#17: Condition Red by the Goodees
City: Halifax, NS
Radio Station: CHNS
Peak Month: February 1969
Peak Position in Halifax ~ #3
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #46
YouTube: “Condition Red”
Lyrics: “Condition Red”
The Goodees were a girl group comprised of Kay Evans, Sandra Jackson and Judy Williams. They became friends at Memphis’ Messick High School. They started singing at school assemblies and local events. They got a break in 1967 when they won a local talent contest. The winning prize included an audition with Stax Records.
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#17: Wisdom Of A Fool by the Five Keys
City: Halifax, NS
Radio Station: CJCH
Peak Month: January 1957
Peak Position in Halifax ~ #3
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #35
YouTube: “Wisdom Of A Fool”
Lyrics: “Wisdom Of A Fool”
Around 1945, a gospel quartette from Newport News, Virginia, was formed. They consisted of Rudy (born 1932) and Bernard West (born in 1929) and Ripley (born in 1930) and Raphael Ingram. They called themselves The Sentimental Four. They added a second tenor, Edwin Hall, to the group, though they kept their name. Music commentator Marc Goldberg writes, “With their changed sound, the Sentimental Four (plus one) won the Jefferson Theater amateur show for five consecutive weeks.” Consequently, they were rewarded with a trip to the Apollo Theater. The manager of the Jefferson Theater in Newport News was Ike Burton. He was so excited about The Sentimental Four, that he offered to become their manager, which they accepted. Burton wanted the group to change their name. Goldberg recounts, “They were in his office when a key ring with 5 skeleton keys on it fell on the floor, and the “5 Keys” they became.” Soon they had double-breasted gray plaid suits and blue and white ties with the ‘K’ stitched on. They showed up at the Apollo Theatre Amateur Hour on August 24, 1949, with their new outfit.
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#16: Little Coquette by Jimmy Beasley
City: Halifax, NS
Radio Station: CJCH
Peak Month: October 1956
Peak Position in Halifax ~ #4
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Little Coquette”
Lyrics: “Little Coquette”
Jimmy Beasley was born in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1929. (Real Blues Magazine states he was born in 1929, while Wikipedia states he was born in 1931). Beasley was in several bands while in high school. But he also developed a talent for boxing. Between 1948 and 1950 he won 59 out of 65 fights vying for the Golden Glove competition. In 1954, Beasley was about to move to Los Angeles, when his band – The Sonny Kenner Trio – became the house band at the El Capitan Club at 18th and Vine in Kansas City. On one occasion, Billie Holiday showed up at the club and asked to sing with the trio. Upon moving to Los Angeles, Beasley got to know people in the music scene. For a semester he studied theology at Pepperdine College in Malibu, but quit before the year was through.
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#20: Pretty Little Girl by the Monarchs
City: Halifax, NS
Radio Station: CJCH
Peak Month: October 1956
Peak Position in Halifax ~ #6
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Pretty Little Girl”
Lyrics: “Pretty Little Girl”
The Monarchs were a doo-wop group from New York City. The members consisted of Arthur Allen, Arthur Kemp, Fred Wells, Robert Galloway, and Robert White. They released a single titled “Wanna Go Home” on Wing Records in 1955. They switched labels to record on Neil Records in 1956. Their first effort was “Always Be Faithful”. Their third single release was “Pretty Little Girl” late summer ’56. A photo of the group at the top of this post features the five members on each side of a table with a manager and his spouse at the back of the table.
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#19: Tears For Souvenirs by Tommy Leonetti
City: Halifax, NS
Radio Station: CJCH
Peak Month: January 1957
Peak Position in Halifax ~ #4
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Tears For Souvenirs”
Nicola Tomaso Lionetti was born in 1929 in North Bergen, New Jersey. He had a talent for singing and changed his name. He sang with the Charlie Spivak jazz band and the Tony Pastor jazz Band. In the early fifties, Arthur Godfrey remarked on his television show that, when told they had booked Tommy Leonetti, he thought that it was a trio called “Tommy, Lee, and Eddy.” Leonetti had a minor hit in 1954 on the Billboard Pop chart titled “I Cried”, which peaked at #30. His biggest hit in the USA was in 1956 with “Free”, which peaked at #23 on the Billboard chart. He was a singer with the 1957‐58 cast of Your Hit Parade.
