#569: Hushaby Little Guitar by Paul Evans
Peak Month: October 1960
8 weeks on CKWX’s Vancouver Charts
Peak Position ~ #4
1 week Hit Bound
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Hushaby Little Guitar”
Paul Evans was born in Queens, New York, in 1938. Although he got some fame with his modest success as a teen idol, Evans is more well known for his songwriting for other performing artists. He recorded his first single in 1957 titled “What Do You Know?”, backed with “Dorothy”. His first hit song was written in 1958 titled “When”. It became a Top 20 hit for the Kalin Twins. Evans told staff with the Songfacts website about the backstory. Evans said ” I was young… 19 or 20. I would write with two or three writers a day. It was our job to write songs… just sitting around, fooling around playing songs. We wrote a song for the Everly Brothers, but they were almost impossible to get. So we brought the song up to Decca Records. The demo was just my guitar, me singing, and my co-writer singing a harmony line. We got the Kalin Twins to do it because when [Decca] heard a duet on a demo, they thought of a duet, that’s just the way it was in the business at the time. We did not write it as a personal experience. We tried. We wrote it because we wanted to write a song that we could get a record recorded on.”
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#570: Open Up Your Door by Richard & The Young Lions
Peak Month: November 1966
9 weeks on CFUN’s Vancouver Charts
Peak Position ~ #2
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #99
YouTube.com: “Open Up Your Door”
Lyrics: “Open Up Your Door”
When Richard Tepp began to hear the Beatles, Dave Clark Five, Rolling Stones and the Gerry and the Pacemakers in 1964, these British Invasion acts inspired him to become a rock ‘n roll singer. Sitting in his home in Newark, New Jersey, he saw the way the opposite sex reacted to the Beatles. Tepp imagined a wonderful life that would include him performing and girls screaming. He attended a gig at a club on Chancellor Avenue in Newark where The Emeralds were on stage. He asked if he could join there band and, after showing them his vocal skills, they hired him on the spot. The Emeralds soon changed their name to The Original Kounts and became a cover band playing British Invasion songs. They grew their hair long and stood out.
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#571: Medicine Man by Buchanan Brothers
Peak Month: July 1969
8 weeks on CKLG’s Vancouver Charts
Peak Position ~ #4
1 week Hit Bound
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #22
YouTube.com: “Medicine Man”
Lyrics: “Medicine Man”
Thomas Picardo Jr. was born in Jersey City, New Jersey, in 1942. In 1958 he co-founded a doo-wop group called The Criterions with Tim Hauser. The pair attended St. Rose High School in Belmar, NJ. The Criterions had a minor hit on the Alan Freed show in New York City and on WMGM in Wildwood, New Jersey in 1959 titled “I Remain Truly Yours”. West and Hauser went to Villanova University in Pennsylvania and in 1960. West became the conductor of the Villanova Singers, the university glee club. From the glee club, West formed another group of singers named The Villanova Spires. This was a 12-man folk group who sang with guitars. Tim Hauser also joined the Villanova Spires. In 1961, West another student named Jim Croce joined The Villanova Spires and they became friends.
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#572: Private Eye by Bob Luman
Peak Month: August 1961
8 weeks on CKWX’s Vancouver Charts
Peak Position ~ #3
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #115
YouTube.com: “Private Eye”
Bob Luman was born in Blackjack, Texas, in 1937. Before 1955 the only hits Bob Luman had were on the baseball field. He was an outstanding baseball player for his school team in Kilgore, Texas. He also fronted a band that performed the country hits. But after seeing Elvis Presley perform in Kilgore in May 1955, Luman was resolved that his hits going forward would be “Rockabilly hits.”
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#573: Hungry Eyes by Platinum Blonde
Peak Month: May 1986
9 weeks on CKLG’s Vancouver Charts
Peak Position ~ #5
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Hungry Eyes”
Lyrics: “Hungry Eyes”
Mark Holmes was born in the UK and lived in Manchester until the family moved to Toronto. He met several other musicians and formed a punk band that played covers to The Police and other new wave bands. After a lineup change, Holmes was playing guitar and the lead vocalist, Chris Steffler was the drummer and Sergio Galli was a second guitarist. The trio became Platinum Blonde. They got a record deal with CBS in 1983. Their debut album, Standing In The Dark, earned them two Video Of The Year nominations at the 1984 Juno Awards. But it was their second album, Alien Shores, which included “Crying Over You”, a #1 single on the Canadian RPM charts in 1985, and in Vancouver.
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#574: You’re What I Look For by Glass Tiger
Peak Month: January 1987
11 weeks on CKLG’s Vancouver Charts
Peak Position ~ #8
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “You’re What I Look For”
Lyrics: “You’re What I Look For”
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.
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#575: Hey Big Brother by Rare Earth
Peak Month: January 1972
8 weeks on CKVN’s Vancouver Charts
Peak Position ~ #2
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #19
YouTube.com: “Hey Big Brother”
Lyrics: “Hey Big Brother”
In Detroit in 1960, a group of high school buddies formed a band and called themselves The Sunliners. Two of the founding members who remained with the band when it morphed into Rare Earth were Gil Bridges on flute, saxophone, and vocals; And Peter Hoorelbeke (aka Peter Rivera) on lead vocals and drums. In 1962 John Parrish (aka John Persh) joined The Sunliners on bass guitar, trombone and vocals. In 1966 Rod Richards (born Rod Cox) joined The Sunliners on guitar and vocals; And Kenny James (born Ken Folcik) was added on keyboards. The group’s recording style evolved over time.
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#577: Raise A Little Hell by Trooper
Peak Month: September 1978
12 weeks on CFUN’s Vancouver Charts
Peak Position ~ #11
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #59
YouTube.com: “Raise A Little Hell”
Lyrics: “Raise A Little Hell”
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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#578: I’m On Fire For You Baby by April Wine
Peak Month: September 1974
10 weeks on CKLG’s Vancouver Charts
Peak Position ~ #7
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #64
YouTube.com: “I’m On Fire For You Baby”
Lyrics: “I’m On Fire For You Baby”
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”.
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#579: With A Girl Like You by The Troggs
Peak Month: August 1966
8 weeks on CFUN’s Vancouver Charts
Peak Position ~ #3
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #29
YouTube.com: “With A Girl Like You”
Lyrics: “With A Girl Like You”
The Troggs formed in 1964 and decades later were dubbed by music critics as the “first British punk band.” Never strangers to controversy, many of their records were considered by radio programmers and social conservatives as too suggestive for the masses, and they consequently banned them. The band’s first big hit was “Wild Thing” which is rated by Rolling Stone Magazine as one of the Top 500 songs in the rock ‘n roll era. While they racked up their biggest string of Top Ten singles between 1966 and 1968, the band consisted of co-founders Reg Presley and Ronnie Bond, as well as Pete Staples and Chris Britton.
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