#106: Everyday by Buddy Holly
City: Ottawa, ON
Radio Station: CFRA
Peak Month: December 1957
Peak Position in Ottawa ~ #4
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Cashbox Top 100 Singles ~ #51
YouTube: “Everyday”
Lyrics: “Everyday”
In 1936, Charles Hardin Holley was born in Lubbock, Texas. When he was five years old he won $5 when he entered a local talent show and sang “Down The River of Memories.” He listened to the Grand Ole Opry growing up and after trying to learn the piano settled on taking up the guitar. During his Junior and Senior years in school, Holley entered some talent shows with friends in duos and doing gigs with a band playing a blend of country & western and rhythm & blues. He had a band that performed live on the Lubbock radio station KDAV. After high school graduation Holly focused on making a career as a musician. He heard Elvis Presley in concert in Lubbock in 1955. Shortly after Hollry would appear as the opening act for Presley in concert three times in 1955. Owen Bradley, who would also produce records for Conway Twitty, Brenda Lee, Patsy Cline and Gene Vincent, became Holley’s record producer after he signed a record deal with Decca Records in February 1956. After signing the record deal, Buddy Holley dropped the “e” from his surname to become Buddy Holly.
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#112: First Anniversary by Cathy Carr
City: Ottawa, ON
Radio Station: CKOY
Peak Month: February 1959
Peak Position in Ottawa ~ #6
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #32
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #42
YouTube: “First Anniversary”
Lyrics: “First Anniversary”
Angelina Helen Catherine Cordovano was born in The Bronx (NY) in 1936. In her early childhood, Catherine became a regular on The Children’s Hour broadcast from both Philadelphia and New York City. The closing song was sung to the tune of “A Bicycle built for Two”: Childhood, childhood, sweetest days of all.
Children playing hide and seek and ball.
Tripping to school so merry,
The Golden Rule to study.
Oh, how we’ll miss, the years of bliss,
When our childhood days are gone.
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#34: I’m A Drifter by Bobby Goldsboro
City: Fredericton, NB
Radio Station: CFNB
Peak Month: June 1969
Peak Position in Fredericton: #4
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #22
YouTube: “I’m A Drifter”
Lyrics: “I’m A Drifter”
Bobby Goldsboro was born in Mariana, Florida, in the Florida Panhandle in 1941. Shortly after his birth his family moved 35 miles north to Dothan, Alabama, where he was raised. Goldsboro learned is musical skills as he grew, by the age of twenty-one, Goldsboro became a guitarist for Roy Orbison. From 1962 to 1964 Goldsboro toured with Orbison, including the tour where The Beatles appeared as the opening act on the UK tour with Orbison as headliner. He roomed with Roy Orbison and they became close friends. In 1962, Goldsboro released his first of four singles on Laurie Records. Only one of these, “Molly,” made the Billboard Hot 100, and only marginally.
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#102: (You Were Made For) All My Love by Jackie Wilson
City: Ottawa, ON
Radio Station: CKOY
Peak Month: September 1960
Peak Position in Ottawa ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #29
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #12
Peak Position on Australian Singles chart ~ #30
YouTube: “All My Love”
Lyrics: “All My Love”
Jackie Wilson was born in suburban Detroit in 1934. Wilson began singing as a youth, accompanying his mother, an experienced church-choir singer. In his early teens, Wilson joined the Ever Ready Gospel Singers. Wilson dropped out of high school at age 15, having been sentenced twice to detention in the Lansing Corrections system for juveniles. During his second stint in detention, Wilson learned to box and began competing in the Detroit amateur circuit at age 16. His record in the Golden Gloves was 2–8. After his mother forced him to quit boxing, Wilson got his girlfriend, Freda Hood, pregnant, and her father forced him to marry her. Wilson became a father at age 17.
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#119: Love My Way by the Psychedelic Furs
City: Ottawa, ON
Radio Station: CFRA
Peak Month: April 1983
Peak Position in Ottawa ~ #7
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #44
Peak Position on New Zealand Singles chart ~ #9
YouTube: “Love My Way”
Lyrics: “Love My Way”
Richard Butler was born in Surrey, England, in 1956. Butler started art school in London with the idea of becoming a painter. After graduation, he worked in a silk-screen print shop but got the idea to form a band. Timothy “Tim” Butler is the younger brother of Richard, and was born in 1958. Richard Butler formed the band in 1977 with his brother Tim. They were joined by guitarist John Ashton who was born in London in 1957. Vince Ely joined the band as a drummer in the classic Psychedelic Furs lineup in 1979, as did Ashton.
