#198: Night Life by Rusty Draper

City: Montreal, PQ
Radio Station: CJAD
Peak Month: November 1963
Peak Position in Montreal ~ #5
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #57
YouTube: “Night Life”
Lyrics: “Night Life”

Farrell Haliday “Rusty” Draper was born in 1923 in Kirksville (MO). Nicknamed “Rusty” for his red hair, he began performing on his uncle’s radio show in Tulsa (OK) in the mid-1930s. Draper moved on to work at radio stations in Des Moines (IA) —sometimes filling in for sports announcer Ronald Reagan —and in Illinois before moving to San Francisco. He began to sing in local clubs, becoming resident singer at the Rumpus Room in San Francisco. By the early 1950s, he had begun appearing on national TV shows, including The Ed Sullivan Show and Ozark Jubilee.

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#161: The Whole Of The Moon by the Waterboys

City: Ottawa, ON
Radio Station: CFRA
Peak Month: April 1986
Peak Position in Ottawa ~ #10
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Australian Singles chart ~ #12
Peak Position on Dutch Singles chart ~ #19
Peak Position on New Zealand Singles chart ~ #19
YouTube: “The Whole Of The Moon”
Lyrics: “The Whole Of The Moon”

The Waterboys were formed in 1983 by Mike Scott. He was born in 1958 in Edinburgh, Scotland. Scott was interested in music from an early age. At the age of ten, he was turned onto pop music from hearing hits in the UK by Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich. At age 12, after the family had moved to Ayr, he began a serious interest in learning guitar. He later studied the poetry of Irish poet William Butler Yeats, and Scottish poets Robert Burns and George MacDonald in university. Lines from their poetry was worked into arrangements in some of the songs Mike Scott later composed on albums for The Waterboys. In 1978, Scott formed a punk band called The Bootlegs. By 1979, the band morphed into Another Pretty Face and released an album and four singles. New Musical Express (NME) reviewed their single All the Boys Love Carrie”. Mike Scott was also with DNV who in 1979 released the single “Death In Venice”. Meanwhile, Another Pretty Face changed their name to Fun House in 1981. But by the end of the year, Scott was underwhelmed by Fun House and began writing songs that would become tracks for The Waterboys self-titled album release in 1983.
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#166: Everyday I Write The Book by Elvis Costello

City: Ottawa, ON
Radio Station: CFRA
Peak Month: November 1983
Peak Position in Ottawa ~ #6
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #36
YouTube: “Everyday I Write The Book”
Lyrics: “Everyday I Write The Book”

Declan Patrick MacManus was born in London, England, in 1954. He learned to play guitar at age 14. In 1972, he got a job as a computer operator at the Midland Bank data centre in Merseyside. That year he also joined the folk group Rusty. He began to go by the name Declan Costello as his musician father had once gone by Ross Costello on a record he made. In 1973, Declan Costello contributed vocals for the R. White “Secret Lemonade Drinker” commercial. That year Costello formed a pub band called Flip City. In 1975, he began to go by the name D.P. Costello, and in 1976 began performing solo.
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#168: Wild Is The Wind by Johnny Mathis

City: Ottawa, ON
Radio Station: CKOY
Peak Month: January 1958
Peak Position in Ottawa ~ #4
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #16
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #22
YouTube: “Wild Is The Wind”
Lyrics: “Wild Is The Wind”

Johnny Mathis was born in Gilmer (TX) in 1935. His family moved to San Francisco when he was 5-years-old. His father was a vaudeville singer and piano player. Mathis began learning songs and routines from his father. Mathis’ first song was “My Blue Heaven”. He started singing and dancing for visitors at home, at school, and at church functions. When Mathis was 13, voice teacher Connie Cox accepted him as her student in exchange for housework. Mathis studied with Cox for six years, learning vocal scales and exercises, voice production, classical and operatic singing. In 1955, Mathis got a job singing weekends at Ann Dee’s 440 Club in San Francisco.

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#29: Listen To the Band by The Monkees

City: Fredericton, NB
Radio Station: CFNB
Peak Month: July 1969
Peak Position in Fredericton: #3
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #63
YouTube: “Listen To the Band”
Lyrics: “Listen To the Band”

Robert Michael Nesmith was born on December 30, 1942 in Houston, TX. His mother, Bette invented liquid paper and would later leave the $20 million estate to him. Affectionately nicknamed “Nez,” he learned to play saxophone as a young child and joined the United States Air Force years later. After two years in the Air Force, he left to pursue a career in folk music. In 1962 Nesmith won a talent contest at San Antonio College. He left Texas and moved to Los Angeles, with the intent of getting into the movie business. He became the “hoot master” at a regular hootenanny at the Troubadour in West Hollywood. In 1963 Nesmith released a 45 of a song he wrote called “Wanderin’”. In 1964 Nesmith wrote “Different Drum”, which was a #13 hit for Linda Ronstadt and the Stone Poneys on the Billboard Hot 100 and #5 in Vancouver in 1967.

