On This Day, November 25 in Music History
EVENTS ON NOVEMBER 25 IN MUSIC HISTORY
On this day November 25 in 1955 – Bill Haley & His Comets started a three-week run at No.1 on the UK Singles chart with ‘Rock Around the Clock’.
1965 – Australian pop folk band the Seekers hit number one on the UK Singles chart for the first of three consecutive weeks with ‘The Carnival Is Over’.
1967 – Rock band Strawberry Alarm Clock went to number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 with ‘Incense and Peppermints’.
1972 – With ‘My Ding-a-Ling’, Chuck Berry scored his first and only No.1 single in the UK. He topped the Singles chart for four weeks straight.
1974 – American avant-garde jazz saxophonist, bandleader, singer, and composer Albert Ayler died at the age of 34.
1974 – English singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Nicholas “Nick” Drake died at the age of 26 of a drug overdose.
1989 – Boy band New Kids on the Block started a three-week stint at number one on the UK Singles chart with ‘You Got It (The Right Stuff)’.
1989 – Dance-pop duo Milli Vanilli scored their third No.1 single of the year in the US with ‘Blame It on the Rain’. They previously topped the Hot 100 chart with ‘Baby Don’t Forget My Number’ in July and ‘Girl I’m Gonna Miss You’ in September. The duo also topped the Billboard 200 chart on this day with ‘Girl You Know It’s True’.
1995 – With their eponymous third studio album, grunge band Alice in Chains went to number one in the US.
1995 – British singing duo Robson & Jerome hit number one on the UK Albums chart with their eponymous debut studio LP for the first of seven consecutive weeks.
1995 – Whitney Houston scored her eleventh and last number one single in the US with ‘Exhale (Shoop Shoop)’ that featured in the film ‘Waiting to Exhale’ in which she starred.
1997 – American blues singer and guitarist Fenton Lee Robinson died at the age of 62. Best remembered for his signature song ‘Somebody Loan Me a Dime’.
2000 – The Beatles started a nine-week stint at number one on the UK Albums chart with their greatest hits compilation ‘1’.
2000 – American singer LeAnn Rimes topped the UK Singles chart with ‘Can’t Fight the Moonlight’ which also reached No.1 in ten other countries.
LeAnn Rimes – Can’t Fight the Moonlight
2003 – The 23th US edition of ‘Now That’s What I Call Music! 23’ released by Sony BMG reached No.1 on the Billboard 200 chart. It features twenty hit songs by various artists such as Ne-Yo, Rihanna, Nickelback, JoJo, Beyonce, Justin Timberlake, Christina Aguilera, and others.
2006 – With his greatest hits compilation album ‘Twenty Five’, George Michael went to number one in the United Kingdom.
2006 – The number one single in the UK on this day was ‘Smack That’ by R&B singer Akon featuring rapper Eminem.
2017 – English singer and songwriter Sam Smith scored his first number one album in the US with ‘The Thrill of It All’.
2021 – With a re-recorded version of her fourth studio album ‘Red’, Taylor Swift reached number one on the UK Albums chart.
BORN ON NOVEMBER 25 IN MUSIC HISTORY
1910 – Swing era alto saxophonist William “Willie” Smith was born in Charleston, South Carolina.
1924 – American jazz saxophonist, composer, and arranger Paul Desmond was born Paul Breitenfeld in San Francisco, California. Best known as a member of the Dave Brubeck Quartet.
1928 – American jazz singer and songwriter Etta Jones was born in Aiken, South Carolina.
1931 – Jazz trumpeter Nathaniel “Nat” Adderley was born in Tampa, Florida. Best known for composing the jazz standard ‘Work Song’. He’s also the brother of jazz musician Julian “Cannonball” Adderley.
1940 – R&B and soul music singer Percy Sledge was born in Leighton, Alabama. Best known for the No.1 hit song ‘When a Man Loves a Woman’.
1942 – American folk music singer and songwriter Robert “Bob” Lind was born in Baltimore, Maryland. Best known for his 1966 hit single ‘Elusive Butterfly’.
1944 – British drummer and singer Beverly “Bev” Bevan was born in Birmingham, England. He rose to fame as a founding member of the bands The Move and Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), and has also played with Black Sabbath.
1947 – Founding member and drummer of the rock band It’s a Beautiful Day’, Val Fuentes was born in Chicago, Illinois.
1959 – British guitarist and songwriter Steven Rothery was born in Brampton, England. He rose to fame as a founding member of the rock band Marillion.
1960 – Contemporary Christian and pop music singer-songwriter and guitarist Amy Grant was born in Augusta, Georgia.
1964 – American singer and songwriter Mark Lanegan was born in Ellensburg, Washington. Best known as the co-founder and frontman of the rock band Screaming Trees. He has also worked with bands such as The Gutter Twins and Queens of the Stone Age.
1965 – Singer-songwriter and co-founder of the punk rock band Rancid, Timothy “Tim” Armstrong was born in Albany, California.
1966 – American R&B, soul, and gospel music singer Stacy Lattisaw Jackson was born in Washington, D.C.
1967 – Founding member, guitarist, and backing vocalist of the rock band Sugar Ray, Rodney Sheppard was born in Port Of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago.
1968 – One half of the musical duo Lighthouse Family, Tunde Baiyewu was born in London, England.
1968 – American rapper and producer Erick Sermon was born in New York City. Best known as one half of the hip hop duo EPMD.
1979 – Singer-songwriter and guitarist Thea Eve Gilmore also known by her stage name Afterlight was born in Oxford, England.