"ROCK AROUND THE CLOCK" RECORDED 60 YEARS AGO TODAY
Rock 'n Roll history was made 60 years ago today, April 12, 1954, when "Bill Haley and the Comets" recorded a song written by Max C. Freedman and James E. Myers titled "We're Gonna Rock Around the Clock Tonight".
The song was to be on the "B" side of "Thirteen Women" which the group spent most of the session recording.
"Rock Around the Clock", as it would later be known, was almost an afterthought.
There were only 2 takes in 40 minutes of the 3 hour recording session.
The single sold a modest 75,000 copies but when actor Glenn Ford's son, Peter, "fell" for the "B" side.
Glenn Ford convinced movie producers to use the tune as the background soundtrack for his latest film "Blackboard Jungle".
"Rock Around the Clock" then sold 1 million copies in a single month in 1955.
Bill Haley
RUSSIAN LAUNCHED INTO SPACE 53 YEARS AGO
The Soviet Union launched both the first man into space as well as the first to orbit the earth 53 years ago today, April 12, 1961.
Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin's space flight aboard the "Vostok I" lasted less than two hours.
President John F. Kennedy was forced to acknowledge the United States is still behind in the space race and added "the news will be worse before it gets better."
Gagarin became a Soviet hero and was awarded the Order of Lenin.
Yuri Gagarin in Sweden (1964)
Photo by Arkiv Sydsvenskan
FDR DIED OF STROKE IN WARM SPRINGS, GEORGIA 69 YEARS AGO TODAY
Warm Springs, Georgia (JFK+50) President Franklin D. Roosevelt died shortly after 1 p.m. sixty nine years ago today, April 12, 1945, of a cerebral hemorrhage at the "Little White House" here in Warm Springs.
Little White House at Warm Springs
Graham Jackson
CIVIL WAR BEGAN IN CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA 153 YEARS AGO
Charleston, South Carolina (JFK+50) 153 years ago, April 12, 1861, at 4:30 a.m., Confederate shore batteries began to bombard Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor.
The firing on Sumter came after Commander Robert B. Anderson refused to surrender.
Confederate authorities maintained the fort, garrisoned by US troops and located in their territory, was the property of the Confederacy.
The bombardment of the fort continued throughout the day.
4000 Confederate shells were fired on Fort Sumter in the space of 33 hours.
Bombardment of Fort Sumter
Rock 'n Roll history was made 60 years ago today, April 12, 1954, when "Bill Haley and the Comets" recorded a song written by Max C. Freedman and James E. Myers titled "We're Gonna Rock Around the Clock Tonight".
The song was to be on the "B" side of "Thirteen Women" which the group spent most of the session recording.
"Rock Around the Clock", as it would later be known, was almost an afterthought.
There were only 2 takes in 40 minutes of the 3 hour recording session.
The single sold a modest 75,000 copies but when actor Glenn Ford's son, Peter, "fell" for the "B" side.
Glenn Ford convinced movie producers to use the tune as the background soundtrack for his latest film "Blackboard Jungle".
"Rock Around the Clock" then sold 1 million copies in a single month in 1955.
Bill Haley
RUSSIAN LAUNCHED INTO SPACE 53 YEARS AGO
The Soviet Union launched both the first man into space as well as the first to orbit the earth 53 years ago today, April 12, 1961.
Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin's space flight aboard the "Vostok I" lasted less than two hours.
President John F. Kennedy was forced to acknowledge the United States is still behind in the space race and added "the news will be worse before it gets better."
Gagarin became a Soviet hero and was awarded the Order of Lenin.
Yuri Gagarin in Sweden (1964)
Photo by Arkiv Sydsvenskan
FDR DIED OF STROKE IN WARM SPRINGS, GEORGIA 69 YEARS AGO TODAY
Warm Springs, Georgia (JFK+50) President Franklin D. Roosevelt died shortly after 1 p.m. sixty nine years ago today, April 12, 1945, of a cerebral hemorrhage at the "Little White House" here in Warm Springs.
Little White House at Warm Springs
The President, while sitting in the living room having his portrait made, suddenly grabbed his head and said: "I have a terrific headache". Those were his last words.
FDR was carried to his bedroom where he was later pronounced dead.
As a procession took FDR's body from the home, Graham Jackson played "Going Home" and one of FDR's favorite hymns, "Nearer My God To Thee", on his accordion.
CIVIL WAR BEGAN IN CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA 153 YEARS AGO
Charleston, South Carolina (JFK+50) 153 years ago, April 12, 1861, at 4:30 a.m., Confederate shore batteries began to bombard Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor.
The firing on Sumter came after Commander Robert B. Anderson refused to surrender.
Confederate authorities maintained the fort, garrisoned by US troops and located in their territory, was the property of the Confederacy.
The bombardment of the fort continued throughout the day.
4000 Confederate shells were fired on Fort Sumter in the space of 33 hours.
Bombardment of Fort Sumter
