#17: When It’s Over by Loverboy
City: Montreal, PQ
Radio Station: CKGM
Peak Month: May 1982
Peak Position in Montreal ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #26
YouTube: “When It’s Over”
Lyrics: “When It’s Over”
Loverboy is a band formed in 1979. It has been stated by Mike Reno that their name was chosen due to a dream by Paul Dean. He had come up with the name after spending the previous night with some of the bandmates, including Reno and their girlfriends, before going to the movies. The girlfriends were browsing through fashion magazines, where the guys in the band saw a Cover Girl advertisement. Cover Girl became Cover Boy, and then became Loverboy in Dean’s dream later that night. After being told by Dean about the dream the next morning, Reno agreed to try it out and it stuck.
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#42: Lovers In A Dangerous Time by Bruce Cockburn
City: Regina, SK
Radio Station: CJME
Peak Month: July-August 1984
Peak Position in Regina ~ #12
Peak Position in Vancouver ~ #19
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Lovers In A Dangerous Time”
Lyrics: “Lovers In A Dangerous Time”
Bruce Cockburn was born in Ottawa in 1945. He has stated in interviews that his first guitar was one he found around 1959 in his grandmother’s attic, which he adorned with golden stars and used to play along to radio hits. Some of these included songs by the Beau Marks from Montreal. Later he was taught piano and music theory by Peter Hall, the organist at Westboro United Church which Cockburn and his family attended. Cockburn had been listening to jazz and wanted to learn musical composition. Hall encouraged him and, along with his friend Bob Lamble, a lot of time was spent at Hall’s house listening to and discussing jazz. After graduating, he took a boat to Europe and busked in Paris. Cockburn attended Berklee School of Music in Boston, where his studies included jazz composition, for three semesters between 1964 and 1966. That year he dropped out and joined an Ottawa band called The Children, which lasted for about a year.
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#150: Nothing But A Heartache by the Flirtations
City: Toronto, ON
Radio Station: CHUM
Peak Month: May 1969
Peak Position in Toronto ~ #4
Peak Position in Vancouver ~ #9
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #34
YouTube: “Nothing But A Heartache”
Lyrics: “Nothing But A Heartache”
The Flirtations were a group from South Carolina formed in 1962. They were Lestine Johnson and sisters Ernestine Pearce, Shirley Pearce and Betty Pearce. They moved to New York City in 1962 and called themselves The Gypsies. Their debut single, “Hey There, Hey There”, stalled at #111 below the Billboard Hot 100, but made the Top 40 on the R&B chart. Lestine Johnson left the group in 1965 and was replaced by Viola Billups. As the Gypsies they released four singles. In 1966, they became The Flirtations. Continue reading →
#153: Women Around The World At Work by Martha and the Muffins
City: Toronto, ON
Radio Station: CHUM
Peak Month: November 1981
Peak Position in Toronto ~ #10
Peak Position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Women Around The World At Work”
Lyrics: “Women Around The World At Work”
Martha Johnson was born in Toronto, Ontario, in 1950. Johnson worked in Toronto as a medical receptionist. She started her career playing the organ with cover band “Oh Those Pants”. She then was part of Toronto band the Doncasters in the early 1970s. Johnson joined David Millar, Mark and Tim Gane, and Carl Finkle to form the band Martha & the Muffins in 1977. Martha & the Muffins emerged from the early punk/new wave/art pop scene which was centered around various clubs along Toronto’s Queen Street West and the Ontario College of Art, where Millar and Mark Gane were students. Martha Johnson played keyboards, David Millar and Mark Gane played guitar. Gane’s brother, Tim, was the band’s drummer. And Carl Finkle played bass guitar. The band had their debut performance at the Ontario College of Art Hallowe’en party in October 1977. Some of the clubs they played at included the Beverly and the Rivoli. Regarding the name for the band, Mark Gane recalls “We decided to use it as a temporary name until we could all agree on something better.” They had wanted a name that was edgy, but not aggressive like the Sex Pistols.
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#28: Love Is The Drug by Roxy Music
City: Hamilton, ON
Radio Station: CKOC
Peak Month: April 1976
Peak Position in Hamilton ~ #4
Peak Position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #30
YouTube: “Love Is The Drug”
Lyrics: “Love Is The Drug”
In 1945, Bryan Ferry was born in Washington, near Durham, England. His dad worked on a farm and took care of pit ponies. After he got his undergraduate degree, he took courses in fine art at Newcastle University in the mid’60’s. While he was studying, he was part of a student band named the City Blues. With his fine arts degree he started to teach pottery at a girl’s school in London. Concurrently, Ferry founded a band called Banshees. After that he formed a band that included Graham Simpson named the Gas Board. In 1968 he took up residence in London. Ferry was fired from his teaching post for hosting sessions with the ceramics students where they listened to records. Ferry moved on and assembled a band with bass player, Graham Simpson, saxophone and oboe player, Andy MacKay, synthesizer player, Brian Eno, guitarist, Phil Manzanera, and Paul Thompson on drums and percussion being the musicians who endured in the midst of a few minor lineup changes in the early years. He called the band Roxy Music.
