybellene' was an adaptation of which country fiddle tune?

Leonard Chess preferred Berry's take on the hillbilly number to the blues he had come to sell, and the record topped the R&B chart.

Which blues star told Berry to contact Leonard Chess when he visited Chicago in May 1955?

Berry was born in St. Louis and had been playing a mix of blues and country there with pianist Johnnie Johnson's trio.

Little Richard was born in 1932 in which Georgia city?

Richard Wayne Penniman was the third of twelve children; his father was a church deacon who also ran a nightclub and sold bootleg moonshine.

What did Little Richard take as a sign from God to quit rock and roll during a 1957 Australian tour?

He enrolled at Oakwood College in Alabama to study theology, and refused to record secular music again for several years.

Which clean-cut white singer's cover of 'Tutti Frutti' charted higher than Little Richard's original?

The same singer also outsold Fats Domino with a milder cover of 'Ain't That a Shame', because segregated radio would not play the originals.

What was the title of Fats Domino's first single, sometimes called the first rock and roll record to sell a million?

It was a toned-down rewrite of a song about drug addicts, and Domino recorded it in New Orleans with producer Dave Bartholomew, his collaborator for decades.

Domino's 1956 "Blueberry Hill" revived a song first recorded in which year by Glenn Miller and others?

Louis Armstrong and Gene Autry had also cut it; Domino's version topped the R&B chart for 11 weeks.

Bill Haley's "Rock Around the Clock" became a phenomenon in 1955 after opening which film?

The 1954 record had originally been issued as a B-side to 'Thirteen Women (and Only One Man in Town)' and flopped.

Before they became the Comets in 1952, Bill Haley's western-swing group was called what?

The renaming played on Halley's Comet; the group's guitar solo on their signature hit was played by session man Danny Cedrone, who died in a fall weeks after recording it.

Whose band actually played on 'Rocket 88' (1951), credited to Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats?

Brenston was the band's saxophonist; the record's fuzzy guitar came from an amplifier damaged on the drive to Memphis and stuffed with newspaper.

Buddy Holly was born in 1936 in which Texas city?

His surname was actually spelled Holley; a Decca contract misspelled it and he kept the shorter version.

Because Holly was still under contract to Decca, 'That'll Be the Day' was released under what band name?

Drummer Jerry Allison proposed the name; the record topped both the US and UK charts that autumn.

Holly recorded 'That'll Be the Day' and most of his hits with producer Norman Petty in which town?

Petty's studio was a short drive from Lubbock, and Holly went there after clashing with Decca's Nashville producer Owen Bradley.

Which venue hosted the final show of Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper on February 2, 1959?

The Clear Lake, Iowa show was a last-minute booking on a supposed day off; the ballroom now hosts an annual memorial concert.

What type of aircraft crashed on February 3, 1959, killing Holly, Valens, the Big Bopper and their pilot?

The plane, tail number N3794N, was never called American Pie despite the popular belief; no record exists of it having any name.

Which member of Holly's touring band gave his seat on the doomed flight to the Big Bopper?

The bassist's last exchange with Holly was a joke: told 'I hope your damned bus freezes up again', he shot back 'I hope your old plane crashes'.

How did Ritchie Valens win his seat on the plane from guitarist Tommy Allsup?

Valens was afraid of flying yet still asked for the toss; a decade later Allsup opened a Texas bar called the Heads Up Saloon.

Which 1971 song coined the phrase 'the day the music died' for the 1959 crash?

Don McLean was 24 when he wrote it; the record reached number one on the Hot 100 in January 1972 and stayed there for four weeks.

How old was Ritchie Valens when he died?

His whole career lasted eight months; Bob Keane of Del-Fi Records signed him in May 1958 after a tip from a San Fernando high school student.

Ritchie Valens' all-Spanish hit 'La Bamba' was notable because Valens did what?

The Valenzuela family spoke only English at home; the song was adapted from a Mexican folk tune and paired on a double A-side with 'Donna'.

How many other acts reportedly turned down 'Bye Bye Love' before the Everly Brothers cut it?

The song was written by the husband-and-wife team Felice and Boudleaux Bryant, who went on to write most of the brothers' hits.

