Elvis Presley scored 18 Number One hits in the U.S., while The Beatles racked up 25. Bing Crosby had 38.

In 1957 a teenager had been told by his father to get a job or get out of the house, so he wrote a song called "Be My Guest" and waited in line for a chance to pass it on to Fats Domino. He was able to do so, and heard from Domino's agent some time later. Thus began the songwriting career of Tommy Boyce, who would later team up with Bobby Hart to write some of rock and roll's best selling songs.

During one concert, Neil Diamond sang his hit "Forever In Blue Jeans" six times in a row... while wearing sharply creased slacks.

The first time that future Led Zeppelin members Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and John Bonham ever played together was as studio musicians, backing Donovan on his 1968 hit, "Hurdy Gurdy Man". A hurdy-gurdy is actually a stringed instrument in which the strings are rubbed by a rosined wheel instead of a bow.

When Crosby, Stills and Nash first started singing together, they were known as "The Frozen Noses", a vague reference to their drug habits.

The Beach Boys recorded the original version of "Little Honda", but didn't release it as a single because Brian Wilson didn't think the song had the potential to become a hit. A cover of the song, which featured studio musicians Glen Campbell, Richie Podolor and Hal Blaine, was credited to a constantly changing touring group called The Hondells who took the song into the Top Ten in 1964.

In 1964, Tommy James was asked by a local DJ to record a few songs for Snap Records, a tiny Michigan record label. One of those tunes was "Hanky Panky", which started to take off locally, but then quickly died, a victim of poor distribution. The song was soon forgotten, and eventually the group broke up. Two years later, the disc was mistakenly played on the air by a Pittsburgh DJ. Delighted radio listeners wanted to know where they could get a copy of "that hot new single". Tommy James was shocked when told the song was number one in the city and quickly formed a new band to take advantage of his success. By the late summer of 1966, it was the number one selling single in the nation.

The background singers on Lou Christie's 1966 hit, "Lightnin' Strikes" were The Angels, who recorded the 1963 hit, "My Boyfriend's Back".

When Atlantic Records session guitarist Steve Cropper was told that a little known singer named Wilson Pickett was coming in to the Memphis studio to record, he went to the nearest record shop and began searching through the record bins, looking for something Pickett had done. “I found two or three things...some spiritual things that he had sung lead on,” Cropper says. Cropper noticed that at the end of each song, Wilson would launch into an improvised rap about 'the midnight hour’. “In every song in the fade-out, he’d go into this ritual, ‘I’m going to wait till the midnight hour, oh in the midnight hour,’ and he’d start preaching this ‘midnight hour’ thing, and I said ‘That’s it!’ When Wilson and Cropper got together, the phrase ‘In the Midnight Hour’ was the first one that came up. It took just one hour to write the soul/rock classic that would established Wilson Pickett as a star. "In The Midnight Hour" reached the top of the R&B chart and hit #21 on the pop chart in 1965. The song has since became a soul standard... even Wolfman Jack would adopt it as his theme song.

In the early 1960s, Frank Zappa appeared on Steve Allen’s TV show, performing a "bicycle concerto", plucking the spokes and blowing through the handlebars.

Van Morrison's 1967 Top Ten hit, "Brown Eyed Girl" was originally written as "Brown Skinned Girl", but was changed so it would be more appealing to AM radio programmers.

Dionne Warwick's real last name is Warrick (with no "w"), but she was stuck with the change when 1962's "Don't Make Me Over" became a hit and her record company misspelled her name on the label.

Despite producing some of the best remembered songs of the rock and roll era, the only Grammy Award that Phil Spector ever won was for "Best Sound Effects" on the 1964 Ronettes hit, "Walking In The Rain".

In 1963, songwriter/producer Bob Feldman was a staff writer for April-Blackwood Music. He heard that the Sweet Shoppe, across the street from his old highschool in Brooklyn, was being torn down and went back for one last look. "While I was there", Feldman recalled, "an altercation started between a young girl and a hoody-looking young man with a leather jacket. She was pointing a finger at him and screaming "My boyfriend's back and you're gonna be in trouble. You've been spreading lies about me all over school and when he gets ahold of you, you're gonna be sorry you were ever born." That night Bob told his writing partners, Jerry Goldstein and Richard Gottehrer, about the incident and they sat down and wrote a song about it. When it was recorded by a group called The Angels, "My Boyfriend's Back" went to #1 on the U.S. charts and became one of the classic girl-group records of all time. As for Feldman, Goldstein and Gottehrer, they later formed their own group, the Strangeloves, later discovered the McCoys, and achieved individual success with productions by War, Blondie, and the Go-Gos.

Before he was signed by ABC-Dunhill Records in the early seventies, Jimmy Buffett was turned down by 26 record labels.

