#1190: Mind Excursion by The Trade Winds
Peak Month: September 1966
6 weeks on CKLG chart
Peak Position #6
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #51
YouTube.com: “Mind Excursion”
Lyrics: “Mind Excursion”
Peter Andreoli was born in Providence, Rhode Island, in 1941, and Vincent Ponica Jr. was born there one year later. At the age of five Peter was given a ukulele and by the age of nine began to play guitar and sing. Perhaps a natural aptitude passed down from his guitar playing mom and an aunt who played the accordion. Peter was comfortable performing on stage, along with his sister, Caroline at community, church and social functions. At the time he focused on Italian songs. But in 1954 Peter got introduced to Rhythm & Blues and never looked back. At Mount Pleasant High School in 1956, he became the lead singer of a doo-wop group called The Videls. “Vini” Poncia also joined The Videls, whose fan base steadily increased.
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#1191: Three Eyed Man by Buddy Knox
Peak Month: October 1961
7 weeks on CKWX chart
Peak Position #10
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Three Eyed Man”
Buddy Wayne Knox was born in 1933 Happy, Texas, a small farm town in the Texas Panhandle a half hour south of Amarillo. During his youth he learned to play the guitar. He was the first artist of the rock era to write and perform his own number one hit song, “Party Doll”. The song earned Knox a gold record in 1957 and was certified a million seller. Knox was one of the innovators of the southwestern style of rockabilly that became known as “Tex-Mex” music.
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#1210: Rice Is Nice by Lemon Pipers
Peak Month: April 1968
5 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #7
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #46
Youtube.com: “Rice Is Nice”
Lyrics: “Rice Is Nice”
The Lemon Pipers were an Oxford, Ohio, about 40 miles northwest of Cincinnati, Ohio, along the border with the state of Indiana. Their genre was sunshine psychedelic pop, and the group formed in 1966. Their sunshine pop sound gave them a number one hit called “Green Tambourine“. The band consisted of Ivan Browne on vocals and guitar, Bill Bartlett on vocals and guitar, Steve Walmsley on bass, R.G. Nave on keyboards and drummer Bill Albaugh.
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#1404: Make It Up To Me In Love By Paul Anka and Odia Coates
Peak Month: November 1976
7 weeks on CKLG chart
Peak Position #19
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Record World ~ #104
YouTube: “Make It Up To Me In Love”
Paul Anka was born in Ottawa, Canada, in 1941. His father was Syrian-American and his mother was Canadian-Lebanese. At the age of 14, in the spring of 1956 he traveled to Los Angeles to record his first single “I Confess”. He was 16 years old when he had a number one hit with “Diana” in August 1957, a song he wrote about a girl in the church he attended. (Diana Ayoub, who inspired Anka to pen the song, died in December 2022). Next, he recorded a duet with Micki Marlo titled “What You’ve Done To Me”. On October 23, 1957, Paul Anka appeared in concert at the Georgia Auditorium in Vancouver. Others performing on the bill included Buddy Holly and The Crickets, Buddy Knox, Eddie Cochran and Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers. In early 1958 Paul Anka was back in the Top Ten with “You Are My Destiny”.
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#1193: Daylight Katy by Gordon Lightfoot
Peak Month: July 1978
7 weeks on CFUN chart
Peak Position #11
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Daylight Katy”
Lyrics: “Daylight Katy”
Gordon Lightfoot was born in Orillia, Ontario, on November 17, 1938. His parents, Jessica and Gordon Lightfoot Sr., ran a dry cleaning business. His mother noticed young Gordon had some musical talent and the boy soprano first performed in grade four at his elementary school. He sang the Irish lullaby “Too Ra Loo Rah Loo Rah” at a parents’ day. As a member of the St. Paul’s United Church choir in Orillia, Lightfoot gained skill and needed confidence in his vocal abilities under the choir director, Ray Williams. Lightfoot went on to perform at Toronto’s Massey Hall at the age of twelve when he won a competition for boys who were still boy sopranos. During his teen years Gordon Lightfoot learned to play piano, drums and guitar.
