#1233: Love Monkey #9 by Bootsauce
Peak Month: May 1992
9 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #17
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Love Monkey #9”
Lyrics: “Love Monkey #9”
Sonny Greenwich Jr. was born on January 1, 1962, in Toronto. In his childhood his family moved to the south shore of Montreal and went to high school in the suburb of Longueuil. He got his first guitar on the occasion of his sixteenth birthday and formed a band that became named Dogstar. At a Montreal area Christmas party in 1988, Greenwich met singer Drew Ling (born Drew Thorpe) and guitarist Perry Johnson (who was later billed as Pere Fume). They instantly hit it off and found they shared musical interests. Soon they were playing with each other and formed a band.
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#251: Broken/Albert Flasher by the Guess Who
Peak Month: May 1971
8 weeks on Vancouver’s CKVN chart
1 week Preview
Peak Position #2
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #29 ~ “Albert Flasher”
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #55 ~ “Broken”
YouTube: “Broken”
Lyrics: “Broken”
Youtube: “Albert Flasher”
Lyrics: “Albert Flasher”
Randolph Charles Bachman was born in 1943 in Winnipeg, Manitoba. When he was just three years old he entered the King of the Saddle singing contest on CKY radio, Manitoba’s first radio station that began in 1923. Bachman won the contest. When he turned five years he began to study the violin through the Royal Toronto Conservatory. Though he couldn’t read music, he was able to play anything once he heard it. He dropped out of high school and subsequently a business administration program in college. He co-founded a Winnipeg band called Al & The Silvertones with Chad Allan in 1960.
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#1339: Keep On Movin’ by Finesse & Showbiz
Peak Month: November 1992
8 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #13
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Keep On Movin’”
Finesse & Showbiz were a pioneering west coast Canadian rap group formed in Nanaimo, B.C. They later relocated to Vancouver. In January 1991, the group submitted a cassette demo, “Where You At,” to local Top 40 station LG73. This resulted in heavy airplay and hitting #3 on the station’s nightly chart (different from the weekly CKLG Top 40. In 1992, Finesse & Showbiz was the first Vancouver rap group to release full length album with national and international distribution.
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#258: Don’t It Make Ya Feel by the Headpins
Peak Month: February 1982
10 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #2 ~ CFUN
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Don’t It Make Ya Feel”
Lyrics: “Don’t It Make Ya Feel”
The Headpins are a Vancouver hard rock band. They were formed by Chilliwack bandmates Ab Bryant and Brian MacLeod. Bryant and MacLeod had so much energy, they continued to play with Chilliwack as they got Headpins founded. Macleod was introduced to local Vancouver singer named Denise McCann. Born in Iowa in 1948, after being raised in the Castro Valley in California, during the Summer of Love, she moved to San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury neighborhood where she became a hippie. McCann got a job with the Magic Mountain Festival on Mount Tamalpais and also at the Monterey Pop Festival. At the festival she became friends with Jimi Hendrix. McCann appears in the D.A. Pennebaker documentary Monterey Pop! Brian MacLeod invited McCann to join the Headpins as they were forming in 1979.
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#1263: Friends Forever by Candi & The Backbeat
Peak Month: July 1991
9 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #16
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Friends Forever”
In the mid-80s, Candita Pennella fronted an Italian wedding band in Toronto named Sensation. Her nickname was Candi. The band consisted of bass player Nino Milazzo, drummer Paul Russo, keyboard player Rich Imbrogno and singer Candita Pennella. The band decided to change their name to Candi. They recorded an album in 1988 titled Candi. They released a single titled “Dancing Under A Latin Moon,” which made the Top 30 across Canada on the RPM singles chart and #68 on the Billboard Hot 100. Several follow up singles made the pop charts in Canada. Among these, “Missing You” and “Love Makes No Promises” made the Top 30 on the CKLG charts in Vancouver in early 1989.
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#259: Love Me Love Me Love by Frank Mills
Peak Month: February 1972
9 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #1
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #46
YouTube: “Love Me Love Me Love”
Lyrics: “Love Me Love Me Love”
In 1942, Frank Mills was born into a musical household in Montreal, and grew up in Verdun, Quebec. His older sister and mother both played the piano. Young Frank learned to play piano by ear. He also learned to play trombone in high school and played in a school band. His parents both died of cancer by the time Frank was seventeen. Initially, he entered McGill University in pre-med. However, his marks weren’t good enough to continue. When he scored 98% on a Music Department entrance exam, his direction was certain.
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#261: In The Mood by the Wildroot Orchestra
Peak Month: August 1981
11 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #6
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “In The Mood”
Lyrics: “In The Mood”
Around 1971 a band called Wildroot formed in Vancouver (BC). An article by Canadianbands.com identifies Howie Vickers was the lead vocalist, Frank Allison was on guitar, Ian Berry was on keyboards and saxophone, Charles Faulkner was on bass guitar and Jim McGillveray was on drums. who formed in the 70s. Charles Faulkner was previously a member of Mother Tucker’s Yellow Duck, a psychedelic rock band from Vancouver (1967-71). Jim McGillveray is credited with being one of the last members of the Painted Ship, a Vancouver (BC) band that folded in 1968. McGillveray, Ian Berry and Frank Allison were all previously members of Vancouver’s New Breed, a band that formed in 1966.
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#1279: Touch The Hand by Bryan Adams
Peak Month: June 1992
10 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #19
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Touch The Hand”
Lyrics: “Touch The Hand”
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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#270: I Am By Your Side by Corey Hart
Peak Month: October 1986
10 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #2
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #18
YouTube: “I Am By Your Side”
Lyrics: “I Am By Your Side”
Corey Hart was born in 1962 in Montreal, Quebec. He is best known for his international Top Ten hits “Sunglasses at Night” (#7 Billboard Hot 100) and “Never Surrender” (#3 Billboard Hot 100). Hart is known as one of Canada’s most successful singer-songwriters. He’s sold over 16 million records worldwide. On the Billboard Hot 100 Hart scored 9 consecutive Top 40 Hits. Back in Canada he succeeded in charting 30 top 40 singles (including 11 Top 10 singles during his career). Hart is a Grammy Nominated, ASCAP & multiple Juno and ADISQ award winner. He has also written and produced several songs for fellow Quebec recording star Celine Dion.
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#271: My Girl Sloopy by Little Caesar & The Consuls
Peak Month: August 1965
12 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #1
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #50
YouTube: “My Girl Sloopy”
Lyrics: “My Girl Sloopy”
Little Caesar and the Consuls were a rock n’ roll group, formed in Toronto in 1956. Their website states that they are the “oldest rock and roll dance band in Canada.” Known as The Consuls, they originally consisted of Peter DeRemegis on drums, Gene MacLellan on guitar, Lenny Stubbs on bass guitar, Norm Sherrat on saxophone, Bruce Morshead on keyboards and lead vocals, and in 1957 added Robbie Robertson on guitar. In time the band added Little Caesar to their name after a number of fans commented that lead singer Bruce Morshead resembled Edward G. Robinson in the film Little Caesar. DeRemegis and Robertson left the band in 1958 to form The Suedes. The core of the Little Caesar and the Consuls consisted of Morshead, guitarist Ken Pernokis (from 1959), bassist Tom Wilson (from 1960), and drummer Gary Wright (from 1963).
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