#1115: (If’n You Don’t) Somebody Else Will by Monica Lewis
Peak Month: May 1957
15 weeks on Vancouver’s CKWX chart
Peak Position #16
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “(If’n You Don’t) Somebody Else Will”
Lyrics: “(If’n You Don’t) Somebody Else Will”
May Lewis was born in Chicago in 1922. Her father Leon, was a musical director for CBS and her mother, Jessica, sang with the Chicago Opera Company. Lewis began to take singing lessons in her childhood. She overcame early poverty and capitalized on lucky breaks. She was discovered by Benny Goodman. Miss Lewis was studying at Hunter College when she was hired as a $25-a-week vocalist on a radio wake-up program called Gloom Dodgers to help support the family. She soon had her own radio show, Monica Makes Music. Then she won the part of a singing cigarette girl in the short-lived Broadway show Johnny 2×4, starring alongside a very young Lauren Bacall.
Continue reading →
#1116: Suddenly You Love Me by The Tremeloes
Peak Month: April 1968
6 weeks on CKLG chart
Peak Position #8
1 week Hitbound
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #44
YouTube.com: “Suddenly You Love Me”
Lyrics: “Suddenly You Love Me”
In 1956 at Park Modern Secondary School in Barking, Essex, two school mates, Brian Poole and Alan Blakley, started a band. On family holidays together, they’d tell their parents about their dreams of being on TV. They learned a couple of tunes by Buddy Holly and Everly Brothers, got two acoustic Hofner guitars, and asked their saxophone and bass playing school mate, Alan Howard to join them. Once they started performing at local parties, they met drummer Dave Munden, who soon joined them. Soon Alan Blakley, Dave Munden and Brian Poole found that they could harmonise any song they wanted to and developed a style of their own, with all of them singing and playing and Alan Howard on bass guitar. At this time they did not have a name but soon opted for Tremilos after the sound on the new amplifiers which they could not yet afford. In time, the lead guitarist from Joe & The Teems, Ricky West, was added to the band in 1960. They began touring and got a BBC spot on Saturday Club. Dave Munden, Brian Poole and Alan Blakley were also being hired on as a backing vocalists for session work by Decca Records on numerous hit records for Tommy Steele, Delbert McClinton, US Bonds, Clyde McPhatter, Jet Harris & Tony Meehan and the Vernon Girls and others.
Continue reading →
#1117: Tell Someone You Love Them by Dino, Desi and Billy
Peak Month: September 1968
6 weeks on CKLG chart
Peak Position #9
1 week Hitbound
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #92
YouTube.com: “Tell Someone You Love Them”
Lyrics: “Tell Someone You Love Them”
Desiderio Alberto Arnaz IV is the son of Des Arnaz and Lucille Ball. His birth in 1953 was one of the most publicized in television history. His parents were the stars of the television sitcom I Love Lucy, and Ball’s pregnancy was part of the storyline, which was considered daring then. The same day Lucy gave birth to Desi Jr., the fictional Lucy Ricardo gave birth to “Little Ricky.” As a testament to how interested the American public was in Lucy’s TV baby, Arnaz appeared on the cover on the very first issue of TV Guide with a title that read: “Lucy’s $50,000,000 baby.” The reason he was given this title was because revenue from certain tie-in commitments were expected to top that mark. In 1964 Desi became the drummer for the pop trio Dino, Desi and Billy. “Dino” was Dean Paul Martin, the son of pop singer Dean Martin “Billy” was Billy Hinsche, brother-in-law of Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys.
Continue reading →
#1118: Your Love Gets Me Around by Ronney Abramson
Peak Month: June 1977
9 weeks on CKLG chart
Peak Position #13
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Your Love Gets Me Around”
Lyrics: “Your Love Gets Me Around”
Ronney Abramson was born in Paris, France. When she was two years old her family relocated to Montreal. With a musical aptitude, when she took a music degree with a focus on classical guitar at McGill University in Montreal, she started to appear in concert at coffee houses across Quebec and Ontario. Once she got known in central Canada she soon extended her appearances into New York state and Manhattan. Capitol Records signed her to a contract in 1971 and in 1972 she released a self-titled folk-rock album along with two singles. However, with flagging record sales, Capitol Records decided not to renew her contract. Nonetheless, Ronney kept on with her itinerary of concert dates at coffeehouses over the next few years. In addition, she made some freelance income from writing music for several made-for-TV movies.
Continue reading →
#1423: This Time Long Ago by The Guess Who?
