#147: Rebel Rebel by David Bowie
City: Ottawa, ON
Radio Station: CFGO
Peak Month: September 1974
Peak Position in Ottawa ~ #8
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #64
Peak Position on Irish Singles chart ~ #2
Peak Position on UK Singles chart ~ #5
Peak Position on Belgian Singles chart ~ #6
Peak Position on Australian Singles chart ~#6
Peak Position on French Singles chart ~ #7
Peak Position on Finnish Singles chart ~ #7
Peak Position on Dutch Singles chart ~ #8
YouTube: “Rebel Rebel”
Lyrics: “Rebel Rebel”
David Robert Jones was born in 1947 in Brixton, a suburb in the southern part of London, UK. From an early age he demonstrated talent as a singer and especially through dance and movement. When he was nine years old his father brought home some 45’s by Elvis Presley, Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers, Fats Domino and others. When David Jones heard Little Richard sing “Tutti Frutti” he later said in an interview that he “heard God.” Growing up, David learned to play the recorder, ukulele, piano and baritone saxophone. In 1962, at the age of 15 he formed a band named the Konrads. In 1964 he formed a band named David Jones and the King Bees. They appeared on the variety show Ready Steady Go! to sing their debut single, “Liza Jane”. Jones briefly moved on to join the Mannish Boys before being the front man for Davy Jones and The Lower Third. They released a single in 1965 titled “You’ve Got A Habit Of Leaving”. Due to the growing popularity of another English recording artist named Davy Jones (who went on to become lead singer for The Monkees), David Robert Jones decided to change his professional name to David Bowie. He chose his surname after a 19th Century American pioneer named James Bowie who invented the Bowie knife.
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#161: Mimi On The Beach by Jane Siberry
City: Ottawa, ON
Radio Station: CFRA
Peak Month: September 1985
Peak Position in Ottawa ~ #9
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Mimi On The Beach”
Lyrics: “Mimi On The Beach”
Jane Siberry was born in 1955 in Toronto as Jane Stewart. She would take her subsequent surname, “Siberry”, from the family name of her maternal aunt and uncle. Many years later, she would explain this choice by stating “this woman and her husband were the first couple I met where I could feel the love between them and I held that in front of me as a reference point.” Siberry learned piano from the age of four, predominantly teaching herself and developing her own concepts of notation and structure. At school she learned conventional music theory (as well as French horn) and taught herself to play guitar by working through Leonard Cohen songs. In the mid-70s she was performing in folk clubs in Guelph (ON) as part of the folk group Java Jive.
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#162: The Whole Of The Moon by the Waterboys
City: Ottawa, ON
Radio Station: CFRA
Peak Month: April 1986
Peak Position in Ottawa ~ #10
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Australian Singles chart ~ #12
Peak Position on Dutch Singles chart ~ #19
Peak Position on New Zealand Singles chart ~ #19
YouTube: “The Whole Of The Moon”
Lyrics: “The Whole Of The Moon”
The Waterboys were formed in 1983 by Mike Scott. He was born in 1958 in Edinburgh, Scotland. Scott was interested in music from an early age. At the age of ten, he was turned onto pop music from hearing hits in the UK by Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich. At age 12, after the family had moved to Ayr, he began a serious interest in learning guitar. He later studied the poetry of Irish poet William Butler Yeats, and Scottish poets Robert Burns and George MacDonald in university. Lines from their poetry was worked into arrangements in some of the songs Mike Scott later composed on albums for The Waterboys. In 1978, Scott formed a punk band called The Bootlegs. By 1979, the band morphed into Another Pretty Face and released an album and four singles. New Musical Express (NME) reviewed their single All the Boys Love Carrie”. Mike Scott was also with DNV who in 1979 released the single “Death In Venice”. Meanwhile, Another Pretty Face changed their name to Fun House in 1981. But by the end of the year, Scott was underwhelmed by Fun House and began writing songs that would become tracks for The Waterboys self-titled album release in 1983.
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#167: Everyday I Write The Book by Elvis Costello
City: Ottawa, ON
Radio Station: CFRA
Peak Month: November 1983
Peak Position in Ottawa ~ #6
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #36
YouTube: “Everyday I Write The Book”
Lyrics: “Everyday I Write The Book”
Declan Patrick MacManus was born in London, England, in 1954. He learned to play guitar at age 14. In 1972, he got a job as a computer operator at the Midland Bank data centre in Merseyside. That year he also joined the folk group Rusty. He began to go by the name Declan Costello as his musician father had once gone by Ross Costello on a record he made. In 1973, Declan Costello contributed vocals for the R. White “Secret Lemonade Drinker” commercial. That year Costello formed a pub band called Flip City. In 1975, he began to go by the name D.P. Costello, and in 1976 began performing solo.
