#10: This Night Won’t Last Forever by Michael Johnson
City: Fredericton, NB
Radio Station: CFNB
Peak Month: October 1979
Peak Position in Fredericton: #3
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #29 (CKLG Playlist)
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #19
YouTube: “This Night Won’t Last Forever”
Lyrics: “This Night Won’t Last Forever”
Michael Johnson was born in Alamosa, Colorado, in 1944. He began to play guitar at age 13. In 1965, he won an international talent contest. In 1966 he toured with Randy Sparks in the folk group New Society. When the group split in 1967, Johnson joined the Mitchell Trio (formerly named the Chad Mitchell Trio before Chad left in 1965). He co-wrote songs with fellow member John Denver. The trio morphed into Denver, Boise & Johnson. They released a single titled “Take Me Tomorrow” with a B-side titled “The ’68 Nixon (This Year’s Model)”.
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#9: Dancin’ Shoes by Nigel Olsson
City: Fredericton, NB
Radio Station: CFNB
Peak Month: March 1979
Peak Position in Fredericton: #2
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #17
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #18
YouTube: “Dancin’ Shoes”
Lyrics: “Dancin’ Shoes”
Nigel Olsson was born in Cheshire, England, in 1949. He began his musical career playing the guitar in small bands, and took up the drums at a gig where the drummer did not show up at the last minute. His first appearance on a record album was in the band Plastic Penny, which released Two Sides of a Penny in 1968. Olsson was spotlighted on one song on that album, “I Want You,” performing both lead vocals and a drum solo. In 1969 he played drums on the flower power pop single “Mr. Boyd” by Argosy, a one-off group which also included Reginald Dwight (later known as Elton John), and future Supertramp band member Roger Hodgson. Olsson also had a brief stint with the English hard rock band Uriah Heep, playing drums on two songs on their 1970 debut album, Very ‘easy… Very ‘umble.
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#12: Is She Really Going Out With Him by Joe Jackson
City: Hamilton, ON
Radio Station: CKOC
Peak Month: September 1979
Peak Position in Hamilton ~ #2
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #5
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #21
YouTube:”Is She Really Going Out With Him”
Lyrics: “Is She Really Going Out With Him”
Joe Jackson was born David Ian Jackson in 1954 in Burton upon Trent, England. In his teens he learned to play violin and piano. In 1970 when he was 16-years-old, Jackson was playing piano in bars and pubs. Out of high school he attended London’s Royal Academy of Music. In the early 70s he formed a British band called Edward Bear (different from the Canadian band from Ontario), which soon changed its name to Arms and Legs. David Ian Jackson started getting the nickname “Joe” because some people thought he looked like the Charlie Brown character Snoopy in his “Joe Cool” persona.
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#17: Instant Replay by Dan Hartman
City: Hamilton, ON
Radio Station: CKOC
Peak Month: February 1979
Peak Position in Hamilton ~ #4
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #29
YouTube: “Instant Replay”
Lyrics: “Instant Replay”
Daniel Earl Hartman was born in West Hanover Township (PA) in 1950. He was a child prodigy who studied classical piano. Hartman joined his first band the Legends, at the age of 13 in 1964 at the request of his older brother David who asked him to play keyboards. Initially, the Legends were a soul band who morphed to a psychedelic rock band. Into the early 70s, Hartman left the Legends and joined the Edgar Winter Group. He sang on the pop hit “Free Ride” and played bass guitar on the number-one 1973 hit “Frankenstein”. Between 1974 and 1980, Hartman was a musician on three albums for Johnny Winter. In 1976, Dan Hartman released a promotional album titled Who Is Dan Hartman and Why Is Everyone Saying Wonderful Things About Him?
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#1: Shadows In The Moonlight by Anne Murray
City: Fredericton, NB
Peak Month: July 1979
Radio Station: CIHI
Peak Position in Fredericton #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #15
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #25
YouTube: “Shadows In The Moonlight”
Lyrics: “Shadows In The Moonlight”
In 1945 Morna Anne Murray was born in Springhill, Nova Scotia, a coal-mining town. Her father was a doctor and her mother was a registered nurse. Growing up she took piano lessons for six years and began taking vocal lessons at age fifteen in 1960. Anne loved music. It was the age of rock ‘n’ roll, and growing up she sang along with all her favourites – Buddy Holly, Bobby Darin and Connie Francis. However, Anne was also inspired by a wide variety of musical styles, including the classics, country, gospel, folk, and crooners such as Patti Page, Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney. She loved them all. In 1962 she gave one of her first public performances singing “Ave Maria” at her high school graduation. She went on to be part of the CBC variety show Singalong Jubilee in 1967.
