#6: Silhouettes by Steve Gibson and the Red Caps
City: Smiths Falls, ON
Radio Station: CJET
Peak Month: November 1957
Peak Position in Smiths Falls ~ #2
Peak Position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #63
YouTube: “Silhouettes”
Lyrics: “Silhouettes”
On his website, Marv Goldberg writes “In the music world of the late 30s and early 40s, there were many pioneer black vocal groups, all of whom owed a common debt to the Mills Brothers and Ink Spots. However, other influences were also apparent in their styles. Swing and big band jazz had a tremendous impact in the 30s, and myriad small combo jazz and jive groups resulted, often with members drawn from the larger orchestras. In parallel with this trend were the vocal groups that evolved from these combos in the 30s. In them, all members played (and vocally imitated) instruments besides singing – a combination that all but disappeared from R&B by the middle 50s. It was in this atmosphere that the group later known as the 5 Red Caps was born. While there were vocal groups in all cities with large black populations, in the 1930s many of them flocked to the Los Angeles area because, in addition to niteclubs, theaters, and radio, there were also opportunities to work in films and cartoon soundtracks. Three of these groups had a hand in the formation of the Red Caps: the original Basin Street Boys, the 4 Blackbirds, and the 5 Jones Boys. In 1938, they would coalesce into the 4 Toppers, the predecessor to the Red Caps.”
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#21: From A Distance by P.F. Sloan
City: St. John’s, NL
Radio Station: VOCM
Peak Month: April 1966
Peak Position in St. John’s ~ #6
Peak Position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “From A Distance”
Lyrics: “From A Distance”
Philip Gary Schlein was born in New York City in 1945. His mom was born in Romania and his dad in the USA. The family moved to West Hollywood when Philip was twelve years old. His father was a pharmacist and had the family name changed legally since Philip’s dad was repeatedly denied a liquor license for his store. The new surname, Sloan, gave Philip’s dad no hassles and the family business thrived. In 1958 Philip was given a guitar as a present. Prior to being drafted into the US Army, Elvis Presley gave Philip Sloan a quick guitar lesson at a music store in Hollywood. By the age of 14 Philip Sloan’s nickname was “Flip,” a variant of Philip. So he became P (Philip) F (Flip) Sloan. At 16, “Flip” Sloan got a position as a songwriter with Screen Gems in Los Angeles. In addition to songwriting, Sloan teamed up with Steve Barri. The pair recorded several records hoping for a hit single. They failed at getting any notice when releasing singles under the names The Lifeguards, Themes Inc., The Rally-Packs and The Wildcats. And they barely registered on the charts in 1964 as Philip and Stephan with “When You’re Near You’re So Far Away”, or as The Street Cleaners with “That’s Cool, That’s Trash”.
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#8: When The World Is Running Down, You Make the Best of What’s Still Around by the Police
City: Sherbrooke, PQ
Radio Station: CKTS
Peak Month: May 1981
Peak Position in Sherbrooke ~ #3
Peak Position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #81
YouTube: “When The World Is Running Down, You Make the Best of What’s Still Around”
Lyrics: “When The World Is Running Down, You Make the Best of What’s Still Around”
Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner was born in Wallsend on Tyne, North Tyneside, Northumberland, England, in 1951. His mother was a hairdresser and his father was a milkman and engineer. When he was ten-years-old, young Sumner got introduced to Spanish guitar, when a family friend left it at the Sumner residence. After high school he was variously a bus conductor, building labourer and tax officer. He went to college and from 1974-76 was a public school teacher. Sumner performed jazz in the evening, weekends and during breaks from college and teaching, playing with the Phoenix Jazzmen, Newcastle Big Band, and Last Exit. He gained his nickname, “Sting,” due to his habit of wearing a black and yellow sweater with hooped stripes with the Phoenix Jazzmen. Bandleader Gordon Solomon thought Sumner looked like a bee which prompted the name “Sting.” According to Sting, in an interview with CBS Sunday Morning, “they thought I looked like a wasp, and they’d joke. They called me Sting. They thought it was hilarious…That became my name.”
