#1153: Mary, Mary Lou by Bill Haley

Peak Month: January 1958
4 weeks on Vancouver’s Teen Canteen Chart
Peak Position #7
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Mary, Mary Lou”
Lyrics: “Mary, Mary Lou”

Bill Haley was born in Michigan in 1925. His dad played the mandolin and banjo while his mom played the piano. In a story Haley would relate years later in a biography, he recalled as a child when he made a simulated guitar out of cardboard, his parents bought him a real one. Sleeve notes accompanying the 1956 Decca album Rock Around The Clock describe Bill Haley’s early life and emerging career: “Bill got his first professional job at the age of 13, playing and entertaining at an auction for the fee of $1 a night. Very soon after this he formed a group of equally enthusiastic youngsters and managed to get quite a few local bookings for his band.”

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#1154: True, True Happiness by Johnny Tillotson

Peak Month: October 1959
6 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #8
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #54
YouTube.com: “True True Happiness”
Lyrics: “True True Happiness”

In 1939 Johnny Tillotson was born in Jacksonville. He had four Top Ten hits on the Billboard Hot 100 and ten more in the American Top 40. He took an early interest in appearing on stage and by high school had a talent as a singer. In his teens he got a contract to be in the line-up of regular performers on the Jacksonville TV show, McDuff Hayride,  hosted by Toby Dowdy. And in the mid-50s Tillotson had his own variety TV show, called The Velda Show, on WFGA. In 1957, a local Jacksonville deejay, Bob Norris, sent a recording of Tillotson singing at a Pet Milk talent contest. He ended up performing on the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville. Cadence Records owner, Archie Bleyer, signed Tillotson to a record contract. “Dreamy Eyes” was his first single released in the fall of 1958. It peaked at #63 on the Billboard Hot 100. It would wait three years before appearing on the pop charts in Vancouver in 1961, peaking at #8, as the song enjoyed a more successful re-issue. In 1959, Tillotson graduated with a B.A. in Journalism and Communications, and then relocated to Manhattan in hopes of a break in the new rock ‘n roll music scene.

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#1156: D-Darling by Paul Evans

Peak Month: November 1962
7 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #11
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
CFUN Twin Pick October 13, 1962
YouTube: “D-Darling”

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. The list of artists in the music industry who’ve recorded a song by Paul Evans include LaVern Baker, Tab Hunter, Cliff Richard, Sammy Turner, Elvis Presley (“I Gotta Know”) Pat Boone (“Johnny Will”), Siw Malmkvist, Bobby Vinton (“Roses Are Red”), The Platters, Mario Lanza (“Lady Of Spain”), Hank Locklin, Johnny Tillotson, Bobby Sherman, Chad & Jeremy, Lulu, Kalin Twins (“When”), Ray Coniff, Paul Anka and the Shocking Blue. However, unlike in his native country of America where his chart success was uneven, Evans charted seven songs into the Top 20 in Vancouver. So, in the period between 1959 and 1962, Paul Evans was better known in Vancouver as a teen idol than for his compositions for other recording artists.
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Peak Month: November 1963
9 weeks on CFUN chart
Peak Position #11
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #62
YouTube.com: “He’s Mine (I Love Him, I Love Him, I Love Him)”
Lyrics: “He’s Mine (I Love Him, I Love Him, I Love Him)”

Alice Wonder Land was the pseudonym of Alice Faye Henderson, a one-hit wonder who recorded the pop song, “He’s Mine” in 1963. The name refers to Lewis Carroll’s classic book Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. In 1963, Henderson was working as a maid for a neighbor of Stephen Schlaks, a songwriter and co-owner of Bardell Records. Schlaks signed Henderson to record “He’s Mine”. Little Eva had recently had a hit with “The Loco-Motion”, after being discovered by Carole King, for whom she babysat.