Bobby Vee once kicked Robert Zimmerman out of his band because he thought he had no future as a musician. Zimmerman would go on to have a career as a folksinger, calling himself Bob Dylan.

After an executive at Atlantic Records turned down "I'd Really Love To See You Tonight" by England Dan and John Ford Coley, Doug Morris of Big Tree Records, having heard the song through the wall of his adjoining office, offered the duo a contract. The result was a #2 pop single in the spring of 1976, which ultimately sold two million copies.

According to band legend, the name "Alice Cooper" came to singer Vincent Furnier during a ouija board session, where he was told he was the reincarnation of a 17th-century witch of the same name.

James Brown wrote his 1965, number one hit, "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag" based on a spur-of-the-moment adlib during one of his concerts.

Al Kooper came up with the name for his new band when he was on the phone with a promoter, while gazing at a Johnny Cash album cover. The album was called, "Blood, Sweat & Tears". The inspiration for the band name did not come from Winston Churchill's quote, "I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat", as was widely reported at the time.

The theme song for the TV sit-com, "That 70s Show", was written by Alex Chilton, who was The Box Top's lead singer on their hits "The Letter" and "Cry Like A Baby".

Seals And Crofts former road manager is Leo Gallagher Jr., the comedian known simply as "Gallagher", the comic known for his "Sledge-o-matic" routine, where he smashes a wide variety of things with a sledge hammer.

Elvis Presley's manager, Colonel Tom Parker was not really a colonel at all, it was an honorary title given to him in 1948 by Governor Jimmie Davis of Louisiana. Parker's real name was Andreas Cornelius van Kujik, an illegal Dutch immigrant who became a flamboyant promoter. His pre-Elvis experience included shows called "The Great Parker Pony Circus" and "Tom Parker and His Dancing Turkeys" and was a veteran of carnivals, medicine shows and various other entertainment enterprises. Before he met Elvis, Parker managed the career of singer Eddie Arnold, who fired him in 1953.

Mark David Chapman, who murdered John Lennon on December 8th, 1980, later admitted that another target that he considered shooting was former Tonight Show host, Johnny Carson.

During the recording of Gary Lewis and The Playboys 1965 number one hit, "This Diamond Ring", The Playboys were used sparingly. Studio musicians, including Tommy Alsup on guitar, Leon Russell on keyboards and Hal Blaine on drums were used instead. Even Gary's vocals got some help from a singer named Ron Hicklin, who did the basic vocal track; then producer Snuff Garrett added Gary’s voice, overdubbed him a second time, added some of the Playboys, and then added more of Hicklin. Garrett would later say: "When I got through, he sounded like Mario Lanza".

One afternoon in 1962, while waiting for a Four Season's rehearsal to begin, group member Bob Gaudio sat down at the piano and in fifteen minutes, wrote a song that would become the quartet's first hit single. The original working title was "Terry" and several other names were also considered, including "Peri" (the name of their record label-owner's daughter) as well as "Jackie" (a tie-in with Jackie Kennedy, who was at the height of her popularity). When producer Bob Crewe told his disc jockey friend, Jack Spector, about the song he wanted to record, Spector suggested the name of his three year old daughter, "Cheri". The name stuck, but when the record was pressed, the label misspelled the name - "Sherry".

Cher's very first recording was called "Ringo, I Love You" under the name Bonnie Jo Mason.

Producer Jay Siegal took The Chiffons demo of "He's So Fine" to ten different record companies...all ten turned it down. The eleventh company, Laurie Records, liked the song and released it in February, 1963. Two months later, it was the number one song in America.

When Barry McGuire recorded "Eve of Destruction", he read the words to the song off of a piece of paper that had been in his pocket for about a week. The song was completed in one take, with the understanding that Barry would re-record the vocals later. When the final mixing was taking place, McGuire wasn't around and the record was pressed from the original recording.

When Ritchie Valens recorded the demo for "Come On Let's Go", he made the lyrics up as he went along. The tape had to be played back so he could write down the words to the song.

"Sunday Will Never Be The Same", the 1967 Top Ten hit for Spanky and Our Gang was originally turned down by The Mamas and Papas.

Chuck Berry was inspired to write "Sweet Little Sixteen" after an eleven year old girl asked him for his autograph.

The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, who scored a 1970, Top Ten hit with "Mr. Bojangles", backed Steve Martin on his 1978 novelty hit, "King Tut", which made it to #17 in the U.S.A.

The 1961 Beach Boys hit, "In My Room", was recorded by Brian Wilson with studio musicians backing him instead of the rest of The Beach Boys. The record went to number twenty-three.

The song "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling" was written by George Graff, who was German, and was never in Ireland in his life.