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#2: Broken Hearted Me by Anne Murray
City: Fredericton, NB
Radio Station: CIHI
Peak Month: November 1979
Peak Position in Fredericton #2
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #12
YouTube: “Broken Hearted Me”
Lyrics: “Broken Hearted Me”
In 1945 Morna Anne Murray was born in Springhill, Nova Scotia, a coal-mining town. Her father was a doctor and her mother was a registered nurse. Growing up she took piano lessons for six years and began taking vocal lessons at age fifteen in 1960. Anne loved music. It was the age of rock ‘n’ roll, and growing up she sang along with all her favourites – Buddy Holly, Bobby Darin and Connie Francis. However, Anne was also inspired by a wide variety of musical styles, including the classics, country, gospel, folk, and crooners such as Patti Page, Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney. She loved them all. In 1962 she gave one of her first public performances singing “Ave Maria” at her high school graduation. She went on to be part of the CBC variety show Singalong Jubilee in 1967.
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#3: Heart Of The Night by Poco
City: Fredericton, NB
Radio Station: CIHI
Peak Month: July 1979
Peak Position in Fredericton: #2
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #20
YouTube: “Heart Of The Night”
Lyrics: “Heart Of The Night”
Richard Furay was born in 1944 in Yellow Springs, Ohio. He got his first guitar when he was eight years old. He met Stephen Stills in the summer of 1963, and the pair formed the Au GoGo Singers. In 1965, they joined the Buffalo Springfield. Furay was part of the trend-setting sound of the Buffalo Springfield, with “For What It’s Worth” and other classics. The Buffalo Springfield began splintering in 1968. When Bruce Palmer left the band, he was replaced by Jim Messina who was in the recording studio for the bands’ last album Last Time Around. Messina and Furay formed Poco later that year. Messina began playing guitar at the age of five. He left Poco after the first two albums and became part of the duo of Loggins and Messina.
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#8: Where Were You When I Was Falling In Love by Lobo
City: Fredericton, NB
Radio Station: CIHI
Peak Month: October 1979
Peak Position in Fredericton #2
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #23
YouTube: “Where Were You When I Was Falling In Love”
Lyrics: “Where Were You When I Was Falling In Love”
Roland Kent LaVoie was born in Tallahassee, Florida, in 1943. He began his musical career in 1961 as a member of a local band, The Rumours. The band included Gram Parsons and Jim Stafford, as well as drummer Jon Corneal, who later joined Parsons’s International Submarine Band. In 1964, while attending the University of South Florida, LaVoie joined a band called the Sugar Beats and met producer Phil Gernard. He recorded a regional hit for the band, a cover of Johnny River’s song, “What Am I Doing Here?” During the 1960s, LaVoie performed with many other bands, including US Male, The Uglies, and Me and the Other Guys. By 1969, LaVoie released his first solo recording titled “Happy Days in New York City”.
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#17: I Only Want To Get Up And Dance by The Raes
City: Fredericton, NB
Radio Station: CIHI
Peak Month: May 1979
Peak Position in Fredericton #5
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Disco chart ~ #47
YouTube: “I Only Want To Get Up And Dance”
Lyrics: “I Only Want To Get Up And Dance”
The Raes were the British-Canadian husband-and-wife singing duo of Robbie Rae (born Robert Henry Bevan in 1954) and Cherrill Rae (born Cherrill Yates), who had a handful of disco-infused pop hits in the late 1970s. Robbie Rae grew up in Wales and began his recording career as a pre-teen. Though his version of “The Lord’s Prayer”, sung in Welsh, was banned by the BBC, who considered it blasphemous. Before long, he was touring Europe and had his own television variety show in Wales. Cherrill Rae was born in England but lived in Ontario as a child. In Canada she developed an appreciation for R&B, especially the Motown sound. She moved back to the United Kingdom to continue her musical studies and pursue a singing career.
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#4: Crazy Love by Poco
City: Fredericton, NB
Radio Station: CIHI
Peak Month: March-April 1979
Peak Position in Fredericton #3
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #13
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #17
YouTube: “Crazy Love”
Lyrics: “Crazy Love”
Richard Furay was born in 1944 in Yellow Springs, Ohio. He got his first guitar when he was eight years old. He met Stephen Stills in the summer of 1963, and the pair formed the Au GoGo Singers. In 1965, they joined the Buffalo Springfield. Furay was part of the trend-setting sound of the Buffalo Springfield, with “For What It’s Worth” and other classics. The Buffalo Springfield began splintering in 1968. When Bruce Palmer left the band, he was replaced by Jim Messina who was in the recording studio for the bands’ last album Last Time Around. Messina and Furay formed Poco later that year. Messina began playing guitar at the age of five. He left Poco after the first two albums and became part of the duo of Loggins and Messina.
