#524: I Believe In Music by Gallery
Peak Month: November 1972
9 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG’s chart
Peak Position #4
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #22
YouTube: “I Believe In Music”
Lyrics: “I Believe In Music”
Gallery was formed in Detroit in 1971 by Jim Gold, who was born in ‘the Motor City’ in 1947. In 1971, while he and a friend were playing at a Detroit club called the Poison Apple, he was discovered by Dennis Coffey and Mike Theodore. Coffey learned to play guitar at the age of thirteen, in the Michigan Upper Peninsula town of Copper City. In 1955, as a fifteen-year-old sophomore at a Detroit high school, Dennis played his first record session, backing Vic Gallon in “I’m Gone”, on the Gondola Record label. In the early 1960s he joined The Royaltones who played sessions with other recording artists including Del Shannon and Bobby Rydell. By the late 1960s as a member of the Funk Brothers studio band, Coffey played on dozens of recordings for Motown Records, and introduced a hard rock guitar sound to Motown including distortion, Echoplex tape-loop delay, and wah-wah: most notably heard on “Cloud Nine”, “Ball of Confusion”, and “Psychedelic Shack” by The Temptations. He played on numerous other hit records of the era: Edwin Starr’s “War”, Diana Ross & The Supremes’ “Someday We’ll Be Together”, and Freda Payne’s, “Band of Gold”.
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#575: Sugar Baby Love by the Rubettes
Peak Month: September-October 1974
10 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #7
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #37
YouTube: “Sugar Baby Love”
Lyrics: “Sugar Baby Love”
In 1973, Wayne Bickerton, then head of A&R at Polydor Records, wrote four songs in an “American 50’s type” sound with co-writer Tony Waddington. A group of session musicians and singers were gathered in a London studio and recorded a demo of these tracks. Three of the session musicians were then asked to form the beginnings of a band, and with that John Richardson, Alan Williams and Pete Arnesen were the start of The Rubettes. John got some musician friends to round out the group, with Mick Clarke, Bill Hurd and Tony Thorpe making the original group of six.
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#538: Sit Down I Think I Love You by the Mojo Men
Peak Month: February 1967
9 weeks on CFUN’s Vancouver Charts
Peak Position ~ #2 ~ CKLG
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #36
YouTube.com: “Sit Down I Think I Love You” ~ Mojo Men baroque rock cover
YouTube.com: “Sit Down I Think I Love You” ~ Buffalo Springfield original rock version
Lyrics: “Sit Down I Think I Love You”
Singer and bass guitarist Jim Alaimo was born James Charles Alamio in 1938. Jim was in a Coral Gables, Florida, band called the Redcoats with his cousin Steve Alaimo. They released a single in 1958 titled “Home By Eleven” on a label called Dade Records, which is also the name of the county that Coral Gables was located. In 1959 they released a doo-wop single titled “I Want You To Love Me”. Subsequent singles in ’59-’60 were rockabilly-infused “She’s My Baby”, a doo-wop tune “You Can Fall In Love”, and teen ballad “Love Letters”. Steve Alaimo went on to have a solo career and had a Top 30 hit in 1963 titled “Everyday I Have To Cry”.
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#529: Stealin’ The Night by J.C. Stone
Peak Month: March 1981
Peak Position #7
12 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN Chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Stealin’ The Night”
J.C. Stone was a Vancouver recording artist in the 1970s and 1980s. In 1974 he released “Carrie’s Gone”, which peaked at #9 in Vancouver (BC), and cracked the Top 30 in Windsor (ON), Charlottesville (WV) and Kelowna (BC). In 1976 he released a single “Don’t Shoot Me”/”Woman In Spring” which flopped commercially. In 1980 J.C. Stone released his only album, Stealin’ The Night.
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#509: Holiday by Nazareth
Peak Month: March-April 1980
12 weeks on CFUN’s Vancouver Chart
Peak Position ~ #6
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #87
YouTube: “Holiday”
Lyrics: “Holiday”
William “Dan” McCafferty was born in 1946 in Dunfermline, near Fife, Scotland. His musical influences include Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Elvis Presley and Otis Redding. He learned to play the bagpipes and the talkbox in his teens, as well as becoming a singer. He formed a band in 1961 called the Shadettes. By 1963 McCafferty was performing professionally full time before audiences. Manuel “Manny” Charlton was born in 1941 in La Línea de la Concepción on the Bay of Gibraltar in Spain. In his youth he learned to play guitar. Charlton was in the Mark 5 and the Red Hawks before joining the Shadettes. Pete Agnew was born in Dunfermline in 1946. He learned to play rhythm guitar and bass guitar in his youth. Agnew joined the Shadettes in 1961. Darrell Antony Sweet was born in 1947 in the South Coast of England in Bournemouth. He was a piper in his youth and also learned to play drums.
