#1080: Star Crossed Lovers by Neil Sedaka
Peak Month: January 1969
6 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #8
1 week Hitbound
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Record World ~ #115
YouTube.com: “Star Crossed Lovers”
Lyrics: “Star Crossed Lovers”
In 1939 Neil Sedaka was born in Brooklyn and grew up in Brighton Beach beside Coney Island. His paternal grandparents immigrated to America from Constantinople, Ottoman Empire, in 1910. His fathers side of the family there were Sephardi Jews and his mother’s side Ashkenazi Jews from Russian and Polish background. Sedaka is a cousin of the late singer Eydie Gorme. When Neil was eight years old he listened to a show on the radio called The Make-Believe Ballroom that opened his world to appreciation for music. Within a year Neil had began learning classical piano at the age of nine at the Julliard School of Music. His progress was impressive and Arthur Rubinstein voted Neil as one of the best New York High School pianists after he turned 16 years old.
Continue reading →
#1081: The Blizzard by Jim Reeves
Peak Month: April 1961
8 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #9
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #62
YouTube.com: “The Blizzard”
Lyrics: “The Blizzard”
James Travis Reeves was born in 1923 at home on a farm between Galloway and Deadwood, in East Texas. The youngest of eight children, Reeves was known as Travis during his upbringing. His dad died when he was ten months old. When he was five years old he learned to play on a guitar he borrowed from an older brother. When he turned nine he bought his own guitar and learned more about guitar picking from an oilfield cook. He won an athletic scholarship to the University of Texas and studied speech and drama. His studies helped him deal with a stammer. However, out of necessity, he left his studies during his first semester for work in the Houston shipyards. In time he began to play in a semi-professional baseball league, prior to joining the roster of a farm team for the St. Louis Cardinals. In 1944 Reeves was a pitcher for the farm team. In his third year in the minor leagues, Reeves severed his sciatic nerve while pitching. This put an end to his athletic career. Reeves next turned his attention to radio and got a job at a station in Henderson, Texas.
Continue reading →
#1082: Right Before Your Eyes by Ian Thomas Band
Peak Month: March 1977
8 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #11
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Right Before Your Eyes”
Lyrics: “Right Before Your Eyes”
In 1950, Ian Thomas was born in Hamilton, Ontario. Once he began to play piano at the age of six Thomas fell in love with the world of music. He later learned the guitar. By 1969 he was in a folk group called Tranquility Base which began to tour across Canada. They had a #3 hit in Hamilton in 1970 called “If You’re Looking”. This led to an album, but further success eluded them. Thomas became a producer at the CBC. By 1973 he got his own record deal with GRT Records and released “Painted Ladies”. The song climbed to #9 in Vancouver and #34 on the Billboard Hot 100. His self-titled album went Gold. Thomas won the 1974 Juno Award for Most Promising Male Vocalist and toured with April Wine. He got exposure on a number of TV variety shows in Canada which included both his musical and comedic talents.Continue reading →
#1084: A Symphony For Susan by The Arbors
Peak Month: December 1966
8 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #7
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #51
YouTube.com: “A Symphony For Susan”
Lyrics: “A Symphony For Susan”
Identical twins, Ed and Fred Farran, met Scott Herrick when they were part of the University of Michigan Men’s Glee Club. The three successfully had auditioned to each be one of thirty members of the ‘Glee Club from among over 300 applicants. They graduated from the University of Michigan in 1961 and added Scott’s brother, Tom, to become a quartet. In the summer of 1961 they moved to New York City and sold their blood, for research purposes, for rent money while they followed their dream of becoming a professional recording act. In a November 1974 issue of The Michigan Alumnus (Volume 81, No. 3) the journal featured an article titled “Three Former Glee Club Members in Vocal Group Called ‘The Arbors.'” The article mentioned how over their twelve year career, at the time, the quartet had appeared in TV commercials for United Airlines, Texaco, Bay Gasoline, Sears, Seven-Up, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Mcdonald’s and Jolly Green Giant.
Continue reading →
#1086: Abergavenny by Shannon
Peak Month: August 1969
7 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #9
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #47
YouTube.com: “Abergavenny”
Lyrics: “Abergavenny”
Reginald Leonard Smith was born in Blackheath, London, UK, in 1939. At the age of 15 he left school and became a messenger boy in the city of London for a firm of brokers in Rood Lane, Eastcheap. Reginald formed a group with some of his local friends called Reg Smith and the Hound Dogs. This led to a series of local gigs in the South of England. At the age of 18 he took the pseudonym, Reg Patterson prior to performing at London’s Condor Club in 1957. While on stage he was noticed by impresario Larry Parnes. The recording acts that Parnes was manager for were all given stage names like Billy Fury, Duffy Power and Dickie Pride. He gave Reginal Leonard Smith a new name in 1957: Marty Wilde. The “Marty” came from the Oscar winning Best Picture of 1955, Marty, starring Earnest Borgnine and Betsy Blair. “Wilde,” like Fury and Power, was a surname intended to convey that the singer was edgy and charismatic.