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#169: Wild Is The Wind by Johnny Mathis
City: Ottawa, ON
Radio Station: CKOY
Peak Month: January 1958
Peak Position in Ottawa ~ #4
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #16
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #22
YouTube: “Wild Is The Wind”
Lyrics: “Wild Is The Wind”
Johnny Mathis was born in Gilmer (TX) in 1935. His family moved to San Francisco when he was 5-years-old. His father was a vaudeville singer and piano player. Mathis began learning songs and routines from his father. Mathis’ first song was “My Blue Heaven”. He started singing and dancing for visitors at home, at school, and at church functions. When Mathis was 13, voice teacher Connie Cox accepted him as her student in exchange for housework. Mathis studied with Cox for six years, learning vocal scales and exercises, voice production, classical and operatic singing. In 1955, Mathis got a job singing weekends at Ann Dee’s 440 Club in San Francisco.
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#173: Mr. Success by Frank Sinatra
City: Ottawa, ON
Radio Station: CKOY
Peak Month: December 1958
Peak Position in Ottawa ~ #5
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #30
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #41
Peak Position on UK Singles chart ~ #25
YouTube: “Mr. Success”
Lyrics: “Mr. Success”
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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#172: Enola Gay by Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
City: Ottawa, ON
Radio Station: CFRA
Peak Month: May 1981
Peak Position in Ottawa ~ #9
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Italian Singles chart ~ #1
Peak Position on Portuguese Singles chart ~ #1
Peak Position on Spanish Singles chart ~ #1
Peak Position on Swiss Singles chart ~ #2
Peak Position on French Singles chart ~ #6
YouTube: “Enola Gay”
Lyrics: “Enola Gay”
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD) is a band that formed in 1978 in the Liverpool suburb of Wirral, UK. The bands’ co-founder, George Andrew “Andy” McCluskey, was born in 1959 in the town of Heswall on The Wirral peninsula. In primary school McCluskey met Paul Humphreys. The two teamed up in their teens to play in the bands Hitlerz Underpantz, VCL XI and the Id. The latter was a synth-pop band that also included future OMD member Malcolm Holmes. Paul David Humphreys was born in 1960 Merseyside. He was influenced by Kraftwerk and Brian Eno. Malcolm Holmes was born in a suburb of Merseyside in The Wirral in 1960. When the Id was founded in 1977, Holmes became the band’s drummer. He joined OMD in 1980. Martin Cooper was born in 1958 and joined OMD in 1980.
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#22: Sun City by Artists United Against Apartheid
City: Ottawa, ON
Radio Station: CFRA
Peak Month: December 1985
Peak Position in Ottawa ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #22
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #38
Peak Position on Dutch Singles chart ~ #3
Peak Position on Australian Singles chart ~ #4
Peak Position on New Zealand Singles chart ~ #4
Peak Position on Swedish Singles chart ~ #5
Peak Position on Belgian Singles chart ~ #5
Peak Position on Irish Singles chart ~ #8
YouTube: “Sun City”
Lyrics: “Sun City”
Artists United Against Apartheid was a protest ensemble created by Steven Van Zandt in 1985. It consisted of DJ Afrika Bambaataa, Puerto Rican bandleader Ray Barretto, punk rocker Stiv Bator, Pat Benatar, Jamaican DJ Big Youth, Panamanian singer-songwriter Ruben Blades, rapper Kurtis Blow, U2 lead singer Bono, Jackson Browne, jazz bass player Ron Carter, E Street Band member Clarence Clemmons, Jimmy Cliff, George Clinton (of Parliament-Funkadelic), Bob Dylan, The Fat Boys, Peter Gabriel, Peter Garrett (of Midnight Oil) Bob Geldof (of the Boomtown Rats), rapper Grandmaster Melle Mel, Herbie Hancock, actress Daryl Hannah (Jackson Browne’s girlfriend at the time), Labelle “Lady Marmalade” singer Nona Hendryx, B.T. Express singer Kashif, Eddie Kendricks, hip-hop artist DJ Kool Herc, Darlene Love (lead singer on “He’s A Rebel” credited to the Crystals), Finish rocker Michael Monroe, Bonnie Raitt, lead singer of the Ramoes – Joey Ramone, Lou Reed, Keith Richards (of the Rolling Stones), David Ruffin (of the Temptations), Run-DMC, poet and singer Gil Scott-Heron, Indian musician L. Shankar, Beatles bandmate Ringo Starr and his son Zak, Pete Townshend (of The Who), Bobby Womack, and Ronnie Wood (with the Faces, Jeff Beck Group and Rolling Stones).
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