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#30: Run Home Girl by Sad Cafe
City: Fredericton, NB
Radio Station: CIHI
Peak Month: February 1979
Peak Position in Fredericton: #12
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #71
YouTube: “Run Home Girl”
Lyrics: “Run Home Girl”
Sad Café formed in 1976 in Manchester, UK. Lead singer Paul Young was born in greater Manchester in 1947. When he was just 16-years-old, Paul Young joined The Toggery Five. They opened concerts for Freddie and the Dreamers, and the Hollies. The Toggery Five were offered a song titled “I’m Alive” and had it recorded. But the Hollies quickly recorded the song and got it released two weeks before The Toggery Five. “I’m Alive” became a number-one hit for the Hollies and The Toggery Five missed out on a hit record. Later Paul Young formed Gyro in the mid-70s. Sad Café emerged as am amalgamation with a progressive rock band called Mandalaband. From Mandalaband came Vic Emerson on keyboards, Ashley Mulford on guitar, Tony Cresswell on drums, and John Stimpson on bass guitar. Another member of Sad Café was guitar player Ian Wilson. The band took their name from the Southern Gothic novel by Carson McCullers titled The Ballad of the Sad Café.
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#3: I Don’t Like Mondays by the Boomtown Rats
Peak Month: December 1979
16 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #1
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #73
YouTube.com: “I Don’t Like Mondays”
Lyrics: “I Don’t Like Mondays”
The Boomtown Rats formed in Dublin in 1975. Bob Geldof was born in 1951 in a town on the coast south of Dublin called. Dún Laoghaire. After graduating from school, he had several jobs including working for The Georgia Straight newspaper in Vancouver, before returning to Ireland. Pete Briquette (born Patrick Martin Cusack) was born in 1954 in Ballyjamesduff where peat briquettes were burned for heat instead of coal. Garrick Roberts was born in Dublin in 1950, while Gerry Cott was born there in 1954. Cott learned to play flamenco guitar at the age of 11, and saw Bob Dylan in concert on May 5, 1966. The experience inspired Cott. Simon Crowe was born in Dublin in 1955, while Johnnie Fingers (born John Peter Moylett) was born in Dublin in 1956. When the band formed in 1975 they first named themselves The Nightlife Thugs. But they changed their name after Bob Geldof read Woody Guthrie’s Bound For Glory. In Guthrie’s autobiography, the Boomtown Rats is the name of Guthrie’s boyhood gang.
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#15: Born To Be Alive by Patrick Hernandez
Peak Month: August 1979
12 weeks on CKLG’s Vancouver Chart
Peak Position ~ #1
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #16
Billboard Year-End 1979 Top 100 ~ #70
YouTube: “Born To Be Alive”
Lyrics: “Born To Be Alive”
Patrick Pierre Hernandez was born in the northern Paris suburb of Le Blanc-Mesnil, within Seine-Saint-Denis in 1949. By the 1960s Patrick Hernandez had developed a keen interest in music. By the 70s he was touring with some French In the early ’70s Patrick Hernandez became a session musician. He joined the pop-rock band Paris Palace Hôtel. Later in the mid-70s Hernandez met arranger, guitarist and vocalist Hervé Tholance and the pair began to collaborate. They backed/supported the careers of French folk-country guitarist/singer Francis Cabrel who released his first studio album in 1977; And Parisian pop-rock singer Laurent Voulzy who released his first album in 1979. The pair later helped launch the Toulouse-based French group Gold, who went on to have five hit singles land in the Top Ten France’s pop charts between 1984 and 1987. Meanwhile, Hernandez released his first single in 1978 in France titled “I Give You Rendez-Vous”.
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#70: Ain’t Love A Bitch by Rod Stewart
Peak Month: June 1979
16 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN Chart
Peak Position #2
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #22
YouTube.com: “Ain’t Love A Bitch”
Lyrics: “Ain’t Love A Bitch”
Roderick David Stewart was born in London, England, in 1945. In 1956 he got introduced to rock ‘n roll when he saw Bill Haley and His Comets in concert, and heard Little Richard’s “The Girl Can’t Help It”. He was given a guitar by his dad in 1959, and he learned to play the Kingston Trio’s “A Worried Man”. He quit school at age 15 and worked as a newspaper boy. He auditioned with Joe Meek in 1961, but didn’t get a record deal. By 1963 he was part of an R&B band called The Dimensions. In 1965 he teamed up with Long John Baldry, Julie Driscoll and Brian Auger to form a blues band called Steampacket. This lasted another year. Eventually, Stewart became part of the Jeff Beck Group in 1967. When that band broke up in the fall of ’68, Rod Stewart got invited to join the reformed Small Faces, who were now just called Faces.