Cuba Gooding Jr., who found movie fame with Tom Cruise in the film "Jerry Maguire", is the son of Cuba Gooding Sr., the lead singer of The Main Ingredient, who had a million selling, number one hit with "Everybody Plays The Fool" in the fall of 1972. Cuba's mother, Shirley, sang backup vocals for Jackie Wilson's touring act.

The recording of "Mr. Tambourine Man" was actually cut by studio musicians, with guitarist Roger McGuinn the only member of the Byrds actually playing on the record. The group did, however, provide the vocals.

The last song that Elvis ever performed publicly was "Bridge Over Troubled Water", at his final concert in Indianapolis in June, 1977.

Sam The Sham often included a song called "Haunted House" in his stage act, but refused to record it for Hi Records because he didn't like the label. Hi Records then offered it to Gene Simmons, who took it to Number Eleven in the U.S. in August of 1964.

The song "Happy Birthday" was written by American sisters Patty and Mildred Hill in 1893 when they were school teachers in Louisville, Kentucky. The verse was originally intended as a classroom greeting entitled "Good Morning To All". The lyrics were copyrighted in 1935, 11 years before Patty's death, and the ownership has swapped hands in multi-million dollar deals ever since. The copyright is currently owned by Warner Communications who bought the rights for $28 million in 1985 and is scheduled to expire in 2021.

In 1962, when Johnny Carson took over the NBC "Tonight Show" from Jack Parr, he commissioned Paul Anka for a new theme song. Paul suggested a song that he had already written called "Toot Sweet". After a lyric was added in 1959 it was re-named "It's Really Love" and under that title, was recorded by Annette Funicello on her LP, "Annette Sings". Under a deal with Anka, Johnny became the "author" for copyright purposes and got a piece of not only the publishing but the composer's share too. Both Anka and Carson's names were listed as writers and the two began collecting BMI performance royalties. The pair got $200 in royalties every time the show aired...and it ran for 32 years, 52 weeks a year, 5 nights a week -- which works out to $1,664,000.00 -- not bad for an old tune that had been re-cycled twice before.

Cher's parents, Georgia Holt and John Sarkisian were married, then divorced and then re-married and divorced a second time.

Freddie Garrity of Freddie and The Dreamers named his band after Johnny Burnettes 1958 hit, "Dreamin'".

White Christmas by Bing Crosby has sold over 40 million copies...yet took only 18 minutes to record.

Jay and The American's 1965 number 6 hit, "Cara Mia" was originally a number 4 hit for a singer named David Whitfield and a female choir accompanied by Mantovani's Orchestra in 1954.

At age 47, the Rolling Stones' bassist, Bill Wyman, began a relationship with 13-year old Mandy Smith, with her mother's blessing. Six years later, they were married, but the union only lasted seventeen months. Not long after, Bill's 30-year-old son Stephen married Mandy's mother, age 46. That made Stephen a stepfather to his former stepmother, Mandy.

Mason Williams, who won three Grammy Awards for his 1968 instrumental hit "Classical Gas", was also the head writer for TV's "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Show".

"Are You Lonesome Tonight?" the 1960 hit for Elvis Presley was written by Roy Turk and Lou Handman in 1926 as a vaudeville recitation and first recorded by Al Jolson.

Paul McCartney is the kazoo player on Ringo Starr's 1974 version of "You're Sixteen".

Before R. Dean Taylor scored a number one hit with "Indiana Wants Me" in 1974, he worked for Motown Records as a songwriter. He penned the hits "I'll Turn To Stone" for The Four Tops, "Love Child" and "I'm Livin' In Shame" for The Supremes, and "All I Need" for The Temptations.

"S.O.S" by ABBA is the only palindrome Top 40 hit. You can spell the title and the recording act both forwards and backwards -- and come up with the same thing.

Kent Lavoie, who recorded under the name of "Lobo" on his hit single "Me And You And A Dog Named Boo", once played in a band called The Legends, along with Jim Stafford, who would go on to have several hits of his own, including "Spiders and Snakes" and "My Girl, Bill".

The shortest number one song of the rock and roll era is Maurice Williams and The Zodiacs' 1960 hit, "Stay" at only 1:37.

The first recording that Sly Stone ever made was a 78 RPM single called "On The Battlefield", recorded for the Church of God in Christ Northern California Sunday School Dept.

When J. Frank Wilson was with The Cavaliers in 1962, guitarist Sid Holmes brought him a song called "Bring It On Home To Me", which the band added to their act. After "Last Kiss" hit in 1964, Wilson was travelling with The Animals and one night, got to jamming with Eric Burton, each trying to outdo the other. He launched into "Bring It On Home To Me" and Burton, who loved the tune, rushed to the recording studio days later and laid down the track. The song became a Top 40 smash for the Animals, a fact that bothered J. Frank Wilson for years, as he could never muster another hit, yet had one right under his nose all the time.

