A research survey taken in the early 1970s showed that Elvis Presley was the second most recognized man in the world. Mao Tse-tung, leader of the Chinese Communist Party, was first.

The Supremes 1969, number one hit, "Someday We'll Be Together" seems to be a promise that the group would eventually reunite. The fact is, the song was recorded only by Diana Ross, as Mary Wilson and Cindy Birdsong never sang on the record at all.

Edgar Winter recorded an instrumental track that he started calling "Frankenstien" because the master tape had been cut and patched so many times. It was released as the B side of a single, but radio DJs soon started to play it and in May, 1973, it went to number one on the Billboard Hot 100.

When The Quarry Men, who would one day turn into The Beatles, made their first appearance at Liverpool's Cavern Club in August, 1957, the owner shouted at them "Cut out the bloody rock!"

The Eagles recorded their first album, which would be branded "California rock", in London England.

During the first ten years of rock and roll's existence, Bobby Vinton had more #1 hits than any other male vocalist, including Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra.

The group, "Steam", who is credited on the label of the 1969, number one hit, "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye" never recorded the song at all. The tune was a hastily put together track, intended as a "B" side for singer Gary De Carlo. When Mercury Records wanted to release it on their Fontana subsidiary, De Carlo would only allow it to be issued with an assumed name on the label and "Steam" was the moniker chosen. Gary was so disappointed by the company's decision, he refused to record any more songs to complete an album and a group from Bridgeport was recruited to tour as Steam.

The Four Tops recorded and performed together for more than 40 years without any change to their original line-up. No other group with a US number one record can make that claim.

Norman 'Hurricane' Smith, who had a hit record with "Oh, Babe, What Would You Say?" in 1973, was a recording engineer on some of the Beatles' early sessions in 1962.

The Association were warned against playing their first hit single "Along Comes Mary" at Disneyland by the Orange County Sheriff's Department over rumours that the song was about marijuana. Shortly after, a group of nuns from Marymount College named the record their "song of the year".

The lead guitar part on the Beatles' 1965 chart topper "Ticket To Ride" was played by Paul McCartney, not George Harrison.

When John Phillips, Denny Doherty, Michelle Phillips and Cass Elliot first recorded "California Dreaming", they laid down backing vocals only, behind the voice of Barry McGuire (Eve Of Destruction). Later, McGuires's track was removed and the group added their lead vocals so the song could be used as a filler for their first Mamas and Papas album. When the song was released as a single, it was so popular, it sold 150,000 copies the first day and in May 1966, went to the top of Billboard's Hot 100.

Many rock historians have reported that Florence Ballard, one of the original Supremes, was on welfare when she died of a heart attack in 1975. In fact, that year she had received a settlement of $50,000 from one of her lawyers and had gone off of social assistance.

After The Beatles' filmed two feature length movies, "A Hard Days Night" and "Help", they were slated to make a third called "A Talent For Loving". Three months had been set aside in the spring of 1966, but a suitable script couldn't be agreed upon and the picture was never made.

Although "Michael" (rowed the boat ashore), the 1961 hit by The Highwaymen was written in the 1800s and "A Whiter Shade Of Pale" by Procol Harum was lifted from a melody by Johann Sebastian Bach written in the 1700s, the oldest lyrics for a hit rock and roll song belong to the Byrds' "Turn, Turn, Turn". Pete Seeger adapted the words from the Bible's Book Of Ecclesiastes.

One of Jan and Dean's first records was a song called "Linda", written in 1944 by Jack Lawrence, about a friend's two year old daughter, Linda Eastman. That same little girl would grow up to marry Paul McCartney in March, 1969.

It was record producers Hugo Peretti and Luigi Creatore who changed Margaret Battavio's stage name to Little Peggy March for her 1963 hit, "I Will Follow Him". The name "March" came from the month that she was born and "Little" came from the fact that she stood just 4 ft 10 in. tall.

15 year old Paul Anka wrote his 1957, #1 hit, "Diana" for his younger siblings babysitter. She was 18 and wanted nothing to do with him, so he wrote her a poem. Later, he set the verses to music, recorded it and had a number one, international hit with it. When Paul returned from touring, she wanted to get together with him, but by then, he had lost all interest.

A Ray Stevens single called "Sergeant Preston of the Yukon" showed signs of becoming a hit record, until King Features, the owner of the character, threatened to sue. Ray had neglected to get their permission and the single had to be pulled from the market.