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#65: 3 Dressed Up As A 9 by Trooper
Peak Month: November-December 1979
16 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN Chart
Peak Position #2
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “3 Dressed Up As A 9”
Lyrics: “3 Dressed Up As A 9”
In 1967 Ra McGuire and Brian Smith played in a Vancouver band named Winter’s Green. The band recorded two songs, “Are You a Monkey” and “Jump in the River Blues” on the Rumble Records Label. “Are You A Monkey” later appeared on a rock collection: 1983’s “The History of Vancouver Rock and Roll, Vol. 3.” In the early seventies Winter’s Green changed their name to Applejack and added drummer Tommy Stewart and bassist Harry Kalensky to their lineup. Applejack became a very popular band in the Vancouver area, and began touring extensively in British Columbia. The band played a few original tunes such as “Raise A Little Hell”, and “Oh, Pretty Lady”, as well as Top 40 songs by artists such as Neil Young, and Chicago.
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#82: Cruel To Be Kind by Nick Lowe
Peak Month: November 1979
15 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN Chart
Peak Position #2
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #12
YouTube.com: “Cruel To Be Kind”
Lyrics: “Cruel To Be Kind”
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 recorded 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. And in 1979, Lowe’s song, “Milk And Alcohol”, was a Top Ten hit in the UK for Dr. Feelgood.
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#90: All My Love by Led Zeppelin
Peak Month: October 1979
10 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG Chart
2 weeks Playlist
Peak Position #3
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ LP cut ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “All My Love”
Lyrics: “All My Love”
Robert Anthony Plant was born in 1948 in West Bromwich, six miles northwest of Birmingham, England. He became the lead singer of Led Zeppelin, along with bandmates Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and John Bonham. At an early age Robert Plant was interested in being a pop singer. He said in an interview in 1994 on the Denton Show in Australia, “When I was a kid I used to hide behind the curtains at home at Christmas and I used to try and be Elvis. There was a certain ambience between the curtains and the French windows, there was a certain sound there for a ten-year-old. That was all the ambience I got at ten years old … And I always wanted to be … a bit similar to that.”
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#109: Bad Case Of Loving You by Robert Palmer
Peak Month: October 1979
14 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #1
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #14
YouTube.com: “Bad Case Of Loving You”
Lyrics: “Bad Case Of Loving You”
Robert Allen Palmer was born in the market town of Batley, in West Yorkshire, about 9 miles southwest of Leeds, England. Palmer’s father was a British naval intelligence officer stationed in Malta. Growing up Palmer heard jazz, blues and soul music on American Forces Radio. At the age of 15, Robert Palmer joined a band called the Mandrakes. At the age of 20 he was invited to be a backing vocalist for a single by The Alan Bown Set in 1969 titled “Gypsy Girl”. In 1970 he joined a 12-piece-jazz fusion group named Dada that included Elkie Brooks. In 1971 Palmer, Brooks and her husband guitarist Peter Gage, formed a band called Vinegar Joe. Dada once opened for Jimi Hendrix, and Vinegar Joe once opened a concert for The Who. After they disbanded in 1974, Brooks went on to have a number of Top Ten hits on the UK singles chart including “Pearl’s a Singer”, “Sunshine After the Rain”, and “No More the Fool”.
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#114: Let’s Go by the Cars
Peak Month: September 1979
14 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #1
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #14
YouTube.com: “Let’s Go”
Lyrics: “Let’s Go”
According to AllMusic.com music critic, Jason Ankeny, The Grasshoppers were a rock ‘n roll band from Cleveland who formed in 1962. There were several lineup changes and Benjamin Orzechowski joined the band in 1964 and became the lead singer. Ben Orr, who was born in 1947, went on to be a lead singer in the New Wave band, The Cars. Jeff Niesel, of Rolling Stone Magazine writes that members of the Grasshoppers Fan Club included Diane Akins, the president of the club. She remembers meeting Ben Orr when the Grasshoppers were an opening act when the Beach Boys performed in Cleveland in November, 1964.