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#9: You Gotta Have Love by Robbie Lane & the Disciples
City: Saint John, NB
Radio Station: VOCM
Peak Month: September 1966
Peak Position in Saint John ~ #9
Peak Position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “You Gotta Have Love”
Lyrics: N/A
The Disciples were formed when Robbie Lane held auditions with members of various local bands in greater Toronto during the early sixties. By the summer of 1963 the lineup was Lane, Domenic Troiano on guitar, drummer Sonny Milne, Marty Fisher on piano, bassist Gene Trach, Bert Herriston on sax and flute, and William Cudmore on harmonica, sax and keyboards. After toiling away in the club scene their big break was when Ronnie Hawkins hired them in December of ’63 as a back up plan, since he knew his Hawks were intending to leave the nest.
The Disciples played upstairs at The Hawk’s Nest, Ronnie Hawkins’ nightclub, while The Hawks played downstairs at the Le Coq D’Or. Ronnie Lane played with both bands during the night. When The Hawks left and changed their name to The Band, there were two sides to The Disciples. They were the new version of The Hawks when playing with Ronnie Hawkins, but also kept their own identity recording purposes.
Ronnie Lane and the Disciples settled into this lineup: guitarist Terry Bush, drummer Doug Copeland, harmonica player William Cudmore, keyboardist Paul Denyes, vocalist Robbie Lane, tenor saxophonist Paul Mifsud, and bassist Gene Trach. They recorded three singles and their b-sides with as The Hawks on Ronnie Hawkins Hawk Records label in 1964. These were “Got My Mojo Workin’”/“Let The Good Times Roll,” “Bluebirds Over The Mountain” with “Diddly Daddy” as the B-side, and “Little Red Rooster” with the B-side “Goin’ To The River”.
Their first two singles under their own name was also on Hawk Records, “Fannie Mae”, also in 1964. The single peaked at #11 in Peterborough (ON), and #17 in Toronto. Dominic Troiano left the group to form The Rogues, later, Mandala, then Bush, and then joined the James Gang, and later the Guess Who. Dominic Troiano also had a successful solo career.
Troiano was replaced by Terry Bush. Born in Toronto in 1942, Terry Bush is the son of Canadian artist John Hamilton “Jack” Bush. During his time at Ryerson Polytechnical Institute in Toronto, Terry met with other musicians at the original ‘Blue Note’ on Yonge Street. He joined the house band called The Silhouettes. Later, Robbie Lane approached Bush about joining his band, which at the time was backing Ronnie Hawkins. He played with “The Hawk” until June of 1965.
Robbie Lane & The Disciples released “Ain’t Love A Funny Thing” in 1964, which was produced by Ronnie Hawkins. It reached #16 in Toronto. In 1965,”Sandy” and “Where Has Love Gone” were minor hits. While “Tiger In My Tank” was not so successful.
Robbie Lane & The Disciples landed a TV advertisement jingle deal to help promote Baby Ruth chocolate bars. The song was so catchy that Riley used a stripped down version of the band that featured Lane, Bush, Trach and Shearer to record it as an instrumental single, releasing “Baby Ruth” under the pseudonym of The Butterfingers in 1965 on Red Leaf Records. That same year Hallmark Records approached Lane to record another single on their label under the Butterfingers name, and their second single, “Look What’s New” was released.
In 1966, Robbie Lane & The Disciples had a #10 pop hit on the Canadian RPM Top 100 singles chart.
By 1966 the Robbie Lane band were hired as the house band for a CTV-TV Show, called It’s Happening.
Terry Bush wrote “You Gotta Have Love”. In the song a guy finally figures out there is more to just going to parties and making the scene. He figures out you have to connect with someone and get to know them. This has made him one happy guy.
“You Gotta Have Love” reached #9 in Saint John (NB), and charted into the Top 40 in St. John’s (NL) and Sault Ste. Marie (ON).
In 1967, a single “It’s Happening” was released. By the end of 1968, the band had folded. Robbie Lane continued for a time with It’s Happening. Then he worked on a solo album and travelled to Nashville. But the album was shelved. After an unsuccessful solo career in the mid-1970s, Robbie Lane (aka Robin Curry) and the band re-formed in the mid-1980s. According to Canadianbands.com, as of 2022, Robbie Lane was currently co-hosting “a weekly radio oldies program on 1050 CHUM in Toronto, while keeping the band semi-active doing club dates, mostly in Mississauga.” In 2009, Robbie Lane was on Zoomer Radio in Toronto, hosting an oldies show.
