Hot Hot Hot by Arrow

#82: Hot Hot Hot by Arrow

City: Montreal, PQ
Radio Station: CKOI
Peak Month: July 1984
Peak Position in Montreal ~ #6
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
Peak Position on UK Singles chart ~ #38
YouTube: “Hot Hot Hot
Lyrics: “Hot Hot Hot

Arrow is the stage name of a musician from Montserrat named Alphonsus Celestine Edmund Cassell. He was born in Plymouth, Montserrat, in 1949. Montserrat is a British Overseas Territory in the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean. Cassell began singing calypso in 1967, and took the Junior Monarch title that year. Cassell took up singing professionally in 1969. That year he was runner up in the Montserrat Calypso King competition. He won the title the following year, following in the footsteps of his brothers Justin (known as Hero) and Lorenzo (known as Young Challenger). He took the title a total of four times.

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The World We Knew by Frank Sinatra

#84: The World We Knew by Frank Sinatra

City: Montreal, PQ
Radio Station: CJMS
Peak Month: September 1967
Peak Position in Montreal ~ #2
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #30
YouTube: “The World We Knew
Lyrics: “The World We Knew

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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Never Ending Story by Limahl

#96: Never Ending Story by Limahl

City: Montreal, PQ
Radio Station: CKGM
Peak Month: June 1985
Peak Position in Montreal ~ #3
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #17
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #17
Peak Position on Norway Singles chart ~ #1
Peak Position on Spain Singles chart ~ #1
Peak Position on Sweden’s Singles chart ~ #1
Peak Position on Austria Singles chart ~ #2
Peak Position on Italy Singles chart ~ #2
Peak Position on South Africa Singles  chart ~ #2
Peak Position on West Germany Singles chart ~ #2
YouTube: “Never Ending Story
Lyrics: “Never Ending Story

Christopher Hamill was born in 1958 in the suburbs of Manchester, England. He was an actor touring with the Palace Theatre Repertory Company. This included a production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. In 1981 Hamill appeared in a minor role in the police-crime TV show The Gentle Touch. As well, Hamill was one of the actors in the “Stand and Deliver” music video with Adam and the Ants. He got a job as a waiter at the Embassy Club in London. In 1982 he joined the band Kajagoogoo. Chris Hamill adopted his stage name Limahl (an anagram of his surname) at the time he was recruited by the existing members of Kajagoogoo, who were then performing under the name Art Nouveau.

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Im Nin’alu by Ofra Haza

#103: Im Nin’alu by Ofra Haza

City: Montreal, PQ
Radio Station: CKOI
Peak Month: December 1988
Peak Position in Montreal ~ #7
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Finland Singles chart ~ #1
Peak Position on Greece Singles chart ~ #1
Peak Position on Norway Singles chart ~ #1
Peak Position on Portugal Singles chart ~ #1
Peak Position on Spain Singles chart ~ #1
Peak Position on Switzerland Singles chart ~ #1
Peak Position on West Germany Singles chart ~ #1
Peak Position on Austria Singles chart ~ #2
Peak Position on Sweden Singles chart ~ #2
YouTube: “Im Nin’Alu
Lyrics: “Im Nin’Alu

Ofra Haza is a singer born in Tel Aviv, Israel, in 1957. She began singing at an early age, including at local weddings and as a soloist in her school choir. At the age of 12, Haza joined a local protest theater troupe, named “Hatikva” (The Hope) which had been recently founded by a neighbor of hers, Bezalel Aloni. Haza soon emerged as one of the most gifted performers in the troupe. Aloni spotlighted her in many of his productions, and later became her manager and mentor. At 19, she was Israel’s foremost pop star, and news articles have retrospectively described her as “the Madonna of the East”. She represented Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest of 1983, with the song “Hi”, finishing second with 136 points.

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Love Resurrection by Alison Moyet

#132: Love Resurrection by Alison Moyet

City: Montreal, PQ
Radio Station: CKGM
Peak Month: July-August 1985
Peak Position in Montreal ~ #11
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #82
Peak Position on Italy Singles chart ~ #4
Peak Position on Ireland Singles chart ~ #8
Peak Position on UK Singles chart ~ #10
YouTube: “Love Resurrection
Lyrics: “Love Resurrection

Geneviève Alison Jane Moyet was born in 1961 in Billericay, Essex, England. After leaving school at 16, she worked as a shop assistant and trained as a piano tuner. She was involved in a number of punk rock, pub rock and blues bands in the South East Essex area during the late 1970s and early 1980s, including the Vandals, the Screamin’ Ab Dabs, the Vicars and the Little Roosters. At the age of 21, Moyet’s mainstream pop career began in 1982 with the formation of the synth-pop duo Yazoo with former Depeche Mode member Vince Clarke.

