#1318: Peace Of Mind by Count Five

Peak Month: December 1966
5 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position ~ #7
1 week Hit Bound
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #125
YouTube: “Peace Of Mind”
Lyrics: “Peace Of Mind”

The Count Five were a band formed in San Jose, California, in 1964. The band consisted of five members. John “Sean” Byrne was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1947. He was a lead vocalist who played rhythm guitar. Byrne also wrote most of the original songs by the band. Craig “Butch” Atkinson was born in Springfield, Missouri, in 1947, and was the bands’ drummer. In 1948, Brooklyn, New York, native Kenn Ellner was born. He became the other lead vocalist  for the Count Five and also played tambourine and harmonica. Born in 1948 in Indianapolis, Indiana, Roy Cheney played bass guitar. In sixth grade, Roy asked his parents to buy him a guitar. His mom picked up an acoustic special at Sears Roebuck in downtown San Jose. The fifth bandmate was John “Mouse” Michalski, who was born in Cleveland in 1949 and played lead guitar. In 1964 Cheney and Michalski were classmates at Pioneer High School in San Jose. They formed a band called The Citations. But as the British Invasion dominated pop music in 1964, the band changed their name to The Squires.

Continue reading →

#1321: Take The Blindness by Joey Gregorash

Peak Month: December 1972
Peak Position ~ #16
7 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG Chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Take The Blindness”

Joey Gregorash was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba. His dad played the violin and young Joey took an interest in learning the instrument. In February 1964 Gregorash saw the Beatles perform on the The Ed Sullivan Show and was turned onto rock ‘n roll. He learned how to play the drums and formed a band called The Mongrels in 1965 with childhood friend John Nykon. Later Gregorash went solo and won a 1972 Juno Award in 1972 for Outstanding Performance-Male for his hit single “Down By the River”. For over a decade Gregorash pursued other interests until in 1987 his single, “Together (The New Wedding Song),” became a hit in Canada.

Continue reading →

#1371: Don’t Go by Hothouse Flowers

Peak Month: December 1988
Peak Position #19
7 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG Chart
1 week playlist
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Don’t Go”
Lyrics: “Don’t Go”

Liam Ó Maonlaí was born in 1964 in County Dublin, Ireland. He grew up in suburban Dublin and in his teens he won an award for playing the bodhrán, an Irish drum. In 1979 he formed a punk rock band called The Complex, which he left in 1981. Fiachna Ó Braonáin was born in Dublin in 1965. Other original bandmates included drummer Jerry Fehily (born in Cork, Ireland, in 1966), saxophonist Leo Barnes (born in 1956), and bass guitarist Peter O’Toole (born in 1965 in Dublin). Fehily only began learning the drum at the age of 17. O’Toole left school when he was sixteen and got jobs delivering bread, making fiddles and working as a lumberjack. “We’d been in the same band before,” O’Toole says of O’Maonlai, “but we’d never actually met. It was that sort of band — there were loads of people.” O’Maonlai, Ó Braonáin, Fehily, Barnes and O’Toole made up the core of Hothouse Flowers when they formed in 1985.

Continue reading →

Peak Month: April 1987
8 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #19
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Dirty Water”

Paul Hyde was born in 1955 in Yorkshire, England. He me Bob Rock, born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in 1954, later when Rock was high school in Langford, British Columbia. Hyde introduced Rock to the new musical genre of punk rock, popular in England. They formed a garage band and Bob Rock got a job at Vancouver’s Little Mountain Sound Studios as a recording engineer. This enabled The Payola$ to record, in the late 70s, punk rock songs “Money for Hype” and “China Boys” on independent labels. They solds singles at their performances and through local record shops. This led to a contract with A&M Records.