Johnny Maestro sang lead vocal on the Crests' "Sixteen Candles" as well as "The Worst That Could Happen" by the Brooklyn Bridge.

"La Bamba", the 1958 million seller for Ritchie Valens is a traditional song that can be traced back as far as the 14th century. The tune was picked up by the people of Mexico after they heard homesick African slaves singing about their village of "Mamamba" in the 1800s.

The members of the 116th General Assembly of Ohio voted The McCoys' "Hang On Sloopy" as the official state rock song in November 1985.

Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys spent most of the years 1971 to 1975 in bed.

"Wild Thing", the 1966 hit by the Troggs was written by Chip Taylor, the brother of actor Jon Voight.

Brian Hyland's 1960 Number One hit, "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka-dot Bikini" was co-written by Paul Vance after seeing his 2-year old daughter Paula play at the beach in her bathing suit.

Timothy B. Schmit replaced Randy Meisner in Poco in 1969 and replaced him again in the Eagles when Meisner quit them in 1977.

Paul Simon's 1973 U.S. hit, "Kodachrome" was banned from airplay on Britain's BBC because the song contains a product brandname.

Monkee Mike Nesmith's mother, Bette Nesmith Graham was the inventor of Liquid Paper correction fluid. She sold the rights to the Gillette Corporation in 1979 for $47.5 million and when she died in 1980, she left half of her fortune to her son Michael.

The title of the Byrds' 1966 hit "Eight Miles High" is not a drug reference. It actually refers to the altitude reserved for military air craft.

'Crazy, Man, Crazy' by Bill Haley and his Comets was the first rock and roll record to make the Billboard pop chart, reaching the Top 20 in 1953.

Maurice Gibb of The Bee Gees wasn't tall enough to see over the hood of his Rolls-Royce and had to sit on a phone book while driving.

The first record to reach number one in 34 different countries was The Beatles' White Album.

"Islands In The Stream" by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton was the 1985 American Music Awards winner for Favourite Country Single. The song was written by Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb especially for Diana Ross.

The first 45 rpm record to hit the Billboard charts was "You're Adorable" by Perry Como, on May 7, 1949. Before that, singles were released on 78 rpm discs.

Fats Domino has had 18 singles that were million sellers, yet only 1956's "Blueberry Hill" went to number one.

In many U.S. states, there is a law against dancing to "The Star Spangled Banner".

The Beach Boys' original name was The Pendletones, after a popular shirt manufacturer.

Carl Perkins' 1955 hit, "Blue Suede Shoes" was the first Country and Western song to ever make Billboard's R&B chart.

Johann Sebastian Bach, who was born in 1685, wrote the music for three hit records of the rock and roll era, "Whiter Shade Of Pale" by Procol Harum, "A Lover's Concerto" by the Toys and "Joy" by Apollo 100.

The Carpenters hit, "We've Only Just Begun" was written by Paul Williams and Roger Nichols as a radio jingle for a California bank.

Elvis' manager, Colonel Tom Parker once covered all bases by selling both "I Love Elvis" buttons as well as "I Hate Elvis" buttons.

While playing at Hollywood's Palladium in 1972, the guitarist in Chuck Berry's backup band was replaced by another waiting backstage. The new musician played so loudly that Berry stopped in the middle of a song and asked the first guitar player to come back out. Unknown to Berry, the one he kicked off stage was Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones.

David Bowie proposed to his first wife Angie by saying "Can you handle the fact that I don't love you?"

Early in their career, The Carpenters were booked for three nights as the opening act for Steppenwolf. They were so out of place, Karen and Richard were fired after the first night.

Shelley Fabares, who's 1962 hit "Johnny Angel" topped the U.S. charts, married The Mamas and Papas producer Lou Adler in 1964. In 1984, she married actor Mike Farrell, who played Captain B.J. Hunnicutt in the TV series M*A*S*H.

In 1965, Gary Lewis was Cash Box magazine's "Male Vocalist of the Year", winning the honour over other nominees, Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra.

Cher ended her marriage to Gregg Allman in 1979 after he had passed out in an Italian restaurant, face first in a bowl of spaghetti.

Eddie Van Halen played guitar on Michael Jackson's hit, "Beat It".

The English progressive rock band, Uriah Heep, took their name from a character in Charles Dickens' novel, "David Copperfield".

Although it is often considered a Rock and Roll anthem, "My Generation" by The Who, only reached # 74 on the U.S. record chart.

At the end of the Beatles' song "A Day in the Life", an ultrasonic whistle, audible only to dogs, was recorded by Paul McCartney for his Shetland sheepdog.