Jingles were originally a sideline, but slowly Terry Bush began writing and producing more commercials. After writing Baby Ruth with Doug Riley he began studying arranging and composition and by 1967 Terry had formed his own jingle company “Terry Bush Productions”. Terry composed and produced “Man That’s Coffee” for Maxwell House with the ‘Baja Marimba Band’ which they ended up recording as a single. He also wrote and sang, “Do You know What You’re Doing?” for the Council on Drug Abuse which went on to become a hit record. Very popular in the States, but it ended up being pulled off the Canadian airways because they thought it was promoting drugs. It did reach #48 on the RPM charts March 6, 1971. Other notable jingles were “I Adore my 64, my Commodore 64”, “I wanna go to the zoo, zoo, zoo” for the Metro Toronto Zoo and “Life in the city” for the opening of the Eaton Center in Toronto.
Around 1978, the producer for the T.V. series The Littlest Hobo approached Terry Bush to create a theme song for the show. Terry came up with “Maybe Tomorrow” as the theme tune for the show. For many decades, Terry Bush has also taught guitar.
The Citizen Freak website reports that “Gene Trach transitioned into a career as a chiropractor. Sonny Milne became a publisher. Bert Hermiston thrived as a studio musician” and “William Cudmore joined The Majestics.”
March 23, 2026
Ray McGinnis
References:
“Robbie Lane & The Disciples,” Canadian bands.com, April 11, 2022.
“Robbie Lane & The Disciples,” Citizen Freak.com.
#5: Sunny by Boney M
City: Sept-Iles, PQ
Radio Station: CKCN
Peak Month: June 1977
Peak Position in Sept-Iles ~ #8
Peak Position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
Peak Position on the Austrian pop chart – #1
Peak Position on the Belgian pop chart – #1
Peak Position on the Dutch pop chart = #1
Peak Position on the French pop chart – #1
Peak Position on the West German pop chart – #1
Peak Position on the Swiss pop chart – #2
Peak Position on the British pop chart – #3
Peak Position on the Irish pop chart – #4
Peak Position on the Norwegian pop chart – #4
Peak Position on the Finnish pop chart – #6
Franz Reuther was born in 1941 in Kirn, Germany, in the Rheinland-Pfalz region bordering France. After graduating from school, he began to work as a cook. But in 1967 he released a single credited to Frank Farian. In 1974 he wrote a song titled “Baby Do You Wanna Bump”. In 1975 the single was released under the pseudonym Boney M. He got Marcia Barrett and Liz Mitchell to sing vocals for the debut Boney M. album. Barrett was born in Saint Catherine Parish in Jamaica in 1948. She moved to England in 1963 with her parents. In the late 60s, Barrett moved to West Germany and sang with Czechoslovakian singer Karel Gott who was known as “the Golden Voice of Prague.” Gott had three Top Ten albums in Germany between 1968 and 1971. Barrett also toured with the band of German singer Rex Gildo. After signing with a West German record label in 1971, Marcia Barrett toured with her German-language covers of “Son Of A Preacher Man” and “Oh Happy Day”.
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#22: Rock And Bird by Cowboy Junkies
City: Burnaby, BC
Radio Station: CFML
Peak Month: October 1990
Peak Position in Burnaby ~ #6
Peak position in Vancouver ~ Hit Bound
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Rock And Bird”
Lyrics: “Rock And Bird”
The Cowboy Junkies were formed in 1985 by Alan Anton on bass guitar, Michael Timmins on guitarist, Peter Timmins on drums and Margo Timmins on vocals. The three Timminses are siblings. Alan Anton worked with Michael Timmins during their first couple of bands prior to the formation of the Cowboy Junkies, including the Hunger Project. This was followed by an improvisational band named Germinal. In 1985, a fourth sibling, John Timmins, was also member of the band. But he but left the group before the recording of their debut studio album in 1986. The band line-up has never changed since: Margo, Michael, and Peter Timmins, and Alan Anton. All were born in Montreal. Michael and Alan in 1959, Margo in 1961, and Peter Timmins in 1965. When Margo was lobbied to join the Cowboy Junkies, she recalls, “I was contemplating going on to graduate school, staying in school. That was safe. I never wanted to be a musician or be onstage.”
