#26: Don’t Go Out Into The Rain (You’re Going To Melt) by Herman’s Hermits
City: Hamilton, ON
Radio Station: CKOC
Peak Month: August 1967
Peak Position in Hamilton ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #9
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #18
YouTube: “Don’t Go Out Into the Rain”
Lyrics: “Don’t Go Out Into the Rain”
Peter Blair Denis Bernard Noone was born in a suburb of Manchester, England, in 1947. Keith Hopwood was born in 1946, in the same suburb of Davyhulme. Karl Anthony Green was born in 1947, also in Davyhulme. Derek “Lek” Leckenby was born in Leeds in 1943. Jan Barry Whitwam was born in 1946 in Manchester. Both Leckenby and Whitwam were members of a band called the Wailers who played covers by Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis and other early rock recording artists. Peter Noone originally was in an amateur band called the Cyclones. He moved on to the Heartbeats in 1961, a Buddy Holly cover band. Just after he turned 14, Noone debuted on Coronation Street, playing the role of Stanley Fairclough starting in December 1961. In the fall of 1962 Herman’s Hermits was formed. Peter Noone was the lead vocalist. Karl Green played bass guitar. Keith Hopwood played rhythm guitar. “Lek” Leckenby played lead guitar and Barry Whitwam played drums.
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#14: Come To Me by France Joli
City: Ottawa, ON
Radio Station: CFRA
Peak Month: December 1979
Peak Position in Ottawa ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #30
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #15
YouTube: “Come To Me”
Lyrics: “Come To Me”
France Joly was born in 1963 in suburban Montreal. Her father was a hardware merchant and her mother was a teacher. As early as age four, she was performing for relatives lip-syncing to Barbra Streisand records while handling a skipping rope like a microphone. She appeared on a local Montreal TV variety show by age six. At age 11, she left the public school system and was home schooled by her mother. Her mother wanted her daughter to concentrate on her performing career appearing regularly in television commercials and talent shows. A mutual acquaintance suggested France meet up with musician Tony Green who she approached backstage after he had given a concert. She invited Green to be her record producer. Green did not take the 13-year-old girl seriously. Green recalled: “To get rid of her I [told] her to keep in touch.” According to one source, France Joly eventually visited Green’s home to sing for him. It is also reported that Green first heard her sing from the audience of an “end of school year show” in which she performed in the fall of 1978. Both accounts concur that Green first heard Joli singing along with a Streisand recording of “Evergreen”.
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#15: There Was A Time by One To One
City: Ottawa, ON
Radio Station: CFRA
Peak Month: February 1986
Peak Position in Ottawa ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #35
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “There Was A Time”
Lyrics: “There Was A Time”
One To One were a band that formed in Ottawa, Ontario, in 1984. It consisted of vocalist Louise Reny and producer/multi-instrumentalist Leslie Howe. The duo had been in a local rock band since the mid-70s called Mainstream. Tired of playing covers of 60’s, 70’s and 80’s pop tunes, Reny and Howe were inspired to collaborate and release original material. In late 1985 they released “There Was A Time“.
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#18: Fantasy by Aldo Nova
City: Ottawa, ON
Radio Station: CFRA
Peak Month: May 1982
Peak Position in Ottawa ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #23
YouTube: “Fantasy”
Lyrics: “Fantasy”
Aldo Caporuscio was born in Montreal in 1956. His parents were Italian immigrants from a village near Rome. He adopted the stage name Aldo Nova when he started playing guitar and keyboards at age 15. Signing with Portair Records, Nova released a self-produced album Aldo Nova in 1982. His debut single was titled “Fantasy”.