Continue reading →
#1087: Here Comes The Boy by Tracey Dey
Peak Month: January 1964
9 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #10
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #93
YouTube.com: “Here Comes The Boy”
Lyrics: “Here Comes The Boy”
Nora Ferrari was born in 1943 in Yonkers, New York. After completing high school, at the age of 19, while taking classes at Fordham University Ferrari made a demo tape of a song. Producer, Bob Crewe, became aware of her demo tape and signed her to his production company, Genius Inc. In the summer of 1962 Crewe had produced a song for a new pop group named The Four Seasons called “Sherry“. The song climbed the national charts in the USA for five weeks (as well as three weeks in Vancouver). Crewe got the idea for an answer song and had co-written “Jerry (I’m Your Sherry)“. The song was released on the Vee Jay, the same label the Four Seasons were with, billing the singer not as Nora Ferrari but as Tracey Dey. It appeared on a record survey in Phoenix, Arizona, the second week of October 1962, when “Sherry” was #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for its fifth and final week. “Jerry (I’m Your Sherry)” got airplay in New York City, made the Top 30 on CHUM in Toronto and #8 in Fresno, California. Though the song was only a regional hit, Bob Crewe was encouraged and Tracey Dey became part of what was dubbed the “girl group” sound for both female solo and female group singers in the early to mid-60’s.
Continue reading →
#1089: Isn’t It Amazing by The Crests
Peak Month: November 1960
7 weeks on Vancouver’s CKWX chart
Peak Position #9
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #100
Youtube.com: “Isn’t It Amazing”
Lyrics: Isn’t It Amazing”
The Crests were a doo-wop group formed by J.T. Carter with Talmadge Gough, Harold Torres and Patricia Van Dross. With a group in place Carter chose Johnny Mastrangelo to be the lead vocalist and had his name on the billing as Johnny Mastro (later changed to Johnny Maestro). Maestro’s vocal style helped The Crests rack up five Top 40 hits on the national Billboard Hot 100 in the USA. Their first record was in 1957 with “Sweetest One“. Their second single release, “16 Candles“, climbed up to #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1958. Van Dross left the group after their debut single release. In the late 1950’s, The Crests performed on several national teen dance shows, including American Bandstand and The Dick Clark Show. The group was inter-racial: African-American, Puerto Rican and Italian-American.
Continue reading →
#1090: C’mon Everybody by Elvis Presley
Peak Month: August 1964
7 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #6
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “C’mon Everybody”
Lyrics: C’mon Everybody”
Elvis Aaron Presley was born on in a two-room house in Tupelo, Mississippi, on January 8, 1935. His twin brother, Jessie Garon Presley, was stillborn. When he was eleven years old his parents bought him a guitar at the Tupelo Hardware Store. As a result Elvis grew up as an only child. He and his parents, Vernon and Gladys, moved to Memphis, Tennessee, in 1948. The young Presley graduated from high school in 1953. That year he stopped by the Memphis Recording Service to record two songs, including “That’s When Your Heartaches Begin“. Elvis’ musical influences were the pop and country music of the time, the gospel music he heard in church and at the all-night gospel sings he frequently attended, and the black R&B he absorbed on historic Beale Street as a Memphis teenager. In 1954, Elvis began his singing career recording “That’s All Right” and “Blue Moon Of Kentucky” at Sun Records in Memphis.
Continue reading →
#1085: My Town by Glass Tiger and Rod Stewart
Peak Month: November 1991
10 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #13
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “My Town”
Lyrics: “My Town”
Discovered in the summer of 1984 when a band from Newmarket, Ontario called Tokyo spent two evenings performing before capacity crowds at Toronto’s Maple Leaf Gardens opening for Boy George and Culture Club. Their dynamic original sound captured the moment, and the race to sign them was on. Tokyo, which had become a major force in suburban high schools and the Ontario club circuit, officially became Glass Tiger early the following year when a record deal was finally signed with Capitol Records. The band consisted of Alan Frew on vocals and guitar, Sam Reid on keyboards, Al Connelly on guitar, Wayne Parker on bass and Michael Hanson on drums.
Continue reading →
#1091: Come Right Down On Top Of Me by April Wine
Peak Month: July 1978
9 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #14
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Come Right Down On Top Of Me”
Lyrics: “Come Right Down On Top Of Me”
April Wine is a Canadian rock band that has released 34 singles, 16 studio albums and 9 live albums. They formed in Waverly, Nova Scotia, in 1969. The founding members were brothers David Henman (guitar) and Ritchie Henman (drums) and Myles Goodwyn (lead vocals, guitar). The Henman brothers cousin Jim Henman was also part of the band, but was replaced by bass player Jim Clench in 1971, a year after the band moved to Montreal. They had a Top Ten hit nationally in Canada in 1972 with “You Could Have Been A Lady”.
Continue reading →
