1963: "Sugar Shack" by Jimmy Gilmer and the Fireballs hit the top of the Billboard singles chart. It would go on to be the best selling record of the year with sales of over one million copies. In the UK, the song climbed to #45 on the Record Retailer chart. Gilmer's distinctive organ sound was played on a Hammond Solovox, Model J.
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1967: The Bee Gees scored their first UK #1 with "Massachusetts", which would go on to sell over five million copies worldwide. Robin Gibb would later admit that The Bee Gees had never actually been to Massachusetts when they recorded the song, they just liked the sound of the name.
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1964: The Shangri-Las' "Leader Of The Pack" is released. Of their six US Top 40 hits, this will be their only number one. It reached #11 in the UK.
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1964: The Beach Boys record "Dance Dance Dance", with Glen Campbell playing the lead guitar intro. It would go on to become their twelfth US Top 40 hit, reaching #8 during a two month chart run. As for Campbell, he would tour with the band from December, 1964 until early March, 1965.
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1957: As a follow-up to his six million seller, "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On", Jerry Lee Lewis records his biggest hit, "Great Balls of Fire" at Sam Phillips' Sun Studio in Memphis, Tennessee. When released a month later it will sell over a million copies in the first ten days, eventually selling five million more. The record will peak at #2 in January, 1958, being kept out of the top spot by Danny And The Juniors' "At The Hop".
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