The setting was a church fundraising function in the Liverpool suburb of Woolton. The entertainment at the fair on that Saturday included the skiffle group The Quarrymen. 16 year-old John Lennon did most of the vocals as the group played on the back of a flatbed truck being used as the makeshift stage for the event. After Lennon's band played outside, they went indoors to set-up for an evening performance. It was while setting up that a fellow student known by both John and 15 year-old Paul McCartney introduced the two.
Remarkably, two songs of that day's performance by The Quarrymen were recorded by a member of the church's youth club. Bob Molyneux offered the tape to Lennon via Ringo Starr in 1963, but John never reached out to get it. After keeping it under wraps for three decades, Molyneux sold the tape through Sotheby's auction house.
Other Noteworthy Classic Rock events on July 6 include...
1949 Santana's Michael Shrieve born.
1952 REO Speedwagon and Sammy Hagar band keyboard veteran Jesse Harms born.
1964 Hard Day's Night premiers in London.
1965 Jefferson Airplane forms.
Emerson, Lake & Palmer's third album dropped on this day in 1972. The group wanted artist Salvadore Dali to provide the cover art for the lp, but dropped the idea when Dali advised them that his fee would be $50,000. The album's biggest tracks were Greg Lake's From the Beginning and Hoe-Down,the trio's adaptation of a song classical composer Aaron Copeland wrote for the ballet Rodeo in 1942. ELP used Hoe-Down as the opening song on both its Trilogy and Brain Salad Surgery tours.
1973 Queen releases debut single Keep Yourself Alive in England.
1975 Keith Richards arrested for reckless driving in Arkansas.
1978 Edward Mahoney becomes Eddie Money.
1981 Pat Benatar releases Precious Time.
1985 Heart releases self-titled album.
1987 Grateful Dead release In The Dark.
1987 Neil Young releases Life.
1993 U2 releases Zooropa.
2003 Skip Battin (Byrds, New Riders of the Purple Sage, Flying Burrito Brothers) dies.
2005 Boomtown Rats veteran Bob Geldof gets Nobel Peace Prize nomination.
2010 Bob Weir delayed at Canadian border over arrests when he was with the Grateful Dead.
2012 Adam Clayton's personal assistant draws a 7 year sentence after being convicted of bilking the U2 member of close to $3 million.
2016 Steven Adler reunites with Guns N' Roses for two songs during Cincinnati concert.
2020 Charlie Daniels dies at 83 of a stroke.
