#227: Doll House by Donnie Brooks
Peak Month: December 1960
11 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #2
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #31
YouTube: “Doll House”
Lyrics: “Doll House”
In 1936 John Dee Abohosh was born in Dallas, Texas. His family moved to Ventura, California when he was in his youth. In his teens he was adopted by his stepfather, John D. Fairecloth, who supported young John in developing his voice. John Dee Abohosh was than given the surname Fairecloth. While growing up in southern California, he studied under the same vocal coach who previously instructed Eddie Fisher. In high school John Dee Fairecloth made his professional debut on a classical music showcase broadcast by Ventura-based station KBCC. After graduating from high school, Fairecloth earned his living singing at local clubs, fairs, and weddings, embracing rock & roll and in 1957 signing to local indie Fable Records to cut his debut single, “You Gotta Walk The Line”, credited to Johnny Faire. He was twenty-one years old.
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#228: Werewolves Of London by Warren Zevon
Peak Month: June 1978
12 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #4
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #21
YouTube: “Werewolves Of London”
Lyrics: “Werewolves Of London”
Warren Zevon was born in Chicago in 1947. His father, William Zivotovsky, was a Jewish immigrant from Russia. Once in America, the surname was changed from Zitovsky to Zevon. William Zevon worked as a bookie who handled volume bets and dice games for the notorious Los Angeles mobster Mickey Cohen. He worked for years in the Cohen crime family, in which he was known as Stumpy Zevon, and was best man at Cohen’s first wedding. Young Warren Zevon studied classical music from age 13 with Igor Stravinsky, from time to time. But when his parents divorced when he was 16-years-old, Warren moved to Los Angeles and became a folk singer. In 1965 he formed a folk duo named Lyme (his mother’s maiden surname) & Cybelle. The single “Follow Me” became a Top Ten hit in San Jose and San Bernardino (CA), as well as climbing to #11 in Los Angeles.
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#229: Angela Jones by Johnny Ferguson
Peak Month: April 1960
10 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #2
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #27
YouTube: “Angela Jones” – Johnny Ferguson
YouTube: “Angela Jones” – John D. Loudermilk (composer)
Lyrics: “Angela Jones”
John Lambeth Ferguson III was born in Nashville in 1937. He graduated from Hillsboro High School Ferguson began his musical career in the late 50s while he was a disc jockey on a variety of small stations in and around the Nashville, Tennessee. He had begun doing work as a DJ while still in high school for WNAH, WAGG and WSM-TV. As a writer, he managed to have a couple of his songs recorded by country acts Judy Lynn and Pat Kelly. In 1958 Ferguson recorded “Sad Sad Day”, a rockabilly tune, on Decca Records. The B-side was “Candy Love”, which had some Buddy Holly-esque vocals. However, the single got little notice. A second Decca release in 1958 was “Til School Starts Again”. It was a commercial flop. However, a demo of one of his songs that persuaded Arnold Maxin, the managing director at MGM Records, to sign him.
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#230: You Mostest Girl by Bob Lee
Peak Month: September 1961
11 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #2
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “You Mostest Girl”
Lyrics: “You Mostest Girl”
Bobby Lee Trammell was born in Jonesboro, Arkansas, in 1934. His parents were cotton farmers. His mother played the church organ at a Pentecostal Church, and his dad played the fiddle. In 1957, Trammell heard Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash in concert in Jonesboro. He was invited to sing a song, and was subsequently put in touch with Sam Phillips of Sun Records. Though he didn’t get a record contract, Bobby Lee Trammell kept dreaming about being a recording star. He moved to California and got a job at a Ford Motors manufacturing plant in Long Beach. He heard Bobby Bare in concert and got a chance to sing on stage. He ended up getting a gig to perform regularly at the Jubilee Ballroom in Baldwin Park, in suburban Los Angeles. Trammell soon got a reputation for Elvis Presley-like spastic gyrations and wildness on stage that occasionally caused controversy. Trammell said: “I was much wilder than Jerry Lee Lewis or Little Richard.”