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#14: He’s My Ideal by Annette
City: Halifax, NS
Radio Station: CHNS
Peak Month: December 1962
Peak Position in Halifax ~ #2
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “He’s My Ideal”
Lyrics: N/A
Annette Joanne Funicello was born in Utica, New York in 1942. In 1955 she began her professional career as a child performer at the age of twelve when Walt Disney discovered her performing as the Swan Queen in a dance recital of Swan Lake at the Starlight Bowl in Burbank, California. She became one of the most popular Mouseketeers on the original Mickey Mouse Club. As a teenager, she became a pop singer and shortly after an actress in a series of films popularizing the successful Beach Party genre alongside co-star Frankie Avalon during the mid-1960s. On July 17, 1955 Annette Funicello made her television debut during the live broadcast of Disneyland’s opening day ceremonies. She participated in a song and dance routine promoting the upcoming debut of Walt Disney’s new television show, The Mickey Mouse Club. Following the shows premier on Monday, October 3, 1955, The Mickey Mouse Club became an immediate hit. Its army of small, amateur mouse-eared stars took America by storm. It wasn’t long before the young audience of boys and girls developed a particular interest in a little dark haired girl named Annette.
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#13: A Fool Never Learns by Andy Williams
City: Halifax, NS
Radio Station: CHNS
Peak Month: February 1964
Peak Position in Halifax ~ #2
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #41
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #13
YouTube: “A Fool Never Learns”
Lyrics: “A Fool Never Learns”
Howard Andrew “Andy” Williams was born in Wall Lake, Iowa, in 1927. In 1938, he was part of a quartette of siblings called the Williams Brothers. They appeared as guests on radio stations in Des Moines (IA), Cincinnati (OH) and Chicago. When he was 17, he joined the United States Merchant Marine and served during World War II. In 1944, the Williams Brothers sang backing vocals on Bing Crosby’s “Swinging On A Star”. In the mid-40s, the Williams Brothers appeared in the 1944 films, Janie and Kansas City Kitty, and the 1947 films Something in the Wind, Good News and Ladies Man. Andy Williams and two of his brothers also appeared in the 1946 movie The Harvey Girls.
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#12: Sometime by Gene Thomas
City: Halifax, NS
Radio Station: CHNS
Peak Month: January 1962
Peak Position in Halifax ~ #2
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #16
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #53
YouTube: “Sometime”
Lyrics: “Sometime”
Gene Thomasson was born in Palestine, Texas, in 1937. He started to play guitar at the age of 12. He told author Vicki Welch Ayo, “I played Elks, Moose Lodges, Lion’s (all the animal kingdom clubs) National Guard Armories, etc; every place with four walls and electricity for plugging in the amps.” In the spring of 1961 he released a song credited to Gene Thomas titled “Sometime” and it didn’t get much attention. He released a followup titled “Lamp Of Love” which reached #15 in Houston and charted in San Antonio (TX). He re-released “Sometime” on the United Artists label and this time he got proper promotion.
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#11: You’re Not A Goody Goody by Bobby Curtola
City: Halifax, NS
Radio Station: CHNS
Peak Month: May 1964
Peak Position in Halifax ~ #3
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #41
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “You’re Not A Goody Goody”
Lyrics: N/A
Bobby Curtola was born in Port Arthur, Ontario, in 1943. (The town would become amalgamated into the city of Thunder Bay in 1970). His cousin Susan Andrusco remembers “Bobby would always be singing at our family gatherings. The family loved him. And he loved being the centre of attention. He would sing Oh My Papa, and my grandpa would cry.” Oh My Papa was a number-one hit for Eddie Fisher in January 1954, when Bobby Curtola was still ten-years-old. In the fall of 1959, sixteen-year-old high school student Bobby Curtola went from pumping gas at his father’s garage in Thunder Bay, Ontario, to the life of a teen idol. Within a year he went from playing in his basement band, Bobby and the Bobcats, to recording his first hit single in 1960, “Hand In Hand With You”, which charted in June ’60 in Ontario, but not in Vancouver.
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#23: My Guy by Dianne James
City: Halifax, NS
Radio Station: CHNS
Peak Month: June 1965
Peak Position in Halifax ~ #8
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
Peak Position on RPM Top Singles chart ~ #13
YouTube: “My Guy”
Lyrics: N/A
Born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Dianne James moved to Edmonton where she started singing with various groups. James became a headliner at The Mayfair Club with a group called the Shamrocks. She appeared regularly on the local CBC-TV show Teen Tempo. James was discovered in Edmonton by manager Don Eckess who signed her to Arc Records. James released her first single “Don’t Go”/ “The Time Has Come”. “Don’t Go” peaked at #12 in Calgary. While “The Time Has Come” was a Top 50 hit in Regina (SK). James also released two other singles at the age of 20. The second of these was “My Guy”, not to be confused with the 1964 same-titled song by Mary Wells from 1964.
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