#856: The World Just Keeps On Turning by Candi And The Backbeat

Peak Month: November 1990
12 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #13
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “The World Just Keeps On Turning”

In the mid-80s, Candita Pennella fronted an Italian wedding band in Toronto named Sensation. Her nickname was Candi. The band consisted of bass player Nino Milazzo, drummer Paul Russo, keyboard player Rich Imbrogno and singer Candita Pennella. The band decided to change their name to Candi. They recorded an album in 1988 titled Candi. They released a single titled “Dancing Under A Latin Moon,” which made the Top 30 across Canada on the RPM singles chart and #68 on the Billboard Hot 100. Several follow up singles made the pop charts in Canada. Among these, “Missing You” and “Love Makes No Promises” made the Top 30 on the CKLG charts in Vancouver in early 1989. Another song, “Under Your Spell“, missed the pop charts in Vancouver. However, it was nominated for Song of the Year at the 1990 JUNO awards. Pennella was nominated for Female Vocalist of the Year in 1990 and again in 1991. In 1990 she lost to Rita MacNeil and in 1991 she lost out to Celine Dion.
To avoid the confusion that she was a solo act, the band revised its name from Candi to Candi And The Backbeat. With a second album, they released the single, “The World Just Keeps On Turning”.

“The World Just Keeps On Turning” was nominated for a JUNO award in 1991 for Best Dance Recording. The song peaked at #10 in Hamilton and #13 in Vancouver. The song is about someone who had dreams and they all fell apart. They wonder what they could have done wrong to have things end up as they have. Why are they getting this bad deal. After all, the person who is on a losing streak has been “so nice,” but no one has been paying attention. The song’s advice is that when things don’t work out you have to get back on your feet and trust that things will ultimately work out. We all try things out and we can lose a few on the road to success. The lyrics include such positive reinforcement as “tomorrow you’ll get another try” and “things work out they always do.” In the face of disappointments one may as well adopt a positive attitude. Sometimes it isn’t us, and there are bigger forces at play. We may as well chill out and let life unfold without holding on with too tight a grasp.

Candita Pennella was compared to Gloria Estefan and Madonna with Candi And The Backbeats slightly Latin infused rhythms and vocal phrasing. Another single, “Good Together”, climbed to #8 on the CKLG charts in the spring of 1991. But in 1992 Candi left the music industry and got married to her drummer, Paul Russo. Since she left the music industry, Pennella went on to become a public school teacher in Toronto, having over two decades of teaching under her belt.

May 1, 2018
Ray McGinnis

References:
David Ball, “This Week in Music History: February 18 to 24,” Canadian Music Hall of Fame, February 20, 2013.
Candi And The Backbeat, The Isle of Failed Pop Stars, November 24, 2009.
“CKLG Top 40,” CKLG 730 AM, Vancouver, BC, November 12, 1990.

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