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#1: Like To Get To Know You by Spanky and Our Gang

City: New Glasgow, NS
Radio Station: CKEC
Peak Month: May 1968
Peak Position in New Glasgow ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #23
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #17
YouTube: “Like To Get To Know You”
Lyrics: “Like To Get To Know You”

Spanky and Our Gang was a sunshine pop group led by Elaine “Spanky” McFarlane. She was born in Peoria, Illinois, in 1942. In 1959, she arrived in Chicago and began to perform in jazz clubs with Lil Hardin Armstrong (Louis Armstrong’s second wife), Earl Hines, and Little Brother Montgomery. She soon got involved with the burgeoning folk crowd and formed a trio with Roger McGuinn (future frontman of The Byrds) and Guy Guilbert called the Old Town Trio. The trio played in local Chicago area bars and coffee houses for a summer. In 1962, she joined the New Wine Singers. Fellow singer Arnie Lanza nicknamed her Spanky because of the similarity of her last name, McFarlane, to the last name of child actor George McFarland who played Spanky in the Our Gang(also known as The Little Rascals) comedies about poor neighborhood children and their adventures. The nickname stuck.

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#172: Mr. Success by Frank Sinatra

City: Ottawa, ON
Radio Station: CKOY
Peak Month: December 1958
Peak Position in Ottawa ~ #5
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #30
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #41
Peak Position on UK Singles chart ~ #25
YouTube: “Mr. Success”
Lyrics: “Mr. Success”

Francis Albert Sinatra was born in 1915 in Hoboken, NJ. Sinatra spent much time at his parents’ tavern in Hoboken, working on his homework and occasionally singing for spare change. After leaving school before graduating, Sinatra began performing in local Hoboken social clubs and sang for free on radio stations such as WAAT in Jersey City. In New York, Sinatra found jobs singing for his supper or for cigarettes. He got his first break in 1935 when his mother persuaded a local singing group called the 3 Flashes to let him join. Baritone Fred Tamburro stated that “Frank hung around us like we were gods or something”, admitting that they only took him on board because he owned a car and could chauffeur the group around. Sinatra soon learned they were auditioning for the Major Bowes Amateur Hour show, and “begged” the group to let him in on the act. With Sinatra, the group became known as the Hoboken Four, and passed an audition from Edward Bowes to appear on the show. They each earned $12.50, and ended up attracting 40,000 votes to win first prize—a six-month contract to perform on stage and radio across the U.S. Sinatra quickly became the group’s lead singer, and, much to the jealousy of his fellow group members, garnered most of the attention from girls.

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#1: Three Sheets To The Wind by the Four Aces

City: Oshawa, ON
Radio Station: CKLB
Peak Month: July 1957
Peak Position in Oshawa ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Three Sheets To The Wind”
Lyrics: N/A

Al Albertini was born in Chester (PA) in 1922. In his childhood, young al appeared on a radio show from Philadelphia called The Horn and Hardart Children’s Hour. Horn and Hardart’s slogan was “Less work for mother dear whose gentle hands, lead us so kindly through little folk lands. We’ll give her happiness, each kindness, each caress repaid with thoughtfulness. Less work for mother dear.” After high school graduation in 1940, he was drafted into the United States Navy after the nation entered WWII in December 1941. While he was in the navy, Albertini met Dave Mahoney, and the pair discovered a mutual interest in singing and music. After WWII, they added Rosario “Sod” Vaccaro and Lou Silvestri to become a foursome. By the late 40s they were billed as The Four Aces. They released their first single, “Baby, wha hoppen”, in 1949.

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The Cuff Links were a creation of Paul Vance and Lee Pockriss who wrote and produced the group’s material. They hired musicians to sing and play, and controlled the Cuff Links name. Ron Dante, the lead singer of The Archies, was the lead singer on the Cuff Links debut single “Tracy”. He provided multi-tracks of Dante’s voice to record “Tracy”. The single shot to #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the fall of 1969. When a band was assembled to tour with the hit single, Ron Dante decided not to tour with the Cuff Links. The band that was assembled to tour was comprised of Pat Rizzo (saxophone), Rich Dimino (keyboards), Bob Gill (trumpet/flugelhorn/flute), Dave Lavender (guitar), Andrew “Junior” Denno (bass), Joe Cord (vocals) and Danny Valentine (drums).

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#3: Date With The Blues by Billy Williams

City: Oshawa, ON
Radio Station: CKLB
Peak Month: July 1957
Peak Position in Oshawa ~ #2
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Date With The Blues”
Lyrics: “Date With The Blues”

Wilfred “Billy” Williams was born in Waco (TX) in 1911. His dad was a Methodist minister. Growing up, he sang in choirs at churches where his father was the pastor, with his mother often the choir director. He was frequently a soloist, and he also learned to help her arrange music. From the early 1930s, Billy Williams was a member of the Charioteers, a gospel and pop group. With Williams as lead singer from 1935, The Charioteers signed a contract with Decca Records. They had a #23 pop hit in the USA in 1940 titled “So Long”. Williams served in the United States Army during World War II after the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. He received a medical discharge in 1944. Back from the Army, Williams and the Charioteers had a #9 pop hit backing Frank Sinatra in 1945 titled “Don’t Forget Tonight Tomorrow”. In 1947 The Charioteers version of “Open The Door Richard” climbed to #6 on the pop chart. They equaled their success in 1948 backing Buddy Clark on “Now Is The Hour”.

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