1964 in Music - Events

Events

• January 1 – Top of the Pops is broadcast for the first time, on BBC television.
• January 3 – Footage of the Beatles performing a concert in Bournemouth, England is shown on The Jack Paar Show.
• January 15 – Vee Jay Records files a lawsuit against Capitol Records and Swan Records over manufacturing and distribution rights to Beatles albums. On April 9, Capitol Records is granted an injunction restraining Vee Jay Records from further manufacturing, distributing or advertising recordings by the Beatles.
• January 18 – The Beatles appear on the Billboard magazine charts for the first time.
• February 1 – Indiana Governor Matthew E. Welsh declares the song "Louie, Louie" by the Kingsmen pornographic. He requests that the Indiana Broadcasters Association ban the record. Governor Welsh claimed that hearing the song made his "ears tingle." Publisher Max Firetag offers $1,000 to anyone that can find anything "suggestive" in the song's lyrics.
• February 7 – The Beatles arrive in the United States and are greeted by thousands of screaming fans at New York's Kennedy Airport.
• February 9 – The Beatles perform on The Ed Sullivan Show, which breaks television ratings records.
• February 16 – The Beatles appear on The Ed Sullivan Show.
• February 22 – Plácido Domingo makes his international breakthrough at the première of Ginastera's Don Rodrigo in New York City.
• February 23 – The Beatles appear on The Ed Sullivan Show.
• March – Capitol Records is bombarded with requests for heavyweight boxing champion Cassius Clay's album, I Am the Greatest, following Clay's defeat of Sonny Liston on February 25.
• March 1 – American premiere of Karlheinz Stockhausen's Momente, by Martina Arroyo (soprano), the Crane Collegiate Singers of SUNY Potsdam (Brock McElheran, chorus master), and members of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra (Lukas Foss, music director), conducted by the composer, in Kleinhans Music Hall in Buffalo, New York.
• March 6 – Elvis Presley's 14th motion picture, Kissin' Cousins is released to theaters.
• March 14 – Billboard Magazine reports that sales of Beatles records make up 60% of the entire singles market.
• March 16 – Disc jockey Alan Freed is charged with tax evasion.
• March 21 – Italy wins the 9th Eurovision Song Contest, held in the Tivoli Concert Hall, Copenhagen, with the song "Non ho l'età", sung by 16-year-old Gigliola Cinquetti.
• March 24 – John Lennon's first book, In His Own Write is published.
• March 27 – The Beatles occupy the top six spots on the Australian pop chart.
• March 28 – Wax likenesses of The Beatles are put on display in London's Madame Tussauds Wax Museum. The Beatles are the first pop stars to be displayed at the museum.
• April 4 – The Beatles occupied all five top positions on Billboard's Hot 100 with their singles "Can't Buy Me Love", "Twist and Shout", "She Loves You", "I Want to Hold Your Hand", and "Please Please Me".
• April 11 – The Beatles hold 14 positions on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Previously, the highest number of concurrent singles by one artist on the Hot 100 was nine by Elvis Presley, December 19, 1956.
• April 16 – The Rolling Stones release their eponymous début album.
• May 2 – In the United States, The Beatles' Second Album climbs to the #1 spot on the LP charts in only its second week of release.
• June 5 – The Rolling Stones start their first US tour.
• August 2 – The wreckage of the plane piloted by Jim Reeves is found near Brentwood, Tennessee, 42 hours after it crashed. There are no survivors.
• August 8 – Bob Dylan releases his fourth album, Another Side of Bob Dylan.
• August 17 – Indiana University Opera Theater presents Turandot at the NY World's Fair featuring newly retired Metropolitan Opera soprano Margaret Harshaw, a member of the voice faculty, in the title role.
• August 22 – The Supremes reach #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart with the first of five successive number one hits, "Where Did Our Love Go".
• August 26 – The Kinks release their iconic single "You Really Got Me".
• September 16 – Shindig! premieres on ABC.
• September 22 – Fiddler on the Roof opens on Broadway.
• October 19 – Simon & Garfunkel release Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M., which is initially a total flop upon first release. After release of their second album, Sounds of Silence, in 1966, it hits #30 on the Billboard charts.
• October 24 – The Rolling Stones start their second US tour.
• October 25 – The Rolling Stones perform on The Ed Sullivan Show for the first time.
• October 29 – The T.A.M.I. Show is filmed.
• October 31 – The Supremes reach #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart with the second of five successive number one hits, "Baby Love".
• November – A deal with UK impresario W. H. Miller lands the Anita Kerr Quartette on Capitol Records for North America.
• December 11 – Sam Cooke is killed under mysterious circumstances in Los Angeles, California. Shortly thereafter, "A Change Is Gonna Come", a song considered by many to be his best, is released.
• December 19 – The Supremes reach #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart with the third of five successive number one hits, "Come See About Me".
• Simon & Garfunkel make their first recording for Columbia Records.
• Dalida is the first star to receive a Platinum Disc in Europe.
• 11-year-old Keith Green becomes the youngest person ever to sign a contract with the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) after publishing, recording and releasing the song "The Way I Used to Be".
• Marianne Faithfull's musical career begins.
• Sonny and Cher begin performing together as "Caesar and Cleo".
• The National Institute of Kathak Dance is established in New Delhi.
• The China Conservatory of Music is established in Beijing.