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#548: All Those Lies by Glenn Frey
Peak Month: February 1983
10 weeks on CFUN’s Vancouver Chart
Peak Position ~ #6
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #41
YouTube: “All Those Lies”
Lyrics: “All Those Lies”
Glenn Lewis Frey was born in Detroit, Michigan, in 1948. He was raised in the suburb of Royal Oak and learned to play piano from the age of five. He later learned to play guitar. Frey was a member of a number of bands: the Subterraneans, the Four Of Us, the Mushrooms and the Heavy Metal Kids. At the age of 19 Frey played acoustic guitar and backing vocals for the 1968-69 Bob Seger System Top 20 hit single “Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man”. In 1969 Glenn Frey moved to Los Angeles and became part of a band named Longbranch Pennywhistle with J.D. Souther. The band folded by the end of 1970. That year Frey met drummer Don Henley. The pair were both hired as part of a backing band for Linda Ronstadt. While touring with Ronstadt, Frey and Henley decided to form a band the soon named the Eagles.
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#576: In Your Letter by REO Speedwagon
Peak Month: October 1981
9 weeks on CFUN’s Vancouver Chart
Peak Position ~ #3
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #20
YouTube: “In Your Letter”
Lyrics: “In Your Letter”
Neal Allan Doughty was born in Evansville, Indiana, in 1946. Growing up he learned to play piano, organ and keyboards. He attended the University of Illinois in Champaign, Illinois, in 1966. At the start of the school year he met Alan Gratzer. Alan Franklin Gratzer was born in Syracuse, New York, in 1948. He learned to play drums when he was given a toy drum set at the age of seven. He was in several rock bands during high school before moving to Champaign for university. Gary Dean Richrath was born in Peoria, Illinois, in 1949. He learned to play saxophone and then switched to guitar, adding slide guitar to his resume. He joined REO Speedwagon in 1970. Kevin Patrick Cronin was born in 1951 in Oak Lawn, Illinois. He learned to play piano and guitar. He joined the band in 1972-73, and was invited back in 1976. Bruce William Hall was born in Champaign in 1953. He learned to play bass guitar in his teens and joined REO Speedwagon in 1977. These five musicians became the core of REO Speedwagon. But along the way there were ten other bandmates that came and went between 1967 and 1977.
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#581: Martika’s Kitchen by Martika
Peak Month: February 1992
13 weeks on CKLG’s Vancouver Chart
Peak Position ~ #7
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #93
YouTube.com: “Martika’s Kitchen”
Lyrics: “Martika’s Kitchen”
In 1969 Marta Marrero was born in Whittier, California. Her parents were born in Havana, Cuba. At the age of 12 she had an uncredited role in the comedy-musical film based on the Broadway show Annie. From 1984-86 she was cast as Gloria in the children’s television show Kids Incorporated. In 1984 she appeared, along with other Kids Incorporated cast members in the motivational video Be Somebody… or Be Somebody’s Fool! hosted by Mr. T. In the video Ice T and New Edition were also featured. In 1987 she signed a record deal with Columbia.
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#540: Come As You Are by Nirvana
Peak Month: April 1992
11 weeks on CKLG’s Vancouver Chart
Peak Position ~ #5
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #32
YouTube: “Come As You Are”
Lyrics: “Come As You Are”
Kurt Donald Cobain was born in 1967 in Aberdeen, Washington. By age two he was singing and at age four started playing piano. His parents divorced when he was nine. Before the end of grade nine Cobain dropped out of school and lived homeless for several years. His uncle gave him a guitar for his 14th birthday. In 1985 Cobain fronted a punk band from Aberdeen named Fecal Matter. One of his friends in the punk scene was Krist Novoselic, who listened to a demo by Fecal Matter. Novoselic convinced Cobain to join with him in a band they called the Sellouts, a Creedence Clearwater Revival tribute band. The band was short-lived as Cobain wrote new material and they subsequently formed a band they called Nirvana. But before they settled on this name, the band was variously called Skid Row and Ted Ed Fred.
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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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