#720: Lover Of Mine by Alannah Myles
Peak Month: April 1990
12 weeks on CKLG’s Vancouver Charts
Peak Position ~ #10
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Lover Of Mine”
Lyrics: “Lover Of Mine”
Alannah Byles was born in Toronto in 1958. She rode horses in the Royal Winter Fair by the age of twelve. At age nine she began to play musical instruments and write songs. She performed some songs at a Kiwanis Music Festival in Toronto when she was twelve. Later, in her teens, she formed a band and began to perform in concert by her late teens. At the age of 19, she changed her surname from Byles to Myles. In 1984, she made a guest appearance in the Canadian TV show, “The Kids of Degrassi Street.” Her role was a single mom who wanted to become a singer. In 1989, Alannah Myles released her self-titled debut album with the single, “Black Velvet,” a power ballad that became an international hit. For that performance she would win a Grammy Award in 1991 for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance. Another single, “Love Is,” was a prior single release in Canada, but was released after “Black Velvet” in America.
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#722: Boy Inside The Man by Tom Cochrane & Red Rider
Peak Month: August 1986
11 weeks on CKLG’s Vancouver Charts
Peak Position ~ #12
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Boy Inside The Man”
Lyrics: “Boy Inside The Man”
Tom Cochrane was born in Lynn Lake, Manitoba, in 1953. When he was eleven he got his first guitar. In his late teens and early twenties, he performed in coffee houses across Canada in the early 70’s. His debut album, Hang On To Your Resistance, was released in 1974. Then Tom Cochrane made his way to Los Angeles. In 1975, Cochrane got work composing theme music for the movie My Pleasure Is My Business. This was a film about Xavier Hollander, the call girl and adult film star who authored her own memoir, The Happy Hooker, in 1971. Unable to get subsequent work in Hollywood, Cochrane returned to Canada for drive a taxi and work on a cruise line. At a concert at the El Mocambo for Red Rider in 1978, Tom Cochrane met the band. Soon after Cochrane was invited to join Red Rider.
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#724: Out Of Time by Chris Farlowe
Peak Month: October 1966
6 weeks on CKLG’s Vancouver Charts
Peak Position ~ #1
1 week Hit Bound
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #122
YouTube.com: “Out Of Time”
Lyrics: “Out Of Time”
Chris Farlowe was born in Islington, in suburban London, in 1940. His birth name was John Henry Deighton. During World War II he learned to join in at family sing-alongs where his mum played piano. In the late ‘50’s Farlowe was part of a skiffle group named the John Henry Skiffle Group. Skiffle was a genre of music that drew on jazz, roots, blues and folk influences. They entered and won a number of local talent contests and played at local venues. He became an amateur boxer and eventually a carpenter while he continued to play in a band he formed called Chris Farlowe and the Thunderbirds. The name Farlowe was inspired by the American jazz guitarist, Tal Farlow, while Thunderbirds was after the name of a popular American car. The Thunderbirds included Nicky Hopkins, Dave Greenslade, Ricky Chapman, Albert Lee, Pete Solley and Carl Palmer. In 1961, the band recorded a number of demos that were produced by Jimmy Page.
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#725: Ronnie, Call Me When You Get A Chance by Shelley Fabares
Peak Month: April 1963
8 weeks on CFUN’s Vancouver Charts
Peak Position ~ #7
1 week Hit Bound
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #72
YouTube.com: “Ronnie, Call Me When You Get A Chance”
Lyrics: “Ronnie, Call Me When You Get A Chance”
Michele Anne Marie Fabares was born in Santa Monica, California, in 1944. From the age of three she appeared as a model, including for clothing ads. At 9, she guested on a live TV special with Frank Sinatra, who sang his hit “Young at Heart” to her. She appeared on a TV adaptation of Our Town with Sinatra, Paul Newman and Eva Marie Saint, and was a regular on The Mickey Mouse Club. When she was ten years old, she appeared in an episode of Letter To Loretta (the original name of The Loretta Young Show) in late January, 1954. In grade seven, Shelley Fabares met Annette Funicello, and they became lifelong friends after attending catechism classes. In 1957, Shelley Fabares appeared with Kim Novak and Agnes Moorehead in the movie, Jeanne Eagles. In 1958, she appeared in the film, Marjorie Morningstar, about a young Jewish girl living in New York City, and her attempt to become an artist. That year she also appeared in Summer Love, with Fay Wray and Rod McKuen.
