Peak Month: April 1963
9 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #17
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #82
YouTube.com: “Spanish Twist”

On May 1, 1961, Billboard magazine reported that the Holiday Inn motel chain had begun a record label in Memphis, Tennessee, called Holiday Inn Records. The head of the Holiday Inn label was Wayne Foster. It was reported the record company “would sell entirely through distributors, who would most likely receive tie-in advertising from the motel chain, which uses 50 radio stations and numerous consumer magazines nationwide for its own promotion.” Billboard added that Holiday Inn records debut single release was “Rimshot Pt. 1” by the Roller Coasters. The single was released on April 1, 1961. Foster told Billboard that “Rimshot Pt. 1” already had “sales figures totaling 6,000 for an eight-day period in the Memphis and New Orleans area.” It was reported the instrumental was receiving airplay as well in Atlanta. It was anticipated that the Memphis-area Roller Coasters would be made use of in the Holiday Inns “promotion work for the motel chain.” “Rimshot Pt. 1” climbed to #10 in Memphis and #13 in Shreveport, LA.

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#1309: One Potato – Two Potato – Three Potato – Four by The Dovells

Peak Month: April 1964
7 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN’s chart
Peak Position #16
Twin Pick Hit March 21/64
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “One Potato – Two Potato – Three Potato – Four”

Len Borisoff was born in Philadelphia in 1942. After serving in the U.S. Coast Guard in 1957, he formed the Brooktones. In the spring of 1958 they had a regional hit in Buffalo and Rochester (NY) titled “Cute And Collegiate”. The doo-wop group changed their name to the Dovells in December 1960. Len Borisoff was a tenor and the lead singer of the group. The other singers were Mike Freda (second tenor), Jim Mealey (bass), Jerry Gross (tenor and sometimes lead vocalist), Arnie Silver (baritone) and Mark Stevens (part-time tenor). They got a record contract with Parkway Records in 1960.  In the fall of 1961 The Dovells debut single, “Bristol Stomp”, stayed climbed to #4 where it remained at its peak for three weeks on the Vancouver pop charts over a 12-week chart run. The single peaked at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. In 1962 the group (pictured above) was back on the Top 40 in Vancouver with two minor dance tunes, “Hully Gully Baby” and “The Jitterbug”. They also had a Top 40 hit in the USA titled “(Do The New) Continental”. Jim Mealey left the group for personal reasons during 1962.

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#1312: I’m A Dreamer, Aren’t We All by Marcy Jo

Peak Month: September 1962
7 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #13
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
Lyrics: “I’m A Dreamer, Aren’t We All”

In 1944, Marcy Rae Sockel was born in Pittsburgh. She grew up in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh. In her teens, each Saturday, for four consecutive years she took transit to the city center. At the Carlton House Hotel she’d take singing lessons from songwriter and co-owner of Robbee Records, Lennie Martin. The year before Martin had produced the Top 30 hit “Pennies From Heaven” by The Skyliners. When she turned seventeen, Marcy Joe wrote a song about her boyfriend Howard. She called it “Ronnie”. Martin was impressed with the song and quickly composed an arrangement for the tune. He produced a recording session of “Ronnie” at Pittsburgh’s United Recording Service studio and got local Robbee Record artists Lugee & the Lions to sing back up. Lugee & the Lions were comprised of Lou “Lugee” Sacco (later known as Lou Christie), Amy Sacco (Lou’s older sister), Kay Chick and Bill Fabec. In March 1961 the song was released.

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#1305: No Good To Cry by The Wildweeds

Peak Month: June 1967
9 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #13
1 week Hit Bound
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #88
YouTube.com: “No Good To Cry”
Lyrics: “No Good To Cry”

Alan Gordon Anderson was born in 1947. In his teens he learned to play guitar. By 1966 he formed a band in the Hartford (CT) area called The Weeds. Anderson was the frontman. He was joined by drummer Andy Lepak, keyboard player Ray Zeiner, bass player Bob Dudek and Martin “Skip” Yakaitis on percussion. Andy Lepak’s dad, Alex Lepak Sr., became the band’s manager. Lepak Sr. was a musician and music teacher in his own right. The band changed their name to the Wildweeds and got a record deal with Cadet after recording some songs at Syncron Sound Studios.

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#1323: Cholley-Oop by Hong Kong White Sox

Peak Month: August 1960
6 weeks on Vancouver’s CKWX chart
Peak Position #9
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Cholley-Oop”

Gary Sanford Paxton was born in Coffeyville, Kansas, in 1939. He was born to an unwed mother, adopted at age three and raised by impoverished rural farmers. When he was twelve his family moved to Arizona and Paxton formed his first band at the age of 14. Meanwhile, Clyde Battin was born in Ohio in 1934 and by the age of 17 began to play the bass guitar. In 1956 Gary S. Paxton’s musical career began when he collaborated with Clyde “Skip” Battin and formed the Pledges. In 1958 they recorded “Why Not Confess”/“Johnny Risk” for Arizona-based Rev Records, crediting the song to Gary and Clyde. In 1959 they renamed themselves Skip & Flip. In the spring of the year, while Paxton was still 19-years-old they recorded “It Was I” at a recording studio in Phoenix, Arizona, in 1959. The song peaked at #11 in the USA and #9 in Vancouver. They went on tour with Alan “Moondog” Freed. Skip & Flip followed up with a cover of the Marvin & Johnny ballad “Cherry Pie” in 1960. Their cover climbed to #11 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #7 in Vancouver.