The Everly Brothers recorded their 1950s hits for which independent label, run by Archie Bleyer?

After three years there they signed a then-huge $1 million deal with Warner Bros.; Cadence kept issuing singles from the vaults into 1962.

Sinatra's 1950s comeback began with an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in which 1953 film?

Weeks after filming in Hawaii he held his first Capitol session with arranger Nelson Riddle, beginning the partnership that produced his greatest albums.

Which arranger, formerly Nat King Cole's musical director, shaped Sinatra's In the Wee Small Hours?

In the Wee Small Hours (1955) was Sinatra's first 12-inch LP and is often called the first concept album.

Sinatra's 1958 concept album with Billy May, designed as a musical world tour, was titled what?

The title track was written specially for him and was nominated for Album of the Year at the first Grammys, losing to Henry Mancini.

Patsy Cline scored her first hit, 'Walkin' After Midnight', after performing it on which TV show in 1957?

She had wanted to sing 'A Poor Man's Roses' but the show's producer insisted on the other song; it crossed over to the pop chart.

Patsy Cline grew up in which Virginia town, where she began singing on radio at 15?

Her childhood home there was restored as a museum in 2011; she died in a 1963 plane crash alongside Cowboy Copas and Hawkshaw Hawkins.

Which producer wrote the Platters' hits 'Only You' and 'The Great Pretender'?

Tony Williams sang lead on both 1955 doo-wop classics.

The Drifters were originally formed in 1953 as a backing group for which singer?

A second group led by Ben E. King formed in 1959 from the Five Crowns.

Which songwriting duo wrote most of the Coasters' hits, including 'Yakety Yak'?

In 1987 the Coasters were the first vocal group inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Frankie Lymon was the boy-soprano lead singer of which doo-wop group?

The integrated group had three Black and two Puerto Rican members.

What was the original working title of Frankie Lymon's 'Why Do Fools Fall in Love'?

The 1956 debut single topped the R&B and UK charts.

Dion and the Belmonts took their name from a street in which New York borough?

Belmont Avenue was known as the Little Italy of the Bronx.

Danny & the Juniors' 1957 number one 'At the Hop' was first released on a small label from which city?

ABC-Paramount picked it up and reissued it in November.

The Del-Vikings, a racially mixed 1950s group, were formed by members of which US military branch?

They were stationed in Pittsburgh; hits included 'Come Go with Me'.

The Flamingos are best known for their 1959 cover of which song?

It was ranked 158 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs; the group entered the Hall of Fame in 2001.

The Five Satins recorded their million-selling 'In the Still of the Night' in which state?

The group formed in New Haven in 1954 with leader Fred Parris.

The Silhouettes' 1957 number one hit celebrated the virtues of what?

'Get a Job' was inspired by a mother's nagging to find work.

For how long did Perry Como record exclusively for RCA Victor?

'Mr. C' reportedly sold over 100 million records and pioneered the TV variety show.

Which top-selling group did the singer of 'Mona Lisa' lead before his solo career?

It was the only Black act and top-selling group on Capitol Records in the 1940s.

Nat King Cole's hit 'Mona Lisa' won which honour in 1950?

Nelson Riddle wrote the arrangement; the song came from the film Captain Carey, U.S.A.

Which Italian-flavoured 1953 song became Dean Martin's signature hit?

It debuted in the Martin and Lewis film The Caddy.

Doris Day introduced 'Que Sera, Sera' in which Alfred Hitchcock film?

She sings it as a cue to her kidnapped son.

Who was the 1950s female vocalist billed as the 'Singin' Rage'?

She was billed as 'the Singin' Rage, Miss Patti Page'.

Which 1950 recording made the top-charting female vocalist a multimillion seller?

Redd Stewart and Pee Wee King wrote it in 1946.

Rosemary Clooney's 1951 breakthrough 'Come On-a My House' is based on a folk song from which culture?

Cousins Ross Bagdasarian and William Saroyan wrote it driving across New Mexico in 1939.

Which emotional 1950s singer had a 1951 number one with 'Cry'?

Ray was partially deaf and known for his emotional, animated stage act.

Which crooner, a 20-time Grammy winner, founded a performing-arts school in Queens?