Continue reading →

#1296: Two Girls In One by Pursuit Of Happiness

Peak Month: July 1990
9 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #19
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Two Girls In One”
Lyrics: “Two Girls In One”

Murray Kevin “Moe” Berg was born in Edmonton, Alberta, in 1959. He watched his father play in country bands while he grew up, and spent his time admiring guitarists like Eddie Van Halen, Jeff Beck and Johnny Winter. From his late teens, Berg was in the Edmonton bands Troc ’59, The News, Modern Minds and Facecrime. The Pursuit of Happiness were launched in 1985 when he and Troc ’59 drummer Dave Gilby moved to Toronto. They soon met bassist Saskatoon native Johnny Sinclair and formed the band, adding Winnipeg-born sisters Tamara and Natasha Amabile as backing vocalists. Their debut single, “I’m an Adult Now”, quickly became a Top 30 hit across Canada in 1986, sparked by a low-budget video (made by Berg’s director friend Nelu Ghiran) which made it onto the Canadian music video channel MuchMusic. In the spring of 1987, “I’m An Adult Now” peaked at #14 on CKOC in Hamilton, Ontario.

Continue reading →

#1325: I Will by Rock & Hyde

Peak Month: July 1987
6 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #15
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “I Will”

Paul Hyde was born in 1955 in Yorkshire, England. He me Bob Rock, born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in 1954, later when Rock was high school in Langford, British Columbia. Hyde introduced Rock to the new musical genre of punk rock, popular in England. They formed a garage band and Bob Rock got a job at Vancouver’s Little Mountain Sound Studios as a recording engineer. This enabled The Payola$ to record, in the late 70s, punk rock songs “Money for Hype” and “China Boys” on independent labels. They solds singles at their performances and through local record shops. This led to a contract with A&M Records.

Continue reading →

#1195: Love Monkey #9 by Bootsauce

Peak Month: May 1992
9 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #17
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Love Monkey #9”
Lyrics: “Love Monkey #9”

Sonny Greenwich Jr. was born on January 1, 1962, in Toronto. In his childhood his family moved to the south shore of Montreal and went to high school in the suburb of Longueuil. He got his first guitar on the occasion of his sixteenth birthday and formed a band that became named Dogstar. At a Montreal area Christmas party in 1988, Greenwich met singer Drew Ling (born Drew Thorpe) and guitarist Perry Johnson (who was later billed as Pere Fume). They instantly hit it off and found they shared musical interests. Soon they were playing with each other and formed a band.

Continue reading →

#1300: Keep On Movin’ by Finesse & Showbiz

Peak Month: November 1992
8 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #13
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Keep On Movin’”

Finesse & Showbiz were a pioneering west coast Canadian rap group formed in Nanaimo, B.C. They later relocated to Vancouver. In January 1991, the group submitted a cassette demo, “Where You At,” to local Top 40 station LG73. This resulted in heavy airplay and hitting #3 on the station’s nightly chart (different from the weekly CKLG Top 40. In 1992, Finesse & Showbiz was the first Vancouver rap group to release full length album with national and international distribution.

Continue reading →

#1225: Friends Forever by Candi & The Backbeat

Peak Month: July 1991
9 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #16
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Friends Forever”

In the mid-80s, Candita Pennella fronted an Italian wedding band in Toronto named Sensation. Her nickname was Candi. The band consisted of bass player Nino Milazzo, drummer Paul Russo, keyboard player Rich Imbrogno and singer Candita Pennella. The band decided to change their name to Candi. They recorded an album in 1988 titled Candi. They released a single titled “Dancing Under A Latin Moon,” which made the Top 30 across Canada on the RPM singles chart and #68 on the Billboard Hot 100. Several follow up singles made the pop charts in Canada. Among these, “Missing You” and “Love Makes No Promises” made the Top 30 on the CKLG charts in Vancouver in early 1989.

Continue reading →

#1241: Touch The Hand by Bryan Adams

Peak Month: June 1992
10 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #19
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Touch The Hand”
Lyrics: “Touch The Hand”

Born in Kingston, Ontario, in November 1959, Bryan Adams parents immigrated from the UK in the 1950s. His dad, Captain Conrad J. Adams, was a diplomat in the Canadian foreign service. While growing up his family was posted to Portugal, Austria and Israel. By the age of 15 Adams was playing with the band Sweeney Todd as a frontman.  By the time he turned 17, Bryan Adams had landed work as a background vocalist for the CBC. His first salary came from working for Robbie King, a keyboard musician with Motown. During his senior years in high school he began playing music with his guitarist, Keith Scott.

Continue reading →