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#87: Love Walked In by Dinah Washington
City: Ottawa, ON
Radio Station: CKOY
Peak Month: November 1960
Peak Position in Ottawa ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #25
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #30
YouTube: “Love Walked In”
Lyrics: “Love Walked In”
Ruth Lee Jones was born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, in 1924. After her family moved to Chicago, she played piano for the choir in St. Luke’s Baptist Church while still in elementary school. She sang gospel music in church and played piano, directing her church choir in her teens and was a member of the Sallie Martin Gospel Singers. In 1939 when she was fifteen, she won an amateur contest at the Regal Theater in Chicago singing “I Can’t Face the Music”. By 1941–42, she was performing in such Chicago clubs as Dave’s Café and the Downbeat Room of the Sherman Hotel (with Fats Waller). She was playing at the Three Deuces, a jazz club, when a friend took her to hear Billie Holiday at the Garrick Stage Bar. Club owner Joe Sherman was so impressed with her singing of “I Understand”, – a hit that year on the pop chart for Jimmy Dorsey and on the R&B chart for Fats Waller – that he hired her. During her year at the Garrick—she sang upstairs while Holiday performed in the downstairs room—she acquired the name by which she became known. She credited Joe Sherman with suggesting the change from Ruth Jones, made before Lionel Hampton came to hear Dinah at the Garrick. Hampton’s visit brought an offer, and Washington worked as his female band vocalist after she had sung with the band for its opening at the Chicago Regal Theatre.
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#33: I’m a Tiger by Lulu
City: Fredericton, NB
Radio Station: CFNB
Peak Month: February 1969
Peak Position in Fredericton: #8
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #51
YouTube: “I’m A Tiger”
Lyrics: “I’m A Tiger”
Born in 1948 as Marie McDonald McLaughlin Lawrie, Lulu is a singer and actress from Scotland. In a 2015 interview with the Telegraph in the UK, she said “I’ve been one of the luckiest people but I’ve been thrown from pillar to post, emotionally. I’ve dealt with demons, sadness … anxiety, anxiety, anxiety. I wasn’t happy. I don’t want people to really see me, I don’t want you to see my pain, I don’t want to have to tell you about the angst and craziness going on in my head. And I was trained to do that, as a very young girl. I’ve always tried not to be vulnerable. I’m fine, that’s what I always say. I’m fine. Let me tell you what my brother says FINE means? F—ing Incapable of Normal Expression!” She told reported Neil McCormick that her emotional roller coaster ride stems from her childhood.
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#128: Train In Vain by the Clash
City: Ottawa, ON
Radio Station: CFGO
Peak Month: May 1980
Peak Position in Ottawa ~ #4
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #6
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #23
YouTube: “Train In Vain”
Lyrics: “Train In Vain”
The Clash is a band that formed in London (UK) in 1976. John Graham Mellor “Joe Strummer” was born in 1952 in Ankara, Turkey. He began attending a boarding school in London, England, in 1962. He told a reporter years later, “[A]t the age of nine I had to say good-bye to them because they went abroad to Africa or something. I went to boarding school and only saw them once a year after that – the Government paid for me to see my parents once a year. I was left on my own, and went to this school where thick rich people sent their thick rich kids. Another perk of my father’s job – it was a job with a lot of perks – all the fees were paid by the Government.” His brother, David, who also attended the boarding school committed suicide in 1970. This deeply impacted John Mellor. By this time he had been going by the moniker Woody Mellor, with “Woody” a tribute to his hero Woody Guthrie. He was part of a band called the 101ers. By 1975 he took the stage name Joe Strummer.
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#140: Angel In My Pocket by One To One
City: Ottawa, ON
Radio Station: CFRA
Peak Month: June-July 1986
Peak Position in Ottawa ~ #6
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #25
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #92
YouTube: “Angel In My Pocket”
Lyrics: “Angel In My Pocket”
One To One were a band that formed in Ottawa, Ontario, in 1984. It consisted of vocalist Louise Reny and producer/multi-instrumentalist Leslie Howe. The duo had been in a local rock band since the mid-70s called Mainstream. Tired of playing covers of 60’s, 70’s and 80’s pop tunes, Reny and Howe were inspired to collaborate and release original material. In late 1985 they released “There Was A Time“. The song climbed to #1 on CFRA-AM in Ottawa, and #14 on the Canadian RPM singles chart. According to Canadian Bands.com, the single made the Top 20 in several European record markets.
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#70: Pride (In The Name Of Love) by U2
City: Ottawa, ON
Radio Station: CFRA
Peak Month: December 1984
Peak Position in Ottawa ~ #5
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #20
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #33
Peak Position on New Zealand Singles chart ~ #1
Peak Position on Irish Singles chart ~ #2
Peak Position on UK Singles chart ~ #3
Peak Position on Australian Singles chart ~ #4
Peak Position on Dutch Singles chart ~ #5
Peak Position on Belgian Singles chart ~ #6
Peak Position on Norwegian Singles chart ~#7
Peak Position on Polish Singles chart ~ #9
YouTube: “Pride (In The Name Of Love)”
Lyrics: “Pride (In The Name Of Love)”
U2 is a band formed in Dublin, Ireland, in September 1976. Its members include lead vocalist and rhythm guitar player Bono, lead guitar and keyboard player the Edge, synthesizer and guitar player Adam Clayton, and drummer and percussionist Larry Mullen Jr. The band formed when its members were all teenagers. The band had several name changes before they settled on U2 in 1978.
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