Bennett won 20 Grammy Awards over his long career.

Which 1950s crooner was married to both Debbie Reynolds and Elizabeth Taylor?

He hosted The Eddie Fisher Show and sold millions of records.

Guy Mitchell's 1956 chart-topper 'Singing the Blues' was first recorded by whom?

Mitchell's version spent ten weeks at number one from December 1956.

Debbie Reynolds scored a 1957 number one with the title song of which film?

'Tammy' was nominated for the Best Original Song Oscar.

Bobby Darin's first million-selling single, co-written with a DJ on a bet, was which song?

The bet was that Darin couldn't write a song starting 'Splish splash, I was takin' a bath'.

Bobby Darin's hit 'Mack the Knife' comes from which Kurt Weill work?

Louis Armstrong first recorded the English version in 1955.

Paul Anka's 1957 debut hit 'Diana' was inspired by a girl he met where?

Anka later wrote the English lyrics to Sinatra's 'My Way'.

Connie Francis rose to fame in 1957 with a cover of which 1923 song?

She became one of the top-charting female vocalists of the late 1950s.

Frankie Avalon's 1959 number one hit pleaded with which Roman goddess?

Songwriter Ed Marshall first offered it to Al Martino.

Teen idols Frankie Avalon, Fabian and Bobby Rydell all came from which city?

Fabian was discovered by manager Bob Marcucci through a neighbour.

Which 1956 Little Richard single was backed with 'Slippin' and Slidin''?

It reached number one on the R&B chart for six weeks.

Which Chuck Berry song wishes rhythm and blues were respected like classical music?

Both the Beatles and the Rolling Stones covered it in 1963.

The 'Bo Diddley beat' is essentially based on which Afro-Cuban rhythm?

Bo Diddley popularised it on his 1955 debut single.

Which rockabilly pioneer wrote and first recorded 'Blue Suede Shoes' in 1955?

Elvis's 1956 cover opened his self-titled debut album.

Gene Vincent's 1956 top-ten hit with his Blue Caps was which rockabilly classic?

It was a bigger and more lasting star in the UK than in the US.

Eddie Cochran's 'Summertime Blues' was co-written with which of his associates?

Originally a B-side, it reached number 8 on the Hot 100 in 1958.

Ray Charles improvised 'What'd I Say' in 1958 because he had run out of what?

The two-part single was one of the first soul songs.

Ray Charles based his 1954 hit 'I Got a Woman' on a gospel song by which group?

He heard 'It Must Be Jesus' on the radio while touring.

Sam Cooke's only Hot 100 number one, released in 1957, was which debut single?

It topped both the R&B and pop charts.

Lloyd Price's 1959 number one 'Stagger Lee' is based on an 1895 murder in which city?

The folk song recounts the killing of Billy Lyons by 'Stag' Lee Shelton.

Which blues shouter first recorded 'Shake, Rattle and Roll' in 1954?

Jesse Stone wrote it under the name Charles Calhoun for Atlantic.

Which R&B singer inspired Atlantic's nickname 'the house that ___ built'?

She was known as the 'Queen of R&B'.

Which R&B singer had 1950s hits with 'Tweedle Dee' and 'Jim Dandy'?

She entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991.

Etta James performed on which network of Black venues early in her career?

Her 1955 debut hit was 'The Wallflower'.

Who wrote and originally recorded 'The Twist' in 1959 before Chubby Checker's cover?

Ballard fronted the Midnighters; his version was the B-side of 'Teardrops on Your Letter'.

Which macabre-props performer recorded 'I Put a Spell on You' and pioneered shock rock?

The 1956 record sold a million despite never charting on Billboard.

Where did Hank Williams die on New Year's Day 1953?

He was 29 and en route to a concert in Canton, Ohio.

Which of his own wives inspired Hank Williams's 'Your Cheatin' Heart'?

He dictated the lyrics to Billie Jean Jones while driving to Shreveport.

Which singer became the first woman to top the US country charts, in 1952?

'It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels' was an answer to Hank Thompson's 'The Wild Side of Life'.

The 1959 ballad El Paso won the first Grammy in which award category?