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#1195: What Would I Do Without You by Skylark
Peak Month: September 1972
9 weeks on CKVN chart
Peak Position #11
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “What Would I Do Without You”
Lyrics: “What Would I Do Without You”
If it hadn’t been for the wooden stage presence of David Foster in Ronnie Hawkin’s band, Skylark might have never come into being. After a concert, Hawkins pulled Foster aside and said ‘Son, you play like Beethoven, but looked like a cadaver on stage, so I’m gonna have to fire your ass.’ Foster, and his wife, BJ Cook, who was a vocalist in Hawkins’ band, moved back to the West Coast. While searching for the next thing, they reconnected with former Hawkin’s bandmate, bassist Steven Pugsley. Cook next got in touch with former bandmates from her previous group, Soul Brothers. Of these, vocalist Donny Gerrard became a core member. Duris Maxwell (ex Little Daddy and the Bachelors, The Chessmen, Bobby Taylor and the Vancouvers) was added on drums. Later, Carl Graves was chosen as a third singer and percussionist.
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#1196: Gimmie Love by April Wine
Peak Month: July 1976
8 weeks on CKLG chart
Peak Position #13
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Gimmie Love”
Lyrics: “Gimmie Love”
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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#1197: Harlan County by Jim Ford
Peak Month: October 1969
7 weeks on CKLG chart
Peak Position #10
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Harlan County”
Lyrics: “Harlan County”
In 1941 James Henry Ford was born in Paintsville, Kentucky. The county was rural, remote and had a history of having its citizens taken advantage of by carpetbaggers and coal companies. In an article in Kentucky for Kentucky in 2017, it was mentioned, “one of nine children, Ford was raised by his grandmother near Van Lear, Kentucky. In order to hear the radio, Ford said, he would often travel to a cabin on a hill in nearby Butcher Holler, where Loretta Lynn lived.” At age eleven, Ford moved first to Michigan with his dad who was in the military. Finding the weather too cold, Jim Ford moved down to New Orleans. He served in the armed forces in Germany for awhile. Then he moved to Los Angeles and then took up residence in Fort Bragg, California. He developed a fusion of soul, country and folk music. His songs often referenced people dealing with adversity. His songs have been recorded by a host of performers including Aretha Franklin, Dave Edmunds, Patti LaBelle, Tanya Tucker, Billy Preston, Burton Cummings, The Black Crowes, Bobby Gentry and The Temptations. Nick “Cruel to Be Kind” Lowe, from the UK, considers Jim Ford as his most formative musical influence.
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#1198: Hitchcock Railway by Jose Feliciano
Peak Month: November 1968
6 weeks on CKLG chart
Peak Position #11
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #77
YouTube.com: “Hitchcock Railway”
Lyrics: “Hitchcock Railway‘
In 1945 José Montserrate Feliciano García was born blind and spent his first five years in the town of Lares, Puerto Rico. He had ten brothers. His website references his first infatuation with music when an uncle of his had him accompany him on a tin cracker can. In 1950 his family moved to New York City. At age six he learned to play the concertina, a smaller cousin of the accordion. When he turned nine Feliciano performed at The Puerto Rican Theater in the Bronx. Using records as a means of instruction, young José learned to play the guitar. As he listened to Rock n’ Roll, he began to sing.
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#1199: Cheryl’s Goin’ Home by The Cascades
Peak Month: May 1966
7 weeks on CFUN chart
Peak Position #7
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #131
YouTube.com: “Cheryl’s Going Home”
“Cheryl’s Going Home” lyrics
John Gummoe was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and was drafted to join the U.S. Navy. On the USS Jason, a group of sailors in the U.S. Navy formed a band in 1960 called the Silver Strands. Among the San Diego based crew was John Gummoe who provided lead vocals. The group left the Navy and renamed themselves the Thundernotes. Among Gummoe’s bandmates were Eddy Snyder (guitar), G, David Szabo (keyboards) Dave Stevens (bass guitar) and Dave Wilson (drums). They became The Cascades and recorded “There’s A Reason,” making #10 in San Francisco and #15 in San Diego in July ’62. Their second release with Valliant Records was “Rhythm Of The Rain”. The song went to #1 in the USA, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan and Ireland. The song peaked at #3 on CFUN and spent 15 weeks on the chart in 1963. It tied for the second longest chart run for a single in Vancouver that year behind “She Loves You” by The Beatles.
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