#18: Mister Nico by Four Jacks and a Jill
City: Fredericton, NB
Radio Station: CFNB
Peak Month: August 1968
Peak Position in Fredericton: #2
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #98
YouTube: “Mister Nico”
Lyrics: “Mister Nico”
Clive Harding was born in South Africa in 1944. At the age of eighteen he met Graham Woods in October 1962. Woods was in a band called The Atoms. Harding agreed to join the band if he could be the leader. The band changed their name to the Nevadas just before Graham Woods died from injuries sustained in a car crash in January 1963. Till Hannemann and Tony Hughes were among the new members of the ever-changing lineup in the Nevadas. The band changed their name again to the Zombies (different from the Zombies in the UK who had a hit called “She’s Not There”). The South African Zombies wore Beatles haircuts. At a concert in Cape Town the Zombies met Glenys Lynne Mynott who was a solo recording artist. She soon became a member of the Zombies, and shortly they changed their name to Glenys & the Zombies.
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#21: You Were On My Mind by Crispian St. Peters
City: Fredericton, NB
Radio Station: CFNB
Peak Month: August 1967
Peak Position in Fredericton: #2
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #36
YouTube: “You Were On My Mind”
Lyrics: “You Were On My Mind”
Robin Peter Smith was born in 1939 in Swanley, in Kent, UK, adjacent the the boundary of Greater London. At the age of fifteen, he learned the guitar and left school in 1954 to become an assistant cinema projectionist and also worked in a paper mill. In 1956, he gave his first live performance, as a member of The Hard Travellers. Through the late 1950s and early 1960s, as well as undertaking National Service, he was a member of The Country Gentlemen, Beat Formula Three, and Peter & The Wolves. While a member of Beat Formula Three in 1963, he was heard by David Nicholson, an EMI Record publicist who became his manager. Nicholson suggested he use a stage name, initially “Crispin Blacke” and subsequently Crispian St. Peters.
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#25: Fox On The Run by Manfred Mann
City: Fredericton, NB
Radio Station: CFNB
Peak Month: February 1969
Peak Position in Fredericton: #6
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #31
YouTube: “Fox On The Run”
Lyrics: “Fox On The Run”
Manfred Sepse Lubowitz was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 1940. Raised in a Jewish family, Manfred studied music at the University of the Witwatersrand, and formed a rock ‘n roll band called The Vikings in 1959. Lubowitz was against the South African system of Apartheid, first introduced in 1948, and becoming entrenched and expanded under the leadership of Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd. So Manfred Lubowitz moved to Britain. He began to write for Jazz News under the pseudonym, Manfred Manne. In time he shortened his adopted surname to Mann. In 1962 he met Mike Hugg at a holiday camp at Clacton-on-Sea. (Mike Hugg was born in Hampshire, England, in 1940, and had studied jazz growing up). They decided to start a band and named it the Mann-Hugg Blues Brothers. They added Paul Jones and Tom McGuiness to the band, the latter who was with Eric Clapton’s band The Roosters.
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#20: The River is Wide by the Grass Roots
City: Fredericton, NB
Radio Station: CFNB
Peak Month: June 1969
Peak Position in Fredericton: #2
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #36
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #31
YouTube: “The River is Wide”
Lyrics: “The River is Wide”
The Grass Roots were a band from Los Angeles. They were a band project by Los Angeles songwriter and producer duo P.F. Sloan and Steve Barri. Sloan and Barri had written several songs in an attempt by their record company, Dunhill Records, to cash in on the folk rock movement. One of these songs was “Where Were You When I Needed You”, which was recorded by Sloan and Barri. Sloan provided the lead vocals and played guitar, Larry Knetchel played keyboards, Joe Osborn played the bass and Bones Howe was on drums. The song was released under “The Grass Roots” name and sent, as a demo, to several radio stations of the San Francisco Bay area.
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#13: Goodbye by Mary Hopkin
City: Fredericton, NB
Radio Station: CFNB
Peak Month: June 1969
Peak Position in Fredericton: #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #3
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #13
YouTube: “Goodbye”
Lyrics: “Goodbye”
Mary Hopkin was born in May 1950 in Pontardawe, Wales. She took weekly singing lessons as a child and began her musical career as a folk singer with a local group called the Selby Set and Mary. She released an EP of Welsh-language songs for a local record label called Cambrian, based in her hometown, before signing to the Beatles’ Apple Records. The model Twiggy saw Hopkin winning the ITV television talent show Opportunity Knocks and recommended her to Paul McCartney. Her debut single, “Those Were the Days”, produced by McCartney, was released in the UK on August 30, 1968. Hopkin had competition from well-established star Sandie Shaw, whose own single version of the song was released that fall. But Shaw’s recording stalled at #51 on the UK chart. Meanwhile, Mary Hopkin’s “Those Were the Days” became a number-one hit in Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Ireland, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK, USA, and West Germany. Hopkins smash hit also climbed to #2 in Argentina, Australia, Austria, and South Africa.
