#2: Broken Hearted Me by Anne Murray

City: Fredericton, NB
Radio Station: CIHI
Peak Month: November 1979
Peak Position in Fredericton #2
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #12
YouTube: “Broken Hearted Me”
Lyrics: “Broken Hearted Me”

In 1945 Morna Anne Murray was born in Springhill, Nova Scotia, a coal-mining town. Her father was a doctor and her mother was a registered nurse. Growing up she took piano lessons for six years and began taking vocal lessons at age fifteen in 1960. Anne loved music. It was the age of rock ‘n’ roll, and growing up she sang along with all her favourites – Buddy Holly, Bobby Darin and Connie Francis. However, Anne was also inspired by a wide variety of musical styles, including the classics, country, gospel, folk, and crooners such as Patti Page, Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney. She loved them all. In 1962 she gave one of her first public performances singing “Ave Maria” at her high school graduation. She went on to be part of the CBC variety show Singalong Jubilee in 1967.

A document on display at the Anne Murray Centre in Springhill, Nova Scotia, dated May 30, 1966, informed her: “Your signature on four copies of this letter will serve to engage your services for the 1966 Singalong Jubilee series. It is understood that you will be required to function either as a singer for a fee of seventy-one dollars and fifty cents ($71.50) per show or as a soloist for a fee of ninety-nine dollars ($99.00).” Her first album, What About Me, was released in 1968. Her signature song, “Snowbird” went to #6 in Vancouver and #8 on the Billboard Hot 100. It established a following and 76 singles, 32 studio albums and 55 million record sales later, Anne Murray is one of the most awarded and honored recording artists in the Canadian music industry.

After “Snowbird” hit the charts, Anne Murray was in demand for television and stage appearances all over North America. She had hit the big time. The success of “Snowbird” was followed by hits on both the pop and country charts. She became a regular on The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour, and her popularity increased even further. “Snowbird” was the first of three #1 hits in a row on the Canadian Country charts for Murray. A subsequent hit in Vancouver, “Sing High – Sing Low”, climbed to #5 in January 1971. Her fourth Top Ten on the Canadian Country charts was “It Takes Time”. It peaked on RPM Magazine’s Canadian Country chart at #6. However, it didn’t get any attention on the pop or country charts in the USA. Even on the pop charts in Canada it barely made the Top 30. However, in Vancouver the song climbed to #10. She released three more singles in 1971. The third, “Talk It Over In The Morning”, was her most successful that year.

Murray’s followup single was “Cotton Jenny” which made the Top 20 in Vancouver and numerous other Canadian radio markets. But it was her release of “Danny’s Song” later in 1972 that became her biggest hit to date, peaking at #7 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Anne Murray had more Top Ten hits in Vancouver during the 70’s. Her other Top Ten hits across the decade included “You Won’t See Me”, “You Needed Me” and “I Just Fall In Love Again”. From the ’70’s into the ’90’s, Anne Murray covered many songs. These include Doris Troy’s “Just One Look“, the Monkees “Daydream Believer”, the Beatles “Day Tripper” and “I’m Happy Just To Dance With You”, Bobby Darin’s 1962 hit “Things”, Carly Simon’s “That’s Not the Way (It’s S’posed To Be)”, Bruce Channel’s #1 hit from 1962 “Hey! Baby”, Gogi Grant’s #1 hit from 1956 titled “The Wayward Wind” and the Chordettes Top Ten hit from ’56 called “Born To Be With You”.

In 1979, Anne Murray had two number-one hits in Fredericton: “I Just Fall In Love Again” and “Shadows In The Moonlight”. Another very successful hit on CIHI-AM was “Broken Hearted Me”.

“Broken Hearted Me” was written by Randy Goodrum, originally for England Dan & John Ford Coley. He was born in Hot Springs, Arkansas, in 1947. He began to play the piano by ear as a small child, imitating his older brother. Goodrum started to take piano lessons at 8, initially studying classical music and later learning to play jazz. During high school, he performed in a jazz trio, the Three Kings. Also known as the Three Blind Mice for the dark glasses they wore, the trio included Goodrum’s friend and future American president Bill Clinton on saxophone. He also performed in the area with touring artists. Because he could sight read—and because Arkansas was at a “geographical crossroads” which drew a wide variety of performing musicians—Goodrum played with blues, country, jazz, R&B and rock & roll artists. Later, he earned a Bachelor of Music in piano. Goodrum joined the US Army following his college graduation, where he played in the army band. His first notable composition was “You Needed Me” which in 1979 won Anne Murray a Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. The song climbed to #1 in both Canada and the USA in 1978, and made the Top Ten in Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, and South Africa.

Randy Goodrum has penned numerous hit records. These include “I’ll Be Over You” for Toto, “Fallin’ In Love” for Sylvia, “Whose Holding Donna Now” for DeBarge, “Oh Sherrie” and “Foolish Heart” for Steve Perry, “A Lesson in Leavin'” and “What Are We Doin’ in Love” for Dottie West, and “Bluer Than Blue” for Michael Johnson. Goodrum wrote songs for each of the Clinton/Gore presidential campaigns, including “A Circle of Friends”, which was the closing theme for the 1992 Democratic Convention and “Reunion,” and performed the theme live on television for Clinton’s first Inaugural Gala. In 1997, he performed his song “Together as One”, featured during the 1997 Clinton inauguration. Randy Goodrum was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2000.

On the AM-Top 40 radio stations, “Broken Hearted Me” peaked at #1 in Bangor (ME), and Milwaukee, #2 in Fredericton (NB), and Tuscaloosa (AL), #4 in St. Louis, Framingham (MA), and Boston, #6 in Regina (SK), Salina (KS), and Wichita (KS), #7 in San Francisco, and Spartanburg (SC), #9 in Burbank (CA), Philadelphia, Hamilton (ON), Ottawa, and Dallas, #10 in Denver, Tampa (FL), Winnipeg (MB), Bel Air (MD), and Green Bay (WI), and #11 in Los Angeles, Troy (NY), and Toronto.

She also released a single in 2000 covering the Louis Armstrong classic “What A Wonderful World”.

Anne Murray is often cited as the woman who paved the way for other Canadian international success stories such as Alanis Morrisette, Nelly Furtado, Celine Dion, Sarah McLachlan and Shania Twain. Murray is also the first woman and the first Canadian to win “Album of the Year” at the County Music Association Awards for her 1984 album A Little Good News. Murray has received four Grammy Awards and twenty-four Juno Awards. On the Canadian Country charts, Anne Murray had 40 Top Ten hits, including twenty-two number-one records.

The Anne Murray Centre, located in Springhill, Nova Scotia, houses a collection of memorabilia from both her personal life and professional career in a series of displays. The Anne Murray Centre, which opened on July 28, 1989, is a registered Canadian charity. As a non-profit association, all the revenue generated from its operation is used to provide employment for local people and for its ongoing maintenance. The Anne Murray Centre aims to foster tourism in the area and promote awareness of the music of Nova Scotia and Canada.

May 15, 2019
Ray McGinnis

References:
Anne Murray Bio, Anne Murray.com
Anne Murray Centre, Springhill, Nova Scotia.
“Anne Murray Talks Drugs, Divorce in ‘Painful’ Memoir,” CTV News, October 30, 2009.
Anne Murray Anne and Michael Posner, All of Me, (Vintage Books, 2009).
Michael Grey, “Allen Reynolds, Mac Davis, Billy Edd Wheeler and Randy Goodrum enter Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, Garth Brooks Honors his Longtime Producer in Song,” Country Music Today, June 11, 2003.

CIHI 1260-AM Fredericton (NB) | Top Ten | November 9, 1979