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#129: Blow Away by George Harrison
Peak Month: June 1979
16 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN Chart
Peak Position #2
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #16
YouTube.com: “Blow Away”
Lyrics: “Blow Away”
George Harrison was born in Liverpool in 1943. Harrison remembers cycling past a home in his neighborhood that was playing “Heartbreak Hotel” by Elvis Presley. The encounter with the song got him hooked on rock ‘n roll. He subsequently was influenced by Little Richard and Buddy Holly. Harrison’s father bought him his first guitar in 1956 when Harrison was 13 years old. After Paul McCartney joined John Lennon’s group, the Quarymen, McCartney suggested that his friend, George Harrison, join the group. Harrison became one of the Quarrymen in early 1958, though he was still only 14. They changed their name to the Silver Beatles and then the Beatles in the spring of 1960. They group headed to Hamburg, Germany, on August 17, 1960, for a three-and-a-half month stint. In early 1961 the Beatles returned for more engagements in Germany. On June 22, 1961, Bert Kaempfert produced “My Bonnie”, “Ain’t She Sweet” and eight other songs. Later in 1961, “My Bonnie” climbed to #4 on the Hamburg pop charts and #32 on the German pop charts.
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#202: Does Your Mother Know by ABBA
Peak Month: August 1979
8 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #1
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #19
YouTube: “Does Your Mother Know”
Lyrics: “Does Your Mother Know”
ABBA is a pop band from Sweden. Agneta Fältskog was born in 1950 in the lakeside city of Jönköping in southern Sweden. Fältskog wrote her first song at the age of six, which she named “Två små troll” (“Two Small Trolls”). In 1958, she began taking piano lessons, and also sang in a local church choir. In early 1960, Fältskog formed a musical trio, the Cambers. At age 15 she left school to pursue a career in music. She considers Connie Francis, Lesley Gore, Aretha Franklin and Marianne Faithfull as her prime influences on her musical style. Fältskog worked on reception for a car firm while performing with the Bernt Enghardt band. In 1967 she wrote “Jag var så kär” (“I Was So in Love”), after a dating relationship ended. The single topped the Swedish pop charts in early 1968. That year she met Björn Ulvaeus, a member of the Hootenanny Singers. Ulvaeus was born in the western coast city of Gothenburg, Sweden, in 1945. In the early Sixties, Ulvaeus joined the Hootenanny Singers. They had a #5 hit in Sweden in 1964 with “Gabrielle”, based on the Russian folksong “May Here Always Be Sunshine”. The folk group had many Top Ten hits in Sweden into the early 70s, including a cover of “Green, Green Grass of Home” (“En sång en gång för längese’n”).
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#205: Rolene by Moon Martin
Peak Month: November 1979
13 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #2
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #30
YouTube: “Rolene”
Lyrics: “Rolene”
John David “Moon” Martin was born in 1945 in southwestern Oklahoma. Martin attended the University of Oklahoma and later moved to Los Angeles with his band The Disciples which then became Southwind. Martin had immediate success playing with Hall of Fame artists Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Credence Clearwater Revival. He was later featured on guitars and vocals with rock legends Linda Ronstadt, Del Shannon, Glenn Frey, Don Henley and Michelle Phillips among others. Martin also gained recognition both in the United States and France as a solo artist and composer.
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#219: Goodbye Stranger by Supertramp
Peak Month: September 1979
15 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN’s chart
Peak Position #2 ~ CKLG
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #15
YouTube: “Goodbye Stranger”
Lyrics: “Goodbye Stranger”
Richard “Rick” Davies was born in 1944 in Swindon, England. By the age of eight, it was clear his only real interest in school was music. At the age of 12 he became a snare drummer with the British Railways Staff Association Brass and Silver Jubilee Band. Davies recalls, “As a kid, I used to hear the drums marching along the street in England, in my home town, when there was some kind of parade, and it was the most fantastic sound to me. Then, eventually, I got some drums and I took lessons. I was serious about it… I figured if I could do that – I mean a real drummer, read music and play with big bands, rock bands, classical, Latin, and know what I was going to do – I would be in demand and my life was set… Eventually, I started fiddling with the keyboards, and that seemed to go over better than my drumming, for some reason. So you’ve gotta go with what people react to.”
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#237: Get It Right Next Time by Gerry Rafferty
Peak Month: October 1979
14 weeks on CFUN’s Vancouver Chart
Peak Position ~ #3
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #21
YouTube: “Get It Right Next Time”
Lyrics: “Get It Right Next Time”
Gerry Rafferty was born in Paisley, Scotland, in 1947. From the age of 17 he got work variously in a butcher’s shop, as a civil service clerk, and in a shoe shop. Once Beatlemania took hold, he formed a band called the Maverixs, who were a cover band singing songs by the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. In the mid 1960s Rafferty earned money as a busker on the London Underground. In 1966, Rafferty joined the band The Fifth Column. The group released the single “Benjamin Day”/”There’s Nobody Here”. However it was a commercial flop. In 1969 he joined the folk group the Humblebums, and remained with them, performing at numbers of folk festivals into 1971.