It was the first number one hit of the 1960s on both country and pop charts.

Johnny Horton's 1959 hit 'The Battle of New Orleans' describes a battle from which war?

Jimmy Driftwood wrote it in 1936 from an American soldier's viewpoint.

Country star Jim Reeves, who died in a 1964 plane crash, was nicknamed what?

His songs continued to chart for years after his death.

Duane Eddy was famous for a guitar sound described as what?

Lee Hazlewood produced hits like 'Rebel-'Rouser'; Eddy had sold 12 million records by 1963.

Why did some radio stations ban Link Wray's 1958 instrumental 'Rumble'?

It was one of the earliest rock records to use distortion and power chords.

The instrumental hit 'Sleep Walk' (1959) prominently featured which instrument?

Brooklyn brothers Santo and Johnny Farina recorded it with their uncle on drums.

What was notable about the time signatures on Dave Brubeck's 1959 album Time Out?

'Take Five', in 5/4, was the first jazz single to sell over a million copies.

Which Miles Davis album, released in 1959, is the best-selling jazz album of all time?

Davis based it entirely on modal scales, giving players creative freedom.

Which Cuban bandleader topped charts in 1955 with 'Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White'?

The Cuban's big-band mambo also gave the world 'Mambo No. 5'.

What industry milestone did Harry Belafonte's 1956 album Calypso reach?

It featured 'Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)'.

'Day-O' is a call-and-response work song sung by which night-shift workers?

It is a call-and-response Jamaican folk song with mento influences.

The Kingston Trio's 1958 number one 'Tom Dooley' is based on a murder ballad from which state?

The trio helped launch the late-1950s folk revival.

Which cowboy actor wrote and performed the 1958 novelty number one 'The Purple People Eater'?

The premise came from a joke told by a friend's child.

The sped-up-tape technique on 'Witch Doctor' led Ross Bagdasarian to create which act?

The 1958 hit rescued Liberty Records from near-bankruptcy.

Which 1956 Lerner and Loewe musical, based on Shaw's Pygmalion, set a Broadway run record?

Rex Harrison and Julie Andrews starred in the Lerner and Loewe show.

West Side Story marked the Broadway debut of which lyricist in 1957?

Leonard Bernstein wrote the music; Jerome Robbins conceived and choreographed it.

Meredith Willson's The Music Man is set in which US state?

The 1957 hit won five Tony Awards including Best Musical.

Which actor originated the role of the King in Rodgers and Hammerstein's The King and I?

Gertrude Lawrence played Anna in the 1951 production.

Which singer had a country hit with the theme from High Noon, 'Do Not Forsake Me'?

Frankie Laine later made it a pop hit; the film won four Oscars.

In what year did Columbia Records introduce the LP record?

It competed with RCA Victor's 45 rpm single.

The Regency TR-1, launched in 1954, was the first commercially made what?

About 150,000 units sold thanks to its novel small size.

In what year did Fender begin continuously manufacturing the Stratocaster?

Leo Fender designed the double-cutaway guitar with a contoured body.

Gibson first sold the Les Paul solid-body electric guitar in which year?

It featured a mahogany body with a carved maple top.

The Newport Jazz Festival was established in 1954 in which state?

Elaine Lorillard founded it and hired George Wein to organise it.

The Louisiana Hayride radio show, which helped launch Elvis Presley, broadcast from which city?

It aired from the Shreveport Municipal Memorial Auditorium.

Liverpool's famous Merseybeat venue opened on 16 January 1957 as what?

It later became closely associated with the Beatles.

John Lennon formed which skiffle band in 1956 that evolved into the Beatles?

The name came from a line in the Quarry Bank High School song.

Which British 'King of Skiffle' had a hit with the American folk song 'Rock Island Line'?

He influenced many 1960s British pop and rock musicians.

Cliff Richard's 1958 debut single, often called Britain's first authentic rock and roll song, was which?

It was recorded with the Drifters, who became the Shadows.

Which entertainer, discovered at Soho's 2i's Coffee Bar, is regarded as Britain's first teen idol?

His hits included 'Rock with the Caveman' and 'Singing the Blues'.

Which jazz saxophonist, nicknamed 'Bird', was a leading figure of bebop before dying in 1955?

