1972 in Music - Events

Events

• January 17 – Highway 51 South in Memphis, Tennessee is renamed "Elvis Presley Boulevard"
• January 20 – The début of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon at The Dome, Brighton, is halted by technical difficulties, . Dark Side of the Moon would be played in its entirety the following night, but it would be a full year before the album was released.
• January 21 - Keith Richards jumps on stage to jam with Chuck Berry at the Hollywood Palladium, but is ordered off for playing too loud. Berry later claims that he did not recognize Keith and would not have booted him if he did.
• January 29–31 – The first Sunbury Music Festival is held in Sunbury, Victoria. Performers include Billy Thorpe & The Aztecs, Wendy Saddington, Chain and The La De Das.
• January 31 – Over 40,000 mourners file past Mahalia Jackson's open casket to pay their respects in Chicago's Great Salem Baptist Church.
• February 9 – Paul McCartney's new band, Wings, make their live debut at the University of Nottingham in England. It's McCartney's first public concert since The Beatles' 1966 US tour.
• February 13 – Led Zeppelin's concert in Singapore is canceled when government officials will not let them off the airplane because of their long hair.
• February 14 – "Steppenwolf Day" is declared in Los Angeles, California.
• February 14–18 – John Lennon and Yoko Ono co-host an entire week of The Mike Douglas Show.
• February 15 – The United States gives federal Copyright protection to sound recordings. Prior to this, phonograph records were only protected at state level, and not in all states.
• February 19
  • Paul McCartney's single "Give Ireland Back to the Irish" (which was inspired by the "Bloody Sunday" massacre in Ireland on January 30, 1972) is banned by the BBC. The controversy caused by the banning only increases the song's popularity and it ends up in the Top 20 in England.
  • Sammy Davis, Jr. makes a guest appearance on the television show All in the Family.
• February 23 – Elvis and Priscilla Presley separate.
• February 29 – John Lennon's U.S. immigration visa expires, beginning his three-and-a-half year fight to remain in the country.
• March 15 – L.A. disc jockey Robert W. Morgan plays Donny Osmond's "Puppy Love" non-stop for 90 minutes. Police are called, but no arrests are made.
• March 21 - Terry Knight announces he is launching a $5 million lawsuit against Grand Funk's new manager John Eastman, one week after being fired as Grand Funk's manager. It triggers a series of suits and counter-suits between Knight and the band throughout the coming months.
• March 25 – The 17th Eurovision Song Contest, held in the Usher Hall, Edinburgh, Scotland, is won by German-based Greek singer Vicky Leandros, representing Luxembourg with the song Après Toi. The song is subsequently released around Europe, having been recorded in several languages, including in English as Come What May.
• March 31 – Official Beatles fan club closes down.
• April 2 – John Lennon and Yoko Ono hold a press conference in New York. The Lennons discuss their appeal against the US Immigration Department's decision to deport John.
• April 9 – First solo concert of Valery Leontiev.
• April 16 – Electric Light Orchestra make their live debut at the Fox and Greyhound pub in Park Lane, Croydon, England.
• April 29 – New York City mayor John Lindsay announces that he is supporting John Lennon and Yoko Ono in their fight to remain in the United States.
• May 2 – Stone the Crows lead guitarist Les Harvey is electrocuted on stage during a show in Swansea, Wales, by touching a poorly connected microphone. Harvey died in a hospital a few hours later. The band's lead singer, Maggie Bell, Harvey's longtime girlfriend, was also hospitalized, having collapsed on stage after the incident.
• May 8 – Billy Preston becomes the first rock performer to headline at New York's Radio City Music Hall
• May 27 - The Opryland USA country music theme park opens in Nashville, Tennessee.
• June - Founding member Roy Wood leaves the Electric Light Orchestra line-up just as the band scores its first hit single.
• June 3 - The Rolling Stones open their North American tour in Vancouver, Canada.
• June 10 – Elvis does the first of four concerts at the Madison Square Garden in New York City. He sells out all the shows in one day.
• June 14 - Simon & Garfunkel reunite briefly to perform live at Madison Square Garden at a campaign benefit for Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern. Other performers include Peter, Paul and Mary and Dionne Warwick.
• July 24 – Bobby Ramirez, the drummer for Edgar Winter's White Trash, is beaten to death in a Chicago bar fight, reportedly because his hair was too long.
• August 5 – Clive Davis signs Aerosmith to Columbia Records at Max's Kansas City in New York, NY.
• August 30 - John Lennon and Yoko Ono headline the "One To One Concert" at Madison Square Garden to benefit mentally handicapped children. Elephant's Memory, Roberta Flack, Stevie Wonder and Sha Na Na also perform.
• September 21 - ABC premieres the new TV series In Concert. The first episode features Alice Cooper.
• September 29 - Miles Davis unveils his new nine-piece band at the Lincoln Center Philharmonic Hall.
• October 12 – Diana Ross makes her acting debut in the successful film Lady Sings the Blues, garnering her first Academy Award nomination for Best Actress.
• November 3 - James Taylor and Carly Simon are married in a tiny ceremony in Simon's Manhattan apartment.
• November 12 - 51,778 fans pack San Diego Stadium for a concert promoted by KGB-AM to see J. Geils Band, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Foghat and Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show.
• November 26 – Family, touring North America as the warmup act for Elton John, play their last concert on U.S. soil in St. Petersburg, Florida.
• December 31 - The first New Year's Rockin' Eve, with host Dick Clark, airs on ABC with Three Dog Night as the featured act. Blood, Sweat & Tears, Helen Reddy and Al Green also perform.
• Herbert Howells becomes a Companion of Honour.
• Billy Ray Hearn founds Myrrh Records.
• Joseph Hoo Kim founds Channel One Studios in Kingston, Jamaica
• Anwar Maqsood and Shoaib Mansoor launched the career of Nerissa, Beena and Shabana Benjamin (the Benjamin Sisters) in Pakistan.
• Heisei College of Music is established in Mifune, Kumamoto, Japan.