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#249: Weekend by Wet Willie
Peak Month: October 1979
14 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #4
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #29
YouTube: “Weekend”
Lyrics: “Weekend”
Drummer Lewis Ross assembled the musicians for a group called “Fox” in the summer of 1969. The first “gig” was a booking in Panama City, Florida at a club called the Oddessy, a geodesic dome right on the beach. Later, they relocated from Mobile, Alabama to Macon, Georgia. By 1970 the band changed its name to Wet Willie. That summer they appeared at the Love Valley Rock Festival in Love Valley, North Carolina. And in August 1970, the band travelled to San Antonio to perform at the Municipal Auditorium. Though they played numerous concerts in Atlanta, Wet Willie got wider exposure touring with The Allman Brothers Band in 1971-72. In the early 70s, their concert dates included stops in Chicago, Nashville, Boston, Cincinnati, Minneapolis, St. Louis, Columbus (OH), New Orleans, New York City, Pittsburgh, Tampa, Memphis, Louisville, Washington D.C., Toronto, Montreal, Detroit, Long Beach, West Hollywood, and elsewhere. On August 16, 1975, Wet Willie appeared in concert in Vancouver at the Pacific Coliseum. Wet Willie made its name playing Southern rock from 1971 until 1978, producing a number of albums and several charting singles, one of them achieving Top Ten success.
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#303: Armageddon by Prism
Peak Month: September 1979
15 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #7
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Armageddon”
Lyrics: “Armageddon”
In 1967 a new rock group appeared on the Vancouver scene called the Seeds of Time. They had several local hits including “My Home Town” and “Crying The Blues”. There were a number of lineup changes, but the bands personnel included drummer Rocket Norton, guitarist Lindsay Mitchell, and bassist Al Harlow. These three reunited after the Seeds of Time disbanded in 1974. After a brief stint as an R&B band called Sunshyne, they became Prism under Lindsay Mitchell’s initiative. In the band were new singer Ron Tabak, bassist Tom Lavin, keyboard player John Hall and drummer Rodney Higgs. Higgs was actually a pseudonym for Jim Vallance, the future songwriting partner of Bryan Adams. The band released a self-titled album in 1977 that included two local singles “Take Me To The Kaptin” and “It’s Over”. Anther single, “Spaceship Superstar”, made the Top Ten in Ottawa, Hamilton and London (ON) in the winter of 1977-78.
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#314: Rasputin by Boney M
Peak Month: April 1979
9 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #3
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Rasputin”
Lyrics: “Rasputin”
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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#1061: Shaka Shaka by Zwol
Peak Month: November 1979
10 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #15
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Shaka Shaka”
Walter “Zwol” Zwolinski was born in Toronto in 1946. He formed the Canadian rock band Brutus in 1969. The band included Tom Wilson who was a former member of Little Caesar And The Consuls. The Consuls had a number-one hit in Vancouver (BC), Winnipeg (MB), Seattle and Grand Rapids (MI) in the summer of 1965 with “(My Girl) Sloopy”. It also made the Top Ten in San Francisco, San Jose (CA), Toronto, Edmonton (AB), Wilmington (DL), Reno (NV) and Erie (PA). Between 1969 and 1971 the Waterloo (ON) based Brutus were opening acts for Chicago, the Staccatos and the Guess Who. Then Brutus disbanded in ’71.
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#365: Happiness by the Pointer Sisters
Peak Month: June 1979
14 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #6
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #30
YouTube: “Happiness”
Lyrics: “Happiness”
Ruth (born 1946), Anita (born 1948), Bonnie (born 1950), and June (born 1953) Pointer grew up with their brothers and parents in West Oakland. Throughout their childhood the children were raised to listen to and sing gospel at the Church of God in Christ congregation in West Oakland. Their parents, Reverend Elton Pointer and Sarah Pointer, told the children rock ‘n roll and the blues were “the devil’s music.” and it was only when they were away from their watchful parents that they could sing these styles. It happened that June Pointer bought a copy of Elvis Presley’s 1957 single “All Shook Up” which her mother allowed her to play because the B-side was “Crying in the Chapel”. In 1958 the parents bought a piano and Ruth began to take piano lessons.
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#370: Girls Talk by Dave Edmunds
Peak Month: December 1979
14 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #7
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #65
YouTube: “Girls Talk”
Lyrics: “Girls Talk”
David William Edmunds was born in 1944 in Cardiff, Wales. In 1954, when he was ten-years-old, Edmunds played in a piano duo with his older brother Geoff. They called it the Edmunds Bros Duo. In 1957, Dave and Geoff joined a band called the Stompers (who later became the Heartbeats). The Edmunds brothers later were in a group named the 99ers. Then in 1960, Dave joined Crick Feather’s Hill-Bill’s. With a growing comfort with performing on stage, at the age of 17, Dave Edmunds fronted a rockabilly Cardiff-based band called the Raiders. He continued with them for a number of years. Then in 1965 Dave Edmunds joined The Image. A few bands later, he was with Welsh blues-rock band Love Sculpture. In 1968 Love Sculpture had a #5 hit on the UK Singles chart with “Sabre Dance”.
