#380: I Wanna Live by Glen Campbell
Peak Month: June 1968
7 weeks on CKLG’s Vancouver Chart
Peak Position ~ #1
1 week Hit Bound
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #36
YouTube: “I Wanna Live”
Lyrics: “I Wanna Live”
Glen Travis Campbell was born in 1936 in the village of Billstown, Arkansas. His dad was a sharecropper. He moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico, and at the age of 18 joined his uncle’s band, Dick Bills and the Sandia Mountain Boys. Campbell also had guest spots on a local KOB children’s TV show, K Circle B Time. In 1958, Campbell formed the Western Wranglers. In 1960 he moved to LA and joined The Champs of “Tequila” fame. Campbell also became a session musician in a group that would become known as The Wrecking Crew. During this time Glen Campbell played on recordings for Bobby Darin, Ricky Nelson, Dean Martin, Nat King Cole, The Monkees, Nancy Sinatra, Merle Haggard, Jan and Dean, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra and others. He recorded his first single in 1961 titled “Turn Around Look At Me.”
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#381: The Witch/Psycho by The Sonics
Peak Month: March 1965
“The Witch”
9 weeks on CFUN’s Vancouver Chart
Peak Position ~ #2
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “The Witch”
Lyrics: “The Witch”
4 weeks on CFUN’s Vancouver Chart
Peak Position ~ #4
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Psycho”
Lyrics: “Psycho”
The Sonics were formed in 1960 in Tacoma when teenage guitarist Larry Parypa was encouraged by his parents to take his budding musical talents to the next level. A number of lineup changes ensued over the first several years. The band was an instrumental group until 1962, when Marilyn Lodge joined and became the bands first vocalist. She was replaced in 1963 by a local frontman named Ray Michelsen. At the time the bands’ drummer, Bill Dean, was not totally committed to the musical project. In time he left the band. Elsewhere on the musical scene in Tacoma were The Searchers (distinct from the British band the Searchers) who formed in 1961. The Searchers included Gerry Roslie on keyboards, Rob Lind on saxophone and Bob Bennett on drums. In search of a new drummer for the Sonics, once Larry Parypa heard the Searchers in concert – a new lineup fell into place.
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#1067: Tell Me What You Dream by Restless Heart
Peak Month: May 1993
7 weeks on CKLG’s Vancouver Chart
Peak Position ~ #7
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #43
YouTube: “Tell Me What You Dream”
Lyrics: “Tell Me What You Dream”
Restless Heart was a country band from the USA that formed in 1984. There were several lineup changes and by 1992 they were comprised of John Dittrich on drums, lead and background vocals; Paul Gregg on bass guitar, lead and background vocals, Dave Innis on piano, keyboards, rhythm guitar, lead and background vocals, and Greg Jennings on lead guitar and background vocals. All four were part of the original lineup. Dittrich was born in 1951 in Syracuse, New York; Gregg was born in 1954 in Altus, Oklahoma; Innis was born in 1959 in Bartlesville, Oklahoma; and Jennings was born in 1954 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. In 1983 Dave Innis wrote “Dare Me” which was recorded by the Pointer Sisters in 1984, and peaked at #11 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1985.
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#382: Lodi by Creedence Clearwater Revival
Peak Month: June 1969
9 weeks on CKLG’s Vancouver Chart
Peak Position ~ #3
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #52
YouTube: “Lodi”
Lyrics: “Lodi”
John Fogerty was born in 1945 in Berkeley, California. He was raised in nearby El Cerrito. He learned to play guitar in his youth. In 1959 John Fogerty, Stu Cook and Doug Clifford formed a trio named the Blue Velvets. Based in El Cerrito, California, just north of Berkeley, they were joined in 1960 by John’s brother, Tom, who had been in a band called The Playboys. The Blue Velvets were influenced by Little Richard and other rock ‘n roll greats. They played a number of hits on the radio and their cover of Bobby Freeman’s “Do You Want To Dance,” was an audience favorite. In 1964 the Blue Velvets changed their name to the Golliwogs. They had a Top Ten hit called “Brown Eyed Girl” in San Jose (#7), Fresno (#3) and Miami (#8) in the winter of 1965-66. It was a blues infused tune, but not the same-titled song that Van Morrison would take up the charts the following year.
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#383: Tina by the Easy Riders
Peak Month: June 1957
11 weeks on Vancouver’s CKWX Chart
Peak Position ~ #4
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #96
YouTube: “Tina”
Lyrics: “Tina”
Terry Gilkyson was born in 1916 in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania. He went to the University of Pennsylvania where he studied voice, composition and harmony. He moved to Tucson, Arizona, to work on a ranch. But when World War II began he was drafted and sang folk songs over the Armed Forces radio network. After the war he was married and began to write songs. His first big break was when he wrote “The Cry Of The Wild Goose”, a number-one hit in March 1950 for Frankie Laine. He recorded two albums of folk songs, The Solitary Singer, volumes 1 and 2, in 1950 and 1951. And in 1951 Gilkyson was the featured vocalist in the Weavers number-one hit in May-June titled “On Top Of Old Smokey”.
