July 19 in Music History: Elvis Presley releases his final album on the anniversary of his first single

1954 – Sun Records releases the first Elvis Presley single, ‘”That’s All Right,” a cover of Arthur Crudup’s 1946 tune “That’s All Right, Mama.” Only about 7,000 original copies are pressed, but the disc becomes a local hit in Memphis.

1958 – The Drifters’ manager George Treadwell, who owns the name, fires the group and replaces them with members of The Five Crowns. When Ben E. King joins the group a short time later, they become consistent hitmakers with songs such as “There Goes My Baby,” “This Magic Moment,” and “Save The Last Dance For Me.”

1966 – The Monkees finish recording the theme for their self-titled TV show.

1969 – The Spencer Davis Group breaks up. Steve and Muff Winwood had left in 1967, but the band continued on less successfully without them before calling it quits.

1975 – Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band rehearse for a full 19 hours at The Record Plant in New York City the day before their Born To Run Tour kicks off.

1975 – On his Natty Dread tour, Bob Marley & the Wailers appear at the Lyceum Theatre in London. The show is recorded and the live single “No Woman, No Cry” is later released.

1976 – Deep Purple splits up at the end of a UK tour. David Coverdale goes on to form Whitesnake and Jon Lord & Ian Paice form a band with Tony Ashton. Glenn Hughes returns to Trapeze and Tommy Bolin puts together his own band, but dies before the end of the year. The classic line up of Blackmore, Gillan, Glover, Lord, and Paice reforms in 1984.

1977 – Elvis Presley releases his final album, Moody Blue.

1980 – “It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me” hits #1 and gives Billy Joel his first gold record.

1980 – David Bowie begins his run as The Elephant Man in Denver. The show does well and he takes the lead in the Broadway production later that year.

1985 – Joan Jett calls up-and-coming heavyweight boxer Mike Tyson before his fight with Larry Sims, which Tyson wins handily. The superstitious Tyson insists on getting a call from Jett before every fight, which he does until breaking tradition for his bout against Buster Douglas on February 11, 1990 – Tyson’s first loss.

1986 – Genesis goes to #1 on the US singles chart with “Invisible Touch.” The band’s former lead singer Peter Gabriel is at #2 with “Sledgehammer.”

1999 – They Might Be Giants release the album Long Tall Weekend exclusively in the MP3 format.

2002 – Philadelphia declares today Solomon Burke Day in honor of the native singer.

2002 – Movin’ Out, a stage musical dedicated to the songs of Billy Joel, premieres in Chicago.

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