Bobby Darin's "Mack The Knife" was the 59th number one single of the rock and roll era. It entered Billboard's Hot 100 at number 59 and was the second best selling song of...you guessed it...1959.

It took Roy Orbison and his songwriting partner Joe Melson about five minutes to write the lyrics to their 1961, number one hit, "Running Scared". That's only slightly longer than it takes to sing the song.

In March of 1963, producer Phil Spector heard a demo of a song called "It’s My Party". He said, ‘Great, I love it. I’m gonna do it with the Crystals.’ Phil left with the demo, not knowing that others had heard it before him and that Quincy Jones had already decided to record the song with Lesley Gore. When Jones got wind that Spector was about halfway through producing the song, he quickly released his version. Four weeks later, it was the number one record in America and launched a string of hits for Lesley Gore.

"Does Your Mamma Know About Me" was a Top 30 hit in May of 1968 for a group called Bobby Taylor and The Vancouvers. The song was written by one of the band's guitar players, Tommy Chong, who would later team with Cheech Marin as Cheech and Chong.

Before they became The Supremes, Diana Ross, Mary Wilson and Florence Ballard were known as The Primettes. Of the three, it was Ballard who had the most powerful voice and was considered the group's lead singer.

In 1963, Billy Swan replaced Kris Kristofferson as the janitor at Columbia Records' Nashville Studios. By 1970, Swan was playing in Kristofferson's band and in 1974, had a number one song in the U.S. with "I Can Help".

About eleven minutes into the album version of Iron Butterfly's "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida", organist Doug Ingle can clearly be heard playing a few bars of the Christmas song "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen".

When Simon and Garfunkel's "The Sounds Of Silence" went to #1 in the US in 1966, Paul was performing solo in Europe and had no idea the record had even been released. Columbia Records producer Tom Wilson had lifted the song from the album "Wednesday Morning, 3 AM" and added electric guitars, bass and drums to the original track of just Paul and Art singing along with Paul's guitar. The duo quickly re-formed to hit the college circut and record a second album.

In 1958, Phil Spector produced a group called The Teddy Bears, who scored a US Top Ten hit called "To Know Him Is To Love Him". The title was taken from the inscription on Phil's Father's grave stone.

In February 1982, former Black Sabbath leader Ozzy Osbourne urinated on the Alamo. He was arrested, charged with defiling a national monument and banned from performing in San Antonio. The ban was eventually lifted.

Bobby Sherman was one of the more talented teen heart throbs. He could play guitar, piano, trumpet, trombone, French horn, drums and sitar. By 2001, he had left the entertainment business and was a medical training officer for the L.A. Police Department.

Olivia Newton-John's Grandfather was the 1954 Nobel Prize winning German physicist, Max Born.

The New Christy Minstrels, who reached #14 in the US with "Green Green" in 1963, were a folk-based group that provieded an early training ground for Kenny Rogers, Barry McGuire, John Denver, Kim Carnes, future Byrd Gene Clark, actress Karen Black and some members of The Association.

The studio musicians hired for Carly Simon's first solo album included Blood, Sweat and Tears founder Al Kooper, future Electric Flag guitarist Mike Bloomfield, along with Robbie Robertson, Rick Danko and Richard Manuel, who would go on to form the nucleus of The Band. The sessions they recorded were left incomplete and the album was never released.

Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel first sang together when they were in the sixth grade in Forest Hills, New York.

Elvis Presley has sold over 1 billion records world wide. The Recording Industy Association Of America has awarded him more Gold, Platinum and Multi-Platimum records that any other artist. In the US, he has placed 149 singles on Billboard's Hot 100 as well as 114 in the Top 40, forty songs in the Top 10 and had 18 number ones.

The song "Dancing In The Street", which became a #2 pop hit for Martha and the Vandellas in 1964, was originally turned down by Motown singer Kim Weston, even though her husband, Mickey Stevenson was one of its co-writers.

Before hiring Chuck Negron as the third lead singer for the newly formed Three Dog Night, Danny Hutton and Cory Wells also considered Billy Joe Royal of "Down In The Boondocks" fame, as well as Crazy Horse founder, Danny Whitten.

Reg Presley, the lead singer for The Troggs on their five million selling, 1966 hit "Wild Thing", went on to become one of Britain's premier UFO experts.

Stevie Wonder's mother, Lula Hardaway, took her infant son to preacher Oral Roberts in a vain attempt to have his blindness healed.

Ted Nugent, the guitarist known as "The Motor City Madman", was named Father of the Year at his children’s school. Although he has been married to his wife Shemane Nugent since 1989, he admitted to fathering a child with another woman in the mid 90s.

