What happened on January 1
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1773253 yrs ago
"Amazing Grace" is first used at a sermon
Clergyman John Newton wrote the words for his New Year's Day service in Olney, England, and published them in 1779. The tune now sung with them, "New Britain", was paired with the words only in 1835.
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196264 yrs ago
The Beatles fail their Decca Records audition
In a West Hampstead studio the band ran through fifteen songs, but Decca signed Brian Poole and the Tremeloes, who auditioned the same day. Brian Epstein later said the label told him guitar groups were "on the way out", a remark Dick Rowe denied.
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196462 yrs ago
Top of the Pops airs for the first time
Jimmy Savile hosted the first show from Dickenson Road Studios in Rusholme, Manchester. Dusty Springfield opened it, and the Beatles closed with that week's No. 1, "I Want to Hold Your Hand".
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196660 yrs ago
"The Sound of Silence" hits No. 1 on the Hot 100
Producer Tom Wilson overdubbed electric guitar, bass and drums onto the duo's quiet acoustic track and put it out without telling them. The remix's success pulled the separated pair back together to make a second album.
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197749 yrs ago
The Clash headline the Roxy's gala opening
The London club had held a first show in mid-December, but its official gala opening came on New Year's Day with the Clash and the Heartbreakers on the bill. It had been set up as the first London club for live punk.
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1900126 yrs ago
Bandleader Xavier Cugat is born in Girona, Spain
Raised in Cuba, he became America's "Rumba King", leading the Waldorf-Astoria's house orchestra for sixteen years. His 1943 recording of "Brazil" spent seven weeks at No. 2.
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1923103 yrs ago
Vibraphonist Milt Jackson is born in Detroit
Known as "Bags", he is best remembered for his solos with the Modern Jazz Quartet. His own tune "Bags' Groove" became a jazz standard.
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195868 yrs ago
Grandmaster Flash is born
Joseph Saddler's turntable inventions, such as looping a drum break between two copies of a record, shaped hip-hop DJing. In 2007 his group became the first hip-hop act in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
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195373 yrs ago
Hank Williams dies on the way to a show
The 29-year-old country star was being driven to a New Year's Day concert in Canton, Ohio. When his drivers stopped for fuel in Oak Hill, West Virginia, they realized he had already died.
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201313 yrs ago
Patti Page dies at 85
Her "Tennessee Waltz" sold millions in the early 1950s and is the biggest-selling song of that decade by a woman. She also scored No. 1 hits with "All My Love" and "(How Much Is That) Doggie in the Window?".
Nothing matches these filters on January 1.