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#1272: Tell Me When by The Applejacks

Peak Month: May 1964
9 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #15
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #135
YouTube.com: “Tell Me When”
Lyrics: “Tell Me When”

Martin Thomas Baggott and Philip Peter Cash were both born in Birmingham, UK in 1947. Donald Peter Gould, also born in 1947, was born in Solihull, just 8 miles away. And Gerald Ernest “Gerry” Freeman was born in Solihull in 1943. They were all members of a the same Boy Scout troop. In 1961 Baggot, Cash and Freeman formed a skiffle band named the Crestas at the end of the skiffle craze in the UK. Baggot played lead guitar, Cash played rhythm guitar and Freeman played drums. They added Megan Davies, from Sheffield, on bass in early 1961. Davies recalls “My first guitar was as low as one can go i.e. a plastic, four string ‘Skiffle’ guitar from Woollies which I received on my 11th birthday. It came with a gadget which could be hooked over the neck and covered the first four frets, it was held on with a heavy duty elastic band. The device sported four buttons, which when depressed would hold down the individual notes of a complete chord.”

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#1346: Sandy by Johnny Crawford

Peak Month: March 1964
8 weeks on the C-FUN-TASTIC FIFTY
Peak Position: #15
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #108
YouTube.com link: “Sandy”
“Sandy” lyrics

John Ernest Crawford was born in 1946 in Los Angeles. He got into acting as a child star and by the age of  nine was one of the Mouseketeers in the first season caste of the The Mickey Mouse Club in 1955. Crawford was asked in 1982 about how he got picked for the show. He recalled, “I went on the audition and I did a tapdance routine with my brother, and we also did a fencing routine. Then they asked if we had anything else we could do. My grandmother told me to tell them that I imitated ’50s singer Johnny Ray. I stepped forward and did my imitation of him singing “Cry” and that was what got me into the Mouseketeers.” Though he was cut from the show in 1956 after Disney cut the caste from 24 to 12, Crawford continued to get acting roles. Between 1956 and 1958 he appeared in episodes of The Lone Ranger, The Loretta Young Show, Sheriff of Cochise, Wagon Train, Crossroads, Whirlybirds, Mr. Adams and Eve and Dick Powell’s Zane Grey Theater. The latter featured an episode that became a syndicated TV show called The Rifleman. Johnny Crawford played Mark McCain, son of Lucas McCain (Chuck Connors). In 1959 Crawford was nominated for an Emmy Award for his role in The Rifleman. The show ran from 1958 to 1963.

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#1365: Judy Loves Me by Johnny Crawford

Peak Month: February 1964
7 weeks on the CFUN chart
Peak Position: #12
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #95
YouTube.com link: “Judy Loves Me”
Lyrics: “Judy Loves Me”

John Ernest Crawford was born in 1946 in Los Angeles. He got into acting as a child star and by the age of  nine was one of the Mouseketeers in the first season caste of the The Mickey Mouse Club in 1955. Crawford was asked in 1982 about how he got picked for the show. He recalled, “I went on the audition and I did a tapdance routine with my brother, and we also did a fencing routine. Then they asked if we had anything else we could do. My grandmother told me to tell them that I imitated ’50s singer Johnny Ray. I stepped forward and did my imitation of him singing “Cry” and that was what got me into the Mouseketeers.” Though he was cut from the show in 1956 after Disney cut the caste from 24 to 12, Crawford continued to get acting roles. Between 1956 and 1958 he appeared in episodes of The Lone Ranger, The Loretta Young Show, Sheriff of Cochise, Wagon Train, Crossroads, Whirlybirds, Mr. Adams and Eve and Dick Powell’s Zane Grey Theater. The latter featured an episode that became a syndicated TV show called The Rifleman. Johnny Crawford played Mark McCain, son of Lucas McCain (Chuck Connors). In 1959 Crawford was nominated for an Emmy Award for his role in The Rifleman. The show ran from 1958 to 1963.

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#1406: Rosemary by Brian Hyland

Peak Month: May 1960
6 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #14
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com link: “Rosemary”
Lyrics: “Rosemary”

Brian Hyland was born in 1943 in Queens, New York. In his childhood Hyland learned to play the guitar and the clarinet. In 1958, while he was still 14 years-old, he formed a group named the Delfis. Though they tried to get a record contract they were never signed. In 1959 Brian Hyland got a record deal with Kapp and released “Rosemary”. The song was composed by two songwriters who never wrote another tune.

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#1181: All I Wanna Do by Doucette

Peak Month: October 1978
6 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #13
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “All I Wanna Do”
Lyrics: “All I Wanna Do”

In 1952 Jerry Doucette was born in Montreal into a musical family. At the age of four his family moved to Hamilton, Ontario. At the age of six got his first guitar. When he was eight he began to take guitar lessons. When he was eleven he joined a band called the Reefers. When he turned 16 he moved to Toronto and was a member of a number of bands including Brutus. He moved to Vancouver in 1972 and  played with the Alexis Radlin Band. Soon after he joined the Seeds of Time who were searching for a guitarist. In 1974 they changed their name to the Rocket Norton Band. Doucette remained with this band until he decided to go solo in 1977, after Mushroom Records expressed support for such a move.

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