#4: Daisy A Day by Jud Strunk

City: Kingston, ON
Radio Station: CKWS
Peak Month: May 1973
Peak Position in Kingston ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #3
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #14
YouTube: “Daisy A Day”
Lyrics: “Daisy A Day”

Justin Roderick Strunk Jr. was born in 1936 in Jamestown, New York. He graduated in 1959 with a B.A. in history from the Virginia Military Institute. He worked in Maine as a salesman for True Temper skis and also for the U.S. Ski Team. Strunk learned to play the banjo from childhood. He played his banjo at military bases across Europe. Jud Strunk’s big break came when Sylvester “Pat” Weaver, former NBC president, saw him perform in Sun Valley, Idaho. His son, Rory Strunk, relates, “He (Weaver) tracked him down on a ski lift and signed him to a contract and suddenly he was locked into the entertainment world.” Doors opened and Strunk appeared on Hee Haw, The Mere Griffin Show, and The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson. He appeared with Jim Neighbors, Burt Bacharach, Vikki Carr and Petula Clark, among others. In 1969, Strunk wrote a song titled “Ski Bum” that was featured in the sport documentary The Last of the Ski Bums.

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#3: Wild Thing by Fancy

City: Kingston, ON
Radio Station: CKWS
Peak Month: September 1974
Peak Position in Kingston ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #7
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #14
YouTube: “Wild Thing”
Lyrics: “Wild Thing”

Fancy was a band made up of studio musicians produced by Mike Hurst. They were fronted by Penthouse pet Helen Caunt (October 1971) to add sex appeal to the band. The musicians included Ray Fenwick (born in Greater London in 1946), Fenwick was with the blues band the Syndicats in 1964. In 1965, he joined the Dutch band Tee-Set (who had a 1970 international hit with “Ma Belle Amie”). From 1967 to 1969, Fenwick was with the Spencer Davis Group. He played in the Chess Records studio for Bo Diddley from 1972 onward. Another bandmate was Michael “Mo” Foster, who was born in Wolverhampton, England, in 1944. He learned the recorder at the age of nine. He formed a skiffle band in 1959 named The Tradewinds. From 1961 to 1964 he played dances with a band called the Baskervilles. The third musician was Les Binks, born in Portadown, Northern Ireland, in 1951.

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#2: Make The World Go Away by Timi Yuro

City: Kingston, ON
Radio Station: CKWS
Peak Month: September 1963
Peak Position in Kingston ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #36
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #24
YouTube: “Make The World Go Away”
Lyrics: “Make The World Go Away”

Rosemary Victoria Yuro was born in Chicago to an Italian-American family in 1941. The family surname had been changed from Aurro to Yuro after they arrived in America. She moved with her family to Los Angeles when she was nine in 1952. Rosemary sang in her parents’ Italian restaurant and, despite their opposition, in local nightclubs before catching the eye and ear of talent scout Sonny Knight. She was signed to Liberty Records in 1959. She became professionally known as Timi Yuro. Her debut single in 1961, a cover of the 1954 Roy Hamilton tune “Hurt”, climbed to #4 on the Billboard Hot 100. Her album Hurt!!!!!!! reached #51 on the Billboard Pop Album chart. Later that year, she had a minor hit with a cover of the 1936 tune “Smile”, from the Charlie Chaplin film Modern Times.

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City: Kingston, ON
Radio Station: CKLC
Peak Month: May 1970
Peak Position in Kingston ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Cecilia”
Lyrics: “Cecilia”

Sweet Henry was the name of a British studio musician, who had some pop recordings in the early 1970’s. Little is known about Sweet Henry, or even the studio musician’s name. An online search generates links to an English grammarian named Henry Sweet (1845-1912) who published works on Old English, Old Norse, phonetics and grammar. But Henry Sweet was deceased for several decades before studio musician credited as Sweet Henry was recording in the early 1970s.

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#5: Casino Royale by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass

City: Kingston, ON
Radio Station: CKLC
Peak Month: June 1967
Peak Position in Kingston ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #35
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #27
YouTube: “Casino Royale”

Herb Alpert was born in 1935 in Los Angeles. His parents were Jewish immigrants, from the Ukraine and Romania. He started to play the trumpet at the age of eight. After he graduated from high school, he joined the United States Army and played trumpet. In 1956 he was one of the drummers at Mt. Sinai in the film The Ten Commandments. In 1957 he became a songwriter for Keen Records. He teamed up with Lou Adler in 1958 and released a single titled “The Trial” credited to Herb B. Lou and the Legal Eagles. The recording was of the “break-in” genre, like Buchanan & Goodman’s “Flying Saucer” from 1956. The single had break-in’s from “Tears On My Pillow” by Little Anthony & The Imperials, “Splish Splash” by Bobby Darin, “To Know Him Is To Love Him” by the Teddy Bears, “Little Star” by The Elegants, “Volare” by Domenico Modugno and others. “The Trial” made the Top Ten in Cincinnati, Ohio.

