This Day in Music History: The Beatles release their final Christmas record, Ronnie Wood joins the Rolling Stones

1957 – Elvis Presley is served his draft notice for the US Army. He goes on to join the 32nd Tank Battalion third Armor Corps based in Germany.

1958 – Bobby Darin records “Mack The Knife.”

1960 – Frank Sinatra records two songs for his first session with his very own record company, Reprise Records: “Ring-A-Ding-Ding” and “Let’s Fall in Love.”

1968 – The Friends of Distinction records “Grazin’ In The Grass.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moJYuYCMaHc

1969 – The Beatles’ last Christmas record, The Beatles’ Seventh Christmas Record: Happy Christmas 1969, is released to members of their fan club in the UK and the US. For the only time, the American and British jackets are identical.

1970 – Elton John’s first US hit, “Your Song,” enters the Billboard Hot 100 and climbs to #8. The Hollies had been offered the song and Three Dog Night had already recorded a version which was included on their It Ain’t Easy album.

1975 – Ronnie Wood leaves The Faces and joins The Rolling Stones.

1978 – The Carpenters: A Christmas Portrait airs on ABC-TV.

1980 – Nine To Five, starring Dolly Parton and featuring the classic theme song by the singer (where she uses her fingernails as an instrument) opens in theaters.

1981 – ABBA scores their 7th UK #1 album with The Visitors, the Swedish pop group’s 8th and final studio album. It is one of the first records to be recorded and mixed digitally, and is the first to be manufactured on the new CD format in 1982 on Atlantic.

1987 – Paul Simon the musician and Paul Simon the presidential candidate both host Saturday Night Live.

1994 – The Manic Street Preachers play the first of three nights at The Astoria in London, the last shows Richey Edwards makes with the band before disappearing. Edwards vanished on February 1st 1995, leaving no clues to his whereabouts. He has never been seen since.

2015 – Thirty-three years after its release, Michael Jackson’s classic album Thriller becomes the first to sell more than 30 million copies in the US.

Information for this post was gathered from This Day in Music, The Music History Calendar, On This Day, and Wikipedia.