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#726: Call Me Lightning by The Who
Peak Month: April 1968
7 weeks on CKLG’s Vancouver Charts
Peak Position ~ #5
1 week Hit Bound
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #40
YouTube.com: “Call Me Lightning”
Lyrics: “Call Me Lightning”
The Who are an English band who emerged in 1964 with singer Roger Daltry, guitarist Pete Townshend, bassist John Entwistle, and drummer Keith Moon. The band enjoyed popular singles, such as “I Can See For Miles”, “Pinball Wizard” and “Won’t Get Fooled Again”. In Vancouver the band had eleven Top Ten hits, while in the UK they charted fourteen singles into the Top Ten. But in America they only charted one single into the Top Ten of the Billboard Hot 100, “I Can See For Miles”. The band were innovators of new genres in rock n’ roll with their rock operas Tommy and Quadrophenia. The Who early on were known for outlandish antics on stage. At the Railway Hotel in Wealdstone, England, in June, 1964, Peter Townshend destroyed his guitar on stage and smashed it into other instruments. The Who stand alongside The Beatles and The Rolling Stones as among the most influential rock bands from Britain. They had their first Top Ten single in the UK and in Vancouver in 1965 titled “I Can’t Explain”, which peaked at #8 in the UK and #2 in Vancouver.
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#727: Young And Restless by Prism
Peak Month: July 1980
10 weeks on CFUN’s Vancouver Charts
Peak Position ~ #9
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Young And Restless”
Lyrics: “Young And Restless”
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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#728: Senses Working Overtime by XTC
Peak Month: May 1982
11 weeks on CFUN’s Vancouver Charts
Peak Position ~ #12
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Senses Working Overtime”
Lyrics: “Senses Working Overtime”
Colin Ivor Moulding was born in 1955 in Swindon, England. Moulding is self-taught as a bass player; he was learning rock riffs at the age of 15. Terry Peter Chambers was born in 1955 in Swindon. At age 14 he bought a drum kit and learned to play drums. Andrew John Partridge was born in Malta in 1953. He grew up in Swindon and wrote his first song at the age of 15. In 1970 he formed a band called Stiff Beach, which by 1972 was a four-piece band renamed Star Park. Colin Moulding and Terry Chambers both joined Star Park in 1972. The band opened for Thin Lizzy in 1973. Subsequently, the renamed their band the Helium Kidz. The UK pop music magazine, New Musical Express, wrote an article about them. Swindon, in Wiltshire, England, was known for several other notable musicians including Justin Hayward of the Moody Blues, Gilbert O’Sullivan (“Alone Again Naturally”), late 90s UK pop singles chart topper Billie Piper (“Because We Want To”, “Girlfriend”), and Josh Kumra who provided vocals on the #1 UK single, “Don’t Go” with Wretch 32 in 2011.
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#729: Rain On The Roof by The Lovin’ Spoonful
Peak Month: November 1966
6 weeks on CKLG’s Vancouver Charts
Peak Position ~ #1
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #10
YouTube.com: “Rain On The Roof”
Lyrics: “Rain On The Roof”
Bass player Steve Boone (born on Long Island) and drummer Joe Butler (born on Long Island in 1941) had been playing in a band called The Kingsmen based on Long Island in the early 1960’s. By 1964 their band (not to be confused with the Kingsmen from Washington State who had a hit with “Louie Louie”) were one of the top rock and roll bands on Long Island. Their live sets included folk songs put to a rock beat, pop standards and some new hits showcasing the British Invasion. Steve’s brother, Skip Boone, and several three other bandmates filled out the group. In 1964, Joe and Skip chose to relocate to Manhattan. They focused on writing original material and blending a rock bass and drums with their jug band sound. Three other bandmates chose not to move, except Steve Boone, who joined Joe and Skip in New York City’s Greenwich Village, the nexus of the folk music scene.
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#730: Crazy Jane by Tom Northcott
Peak Month: July 1970
9 weeks on CKVN’s Vancouver Charts
Peak Position ~ #6
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Crazy Jane”
Tom Northcott is a Vancouver folk-rock singer with hits on the local pop charts from the mid-60s into the early 70s. He became known to a Canadian audience by his regular appearances on CBC Television’s Let’s Go music program in 1964-68. He was nominated as best male vocalist for a Juno Award in 1971. Later he co-founded Mushroom Studios in Vancouver and produced records. His hits are played regularly on Canadian oldies music stations.
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#732: Falling by Roy Orbison
Peak Month: June 1963
8 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #4
CFUN Pick of the Week ~ May 18, 1963
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #22
YouTube.com: “Falling”
Lyrics: “Falling”
Roy Kelton Orbison was born in Vernon, Texas in 1936. When he turned six his dad gave him a guitar. Both his dad, Orbie Lee, and uncle Charlie Orbison, taught him how to play. Though his family moved to Forth Worth for work at a munitions factory, Roy was sent to live with his grandmother due to a polio outbreak in 1944. That year he wrote his first song “A Vow of Love”. The next year he won a contest on Vernon radio station KVWC and was offered his own radio show on Saturdays. After the war his family reunited and moved to Wink, Texas, where Roy formed his first band, in 1949, called The Wink Westerners.
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