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#231: I Was Only Joking by Rod Stewart
Peak Month: July 1978
13 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #4
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #22
YouTube: “I Was Only Joking”
Lyrics: “I Was Only Joking”
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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#232: The Inner Light by the Beatles
Peak Month: March 1968
8 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #1
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #96
YouTube: “The Inner Light”
Lyrics: “The Inner Light”
Paul McCartney was born in Liverpool in 1942. He attended the Liverpool Institute High School for Boys and met fellow classmates George Harrison on a school bus. When Paul was 14 his mom died from a blockage in one of her blood vessels. In his early teens McCartney learned to play trumpet, guitar and piano. He was left-handed and restrung the strings to make it work. In 1957, Paul met John Lennon and in October he was invited to join John’s skiffle band, The Quarrymen, which Lennon had founded in 1956. After Paul joined the group his suggested that his friend, George Harrison, join the group. Harrison became one of the Quarrymen in early 1958, though he was still only 14. Other original members of the Quarrymen, Len Garry, Rod Davis, Colin Hanton, Eric Griffiths and Pete Shotton left the band when their set changed from skiffle to rock ‘n roll. John Duff Lowe, a friend of Paul’s from the Liverpool Institute, who had joined the Quarrymen in early 1958 left the band at the end of school. This left Lennon, McCartney and Harrison as remaining trio. On July 15, 1958, John Lennon’s mother died in an automobile accident.
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#233: Don’t It Make Ya Feel by the Headpins
Peak Month: February 1982
10 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #2 ~ CFUN
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Don’t It Make Ya Feel”
Lyrics: “Don’t It Make Ya Feel”
The Headpins are a Vancouver hard rock band. They were formed by Chilliwack bandmates Ab Bryant and Brian MacLeod. Bryant and MacLeod had so much energy, they continued to play with Chilliwack as they got Headpins founded. Macleod was introduced to local Vancouver singer named Denise McCann. Born in Iowa in 1948, after being raised in the Castro Valley in California, during the Summer of Love, she moved to San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury neighborhood where she became a hippie. McCann got a job with the Magic Mountain Festival on Mount Tamalpais and also at the Monterey Pop Festival. At the festival she became friends with Jimi Hendrix. McCann appears in the D.A. Pennebaker documentary Monterey Pop! Brian MacLeod invited McCann to join the Headpins as they were forming in 1979.
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#234: Love Me Love Me Love by Frank Mills
Peak Month: February 1972
9 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #1
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #46
YouTube: “Love Me Love Me Love”
Lyrics: “Love Me Love Me Love”
In 1942, Frank Mills was born into a musical household in Montreal, and grew up in Verdun, Quebec. His older sister and mother both played the piano. Young Frank learned to play piano by ear. He also learned to play trombone in high school and played in a school band. His parents both died of cancer by the time Frank was seventeen. Initially, he entered McGill University in pre-med. However, his marks weren’t good enough to continue. When he scored 98% on a Music Department entrance exam, his direction was certain.
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#235: Robot Man by Jamie Horton
Peak Month: September 1960
12 weeks on Vancouver’s CKWX chart
Peak Position #1
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Robot Man”
Lyrics: “Robot Man”
Gayla Rienette Peevey was born in Oklahoma City in 1943. She moved with her family at the age of 5 to Ponca City, Oklahoma. When she was ten years old she recorded “I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas”. In October 1953, Peevey performed the song on The Ed Sullivan Show in an episode that aired on November 15, 1953. As a result of her song’s release, a local promoter picked up on the popularity of the song and Peevey’s local roots. A campaign was launched to present Peevey with an actual hippopotamus on Christmas. The campaign succeeded, and Peevey was presented with a hippopotamus named Matilda, which she donated to the city zoo. Matilda the hippopotamus lived to the age of 47 and died in 1998.
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#236: In The Mood by the Wildroot Orchestra
Peak Month: August 1981
11 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #6
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “In The Mood”
Lyrics: “In The Mood”
Around 1971 a band called Wildroot formed in Vancouver (BC). An article by Canadianbands.com identifies Howie Vickers was the lead vocalist, Frank Allison was on guitar, Ian Berry was on keyboards and saxophone, Charles Faulkner was on bass guitar and Jim McGillveray was on drums. who formed in the 70s. Charles Faulkner was previously a member of Mother Tucker’s Yellow Duck, a psychedelic rock band from Vancouver (1967-71). Jim McGillveray is credited with being one of the last members of the Painted Ship, a Vancouver (BC) band that folded in 1968. McGillveray, Ian Berry and Frank Allison were all previously members of Vancouver’s New Breed, a band that formed in 1966.
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