Eagle Classic Hitstory March 7 on birminghamseagle.com

On This Day in Eagle Classic Hitstory...

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March 7

1946
Peter Wolf of the J. Geils Band is born.
Peter Wolf "Lights Out"

1955
Carl Perkins' "Blue Suede Shoes" enters the R&B chart. It is the first time a C&W artist has made the R&B chart.

1964
Capitol Records is besieged with requests for heavyweight boxing champ Cassius Clay's album, I Am the Greatest. It's in big demand because of Clay's defeat of Sonny Liston last month. Columbia expects to sell 500,000 copies and Clay says, "I'm better and prettier than Chubby Checker."

1964
The Beatles "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and "She Loves You" are, according to Billboard, "neck and neck" for the top spot on the singles chart.

1966
The Shadows of Knight, a Chicago garage band, enter the Top Ten with their biggest hit, "Gloria."
Shadows of Knight "Gloria"

1969
The Who release "Pinball Wizard" in the U.K. It's the first selection the public hears from the rock opera Tommy.

1969
Tommy's Roe's single, "Dizzy" earns a gold record for sales over one million.

1973
Traffic have a gold LP with Shootout at the Fantasy Factory, their final LP with the extended group.

1973
One of the rare instrumentals to go gold this decade is "Dueling Banjos," performed by Eric Weissberg and Steve Mandel.

1973
John Hammond, director of talent acquistion at Columbia Records, suffers a heart attack following a show by one of his biggest and most recent finds, Bruce Springsteen. It's Hammond's third heart attack and he attributes it to overworking. However, his doctors insist it happened because Hammond had been so enthusiastic during Springsteen's set at New York's legendary club, Max's Kansas City.

1975
David Bowie's Young Americans is released.
David Bowie "Young Americans"

1976
A likeness of Elton John is put on display at London's Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum. He is the first rock figure so accorded the honor since the Beatles were first immortalized in wax in March 1964.

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