#58: Walk Right Back by Anne Murray
City: Ottawa, ON
Radio Station: CFGO
Peak Month: April 1978
Peak Position in Ottawa ~ #5
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #18
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #103
YouTube: “Walk Right Back”
Lyrics: “Walk Right Back”
In 1945 Morna Anne Murray was born in Springhill, Nova Scotia, a coal-mining town. Her father was a doctor and her mother was a registered nurse. Growing up she took piano lessons for six years and began taking vocal lessons at age fifteen in 1960. Anne loved music. It was the age of rock ‘n’ roll, and growing up she sang along with all her favourites – Buddy Holly, Bobby Darin and Connie Francis. However, Anne was also inspired by a wide variety of musical styles, including the classics, country, gospel, folk, and crooners such as Patti Page, Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney. She loved them all. In 1962 she gave one of her first public performances singing “Ave Maria” at her high school graduation. She went on to be part of the CBC variety show Singalong Jubilee in 1967.
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#65: Love Over And Over by Kate and Anna McGarrigle
City: Ottawa, ON
Radio Station: CFRA
Peak Month: July 1982
Peak Position in Ottawa ~ #3
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Love Over And Over”
Lyrics: “Love Over And Over”
Anna McGarrigle was born in Montreal in 1944, with her sister Kate born there two years later. In the 1960s, in Montreal, while Kate was studying chemical engineering at McGill University and Anna art at the École des beaux-arts de Montréal, they began performing in public and writing their own songs. From 1963 to 1967 they teamed up with Jack Nissenson and Peter Weldon to form the folk group Mountain City Four. Their songs have been covered by a variety of artists including Linda Rondstadt, Emmylou Harris, Judy Collins, and others. These covers led to the McGarrigles getting their first recording contract in 1974. They released their debut album Kate & Anna McGarrigle in 1976. It charted into the Top 30 on the pop album chart that year in Sweden. A track from the album, “Complainte pour Ste. Catherine” charted in the UK.
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#64: Chantal by Goddo
City: Ottawa, ON
Radio Station: CFRA
Peak Month: December 1979
Peak Position in Ottawa ~ #4
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Chantal”
Lyrics: “Chantal”
Greg Godovitz was born in 1951 in Toronto. He began playing guitar in 1964 with a band named The Pretty Ones. He began his professional music career in the late 1960s and early 1970s as the bassist for the Canadian rock band Fludd. Founded by Ed and Brian Pilling, Fludd gained popularity with hits such as “Turned 21“, “Get Up, Get Out & Move On“, and “Cousin Mary“. Following his departure from Fludd, Godovitz was briefly involved in the Toronto rock band Sherman and Peabody. Greg Godovitz founded the hard rock trio Goddo. The original lineup included Godovitz on bass and lead vocals, Gino Scarpelli on guitar, and Marty Morin on drums, with Doug Inglis later replacing Morin. In 1975, the band released a cover of the Kinsmen’s 1963 hit “Louie Louie”. The band’s self-titled debut album was released in 1977 with the lead single “Under My Hat”.
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#72: Beat The Clock by the Sparks
City: Ottawa, ON
Radio Station: CFRA
Peak Month: January 1980
Peak Position in Ottawa ~ #4
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 Singles ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Beat The Clock”
Lyrics: “Beat The Clock”
The Sparks were formed by two brothers in 1971 in Pacific Palisades, California. Ron Mael was born in Culver City, California, in 1945. Brother Russell Mael was born in Pacific Palisades (CA) in 1948. After high school, Ron began a course in cinema and graphic arts in 1963 while Russell studied theatre arts and filmmaking during 1966–1968. Ron Mael plays the keyboards and synthesizers and writes most of the songs for Sparks. When the band hit the peak of its popularity in the 1970s, he was well known for his strange appearance, often remaining motionless over his keyboard in sharp contrast to Russell’s animated and hyperactive frontman antics. Ron’s conservative clothes and unfashionable, Charlie Chaplin-esque toothbrush moustache attracted much attention. In 1972, they released their debut single “Wonder Girl”. The single stalled beneath the Billboard Hot 100 at #112.