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#957: Bang A Gong by Witch Queen
Peak Month: June 1979
7 weeks on CKLG’s Vancouver Chart
Peak Position ~ #11
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #68
YouTube: “Bang A Gong”
Lyrics: “Bang A Gong”
Witch Queen was a band from Montreal. They were assembled as a studio band by Montreal-based producers Gino Soccio and Peter Alves at the height of the disco craze. Soccio was born in 1955 in Verdun, Quebec. In 1976 Soccio was a local session musician, aspiring composer and University of Montreal student in philosophy. His musical tastes were primarily progressive rock, jazz and classical music. However, local Montreal producer Pat Deserio hired Soccio to contribute keyboards on the musical project Kébekélektrik (pronounce it like “Quebec Electric”). Soccio was asked to craft a disco record containing four songs: an arrangement of Maurice Ravel’s “Bolero”, a popular cover of Space’s “Magic Fly”, and two original compositions, “Mirage” and “War Dance”. The latter became a hit on the US Billboard Hot Dance Chart in 1978.
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#384: Let Me Take You Dancing by Bryan Adams
Peak Month: August 1979
9 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #4
1 week Playlist
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
Soundcloud: “Let Me Take You Dancing”
Lyrics: “Let Me Take You Dancing”
Born in Kingston, Ontario, in November 1959, Bryan Adams parents immigrated from the UK in the 1950s. His dad, Captain Conrad J. Adams, was a diplomat in the Canadian foreign service. While growing up his family was posted to Portugal, Austria and Israel. By the age of 15 Adams was playing with the band Sweeney Todd as a frontman. By the time he turned 17, Bryan Adams had landed work as a background vocalist for the CBC. His first salary came from working for Robbie King, a keyboard musician with Motown. During his senior years in high school he began playing music with his guitarist, Keith Scott.
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#1016: Wheels Of Life by Gino Vannelli
Peak Month: May 1979
10 weeks on CFUN’s Vancouver Chart
Peak Position ~ #15
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #78
YouTube: “Wheels Of Life”
Lyrics: “Wheels Of Life”
Gino Vannelli was born in Montreal in 1952. During his childhood he was exposed to jazz music and cabaret. His father was a cabaret singer and his mother had a good ear for music. Gene Krupa, Buddy Rich and Ed Thigpen were among the drummers that inspired young Gino. At the age of eleven, Gino was one of a group of elementary school-age drummers trying to audition for a Montreal band named The Cobras. He arrived home from school later than usual to announce he had been picked to be the new drummer for the band after impressing them with his rendition of “Wipeout”. In 1964, five years prior to the Jackson 5’s debut hit “I Want You Back” on Motown, Gino Vannelli happened to join a band in Montreal called the Jacksonville Five. And that Montreal band happened to tailor itself to Motown-sound-alike tunes when The Supremes, The Miracles, The Temptations, The Four Tops, Stevie Wonder and Mary Wells were all topping the charts. By 1966, Gino Vannelli became the lead singer of the Jacksonville Five when he replaced the current lead singer who couldn’t hit the high notes on Tom Jones’ “It’s Not Unusual”. He was fourteen.
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#508: You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’ by Long John Baldry featuring Kathi McDonald
Peak Month: June 1979
8 weeks on CFUN’s Vancouver Chart
Peak Position ~ #4
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #89
YouTube: “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’”
Lyrics: “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’”
Long John Baldry was a famous figure in the early British blues scene. He was born in East London in 1941. In addition to being a performer, Baldry was one of the music world’s great eccentrics. Long John had a knack for discovering talent. Ginger Baker, Jeff Beck and Brian Jones all worked with him early on. Elton John played piano in one of his bands, other Rolling Stones too – Charlie, Ron Wood, and Keith. In 1962, when The Rolling Stones were just getting started, they opened for him in London. Eric Clapton has said many times that John was one of the musicians that inspired him to play the Blues. And for their internationally televised special in 1964, The Beatles invited John to perform his version of ‘I Got My Mojo Working’. Rod Stewart, referring to Baldry in his book, The Making of a Legend said “in those days the only music we fell in love with was the Blues, and John was the first white guy singing it, in his wonderful voice. It was the true Blues and everyone looked up to him.”