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#6: If You Don’t Want My Love by Jack London & The Sparrows
City: Saint John, NB
Radio Station: CHSJ
Peak Month: January 1965
Peak Position in Saint John ~ #2
Peak Position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “If You Don’t Want My Love”
Lyrics: N/A
The original Jack London and the Sparrows line-up was formed in Oshawa, Ontario, in early 1964. It was founded by British émigré Dave Marden, who took the stage name Jack London. He was born in 1944, in London, England. Another bandmate was guitarist Dennis Edmonton, who was born Dennis McCrohan, in 1943, in Oshawa. A third original member was keyboard player Dave Hare, who later played with Everyday People. Jack London and the Sparrows began as a beat group and played heavily on Dave Marden’s English background. Their early repertoire reflected the influence of the “British invasion” and London even went as far as coaxing the others to “fake” English accents, in order to convince the audience that they had just arrived from England. Early on, Dennis’ brother Jerry Edmonton, born Jerry McCrohan, in 1946, in Oshawa, joined the band on drums. The group began to build up a local following, playing at various venues, such as the local Jubilee Auditorium (which was owned by the Edmonton brothers’ father).
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#1: Rockabilly Party by Hugo and Luigi
City: Saint-Jerome, PQ
Radio Station: CKJL
Peak Month: July 1957
Peak Position in Saint-Jerome ~ #2
Peak Position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Rockabilly Party”
Lyrics: N/A
Hugo Peretti was born in New York City in 1916 in an Italian-American family. Peretti began his music career as a teenager, playing the trumpet in the Borscht Belt in update New York. He graduated to playing with orchestras, then partnered with his cousin Luigi Creatore. Luigi Creatore was born in New York City in 1921, also to an Italian-American family. His father, Giuseppe Creatore, was an orchestra bandleader. Luigi was drafted into the United States military in WWII. Once the pair teamed up, they cowrote “Wimoweh” (along with four other cowriters) which was a #4 hit for The Weavers in 1952. They also cowrote Sarah Vaughan’s #14 hit in 1955 “Experience Unnecessary”. They also produced a number of hits for Jimmie Rodgers including “Honeycomb”, “Oh-Oh, I’m Falling In Love Again”, “Secretly”, “Bombombey”, “Are You Really Mine” and other hits for .
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#1: Words by the Monkees
City: Prince George, BC
Radio Station: CKPG
Peak Month: August 1967
Peak Position in Prince George ~ #2
Peak Position in Vancouver ~ #3
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #11
YouTube: “Words”
Lyrics: “Words”
Robert Michael Nesmith was born on December 30, 1942 in Houston, TX. His mother, Bette invented liquid paper and would later leave the $20 million estate to him. Affectionately nicknamed “Nez,” he learned to play saxophone as a young child and joined the United States Air Force years later. After two years in the Air Force, he left to pursue a career in folk music. In 1962 Nesmith won a talent contest at San Antonio College. He left Texas and moved to Los Angeles, with the intent of getting into the movie business. He became the “hoot master” at a regular hootenanny at the Troubadour in West Hollywood. In 1963 Nesmith released a 45 of a song he wrote called “Wanderin’”. In 1964 Nesmith wrote “Different Drum”, which was a #13 hit for Linda Ronstadt and the Stone Poneys on the Billboard Hot 100 and #5 in Vancouver in 1967.
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#102: Rubber Duckie by Ernie
City: Hamilton, ON
Radio Station: CHAM
Peak Month: September 1970
Peak Position in Hamilton ~ #2
Peak Position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #16
YouTube: “Rubber Duckie”
Lyrics: “Rubber Duckie”
Jim Henson was born in 1936 in Greenville, Mississippi, by the Mississippi River. His family moved to a Maryland suburb of Washington DC in the late ’40s. Henson recalled the arrival of the family’s first television as “the biggest event of his adolescence.” He was heavily influenced by radio ventriloquist Edgar Bergen and the early television puppets of Burr Tillstrom on Kukla, Fran and Ollie, (an ad-libbed television show with puppets that ran from 1947 to 1957) and Bil and Cora Baird (best known for the puppetry sequence in “The Lonely Goatherd” in The Sound of Music).
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