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#16: Lily The Pink by The Scaffold
City: Fredericton, NB
Radio Station: CFNB
Peak Month: April 1968
Peak Position in Fredericton ~ #3
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Lily The Pink”
Lyrics:
The Scaffold was a comedy-music-poetry trio from Liverpool, England. It consisted of Mike McGear (born Peter Michael McCartney in Liverpool in 1944), Roger McGough (born in 1937 in the Liverpool suburb of Litherland, England), and John Gorman (born in 1936 in the Liverpool suburb of Birkenhead, England). In the early 1960s, McGough worked as a French teacher and, with Gorman organised arts events. Gorman founded The Scaffold in 1964 after working as a telecommunications engineer, about the time he met Mike McGear. The members of the Scaffold were originally part of a performing revue group known as The Liverpool One Fat Lady All Electric Show. (“One Fat Lady” is the bingo term for 8 and the performers mostly lived in the Liverpool 8 district.)
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#15: The Curtains Falling by Vicky Leandros
City: Fredericton, NB
Radio Station: CFNB
Peak Month: April 1968
Peak Position in Fredericton ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “The Curtains Falling”
Vasiliki Papathanasiou (Greek: Βασιλική Παπαθανασίου) was born in Greece in 1949. She took Vicky Leandros as her stage name. She is a Greek singer living in Germany. Leandros is the daughter of singer, musician and composer Leandros Papathanasiou (also known as Leo Leandros as well as Mario Panas). In 1965, she released a single titled “Messer, Gabel, Schere, Licht” which climbed to #16 in West Germany. In 1967 she achieved worldwide fame after gaining fourth place for the country of Luxembourg in the Eurovision Song Contest with the song “L’amour est bleu”, which became a worldwide hit. It reached the Top 20 in Austria and Japan. Her album, L’amour est bleu, was a number-one selling album in 1967 in the French-language market in Quebec. As was the album Le temps des fleurs the following year again in Quebec.
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#10: This Night Won’t Last Forever by Michael Johnson
City: Fredericton, NB
Radio Station: CFNB
Peak Month: October 1979
Peak Position in Fredericton: #3
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #29 (CKLG Playlist)
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #19
YouTube: “This Night Won’t Last Forever”
Lyrics: “This Night Won’t Last Forever”
Michael Johnson was born in Alamosa, Colorado, in 1944. He began to play guitar at age 13. In 1965, he won an international talent contest. In 1966 he toured with Randy Sparks in the folk group New Society. When the group split in 1967, Johnson joined the Mitchell Trio (formerly named the Chad Mitchell Trio before Chad left in 1965). He co-wrote songs with fellow member John Denver. The trio morphed into Denver, Boise & Johnson. They released a single titled “Take Me Tomorrow” with a B-side titled “The ’68 Nixon (This Year’s Model)”.
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#9: Dancin’ Shoes by Nigel Olsson
City: Fredericton, NB
Radio Station: CFNB
Peak Month: March 1979
Peak Position in Fredericton: #2
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #17
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #18
YouTube: “Dancin’ Shoes”
Lyrics: “Dancin’ Shoes”
Nigel Olsson was born in Cheshire, England, in 1949. He began his musical career playing the guitar in small bands, and took up the drums at a gig where the drummer did not show up at the last minute. His first appearance on a record album was in the band Plastic Penny, which released Two Sides of a Penny in 1968. Olsson was spotlighted on one song on that album, “I Want You,” performing both lead vocals and a drum solo. In 1969 he played drums on the flower power pop single “Mr. Boyd” by Argosy, a one-off group which also included Reginald Dwight (later known as Elton John), and future Supertramp band member Roger Hodgson. Olsson also had a brief stint with the English hard rock band Uriah Heep, playing drums on two songs on their 1970 debut album, Very ‘easy… Very ‘umble.
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#6: Bowling Green by the Everly Brothers
City: Fredericton, NB
Radio Station: CFNB
Peak Month: July 1967
Peak Position in Fredericton: #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #35
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #40
YouTube: “Bowling Green”
Lyrics: “Bowling Green”
Isaac Donald “Don” Everly was born in 1937 and Phillip Jason “Phil” Everly was born in 1939. Don was born in Muhlenberg County in Kentucky, and Phil was born in Chicago. Their dad, Ike, had been a coal miner who decided to pursue music as a guitar player. From the mid-40s Ike and his wife, Margaret, sang as a duo in Shanendoah, Iowa. Later they included their sons “Little Donnie and Baby Boy Phil,” on local radio stations KMA and KFNF. In time they were billed as The Everly Family. In 1953, the family moved to Knoxville, Tennessee. Family friend and musician Chet Atkins got a record deal for the Everly Brothers with RCA Victor in 1956. However, their first single release was a commercial failure and they were dropped from the label. Next, Atkins got them connected with Archie Bleyer, and the boys were signed to Cadence Records. In 1957, their first single on the label, “Bye Bye Love“, became a million-seller and launched their career.
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