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#466: The Moment That It Takes by Trooper
Peak Month: February 1979
16 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN
Peak Position #13
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #122
YouTube: “The Moment That It Takes”
Lyrics: “The Moment It Takes”
In 1967 Ra McGuire and Brian Smith played in a Vancouver band named Winter’s Green. The band recorded two songs, “Are You a Monkey” and “Jump in the River Blues” on the Rumble Records Label. “Are You A Monkey” later appeared on a rock collection: 1983’s “The History of Vancouver Rock and Roll, Vol. 3.” In the early seventies Winter’s Green changed their name to Applejack and added drummer Tommy Stewart and bassist Harry Kalensky to their lineup. Applejack became a very popular band in the Vancouver area, and began touring extensively in British Columbia. The band played a few original tunes such as “Raise A Little Hell”, and “Oh, Pretty Lady”, as well as Top 40 songs by artists such as Neil Young, and Chicago.
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#543: Good Timin’ by The Beach Boys
Peak Month: July 1979
12 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #8
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #40
YouTube.com: “Good Timin’”
Lyrics: “Good Timin'”
Brian Wilson was born in Inglewood, California, in 1942. In biographer Peter Ames Carlin’s book, Catch a Wave: The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of the Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson, he relates that when Brian Wilson first heard George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” it had a huge emotional impact on him. As a youngster, Wilson learned to play a toy accordion and sang in children’s choirs. In his teens he started a group with his cousin, Mike Love and his brother, Carl. Mike was born in Los Angeles in 1941 and Carl was born in 1946 in Hawthorne, California. Brian Wilson named the group Carl and the Passions in order to convince his brother to join. They had a performance in the fall of 1960 at Hawthorne High School, where they attended. Their set included some songs by Dion and the Belmonts. Among the people in the audience was Al Jardine, another classmate. Jardine was born in Hawthorne in 1942. He was so impressed with the performance that he let the group know. Jardine would later be enlisted, along with Dennis Wilson to form the Pendletones in 1961. Dennis was born in Inglewood in 1944.
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#979: Was It You by Stonebolt
Peak Month: February 1979
11 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #18
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Was It You”
In 1969 guitar player Ray Roper, drummer Brian Lousley and bass player Dan Atchison were high school students. They decided to form a band named Perth Amboy, possibly after the city in New Jersey. (In 1968 a band from Michigan called the Amboy Dukes had a Top 20 hit titled “Journey To The Center Of Your Mind”). Roper was from England. Perth Amboy played at high school dances and many small venues in the Lower Mainland. In 1973 they changed their name to Stonebolt. They added John Webster on keyboards and David Wills on vocals around 1976, according to an email to this website from David Wills. Wills left the Seattle band, Shaker, to join Stonebolt.
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#1022: Nobody by Doucette
Peak Month: September 1979
11 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #18
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Nobody”
Lyrics: “Nobody”
In 1952 Jerry Doucette was born in Montreal into a musical family. At the age of four his family moved to Hamilton, Ontario. At the age of six got his first guitar. When he was eight he began to take guitar lessons. When he was eleven he joined a band called the Reefers. When he turned 16 he moved to Toronto and was a member of a number of bands including Brutus. He moved to Vancouver in 1972 and played with the Alexis Radlin Band. Soon after he joined the Seeds of Time who were searching for a guitarist. In 1974 they changed their name to the Rocket Norton Band. Doucette remained with this band until he decided to go solo in 1977, after Mushroom Records expressed support for such a move.
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#746: Hey St. Peter by Flash And The Pan
Peak Month: October 1979
10 weeks on CFUN’s Vancouver Chart
Peak Position ~ #9
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #76
YouTube.com: “Hey St. Peter”
Lyrics: “Hey St. Peter”
Johannes Hendrikus Jacob van den Berg was born in the Netherlands in 1946. When he turned 13 he taught himself to play guitar in his family’s tenement home. He played guitar in a band called The Starfighters, based in The Hague. When he was seventeen his family moved to Australia in 1963. The following year, going by the anglicized name of Harry Vanda, he became the lead guitar player for a Sydney band called The Easybeats. A co-founder of the band was George Young. Also an immigrant to Australia, in his case from Glasgow, Scotland, George Redburn Young was a rhythm guitarist. After one of the coldest winters in Scotland on record in 1962, the Young family saw a Television ad from the Australian government promising travel assistance for families seeking a new start with a life in Australia. In 1964 The Easybeats often held band practices in a local laundromat. Vanda and Young became a songwriting duo and scored an international hit in 1966 titled “Friday On My Mind”. The song climbed to #9 in Vancouver, #1 in The Netherlands and Australia, #2 in New Zealand and #16 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the USA.
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