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#141: Angel In My Pocket by One To One
City: Ottawa, ON
Radio Station: CFRA
Peak Month: June-July 1986
Peak Position in Ottawa ~ #6
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #25
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #92
YouTube: “Angel In My Pocket”
Lyrics: “Angel In My Pocket”
One To One were a band that formed in Ottawa, Ontario, in 1984. It consisted of vocalist Louise Reny and producer/multi-instrumentalist Leslie Howe. The duo had been in a local rock band since the mid-70s called Mainstream. Tired of playing covers of 60’s, 70’s and 80’s pop tunes, Reny and Howe were inspired to collaborate and release original material. In late 1985 they released “There Was A Time“. The song climbed to #1 on CFRA-AM in Ottawa, and #14 on the Canadian RPM singles chart. According to Canadian Bands.com, the single made the Top 20 in several European record markets.
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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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#3: Boy In The Box by Corey Hart
City: Montreal, PQ
Radio Station: CKGM
Peak Month: October 1985
Peak Position in Montreal ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #7
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #26
YouTube: “Boy In The Box”
Lyrics: “Boy In The Box”
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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#25: Closer Together by The Box
City: Montreal, PQ
Radio Station: CKOI
Peak Month: June 1987
Peak Position in Montreal ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #22
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Closer Together”
Lyrics: “Closer Together”
The Box was formed in 1981 by former Men Without Hats keyboard player Jean-Marc Pisapia. He was born in 1957 in Montreal and learned to play piano at the age of four. He studied architecture at the University of Montreal. After a summer tour with Men Without Hats in 1981, Jean-Marc formed Checkpoint Charlie, inviting guitarist Guy Florent and bass guitarist Jean-Pierre Brie to join him. In 1983, the band added Jean-Marc’s brother, Guy Pisapia, on keyboards. This enabled Jean-Marc to give his attention primarily to lead vocals. At this time the band changed their name to The Box. In 1984 The Box released a self-titled album with a debut single titled “Walk Away”.
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#51: Moonlight Party by the Del Tones
City: Montreal, PQ
Radio Station: CJAD
Peak Month: May 1959
Peak Position in Montreal ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Moonlight Party”
Lyrics: N/A
The Del Tones were comprised of lead vocalist and guitarist Raymond “Ray” Hutchinson, bass and guitar player Michel “Mike” Robitaille, pianist Joseph “Joey” Frechette and drummer Gilles Tailleur. Born in Montreal, in 1940, as a child, Ray Hutchinson had tuberculosis for twelve years. He got better and at the age of seventeen was writing and performing “Moonlight Party,” that became the Del Tones first hit. Two of the bandmates, guitarist and vocalist Ray Hutchinson, and bass player Mike Robitaille, were polio victims. They met at a school for handicapped children in Montreal.
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#15: Something To Sing About by the Raftsmen
City: Montreal, PQ
Radio Station: CJAD
Peak Month: December 1963
Peak Position in Montreal ~ #4
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #21
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Something To Sing About” (Travellers version)
Lyrics: “Something To Sing About”
The Raftsmen was formed by Louis Leroux, Martin Overland and Marvin Burke. Overland had been the lead singer, guitarist, and music arranger for the 1950s Montreal trio The Strangers, along with his sister Arlene on claves and drummer Leon Segal. They began getting regular gigs at folk clubs in Montreal and Toronto in the early ’60s. They sang for NASA astronauts in Cap Canaveral, Florida, the Chicago Playboy Club and the Famous Grill of the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City. They also began to tour in Canada and the USA with Ian & Sylvia, The Travellers’ and Joan Baez. On the Raftsmen III album in 1967 the bio for Louis Leroux states “One day while practicing to be Attorney-General, in the local phone booth, with his wire-tapping kit and armed with his genuine replica oof a C.I.A. badge (Canadian version), he decided to call his U.N.C.L.E. As fortunes of the Cold War would have it, his A.N.T. answered “Hello? Napoleon?” In a fit of frustration he screamed back T.H.R.U.S.H.” You guessed it – all screamers get hit records.” This flavor of folk humor from the Sixties may be lost on some readers today.
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