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#389: Do They Know It’s Christmas? by Band Aid
Peak Month: January 1985
8 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #1
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #11
YouTube: “Do They Know It’s Christmas”
Lyrics: “Do They Know It’s Christmas”
Band Aid was the name of a mostly British supergroup formed to record a song in response to news reports of the famine in Ethiopia. The famine had been ongoing since 1983, and recording artists were motivated by what they were seeing on TV broadcasts in the fall of 1984 as the situation worsened. Band Aid was comprised of members of British bands Bananarama, the Boomtown Rats, Culture Club, Duran Duran, Heaven 17, Status Quo, Spandau Ballet, Style Council, and Ultravox. American R&B band Kool & The Gang – who happened to be in London during a visit to their record label in the UK – also agreed to take part in the project. As well, Phil Collins from Genesis, Sting from the Police, and George Michael from Wham! were featured vocalists.
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#957: Bang A Gong by Witch Queen
Peak Month: June 1979
7 weeks on CKLG’s Vancouver Chart
Peak Position ~ #11
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #68
YouTube: “Bang A Gong”
Lyrics: “Bang A Gong”
Witch Queen was a band from Montreal. They were assembled as a studio band by Montreal-based producers Gino Soccio and Peter Alves at the height of the disco craze. Soccio was born in 1955 in Verdun, Quebec. In 1976 Soccio was a local session musician, aspiring composer and University of Montreal student in philosophy. His musical tastes were primarily progressive rock, jazz and classical music. However, local Montreal producer Pat Deserio hired Soccio to contribute keyboards on the musical project Kébekélektrik (pronounce it like “Quebec Electric”). Soccio was asked to craft a disco record containing four songs: an arrangement of Maurice Ravel’s “Bolero”, a popular cover of Space’s “Magic Fly”, and two original compositions, “Mirage” and “War Dance”. The latter became a hit on the US Billboard Hot Dance Chart in 1978.
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#384: Let Me Take You Dancing by Bryan Adams
Peak Month: August 1979
9 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #4
1 week Playlist
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
Soundcloud: “Let Me Take You Dancing”
Lyrics: “Let Me Take You Dancing”
Born in Kingston, Ontario, in November 1959, Bryan Adams parents immigrated from the UK in the 1950s. His dad, Captain Conrad J. Adams, was a diplomat in the Canadian foreign service. While growing up his family was posted to Portugal, Austria and Israel. By the age of 15 Adams was playing with the band Sweeney Todd as a frontman. By the time he turned 17, Bryan Adams had landed work as a background vocalist for the CBC. His first salary came from working for Robbie King, a keyboard musician with Motown. During his senior years in high school he began playing music with his guitarist, Keith Scott.
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#385: You Could Have Been A Lady by April Wine
Peak Month: April 1972
11 weeks on Vancouver’s CKVN Chart
Peak Position ~ #1
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #32
YouTube: “You Could Have Been A Lady”
Lyrics: “You Could Have Been A Lady”
April Wine is a Canadian rock band that has released 34 singles, 16 studio albums and 9 live albums. They formed in Waverly, Nova Scotia, in 1969. The founding members were brothers David Henman (guitar) and Ritchie Henman (drums) and Myles Goodwyn (lead vocals, guitar). The Henman brothers cousin Jim Henman was also part of the band, but was replaced by bass player Jim Clench in 1971, a year after the band moved to Montreal and released their self-titled debut album. Miles Francis Goodwin was born in Woodstock, New Brunswick, in 1948. James Patrick Clench was born in Montreal in 1949. The Henman brothers were born and raised in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
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#386: Cutie Pie by Johnny Tillotson
Peak Month: August 1961
9 weeks on CKWX’s Vancouver Chart
Peak Position ~ #2
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Cutie Pie”
Lyrics: “Cutie Pie”
In 1939 Johnny Tillotson was born in Jacksonville. He had four Top Ten hits on the Billboard Hot 100 and ten more in the American Top 40. He took an early interest in appearing on stage and by high school had a talent as a singer. In his teens he got a contract to be in the line-up of regular performers on the Jacksonville TV show, McDuff Hayride, hosted by Toby Dowdy. And in the mid-50s Tillotson had his own variety TV show, called The Velda Show, on WFGA. In 1957, a local Jacksonville deejay, Bob Norris, sent a recording of Tillotson singing at a Pet Milk talent contest. He ended up performing on the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville. Cadence Records owner, Archie Bleyer, signed Tillotson to a record contract. “Dreamy Eyes” was his first single released in the fall of 1958. It peaked at #63 on the Billboard Hot 100. It would wait three years before appearing on the pop charts in Vancouver in 1961, peaking at #8, as the song enjoyed a more successful re-issue.
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