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1958--Buddy Holly and Maria Elena Santiago marry in a private ceremony at his parents home in Lubbock, Texas. The couple had met only two months earlier.

1958--Bluesman Big Bill Broonzy (William Lee Conley Broonzy), made famous by Key to the Highway, dies of cancer in Chicago, Illinois. He was 65 years old.

1961--East German workers began building the Berlin Wall.

1962--The Beatles perform at the Cavern Club at lunchtime and then again at night. The night show is Pete Best’s final appearance with The Beatles, although he is completely unaware of it at the time. The next day he is summoned to Brian Epstein’s office, where he receives a bombshell: the other Beatles no longer want him in the group. There were other reasons for Pete’s sudden departure: George Martin had said he didn’t think Pete was good enough to record with The Beatles, but another, more troublesome situation had developed: the Beatles road manager, Neil Aspinall, had become involved with Mona Best, Pete’s mother, and it was rumored she was pregnant with his baby. It took many years for this to be made public, and it appears that the rumor was indeed true. Pete Best’s youngest brother, Vincent ”Roag” Best (born in late July 1962), is the son of Aspinall. One of the saddest facts about the story of Pete Best’s firing from the group is that after that day, John, Paul, George and Ringo never spoke to Pete again. Neil Aspinall worked for the Beatles, in some capacity, until the time of his death in 2008.

1963--The Beatles perform two shows at the Odeon Cinema in Llandudno, Caernarvonshire.

1964--Dean Martin goes to #1 with Everybody Loves Somebody. The Beatles are at #53 with I Should Have Known Better.

1964--According to Billboard, the rising pop group The Dave Clark Five have signed a movie deal with MGM. They will later appear in the movie “Having a Wild Weekend.”

1965--The Beatles perform what may be the most famous live performance of their career: their first concert at New York’s Shea Stadium. The audience of 55,600 fans is the largest ever to attend a pop music concert up to that time. The Beatles are paid $160,000 for this one performance. New York City authorities veto the Beatles planned arrival inside the stadium by helicopter, so a Wells Fargo armored truck transports them into the stadium and they run out onto the stage, located at second base. The Beatles play Twist and Shout, She’s a Woman, I Feel Fine, Dizzy Miss Lizzie, Ticket to Ride, Everybody’s Trying to Be My Baby, Can’t Buy Me Love, Baby’s In Black, Act Naturally, I Wanna Be Your Man, A Hard Day’s Night, Help!, and I’m Down. In addition to the support acts that were accompanying The Beatles on their North American tour, an additional group was added for this concert, The Young Rascals. The concert is filmed by Sullivan Productions, in association with NEMS Enterprises and Subafilms, for a one-hour color television special, “The Beatles at Shea Stadium,” for the US market. In fact, though, it is first broadcast (in black and white) in the UK, by the BBC, who transmit the show on March 1, 1966, and again on August 27, 1966. The film is first shown in the US (in color) on January 10, 1967, on the ABC-TV network. “The Beatles at Shea Stadium” opens with the closing number from the concert, I'm Down. She’s a Woman and Everybody’s Trying to Be My Baby aren’t included in the film at all. Also, some of the other tracks have studio overdubs added to the live audio track to “sweeten” them up. Two of the Rolling Stones, Mick Jagger and Keith Richard, are among the audience at Shea Stadium, and later that evening, Bob Dylan visits the Beatles at their hotel. The Beatles Anthology 2 includes the Shea Stadium performance of Everybody’s Trying To Be My Baby (Disc one, Track 13). (Note: The song Dizzy Miss Lizzie is often spelled “Dizzy Miss Lizzy".)

1966--The Beatles, on their final tour of America, perform one show at DC Stadium, Washington, D.C., in front of a crowd of 32,164. Five members of the Ku Klux Klan, led by the Imperial Wizard of Maryland, picket the concert.

1966--The Monkees release Last Train to Clarksville. Their debut single goes to #1, selling more than a million copies.

1968--The Beatles in the recording studio (Studio Two, EMI Studios, London). Recording begins on Rocky Raccoon. George Harrison sits in the control booth while Paul McCartney, John Lennon, and Ringo Starr record nine takes of the basic track. Later, John overdubs harmonica and George Martin records a piano solo. John, Paul, and George then overdub backing vocals. Take 8 is included on The Beatles Anthology 3 (Disc one, Track 21).

1969--The Beatles in the recording studio (Studios One and Two, EMI Studios, London). Recording orchestral tracks for Golden Slumbers / Carry That Weight, The End, Something, and Here Comes the Sun. And George Harrison records a new lead guitar solo for the mid-section of Something.

1969--The Woodstock Music and Art Fair, a three-day gathering that came to define the generation that came of age during the turbulent 1960s, begins in upstate New York. Two dozen bands came to play on a wooden stage in the middle of a pasture on Yagur’s Farm. It was a happening unlike any other: 450,000 people formed a love-in for three days and nights. Jimi Hendrix, Joan Baez, Arlo Guthrie, Country Joe and the Fish, Santana, Jefferson Airplane, Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Who, and Crosby, Stills and Nash were among the many performers at the festival. There were hippies, bikers, Viet Nam war vets, high school kids, college students; they were longhaired and short, young and old, and the world watched and joined in through the magic of the media, as they came by the thousands. The music played, and the people listening danced and sang and did a lot of rolling around in the mud (it rained!) and stripping off of their clothing. Woodstock marked an era, one that will never come again. Groovy! Far out! Like, wow, man! Power to the people! And, of course... Peace, brother!

1980--George Harrison’s book, “I Me Mine,” is published.

1984--Norman Petty dies in Lubbock, Texas, at age 57. His studio in Clovis, New Mexico, turned out hits by Buddy Holly (That’ll Be the Day), Buddy Knox (Party Doll), and The Fireballs (Torquay). Petty also managed Buddy Holly and the Crickets for a time. As a producer, he helped pioneer the Tex-Mex sound.

1987--At Graceland in Memphis, Tennessee, thousands begin to file past Elvis’ grave as part of a week-long vigil to commemorate the 10th anniversary of his death.

For more day-by-day history go to HistoryUnlimited.net