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#1: Je T’aime Moi Non Plus by Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg
City: Ottawa, ON
Radio Station: CFRA
Peak Month: November-December 1969
Peak Position in Ottawa ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #58
Peak position on Austrian Singles chart ~ #1
Peak position on Norwegian Singles chart ~ #1
Peak position on Swiss Singles chart ~ #1
Peak position on UK Singles chart ~ #1
Peak position on Dutch Singles chart ~ #2
Peak position on Irish Singles chart ~ #2
Peak position on West German Singles chart ~ #3
Peak position on Mexican Singles chart ~ #5
YouTube: “Je T’aime Moi Non Plus”
Lyrics: “Je T’aime Moi Non Plus”
Serge Gainsbourg was born Lucien Ginsburg in Paris, France, in 1928. His parents were Russian Jewish immigrants. Lucien enrolled in the Ecole Normal in Paris at age 12. His childhood was profoundly affected by the occupation of France by Germany during World War II. The identifying yellow star that Jews were required to wear haunted Gainsbourg. In later years he was able to transmute this memory into creative inspiration with his 1975 song “Yellow Star”. During WWII he escaped with his family to Limoges, in France’s free zone. The family took refuge in the town of Grand Vedeix in the commune of Saint Cyr in the Haute-Vienne department, using the name Guimbard. He was hidden by nuns at Sacré-Cœur. He remained a boarder there for six months under his false identity. One evening, the Gestapo raided the establishment to check that no Jewish children were hiding there. Warned, the boarding school officials sent him to hide alone in the forest, equipped with an axe to defend himself, where Lucien spent the entire night in fear of being caught and killed.
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#22: Resurrection Shuffle by Ashton, Gardner & Dyke
City: Hamilton, ON
Radio Station: CKOC
Peak Month: August 1971
Peak Position in Hamilton ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #11
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #40
YouTube: “Resurrection Shuffle”
Lyrics: “Resurrection Shuffle”
Ashton, Gardner & Dyke were a British rock trio. Anthony “Tony” Ashton was born in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, in 1946. At the age of 13, in 1959, he joined a local group, the College Boys, on rhythm guitar and piano. When Ashton left school at the age of 15 he was already an accomplished pianist. By 1961 he fronted the Tony Ashton Trio at the Picador Club in Blackpool. He was asked to join The Remo Four, managed by Brian Epstein (who also managed the Beatles). Among the quartet was drummer Roy Dyke (born in 1945 in Liverpool). The Remo Four were voted No. 3 Group in a 1961 Mersey Beat poll. While the Beatles travelled back and forth to Hamburg, the Remo Four began playing U.S. Air Force bases in France, building their stage and musical experience. Johnny Sandon joined the band as vocalist in 1962, and stayed for two years. Ashton and Dyke replaced others in the line-up in 1963. The Remo Four (including Tony Ashton and Roy Dyke) were an opening act for The Beatles on a fall 1964 tour in the UK, along with Mary Wells. The Remo Four released a debut album in 1966 titled Smile!
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#24: I Knew The Bride (When She Used To Rock and Roll) by Nick Lowe
City: Ottawa, ON
Radio Station: CFRA
Peak Month: January 1986
Peak Position in Ottawa ~ #2
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #77
YouTube: “I Knew The Bride (When She Used To Rock and Roll)”
Lyrics: “I Knew The Bride (When She Used To Rock and Roll)”
Nicholas Drain Lowe was born in 1949 in Surrey, UK. He formed a band in 1968 named Kippington Lodge. The band was renamed Brinsley Schwartz and veered into a fusion of country and blues-rock. In 1974, Lowe wrote “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding”. The song was covered by Elvis Costello in 1979. In 1976, Dave Edmunds co-founded a band named Rockpile with Nick Lowe, drummer Terry Williams and guitar player Billy Bremner. But, immediately, Rockpile ran into recording problems since Lowe and Edmunds were signed to different recording labels. Nonetheless, Rockpile went on tour in the UK in 1976. As well, in 1976 Lowe recorded “So It Goes”. The single was voted the fifth-best single of the year according to the New Musical Express critics poll. That year, Lowe produced a single by The Damned titled “New Rose”, along with the album Damned Damned Damned. In 1977, Nick Lowe produced Elvis Costello’s first album, My Aim Is True. In 1978, Lowe produced Elvis Costello’s second album, This Year’s Model, with the outstanding track “Pump It Up”. In 1978, Lowe had a Top Ten hit single in the UK titled “I Love The Sound of Breaking Glass”. A third album by Elvis Costello, Armed Forces, was also produced by Nick Lowe.
