#10: Armful Of Teddy Bears by Barry Allen
City: Edmonton, AB
Radio Station: CJCA
Peak Month: January 1967
Peak Position in Edmonton: #3
Peak position in Vancouver ~ Playlist
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Armful Of Teddy Bears”
Lyrics: N/A
Barry Allen Rasmussen was born in 1945 in Edmonton, Alberta. His family was musical, and he learned guitar and sang from an early age. Barry wrote for the Canadianbands.com website decades later of himself: “While attending Victoria High School, he was a member of the curling club, and had aspirations of becoming a chartered accountant. But by the time he’d graduated, he was looking at a musical future, and spent the next couple of years in a number of makeshift groups, honing his chops and emulating his British invasion idols.” He joined Wes Dakus and the Rebels in 1965. They band went to New Mexico and recorded with Norman Petty, producer of Buddy Holly and the Crickets, Roy Orbison, Buddy Knox and others. Petty was taken with Barry Allen’s vocal abilities and suggested Allen make some solo records. The outcome were the single releases in early 1965, “Easy Come Easy Go”, and “It’s Alright With Me Now”. The first single climbed to #6 in Edmonton in January 1965, and made the Top 30 in Regina (SK) and Calgary (AB). The followup single climbed to #9 in Edmonton in July 1965.
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#11: Look Of Love by Lesley Gore
City: Edmonton, AB
Radio Station: CJCA
Peak Month: February 1965
Peak Position in Edmonton: #3
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #14
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #27
YouTube: “Look Of Love”
Lyrics: “Look Of Love”
Lesley Sue Goldstein was born in 1946 in Brooklyn, New York City. She was raised in Tenafly, New Jersey, and attended the Dwight School for Girls. Lesley Gore recalls that in February 1963, “It’s My Party” was among some two hundred demos producer Quincy Jones brought to review with her in the den of her family home. On hearing the song, Gore told Jones: “That’s not half bad. I like it. Good melody. Let’s put it on the maybe pile.” The song proved to be the only demo Gore and Jones found agreeable. She recorded “It’s My Party” with Quincy Jones on March 30, 1963, while she was still a Junior (Grade 11) in high school. The singer was in tears because her boyfriend Johnny left with her best friend Judy. The song was released in early April 1963. It reached number-one on June 1, 1963, remaining for a second week on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Cashbox Top 100 Singles chart. In Canada it peaked at #1 in Vancouver, Hamilton (ON), Toronto and Montreal. While on May 30, 1963, Leslie Gore was a guest on American Bandstand.
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#14: Things I’d Like To Say by the New Colony Six
City: Edmonton, AB
Radio Station: CHED
Peak Month: March 1969
Peak Position in Edmonton: #2
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #10
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #16
YouTube: “Things I’d Like To Say”
Lyrics: “Things I’d Like To Say”
New Colony Six was formed in Chicago in 1964. They first sang the Beatles’ “I Want To Hold Your Hand” with the St. Pats Chorus. The live performance went over well and they briefly called themselves The Patsmen. Original members were Ray Graffia Jr. on vocals, who was born March 28, 1946; Chic James on drums, Pat McBride on harmonica, Craig Kemp on organ, Wally Kemp on bass guitar, and Gerry Van Kollenburg (born 1946) on guitar. Initially, they were a garage-rock band. Rock music critic, Richie Unterberger, described the group’s sound as “a poppier American Them with their prominent organ, wobbly Lesley-fied guitar amplifications, and rave-up tempos”, later devolving into “a cabaret-ish band with minor national hits to their credit by the end of the 1960s.” Like Paul Revere & the Raiders – with whom New Colony 6 shared a two-flat before either band hit the charts or knew that the other had nearly identical stage wear, they wore colonial outfits on stage. So when you hear the name New Colony Six, think about the American colonies when America was still a British colony prior to the American Revolution.
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#13: Diamonds And Gold by Willie And The Walkers
City: Edmonton, AB
Radio Station: CJCA
Peak Month: May 1967
Peak Position in Edmonton: #4
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Diamonds And Gold”
Lyrics: N/A
Will MacCalder was born in Victoria, British Columbia, in 1947. His family moved to Edmonton, Alberta, while he was an infant. In his teens he began to follow the CFRN hit parade in Edmonton. At the age of 13 he began to learn to play the saxophone. He formed a band called the Barons, and subsequently the Casuals and in the mid-60s, the Tempests. Another bandmate with the Tempests was drummer Rolie Hardie. MacCalder recalls, “I thank him from the bottom of my heart. He taught me what it was to play in time! And he caught me on numerous occasions playing out of time! He just had the knack.” Rolie Hardie was born in Kelowna, British Columbia, in 1949. His older brother, Bill – born in 1947 in Kelowna – learned to play Hawaiian steel guitar. Bill Hardie was part of a band called the Nobles, and later the Vacqueros who had a guitarist named Dennis Petruk. Before they split up, the Vacqueros recruited Rolie Hardie from the Tempests to join their band.
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#15: Time by the Pozo-Seco Singers
City: Edmonton, AB
Radio Station: CJCA
Peak Month: May 1966
Peak Position in Edmonton: #5
Peak position in Vancouver: #32
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100: #47
YouTube: “Time”
Lyrics: “Time”
In 1964, baritone singer Don Williams and tenor Lofton Kline were a Corpus Christi singing duo that went by the name of The Strangers Two. They heard 17-year-old Ray High School student, Susan Taylor, performing solo at the Del Mar Hootenannies. Lofton recalls, “Don was married and had a little one to support, and was working at Pittsburgh Plate Glass. I was going to Del Mar College in Corpus. The college had a hootenanny scheduled and Don and I were asked to entertain.” After they met Susan Taylor, as Lofton tells it, ““We asked her to come over and practice with us the following week. She did…and the rest is ‘history.’” Susan’s alto voice blended perfectly with Don’s baritone and Lofton’s tenor.