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#161: Once In A Lifetime by the Talking Heads
City: Toronto, ON
Radio Station: CHUM
Peak Month: February 1981
Peak Position in Toronto ~ #7
Peak Position in Vancouver ~ airplay – no chart position
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #103
YouTube: “Once In A Lifetime”
Lyrics: “Once In A Lifetime”
The Talking Heads are a band formed in 1975 in New York City. David Byrne was the lead vocalist and guitarist. He was born in Dumbarton, Scotland, in 1952. When he was eight years old his family moved to Maryland where his father worked for Westinghouse. He was in a band in high school. By 1973, in Providence, Rhode Island, he was in a band called the Artistics with drummer Chris Frantz. They both subsequently moved to New York City in 1974. Franz was born in 1951 in Fort Campbell, Kentucky. In 1973, he was dating Tina Weymouth and after they moved to New York City she was invited in 1975 to join the Talking Heads. Weymouth was born in 1950 in Coronado, California. At age 14 she taught herself to play bass guitar. She met David Byrne and Chris Frantz at the Rhode Island School of Design. In 1977, Jerry Harrison joined the Talking Heads. He was born in 1949 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In 1971 he formed the Modern Lovers with Jonathan Richman. When Richman went solo in 1974, Jerry Harrison returned to his alma mater, Harvard, to get his Master’s degree in architecture.
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#164: You Take Me Up by Thompson Twins
City: Toronto, ON
Radio Station: CHUM
Peak Month: October 1984
Peak Position in Toronto ~ #5
Peak Position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #44
YouTube: “You Take Me Up”
Lyrics: “You Take Me Up”
The Thompson Twins formed in the UK in Sheffield in 1977. The band’s name was based on the two bumbling detectives Thompson and Thompson (who are close doubles, not twins) in the English-language version of The Adventures of Tintin (Les aventures de Tintin). At various stages the Thompson Twins had up to seven members. However, their best known line-up was as a trio from 1982 to 1986. The band became a prominent act in the US during the Second British Invasion, and in 1985 performed at Live Aid in Philadelphia, where they were joined on stage by Madonna. The band was founded by Tom Bailey who was born in Halifax, West Yorkshire. He studied classical piano and before forming the band, he worked as a music teacher. When the band had six members in 1981, they released the debut album A Product of… (Participation). The album was not a commercial success. However, the second member of the classic Thompson Twins lineup, Joe Leeway, was now part of the band. Continue reading →
#165: Johnny Are You Queer? by Josie Cotton
City: Toronto, ON
Radio Station: CHUM
Peak Month: February-March 1982
Peak Position in Toronto ~ #4
Peak Position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Johnny Are You Queer?”
Lyrics: “Johnny Are You Queer?”
Josie Jones was born in Dallas, Texas, in 1956. In the late 70s, Josie headed west from Texas and drove to Los Angeles. She had dreams of making it as a pop singer. She was given the song “Johnny Are You Queer?” after it had been a demo recorded by the Go-Gos. Taking the stage name Josie Cotton, she released her debut album Convertible Music in 1982. The album had a sixties girl group sound which included a cover of the 1963 Top Ten hit by The Exciters titled “Tell Him”.
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#52: Freak-A-Zoid by Midnight Star
City: Montreal, PQ
Radio Station: CKGM
Peak Month: January 1984
Peak Position in Montreal ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #66
YouTube: “Freak-A-Zoid”
Lyrics: “Freak-A-Zoid”
Midnight Star was formed by Reggie Calloway in 1976. Calloway was born in Cheyenne, Wyoming, in 1955. After his parents divorced in 1963, Reggie Calloway worked from 1964 to 1970 at his Larson’s Flower Barn and Ice Cream Parlor which was operated by his mother in Cincinnati, Ohio. A natural athlete, Reggie also played trumpet. In 1975 Reggie and brothers Vincent and Gregory, along with friends John Jones and Ruben Jordan, formed the jazz-fusion group SunChild. They released their first single on their own label, Starbound Records. During the summer of 1975, SunChild served as the back-up band for Sonny Stitt. Subsequently, Midnight Star consisted of Reggie Calloway as frontman, Belinda Lipscomb on lead vocals, Melvin Gentry on guitar and vocals, Kenneth Gant on bass guitar and vocals, Bill Simmons on saxophone and keyboards, Bo Watson on keyboards and vocals, and Jeff Cooper on guitar and keyboards, were all students at Kentucky State University. They later added non-KSU students Vincent Calloway (Reggie’s younger brother) on trombone, and Bobby Lovelace on drums. Midnight Star was a nine-piece ensemble.
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#171: The Swingin’ Shepherd Blues by Moe Koffman Quartette
City: Toronto, ON
Radio Station: CHUM
Peak Month: February 1958
Peak Position in Toronto ~ #4
Peak Position in Vancouver ~ #22
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #36
YouTube: “The Swingin’ Shepherd Blues”
Morris “Moe” Koffman was born in Toronto in 1928 to Jewish parents who ran a variety store. Koffman began to study violin at the age of nine. He later attended the Toronto Conservatory of Music. Koffman dropped out of school when he found work performing in dance bands. In 1950, he moved to the United States, where he played with a number of big bands, including with Sonny Dunham and Jimmy Dorsey. In 1955, he returned to Toronto where he formed a quartet and later a quintet.
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