Drummer Ron Wilson recorded rock and roll's most influential drum solo, "Wipeout" with The Surfaris in 1963. The group split in the late 60s and Wilson died in poverty after suffering a brain aneurysm in May of 1989.

The first time Rod Stewart performed in America was at the Filmore East in New York in 1968. Rod's stage fright was so severe, he sang the first song from backstage.

Carly Simon's father was a co-founder of the book publishing company, Simon & Schuster.

The Small Faces, who had a Top 20 hit in 1967 with "Itchycoo Park", really were small. All five members stood less than five feet, six inches in height. When Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood replaced the departed Steve Marriott in 1968, the word "Small" was dropped from the band's name, as the two new members stood a head taller than the others.

Elvis Presley once told a reporter: "I don't know anything about music. In my line of business, you don't have to."

In 1963, Frank Zappa started a porno movie production company. He was arrested and jailed for sexual perversion a short while later. He might have stayed in business longer if his studio hadn't been right across the street from the Cucamonga, California court house.

The Marvelettes first big hit "Please Mr. Postman" was a re-worded version of a song written by William Garrett, who happened to be a real mail carrier.

The LP "Johnny Mathis Greatest Hits" spent 490 weeks on Billboard's Hot 200 album chart. That is the equivalent of nine and a half years.

Janis Joplin's former residence in San Francisco's Haight district was converted into a drug re-hab center in 1999.

Although he was appearing on the hit TV show Ozzie and Harriet, Rick Nelson had no musical ambitions until a girlfriend said that she was in love with Elvis Presley. Rick told her that he was cutting a record too, which in reality he had no plans to do. His first hit was a cover of Fats Domino's "I'm Walkin'", which went to number four in the US and sold over a million copies.

This one isn't rock and roll trivia, but it's still fascinating.
Felix Powell, a British Army staff sergeant, wrote the music for "Pack Up Your Troubles In Your Old Kit Bag and Smile, Smile, Smile" in 1915 and entered it in a WWI competition for the best morale-building song. The song won first prize and has been called "perhaps the most optimistic song ever written." Powell didn't follow his own advice though...he committed suicide in 1942.

When asked if it bothered him when people made wise cracks about his big nose, Beatles' drummer Ringo Starr once said "it goes up one nostril and down the other."

Sonny Curtis, a guitar player with Buddy Holly's Crickets during their hit making years, also turned out to be a prolific songwriter. Among his most memorable tunes were "I Fought The Law" by The Bobby Fuller Four, "Walk Right Back" by The Everly Brothers as well as The Theme From The Mary Tyler Moore Show.

"The Long and Winding Road" was written by Paul McCartney, especially for singer Tom Jones.

According to the studio musicians who backed Otis Redding on his 1968 hit, "Dock Of The Bay", the whistling at the end of the song was made up on the spot because Otis forgot the words to the fade out ending that he had prepared.

Even though he was married, singer Tom Jones had a much publicized affair with the Supremes Mary Wilson during the 1960s.

The 1962, number one hit "He's A Rebel" was credited by producer Phil Spector to his group, The Crystals, even though they never sang a note on the record. The song was actually recorded by a group called The Blossoms, featuring Darlene Love, who would later have her own series of hits, including the top 40 "He's Sure The Boy I Love".

In 1971, Michelle Phillips of The Mamas and Papas appeared in the film "The Last Movie" and later married her co-star Dennis Hopper. The marriage lasted eight days.

Tommy Edward's 1958, number one hit, "It's All In The Game" was based on a song called "Melody in F major", written in 1912 by Charles Gates Dawes, who would go on to be Calvin Coolidge's vice presidential running mate in 1923 and a co-winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1925.

Ray Peterson first started singing while he was a polio patient in a Texas hospital, to amuse the other patients. After turning professional, he signed with RCA records and in 1960 recorded the #7 US hit, "Tell Laura I Love Her".

According to TV's Much Music, there are an estimated 30,000 Elvis imitators in the United States.

In 1965, while Bob Dylan was recording his "Blonde On Blonde" album at the Columbia Record Studios in Nashville, Kris Kristofferson was there too...working as a night janitor.

In 1962, The Shirelles recorded a song called "Soldier Boy" in one take, intending it to be an album filler. A few months later, it was released as a single, climbing to #3 on the R&B chart and #1 on the pop chart, becoming the group's biggest seller.