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#16: Hello Melinda Goodbye by the Five Man Electrical Band
City: Edmonton, AB
Radio Station: CHED
Peak Month: February 1971
Peak Position in Edmonton: #4
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Hello Melinda Goodbye”
Lyrics: “Hello Melinda Goodbye”
The Five Man Electrical Band was a Canadian mainstream rock band from Ottawa. They had an international hit in 1970 called “Signs.” Les Emmerson was born in 1944. In 1963 the Staccatos, an Ottawa group, was formed. It included lead singer and local disc jockey Dean Hagopian. After some local hits they got the attention of Capitol Records. When Dean Hagopian left around 1964, Les Emmerson stepped in as lead vocalist. One of their 1965 singles imitated the surfing sound with “Moved To California.” In 1966 their Top 40 hit on the Canadian RPM singles chart, “Let’s Run Away,” won the group the two Juno awards that year for Best Produced Single and Vocal Instrumental Group Of The Year.
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#17: Hey Joe by the Enemys
City: Edmonton, AB
Radio Station: CJCA
Peak Month: September 1966
Peak Position in Edmonton: #3
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Hey Joe”
Lyrics: “Hey Joe”
The Enemys were a band formed in 1965. The founder was Cory Wells, born Emil Lewandowski in 1941 in Buffalo, NY. He played in a number of bands in Buffalo in his teens. He was raised in a troubled home by his abusive stepfather. As soon as he got out of high school, Lewandowski joined the United States Air Force. While in the Air Force, he formed a band of interracial musical performers, inspired by his boyhood love of a similar popular band called The Del-Vikings who were known for their 1957 hit “Come Go With Me”. When he returned from service in the USAF, Lewandowski joined a band in Buffalo called the Vibratos. He was encouraged to take the band to California, and on route they changed their name to the Enemys. His full stage name “Cory Wells” was suggested by The Enemys’ first manager, Gene Jacobs, who had a son named Cory.
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#18: Hard Life Alone by Ray Materick
City: Edmonton, AB
Radio Station: CFRN
Peak Month: November 1972
Peak Position in Edmonton: #2
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Hard Life Alone”
Lyrics: N/A
Ray Materick was born in Brantford, Ontario, in 1943. His father was an evangelical preacher, and also had been a dance band leader. Ray Materick tried to learn the guitar at the age of 8, but found it too challenging. In his teens he became proficient at guitar and was in a band called The Chevron Sextet. In his late twenties, he moved to Toronto in 1970. For several years he performed at concerts in the coffee house circuit in the Toronto regional area. In 1972, Materick recorded an album titled Sidestreets. It was hailed as a stellar example of roots-folk. The Toronto Star wrote, “Just remarkable. Ten autobiographical song sketches that make emotional participation mandatory and inescapable.” From the album came a single titled “Season of Plenty”. It was released on Kanata Records 1010, with the B-side, “Goodbye”. But it didn’t chart nationally, though the B-side charted in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. Kanata re-released the song on Kanata 1013. At last, “Season of Plenty” began to appear on the Canadian RPM Top Pop Singles Chart on October 7, 1972.
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#19: Tippy Toeing by The Harden Trio
City: Edmonton, AB
Radio Station: CJCA
Peak Month: June 1966
Peak Position in Edmonton: #3
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #44
YouTube: “Tippy Toeing”
Lyrics: “Tippy Toeing”
Bobby, Robbie (born Fern) and Arlene (born Arleen) Harden were siblings born in England, Arkansas. Bobby was born in 1935, and Arleen was born in 1945. Robbie was likely born in the 1930s. They began their career as teenagers singing on a radio station KVLC in Little Rock, Arkansas. They performed as teenagers on the Ozark Jubilee and the Louisiana Hayride. In the early 60s’, Robbie moved to Nashville as part of The Browns filling in for Bonnie Brown on the Grand Ole Opry, and most road dates. The Browns were country-pop crossover recording artists with “The Three Bells” and “The Old Lamplighter” among their biggest hits. The Hardens and the Browns had grown up in the same area and worked together on the Ozark Jubilee. Bobby and Arleen soon followed and the trio was re-formed. In 1964, the trio signed with Columbia Records and released their debut single “Poor Boy”.
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#20: Friday On My Mind by the Easybeats
City: Edmonton, AB
Radio Station: CJCA
Peak Month: June 1967
Peak Position in Edmonton: #3
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #9
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #16
YouTube: “Friday On My Mind”
Lyrics: “Friday On My Mind”
Stephen “Stevie” Carlton Wright was born in Leeds, England, in 1947. When he was nine-years-old his family moved to Melbourne, Australia. He moved to Sydney and joined a local band called The Outlaws. By 1964 Stevie had formed Chris Langdon & the Langdells. While he was with this band he met Johannes Hendrikus Jacob van den Berg. Johannes was born in the Netherlands in 1946. When he turned 13 he taught himself to play guitar in his family’s tenement home. He played guitar in a band called The Starfighters, based in The Hague. When he was seventeen his family moved to Australia in 1963. The following year, going by the anglicized name of Harry Vanda, he became the lead guitar player for a Sydney band called The Easybeats. A co-founder of the band was George Young. Also an immigrant to Australia, in his case from Glasgow, Scotland, George Redburn Young was born in 1947. He was a rhythm guitarist. After one of the coldest winters in Scotland on record in 1962, the Young family saw a Television ad from the Australian government promising travel assistance for families seeking a new start with a life in Australia.
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