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#24: Wind Him Up by Saga
City: Ottawa, ON
Radio Station: CFRA
Peak Month: March 1982
Peak Position in Ottawa ~ #2
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #64
Peak Position on Norwegian Singles chart – #5
Peak Position on West German Singles chart ~ #7
YouTube: “Wind Him Up”
Lyrics: “Wind Him Up”
Saga is a band from Oakville (ON). They formed in Michael Sadler (born 1954 in Penarth, Wales) provided lead vocals and played keyboards. Ian Crichton (born in 1956 in Oakville, Ontario) played guitar. Jim Crichton (born in 1953 in Oakville, Ontario) played bass guitar, piano and keyboards. Jim Gilmour (born in 1958 in Carfin, Scotland) played clarinet, keyboards and contributed backing vocals. While Steve Negus (born in 1952 in Hamilton, Ontario) played drums. In 1978, they released their self-titled album Saga which reached #33 on the Swedish album chart. A second studio album, Images at Twilight, was released the following year. A third album, Silent Knight, reached #15 on the Norwegian pop album chart.
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#10: Mrs. Bluebird by Eternity’s Children
City: Guelph, ON
Radio Station: CJOY
Peak Month: August 1968
Peak Position in Guelph ~ #8
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #69
YouTube: “Mrs. Bluebird”
Lyrics: “Mrs. Bluebird”
Eternity’s Children was a sunshine pop group from Cleveland, Mississippi. They originated as a folk group known as the Phantoms. The Phantoms began in 1965 with two Delta College students, composed of vocalist/keyboardist Bruce Blackman and drummer Roy Whittaker (born in Biloxi, MS, in 1947). Soon, the group added lead guitarist Johnny Walker, rhythm guitarist Jerry Bounds, and bassist Charles Ross III (born in 1948 in Greenville, MS). The band played locally within the college and gained a sizable local following. They released a single titled “Workin’ Tired” on the local Flash label before relocating to Biloxi, Mississippi, in 1966. In Biloxi, the group became a house band in a basement nightclub of the Biloxi Hotel. The band, when they were not the lead performance, would back musicians like Charlie Rich and B.J. Thomas. In the same year, the band added folk singer Linda Lawley (born in Biloxi, MS, in 1949) and changed their name to Eternity’s Children.
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#29: Mirror Man by Human League
City: Ottawa, ON
Radio Station: CFRA
Peak Month: March 1983
Peak Position in Ottawa ~ #2
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #30
Peak Position on Irish Singles chart ~ #1
Peak Position on UK Singles chart ~ #2
Peak Position on Australian Singles chart ~ #4
YouTube: “Mirror Man”
Lyrics: “Mirror Man”
Human League was formed in 1977 and were originally named The Future. By early 1978 the band changed their name to Human League. Philip Oakley was co-founder and frontman for the band. He was born in 1955 in Leicestershire, England. He left school without finishing exams and worked at a university bookshop, and as a hospital orderly. Oakley’s former schoolmate Martyn Ware had already formed the band with Ian Marsh. Ware and Marsh were looking to get a new lead vocalist and Oakley agreed. In 1978, a non-album single titled “Being Boiled” was released. It climbed to #6 in the UK, and West Germany, #10 in Ireland, and #17 in Austria. Human League released their debut album, Reproduction, in 1979. A second album, Travelogue, was released in May 1980. Shortly after, Ware and Marsh left the band and later in 1980 formed new wave/synth-pop band Heaven 17. At the time of their departure, Human League was contracted to start a European tour the following week.
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