1962 in music in Encyclopedia

Events

January 1 The Beatles and Brian Poole and the Tremeloes both audition at Decca Records, a company which has the option of signing one group only. The Beatles are rejected, mainly as they come from Liverpool and the others are Dagenham-based nearer London.

January 24 Brian Epstein signs to manage the Beatles.

February 16 Conductor Bruno Walter, the day before his death, ends his last letter with: "Despite all the dark experiences of today I am still confident that Palestrina will remain. The work has all the elements of immortality".^[1]

April 6 Glenn Gould's performance of Brahms's 1st piano concerto with Leonard Bernstein conducting the New York Philharmonic for which Gould used unusually slow tempi, which Bernstein did not favour.

April 7 Mick Jagger and Keith Richards meet Brian Jones at The Ealing Club, a blues club in London

April 10 Former Beatle Stuart Sutcliffe dies from cerebral paralysis caused by a brain hemorrhage in Hamburg, Germany.

April 12 A recording is made of Bob Dylan's concert at the Town Hall, in New York City by Columbia Records. Columbia eventually release the recording of "Tomorrow is a Long Time" from this concert

Sergio Franchi signed to RCA Red Seal recording contract in London by Norman Luboff. Sol Hurok concert contract signed.

August 16 The Beatles fire Pete Best and replace him with Ringo Starr.

August 17 Telstar is released in the UK. The song would eventually be the first song by a British group to ever reach the top spot on the Billboard Top 100, proving to be a precursor to the British Invasion.

August 23 John Lennon marries Cynthia Powell.

October 5 Release of EMI's first Beatles single, "Love Me Do"/"P.S. I Love You", in the United Kingdom.

October 14 - Sergio Franchi makes American TV debut on The Ed Sullivan Show

October 21 - Sergio Franchi makes Sol Hurok American concert debut at Carnegie Hall (sans microphone)

Georges Auric becomes director of the Op ra National de Paris.

Andr Hodeir's book, Since Debussy, makes controversial claims about the importance of Jean Barraqu as a composer.

Jos Manuel Calder n becomes the first Dominican musician to record bachata, at the Radiotelevisi n Dominicana studios.

The Spokane Philharmonic orchestra becomes the Spokane Symphony.

Dalida is Named Calabrian Citizen of Honour and receives the Radio Monte Carlo Oscar with Johnny Hallyday.

Paul & Paula make their first appearance together while attending Howard Payne College in Brownwood, Texas.

The Mashed Potato was a popular dance craze, with several songs based around the style.

Lou Harrison visits Taiwan; on his return he forms, with William Colvig, Richard Dee and Lily Chin, the first American ensemble to play traditional Chinese music.

Biggest hit singles

The following singles achieved the highest chart positions in 1962.

#	Artist	Title	Year	Chart Entries
1	Elvis Presley	Return to Sender	1962	UK 1 Nov 1962, Canada 1 Oct 1962, Norway 1 Dec 1962, ire 1 Dec 1962, Peel list 1 of 1961, US BB 2 Oct 1962, RYM 6 of 1962, US BB 8 of 1962, POP 8 of 1962, US CashBox 10 of 1963, Germany 15 Jan 1963, DDD 27 of 1962, Scrobulate 83 of rock & roll, Acclaimed 2154
2	Ray Charles	I Can't Stop Loving You	1962	UK 1 Jun 1962, US BB 1 May 1962, Canada 1 May 1962, Australia 1 for 1 weeks Dec 1961, Norway 4 Jul 1962, US CashBox 6 of 1962, DDD 6 of 1962, Germany 8 Sep 1962, South Africa 11 of 1962, RYM 16 of 1962, US BB 30 of 1962, POP 30 of 1962, Italy 75 of 1963, Scrobulate 80 of r & b, Rolling Stone 161, Acclaimed 507
3	The Tornados	Telstar	1962	UK 1 Aug 1962, US BB 1 Nov 1962, Canada 1 Nov 1962, ire 1 Nov 1962, South Africa 1 of 1962, RYM 2 of 1962, Norway 3 Oct 1962, US CashBox 5 of 1963, Germany 6 Jan 1963, Australia 8 of 1962, DDD 62 of 1962, Germany 224 of the 1960s, Acclaimed 739
4	Elvis Presley	Can't Help Falling in Love	1962	UK 1 Feb 1962, Australia 1 for 4 weeks Aug 1961, US BB 2 Dec 1961, US BB 4 of 1962, Canada 4 Nov 1961, POP 4 of 1962, Australia 5 of 1962, South Africa 5 of 1962, RYM 11 of 1961, DDD 12 of 1961, US CashBox 28 of 1962, Party 33 of 2007, Scrobulate 64 of oldies, Italy 75 of 1962, Rolling Stone 394, WXPN 441, Acclaimed 1361
5	Elvis Presley	Good Luck Charm	1962	UK 1 May 1962, US BB 1 Mar 1962, Canada 1 Mar 1962, Norway 1 Apr 1962, Australia 1 for 3 weeks Oct 1961, Germany 6 May 1962, US BB 10 of 1962, South Africa 13 of 1962, POP 17 of 1962, RYM 33 of 1962, US CashBox 42 of 1962, DDD 80 of 1962, Germany 203 of the 1960s

Opera

Mozart Camargo Guarnieri Um homem s (tragic opera in one act, libretto by Gianfrancesco Guarnieri, premiered on November 29 at the Theatro Municipal in Rio de Janeiro)

Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco The Importance of Being Earnest

Carlisle Floyd The Passion of Jonathan Wade

Michael Tippett King Priam

Bruno Maderna - Don Perlimplin (ovvero il Trionfo dell'amore e dell'immaginazione)

Musical theater

All-American Broadway production

Blitz! (Lionel Bart) London production

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (Stephen Sondheim) Broadway production

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes London production

The Golden Apple Off-Broadway revival of 1954 Broadway production

I Can Get It for You Wholesale Broadway production

Little Mary Sunshine London production

Little Me Broadway production opened at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre on November 17 and ran for 257 performances

No Strings Broadway production opened at the 54th Street Theater on March 15 and ran for 580 performances

Scapa London production opened at the Adelphi Theatre on March 8 and ran for 44 performances

Stop the World - I Want to Get Off (Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse) Broadway production

1962 in music

Contents

Events

Bands formed

Albums released

Biggest hit singles

Singles released

Published popular music

Other notable songs

Classical music

Opera

Musical theater

Musical films

Births

Deaths

Awards

Eurovision Song Contest

Grammy Awards

Ivor Novello Awards

See also

References