Peak Month: July 1967
8 weeks on CFUN chart
Peak Position #20
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com link: “This Time Long Ago”
Allan Kowbel was born in Winnipeg in 1943. By the age of fifteen, in 1958, he was singer and guitarist who went by the stage name of Chad Allan. He formed a group that year named The Rave Ons, as a tribute to Buddy Holly. By 1960 the band was known as Allan and the Silvertones. Another name change took place in 1962 when they billed themselves as Chad Allan and the Reflections. At this time their lineup, in addition to Allan, consisted of consisted of keyboard player Bob Ashley, guitarist Randy Bachman, bass player Jim Kale and drummer Garry Peterson. Bachman, Kale and Peterson all provided backing vocals. The group chose the name, The Reflections, to resemble the popular backing band for Cliff Richard called The Shadows. Another name change took place in 1965. A pop group from America, called The Reflections, had a top ten hit called “Just Like Romeo & Juliet.” Their popularity became problematic for Chad Allan and The Reflections. Now they billed themselves as Chad Allan & the Expressions.”
Continue reading →
#1119: Love Hurts by Roy Orbison
Peak Month: June 1961
7 weeks on CFUN chart
Peak Position #8
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Love Hurts”
Lyrics: “Love Hurts”
Roy Kelton Orbison was born in Vernon, Texas in 1936. When he turned six his dad gave him a guitar. Both his dad, Orbie Lee, and uncle Charlie Orbison, taught him how to play. Though his family moved to Forth Worth for work at a munitions factory, Roy was sent to live with his grandmother due to a polio outbreak in 1944. That year he wrote his first song “A Vow of Love”. The next year he won a contest on Vernon radio station KVWC and was offered his own radio show on Saturdays. After the war his family reunited and moved to Wink, Texas, where Roy formed his first band, in 1949, called The Wink Westerners.
Continue reading →
#1120: 100 or Two by Springfield Rifle
Peak Month: May 1967
9 weeks on CKLG
Peak Position #10
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “100 Or Two”
Seattle’s Springfield Rifle was a band that formed in 1966 that evolved out of a group called The Dynamics. They comprised of musicians who played saxophone, trombone, trumpet, guitar, bass, keyboard and drums, and variously had between five and seven band members. These included Jeff Afdem (saxophone), Dennis Ashbrook (saxophone), Mark Bishop (organ), Sam Wisner (drums), Dave Talbot (bass), Mark Whitman (vocals, guitar), Larry Duff (trumpet, trombone) and Dean Quackenbush (trumpet). There were lineup changes later. Other band members included Harry Wilson on guitar, Terry Afdem on keyboards, Denny Brabant on drums, Ron Hendee on trumpet and Marty Tuttle on drums. Joe Cavender, who also played drums for awhile with Springfield Rifle, was a former member of The Demons from Spokane, Washington.
Continue reading →
#1121: Can You Give It All To Me by Myles & Lenny
Peak Month: March 1975
7 weeks on CKLG
Peak Position #11
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Can You Give It All To Me”
Lyrics: “Can You Give It All To Me”
Lenny Solomon was born in Toronto in 1952. He was musically influenced by his dad, Stanley Solomon, who played violin in the Toronto Symphony. Lenny Solomon learned to play violin while he was still a child. Myles Cohen was born in Montreal and taught himself guitar in his youth. Myles & Lenny formed after the two met in high school in Toronto in the late 60s. In 1969 they attended a songwriters conference held at the Mariposa Folk Festival that year on Centre Island, part of the Toronto Islands. During the festival they made their debut appearance on stage. The festival was a catalyst for gigs at Toronto area coffee houses and short tours to Western Canada.
Continue reading →
#1122: Sugar Candy by Georgia Gibbs
Peak Month: June 1957
9 weeks on Vancouver’s CKWX chart
Peak Position #13
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Sugar Candy”
Georgia Gibbs was a traditional pop singer who sang with the Artie Shaw, Tommy Dorsey and other big bands in the 40s. She went on to have numerous hits prior to the arrival of Elvis Presley in 1956, who with other rock n’ rollers swept many traditional pop singers like Georgia Gibbs off the pop charts. Gibbs was born in 1919 as Frieda Lipschitz in a Russian-Jewish immigrant home in Worcester, Massachusetts. Her father died shortly after she was born and as an infant lived in an orphanage until she was seven years old. Before she left the orphanage her musical talents were in bloom and she got lead roles each year in the orphanage’s variety show. Back at home when her mother got work as a midwife, young Frieda was often left on her own for weeks at a time with only a Philco radio for company.
Continue reading →
#1191: Liars by Ian Thomas
Peak Month: June 1976
7 weeks on CKLG chart
Peak Position #10
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Liars”
Lyrics: “Liars”
In 1950, Ian Thomas was born in Hamilton, Ontario. Once he began to play piano at the age of six Thomas fell in love with the world of music. He later learned the guitar. By 1969 he was in a folk group called Tranquility Base which began to tour across Canada. They had a #3 hit in Hamilton in 1970 called “If You’re Looking“. This led to an album, but further success eluded them. Thomas became a producer at the CBC. By 1973 he got his own record deal with GRT Records and released “Painted Ladies“. The song climbed to #9 in Vancouver and #34 on the Billboard Hot 100. His self-titled album went Gold. Thomas won the 1974 Juno Award for Most Promising Male Vocalist and toured with April Wine. He got exposure on a number of TV variety shows in Canada which included both his musical and comedic talents.
Continue reading →