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#9: Shake Yourself Down by the Checkerlads

City: Regina, SK
Radio Station: CKCK
Peak Month: October 1966
Peak Position in Regina ~ #5
Peak position in Vancouver ~ Runners Up (October 29/66)
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Shake Yourself Down”

The Checkerlads were a band from Regina, Saskatchewan. According to Discogs.com, they were formed in 1963 by Arnie Sanns on lead vocals and bass guitar, Bob Stevens on rhythm guitar, Larry Reich on lead guitar, and backing vocals, and drummer Harvey Frasz. They later added organist Bob Edwards. (However, the Psychedelicized.com website states that in addition to Reich and Frasz, the other members were Arnold Rippliner, Robert Frei, and Robert Bucholtz. Yet, Psychedelicized.com links to an article on Canuckistanmusic.com, which states the lineup of the Checkerlads consisted of Sanns, Stevens, Reich and Franz). Canuckistan states “it was not until they decided to add Bob Edwards on organ that things started to take off for the group. They toured many of the US centres, ending up in Hollywood, where (manager Joe) Vargo managed to score the Lads some recording time at Gary Paxton’s LA studio.”

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#6: Juliet by the Four Pennies

City: Kingston, ON
Radio Station: CKWS
Peak Month: August 1964
Peak Position in Kingston ~ #5
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
Peak Position on UK Singles chart ~ #1
YouTube: “Juliet”
Lyrics: “Juliet”

The Four Pennies were a beat group from England that formed in November 1963. The members consisted of Lionel Morton (born Lionel Walmsley in 1942), Fritz Fryer (born David Roderic Carnie Fryer in Blackburn, Lancashire in 1944), Mike Wilshaw (born in 1945 in Stoke-on-Trent), and Alan Buck. (born in 1943 in Briefield, Lancashire). Morton sang as a choirboy at St. Paul’s Cathedral. Prior to the Four Pennies, Fryer and Wilshaw had been part of a popular local singing duo named The Fables, which launched in 1961. Alan Buck had been a drummer doing a few gigs with Johnny Kidd & the Pirates, and a few jazz bands. The group’s name was chosen as a more commercial alternative to The Lionel Morton Four. They decided to switch to the Four Pennies after a meeting above a Blackburn music shop which was on Penny Street. The group was discovered by Marie Reidy who owned Reidys Home of Music.

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#7: Come And Join Us by the Dublin Corporation

City: Kingston, ON
Radio Station: CKLC
Peak Month: December 1972
Peak Position in Kingston ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Come And Join Us”

The Dublin Corporation was a group originally named the Pacific Showband and they formed in 1962. This was after several members of the Earl Gill Orchestra left to form their own show band. The Earl Gill Orchestra was a classic orchestra with lots of brass band sound. The members included Sonny Knowles, who had started his career in 1952 as a member of the Johnny Butler Dance band, playing sax and clarinet, and ended up with Earl’s band. Sean Fagan was the lead vocalist of the Pacific Showband. But as with all the Irish showbands, most of the members sang as well with different singers handling different genres with the band. Although Sonny Knowles was mainly the sax player, he also sang and was soon shared equal billing and recording chores with Sean Fagan.
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#1: Tamiami by Bill Haley and His Comets

City: Fort William, ON
Radio Station: CJLX
Peak Month: March 1960
Peak Position in Fort William ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Tamiami”

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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#4: Ain’t I’m A Dog by Ronnie Self

City: Dauphin, MB
Radio Station: CKDM
Peak Month: November 1957
Peak Position in Dauphin ~ #3
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Ain’t I’m A Dog”
Lyrics: “Ain’t I’m A Dog”

Ronald Keith Self was born in Tin Town, Missouri, in 1938. On the Black Cat website in Europe, Dik de Heer writes “Ronnie Self was his own worst enemy. His self-destructive behavior is probably the main reason why he is no more than a footnote in rock ‘n’ roll history. Hugely talented, both as a singer and a songwriter, he could have been a big star if he hadn’t possessed such an unstable personality. The oldest of five children, Ronnie was born on a farm in rural Missouri. After the war, the family moved to Springfield where his father took a job with the railroad. The signs of instability showed themselves early. On one occasion Ronnie chopped down a tree to block the school bus from getting to his house. Another story has him attacking a teacher with a baseball bat in grade school.”

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