This week in Music History: June 20-26

June 20
1937 - W2XBS (later WCBS-TV) televised the first TV operetta. The work was the "Pirates of Penzance" by Gilbert and Sullivan.
1973 - American Bandstand celebrated its 20th anniversary with a 90-minute television special. Little Richard, Paul Revere & the Raiders, Cheech and Chong and Three Dog Night made appearances.

June 21
1732 - Composer Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach was born.
1868 - Wagner's opera "Meistersinger von Nuernberg" premiered in Munich
1948 - Columbia Records began the first mass production of the 33 1/3 RPM LP.
1978 - Andrew Lloyd Webber and Rice's musical "Evita," premiers in London
1990 - Little Richard received a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame.

June 22
1947 - Don Henley, drummer/singer (Eagles), born
1953 - Cyndi Ann Stephanie Lauper born in Brooklyn
1968 - The Jeff Beck group made its U.S. debut in New York at The Fillmore East.
1987 - Fred Astaire dies at 88
1990 - Billy Joel became the first rock artist to perform at Yankee Stadium.

This week in Music History: June 13-19

June 13
1975 - John Lennon made his last TV appearance to sing "Imagine."
1989 - Jerry Lee Lewis got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
1995 - Alanis Morissette released the album "Jagged Little Pill"

June 14
1953 - Elvis Presley graduated from L.C. Humes High School in Memphis, TN  (Right: senior class picture!)
1961 - "Boy George" O'Dowd, androgynous vocalist, born in Bexley, London
1965 - Paul McCartney recorded "Yesterday."
1965 - Bob Dylan recorded "Like a Rolling Stone"
1971 - In London, the 1st Hard Rock Cafe opened.
1994 - Henry Mancini, composer (Pink Panther, Moon River) died at age 70.
1995 - Michael Jackson appeared on TV with his wife Lisa Marie Presley in a live interview with Diane Sawyer.

June 15
1843 - Edvard Hagerup Grieg, composer, conductor, pianist, born in Bergen, Norway
1956 - John Lennon (15) and Paul McCartney (13) meet for 1st time as Lennon's rock group Quarrymen perform at a church dinner
1996 - Ella Fitzgerald, singer, died at 78
1998 - The Spice Girls began their 1st North American tour in Miami.
2004 - The iTunes Music Store was launched in France, Germany and the UK.