He introduced revolutionary rhythmic and harmonic ideas to jazz.

Ella Fitzgerald began her acclaimed Song Book series in 1956 with the works of which composer?

It was the first album on the newly created Verve Records.

Which cool-jazz trumpeter and singer was nicknamed the 'Prince of Cool'?

A historian compared his early promise to 'James Dean, Sinatra, and Bix'.

On which network did The Ed Sullivan Show run from 1948 to 1971?

The variety show hosted Elvis Presley and later the Beatles.

Which enduring holiday hit did Brenda Lee record in 1958, aged 13?

Johnny Marks wrote it; it finally topped the Hot 100 in 2023.

Tennessee Ernie Ford scored a 1955 number one with which song about a coal miner?

Merle Travis wrote the song, based on the mines of Rosewood, Kentucky.

Which Everly Brothers hit was banned by Boston radio for suggestive lyrics?

It topped the pop chart anyway in 1957.

Which Big Bopper song reached number 6 on the Hot 100 in 1958?

It was recorded at Gold Star Studios in Houston.

Who wrote Jerry Lee Lewis's 1957 hit 'Great Balls of Fire'?

It sold a million copies in its first ten days.

Who first recorded 'Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On' before Jerry Lee Lewis's famous 1957 version?

The writing is usually credited to Dave 'Curlee' Williams.

Buddy Holly released 'Peggy Sue' as a single in September of which year?

The Crickets were not credited on the label though they played on it.

What royal nickname did Pérez Prado earn?

His big-band danzón-mambo scored a worldwide hit with 'Mambo No. 5'.

Who urged Sun Records to sign Roy Orbison in 1956, as Elvis was leaving the label?

The label was looking to replace the departing Elvis; Orbison's first Sun single sounded much like Presley's early records.

What was Roy Orbison's first recording for Sun Records?

Orbison grew up in Wink, Texas, a town he summed up as 'football, oil fields, oil, grease, and sand'.

Which 'Queen of Rockabilly' briefly dated Elvis Presley while touring with him in 1955?

Presley encouraged her to record rockabilly; her rock singles included 'Fujiyama Mama' and the top-40 hit 'Let's Have a Party'.

Johnny Mathis was invited to try out for the 1956 US Olympic team in which event?

His San Francisco State record of 1.97 m was just 7 cm short of the 1952 Olympic record; on his father's advice he chose a Columbia recording session instead.

What was Les Paul's birth name?

Born in Waukesha, Wisconsin, he pioneered overdubbing, tape delay and multitrack recording alongside his wife and duet partner Mary Ford.

Perry Como's 'Catch a Falling Star' holds what place in record-industry history?

The RIAA certified it on March 14, 1958; its B-side, 'Magic Moments', topped the UK chart, and the tune echoes a theme in Brahms's Academic Festival Overture.

Santo & Johnny, who recorded the 1959 instrumental 'Sleep Walk', were what relation to each other?

The Farina brothers wrote it one sleepless night after a gig; it was the last instrumental to reach number one in the 1950s.

The Fleetwoods recorded the demo of 'Come Softly to Me' a cappella with what as percussion?

The title phrase never appears in the lyrics; the label owner renamed it from 'Come Softly', which he thought sounded risqué.

Whose 1959 recording took the R&B song 'Kansas City', first cut in 1952 as 'K. C. Loving', to number one?

Little Willie Littlefield had cut the original in 1952; the song has since been recorded more than three hundred times.

Which label owner heard Little Richard's 1955 demo tape and set up the 'Tutti Frutti' session?

Rupe ran Specialty Records; local writer Dorothy LaBostrie was brought in to clean up the original lyrics before the song was cut in New Orleans.

Which real Detroit mob is name-checked among the characters in Elvis's 'Jailhouse Rock'?

Its writers intended it as a tongue-in-cheek goof, but Elvis sang it as straight rock and roll; Shifty Henry was a real LA musician, not a criminal.

The Platters' 1959 chart-topper 'Smoke Gets in Your Eyes' was written for which 1933 musical?

Jerome Kern and Otto Harbach wrote it; Paul Whiteman had the first hit recording back in 1934.