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Land Of Hunger by Earons

#145: Land Of Hunger by Earons

City: Montreal, PQ
Radio Station: CKOI
Peak Month: September 1984
Peak Position in Montreal ~ #10
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Dance Club chart ~ #1
YouTube: “Land Of Hunger
Lyrics: N/A

The Earons were a band from Tampa Bay, Florida. They were inspired by the cosmic mythology of Sun Ra. Group members use the following stage names: .28 (a.k.a. Henry Pizzicarola, vocals), .22 (Percival Prince, guitar), .33 (Kevin Nance, keyboards), .69 (Melvin Lee, bass) and .18 (Lonnie Ferguson, drums). Prior to joining the Earons, Kevin Nance, Lonnie Ferguson and Melvin Lee were members of The Machine. This was a studio disco funk and rock group, active from 1977 to 1981. In an MTV interview, Earon bandmates wearing space suits, were asked what an Earon is and where do you come from? They responded, “Earons are earotronic energies from here on earth, with no names, only numbers. And we exist in all colors. We are actually products of a civilization known as Sumer, which existed some six to eight thousand years ago, near the spot where Africa, Asia and Europe, connect. Our earotronic energy was stored in an instrument used by the Sumerians called the earotron. This earotron enabled the user to store positive energies to be released at a time designated by the universe. Now is the time. Our energies have been released. And we’ve taken the form of musical beings here on earth to bring the message of sameness to everyone here on earth. We’re all earons, living in love here on earth.”

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You Came by Kim Wilde

#154: You Came by Kim Wilde

City: Montreal, PQ
Radio Station: CKOI
Peak Month: December 1988
Peak Position in Montreal ~ #12
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #41
Peak Position on Denmark Singles chart ~ #1
Peak Position on Finland Singles chart ~ #2
Peak Position on Ireland Singles chart ~ #3
Peak Position on Portugal Singles chart ~ #3
Peak Position on Swiss Singles chart ~ #3
Peak Position on UK Singles chart ~ #3
Peak Position on Italy Singles chart ~ #4
Peak Position on Norway Singles chart ~ #4
Peak Position on France Singles chart ~ #5
Peak Position on West German Singles chart ~ #5
YouTube: “You Came
Lyrics: “You Came

Kim Wilde was born in 1960 with the birth name Kim Smith. Her father, Reginald Smith, was a pop singer who took the stage name Marty Wilde. Kim Wilde’s first professional singing credit was as a backup singer to her brother Ricky Wilde’s 1972 song “I Am an Astronaut.” In 1981, at the age of 21 Kim Wilde became an international star with her hit single “Kids in America”. It topped the pop charts in Finland and South Africa, reached #2 in Ireland, Sweden and the UK, and the Top Ten in Australia, Belgium, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland, and West Germany. Later in 1981, “Chequered Love” topped the pop chart in South Africa, reached #2 in Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland and West Germany, and was also a Top Ten hit in Australia, Ireland, Sweden and the UK.

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Blue Guitar by Richard Chamberlain

#22: Blue Guitar by Richard Chamberlain

City: Montreal, PQ
Radio Station: CJAD
Peak Month: November 1963
Peak Position in Montreal ~ #2
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #42
YouTube: “Blue Guitar
Lyrics: “Blue Guitar

George Richard Chamberlain was born in 1934 in Beverly Hills, California. After high school graduation in 1952, he studied acting at a college in Pomona. But, he was drafted in December 1952, and sent to fight in the Korean War. He rose to the rank of sergeant. In 1959, Richard Chamberlain appeared in an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents. The following year, he made a guest appearance in the crime-drama series Rescue 8, about the Los Angeles County Fire Department. Other guest appearances in TV shows in the early ’60s include Gunsmoke, the crime series Bourbon Street BeatThriller hosted by Boris Karloff, The Deputy starring Henry Fonda, and another western titled Whispering Smith. In 1960, Chamberlain starred opposite Richard Falk in The Secret of the Purple Reef. In 1961, Chamberlain starred with Charles Bronson, Slim Pickens, and Duane Eddy in the western A Thunder of Drums. 

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Jesse by Roberta Flack

#118: Jesse by Roberta Flack

City: Montreal, PQ
Radio Station: CHOM
Peak Month: November 1973
Peak Position in Montreal ~ #3
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #30
YouTube: “Jesse
Lyrics: “Jesse

Roberta Flack was born in Black Mountain, North Carolina, in 1937. Her family moved to Arlington, Virginia, when she was five. Growing up in a large, musical family, she often accompanied the choir of Lomax African Methodist-Episcopal Zion Church by playing hymns and spirituals on piano. She also attended a Baptist in her neighborhood to listen to contemporary gospel music including songs performed by Mahalia Jackson and Sam Cooke. When Flack was nine, she began to play the piano. Into her teens, she excelled at classical piano, finishing second in a statewide competition for Black 13-year-old students. In connection with the competition, she won a full music scholarship to Howard University.

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