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#1253: I Like Your Kind Of Love by Bob Luman and Sue Thompson

Peak Month: October 1963
8 weeks on CFUN chart
Peak Position #15
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Music Vendor ~ #113
YouTube.com: “I Like Your Kind Of Love”
Lyrics: “I Like Your Kind Of Love”

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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#1411: Blonde Hair Blue Eyes by Ray Smith

Peak Month: December 1960
7 weeks on CFUN chart
Peak Position #14
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Blonde Hair Blue Eyes”

Ray Smith was born in 1934 in the hamlet of Melber, Kentucky, thirteen miles from the town of Paducah where the Ohio River and the Tennessee River meet. Smith was the seventh son of a sharecropper who, in turn, was also the seventh son in Smith’s grandfather’s family. His dad later worked at the atomic bomb plant in Paducah. Smith left his home at the age of twelve. He worked as a gopher on a Coca-Cola Truck and then operated an oven at Kirchoff’s Bread plant in Paducah. As he grew up Ray Smith worked as a curb hop at Price’s Barbecue at 34th and Broadway where he would serve U.S. (KY) Senator Alben W. Barkley, who later became President Harry Truman’s Vice-President. Next he worked as a sole back tacker and tack machine operator at the International Shoe Company.

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#1158: Me And My Arrow by Nilsson

Peak Month: April 1971
6 weeks on CKVN chart
Peak Position #6
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #34
YouTube.com: “Me And My Arrow”
Lyrics: Me And My Arrow”

Harry Edward Nilsson III was born in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, in 1941. His dad, Harry Edward Nilsson Jr. was raised by parents who were performers in the Swedish circus who did aerial ballet. When he was three years old, his dad deserted the family. Nilsson referred to this in his song, “1941,” years later: Well, in 1941, the happy father had a son/And in 1944, the father walked right out the door…. Nilsson’s song would be covered in 1968 by Vancouver singer-songwriter, Tom Northcott. Being raised by a single mother, along with his half-brother, Nilsson began work as a child to help pay the rent. His mom moved the family to southern California, and Nilsson got work at the Paramount Theatre in LA. After that he worked in banks on computer systems while pursuing a singing career during off-hours.

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#1160: Every Bit of Love by Ken Tobias

Peak Month: December 1975
10 weeks on CKLG chart
Peak Position #19
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Every Bit Of Love”
Lyrics: “Every Bit Of Love”

In 1945 Ken Tobias was born in Saint John, New Brunswick. His family’s home was filled with music and young Ken was featured in a number of tap dancing performances. Though he dreamed of becoming a draftsman, out of high school he and his brother Tony formed the folk group The Ramblers. By the mid-60s Tobias lived in Halifax and was a staple in the roster of performers on CBC TV’s afternoon show, Music Hop. This led to his appearing several years later on Singalong Jubilee with other Canadian music stars Anne Murray, Gene MacLellan.

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#1161: Please Forget Her by The Jury

Peak Month: September 1966
9 weeks on CFUN chart
Peak Position #11
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
Two more weeks on the CFUN All-Canadian Top Ten
YouTube: “Please Forget Her”

The Jury was a band formed in Winnipeg in 1964. According to Garage Rock Radio, The Jury has roots in a Winnipeg group named the Chord U Roys. This was a take-off on a popular men’s pant in the late 50s called the corduroy. (Corduroy goes back to  18th Century in Manchester, England). The Chord U Roys consisted of Terry Kenny on lead guitar, Bruce Walker on vocals and Ray Stockwell on drums. There were a number of changes in the lineup. Once they reformed as The Jury, the bandmates were Terry Kenny, Bruce Walker, Ray Stockwell, Roland Blaquiere on bass guitar and George Johns on rhythm guitar. The Jury got a recording contract with London Records in Canada in 1965. That year they released their first single, “Until You Do.” It was a hit in Winnipeg as a result of their emerging fan base, reaching the Top Ten on CKY.

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#1162: Enamorado by Keith Colley

Peak Month: October 1963
9 weeks on CFUN chart
Peak Position #11
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #66
YouTube: “Enamorado”
Lyrics: “Enamorado”

Born in Spokane, Washington, Jarrell Keith Colley grew up in the wheat farming countryside. He attended the University of Washington. While he was there he made a demo of the hit by Dion & The Belmont’s, “A Teenager In Love.” Colley’s version got some airplay locally and was heard by Jerry Dennon or Jerden Records. Dennon got young Keith a record contract that was transferred over to Era Records. In 1961 Colley released “Zing Went The Strings Of My Heart” which got some airplay in Boston. His next single at the end of the year, “Put ‘Em Down”, got some airplay in Spokane and Seattle, while the flip side, “(And Her Name Is) Scarlet” got him on the Top 40 in San Bernardino, California.

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