1973
Born on this day in Pocahontas, Illinois, was country singer, songwriter, Gretchen Wilson who made her debut in 2004 with the Grammy Award-winning single “Redneck Woman,” a #1 hit on the Billboard country charts. She has since charted 13 singles on the charts, of which five have reached Top Ten and has now sold over 6 million records worldwide.
1976
Marty Robbins was at #1 on the country charts with “El Paso City”, his fifteenth #1. Robbins wrote “El Paso City” while flying over El Paso, in – he reported – the same amount of time it takes to sing, four minutes and 14 seconds. It was only the second time that ever happened to him; the first time was when he composed the original El Paso as fast as he could write it down.
1977
Elvis Presley made his last ever live stage appearance when he appeared at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis. Presley would die less than two months later. The last two songs he performed were “Hurt” and “Bridge Over Troubled Water.” Before the show Elvis was presented with a plaque commemorating the 2 billionth record to come out of RCAs pressing plant.
1987
Randy Travis was at #1 on the country singles chart “Forever and Ever, Amen.” The song written by Paul Overstreet and Don Schlitz, won a Grammy for Best Country & Western Song and an Academy of Country Music award for Song of the Year.
1992
Promoting his latest album, The Hard Way Clint Black launched The Hard Way Tourwhich ran for 11 months.
2000
Brad Paisley released “We Danced”, the fourth and final single from his debut album, Who Needs Pictures. The song reached the top of the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks.
2013
Kenny Rogers made his African concert debut by playing to over 70,000 fans in Morocco. His performances included his hits: “Love Or Something Like It,” “Lady” and “Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love To Town”.