While the progressive rock band Emerson, Lake and Palmer were forming in 1970, there were serious talks about adding Jimi Hendrix to the line up. A jam session was set up with Hendrix for late summer, but Jimi died before it came together. The rumours of the potential band with Hendrix did leak out to the British music press, who began running articles saying the band would be called "Hendrix, Emerson, Lake & Palmer" or HELP for short.

Herman's Hermit's 1965 number one US hit, "I'm Henry The Eighth, I Am" was written in 1911 by an English comedian.

While laying down tracks for an upcoming album, Bobby Hebb recorded one of his own compositions called "Sunny", just to use up the remaining studio time. His record company liked the song and released it as a single in 1966. It promptly went to number 2 in the US.

During a meeting being held to discuss the possibility of Revlon creating a line of cosmetics to be endorsed by Diana Ross, a company spokesman said that he was "certain that she could do quite a bit for the black woman's market of cosmetics." Ross jumped up and stormed out of the meeting. Several minutes later, one of her representatives came back into the room to say that the meeting was over and that "Miss Ross is not black...not in her mind and not in the mind of anyone who works for her."

Drummer Richard Starkey was given his nickname by band leader Rory Storm. At first he called him "Rings" because he wore so many of them, but later changed it to "Ringo", because it sounded more "cowboy".

On February 10th, 1971, Bright Tunes Music Corp filed suit against George Harrison for plagiarism because of the similarities between "He's So Fine" by The Chiffons and Harrison's "My Sweet Lord". Although Harrison always claimed the resemblance was unintentional, the presiding judge said it was "perfectly obvious...the two songs are virtually identical" and awarded damages. In a fascinating twist, in 1975 The Chiffons recorded their own version of "My Sweet Lord".

In 1995, Michael Jackson contacted the British Embassy to enquire about being knighted by the Queen, for his work with children.

R.B. Greaves, who sang the number two 1969 hit, "Take A Letter, Maria", is the nephew of Sam Cooke.

The only reason that Junior Walker sang on his 1965 hit, "Shotgun", was that the vocalist he'd hired didn't show up for the session. Walker was somewhat flabbergasted by the label's decision to leave his vocal intact, but the record went on to reach number 4 on the U.S. Pop chart and number 1 on the R&B chart.

The Rolling Stones hold the record for the largest grossing rock and roll tour of all time. Their 1994-95 'Voodoo Lounge' tour took in $320 million The second largest money maker was the Stones' 2002-03 'Licks' tour, which saw the rockers play to over 3.4 million people and rake in $300 million.

The Electric Prunes 1967 hit "I Had Too Much To Dream Last Night" was originally written as a slow piano ballad and was first recorded by night club crooner Jerry Vale.

Jerry Lee Lewis' 1957 hit, "Whole Lotta Shakin´ Goin´ On" sold over six million copies in the first year after its release, yet was recorded in just one take.

Billy Joel was only 16 years old when he played piano on the Shangri-La's' 1965 hit, "Leader of the Pack".

Despite having a long string of hit singles, Rick Nelson's only Grammy Award came in 1986 for 'Best Spoken Word or Nonmusical Recording' for his contribution to an album called "The Class Of '55", a Sun Records reunion album that featured Nelson's early idols, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, Carl Perkins, and Jerry Lee Lewis.

The Kingsmen's "Louie, Louie" was written in 1955 by Richard Berry, who sold all rights to the song for $750. In 1986, an artists' rights group helped Berry collect about $2 million in royalties.

The first hit for The Righteous Brothers, 1963's "Little Latin Lupe Lu", was written by Bill Medley about his then girlfriend Lupe Laguna. The song was also a top 20 hit for Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels in 1966.

Stevie Wonder was not born blind. The blindness happened shortly afterward as a result of having received too much oxygen in the hospital incubator. Stevie spent a total of 52 days in an incubator.

In 1969, Tommy James and The Shondells turned down an offer to perform at the original Woodstock Festival, when their booking agent described the event as "...a stupid gig on a pig farm in upstate New York."

Songwriter Gene MacLellan wrote Anne Murray's 1969 multi-million seller, "Snowbird" in just 25 minutes. It was only the second song he had ever written.

Bobby "Boris" Pickett added all his own sound sound effects to his 1962 hit, "The Monster Mash". The creaky door opening is a nail being pulled from a piece of wood, the boiling cauldron is Pickett blowing bubbles into a cup of water with a straw and the chains are him moving chains up and down.

Anton Fig, who plays drums on David Letterman's Late Show, performed on the 1980 KISS album, "Unmasked", after original drummer Peter Criss had left the band.