#171: 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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#5: Baby Jane by Rod Stewart
City: Montreal, PQ
Radio Station: CKGM
Peak Month: September 1983
Peak Position in Montreal ~ #2
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #5
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #14
Peak Position on Belgian Singles chart ~ #1
Peak Position on Irish Singles chart ~ #1
Peak Position on South African Singles chart ~ #1
Peak Position on Spanish Singles chart ~ #1
Peak Position on UK Singles chart ~ #1
Peak Position on West German Singles chart ~ #1
YouTube: “Baby Jane”
Lyrics: “Baby Jane”
Roderick David Stewart was born in London, England, in 1945. In 1956 he got introduced to rock ‘n roll when he saw Bill Haley and His Comets in concert, and heard Little Richard’s “The Girl Can’t Help It”. He was given a guitar by his dad in 1959, and he learned to play the Kingston Trio’s “A Worried Man”. He quit school at age 15 and worked as a newspaper boy. He auditioned with Joe Meek in 1961, but didn’t get a record deal. By 1963 he was part of an R&B band called The Dimensions. In 1965 he teamed up with Long John Baldry, Julie Driscoll and Brian Auger to form a blues band called Steampacket. This lasted another year. Eventually, Stewart became part of the Jeff Beck Group in 1967. When that band broke up in the fall of ’68, Rod Stewart got invited to join the reformed Small Faces, who were now just called Faces.
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#7: C’est La Vie ~ Greg Lake
City: Montreal, PQ
Radio Station: CKGM
Peak Month: September 1977
Peak Position in Montreal ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #91
Peak Position on South African Singles chart ~ #14
YouTube: “C’est La Vie”
Lyrics: “C’est La Vie”
Greg Lake was born in 1947 in Parkstone, Dorset, England. Lake started to play guitar in 1959 when he was twelve. In 1963-64 Lake was a dockworker in Poole, England. At the age of 17 he decided to become a full-time musician. Greg Lake was a member of Unit 4 (not to be confused with Unit 4 +2), the Time Checks and The Shame. Then, he formed King Crimson with childhood buddy, Robert Fripp, in the winter of 1968. King Crimson made their breakthrough as an opening act for the Rolling Stones at a concert in Hyde Park for over 500,000 concert goers in July 1969.
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#8: I.O.U. by Freeez
City: Montreal, PQ
Radio Station: CKGM
Peak Month: September 1983
Peak Position in Montreal ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot Dance/Disco Club Play ~ #1
Peak Position on Iceland Singles Chart ~ #1
YouTube: “I.O.U.”
Lyrics: “I.O.U.”
John Rocca was born in London, UK, in 1960. In 1980, while he was still 19-years-old, Rocca formed the jazz-funk-dance band Freeez. Other members of the band included Jean-Paul “Bluey” Maunick (born in 1957 in Mauritius), Maunick had formed the band Incognito in 1979 when Rocca invited him to join Freeez. As well, there was Andy Stennett (keyboards), Peter Maas (bass guitar) and Paul Morgan (drums). In 1980, the band released “Keep in Touch” which peaked at #49 in the UK Pop singles chart.
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#9: Just An Illusion by Imagination
City: Montreal, PQ
Radio Station: CKGM
Peak Month: June 1982
Peak Position in Montreal ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Italian Singles Chart ~ #1
YouTube: “Just An Illusion”
Lyrics: “Just An Illusion”
Imagination were a British trio. It was comprised of Leee John (born in 1957 in London), whose parents moved to England from St. Lucia in 1955. After his parents divorce, he moved to New York City and at the age of ten was signed to a record company. He provided backing vocals for a number of groups including The Delfonics and The Chairmen of the Board. He moved back to England in his teens. In college he recorded an album with EMI, but it was not commercially successful. While working as a backing singer, Leee met guitar and bass player Ashley Ingram. They formed a band called Fizz and began writing songs. The pair met Errol Kennedy in the early 80s and formed the group Imagination.
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#10: Smalltown Boy by Bronski Beat
City: Montreal, PQ
Radio Station: CKOI
Peak Month: January 1985
Peak Position in Montreal ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #10
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #48
Peak Position on Belgian Singles chart ~ #1
Peak Position on Italian Singles chart ~ #1
Peak Position on Netherlands Singles chart ~ #1
YouTube: “Smalltown Boy”
Lyrics: “Smalltown Boy”
James “Jimmy” Somerville was born in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1961. He moved to London in 1980 and attended the London Gay Teenage Group. In 1983 he co-founded Bronski Beat with Steven Forrest, the latter adopted the stage name Steve Bronski. Forrest was born in 1960 in Glasgow. Larry Steinbachek was also born in 1960, in his case in London. He worked as an electrician and was studying to be a musician prior to forming Bronski Beat. The three mates were sharing a flat in Brixton when they decided to form a group. They first performed publicly at an arts festival, September in the Pink. The trio were unhappy with the inoffensive nature of contemporary gay performers and sought to be more outspoken and political.
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#17: Be Still My Beating Heart by Sting
City: Montreal, PQ
Radio Station: CKOI
Peak Month: March 1988
Peak Position in Montreal ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #28
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #15
YouTube: “Be Still My Beating Heart”
Lyrics: “Be Still My Beating Heart”
Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner was born in Wallsend on Tyne, North Tyneside, Northumberland, England, in 1951. His mother was a hairdresser and his father was a milkman and engineer. When he was ten-years-old, young Sumner got introduced to Spanish guitar, when a family friend left it at the Sumner residence. After high school he was variously a bus conductor, building labourer and tax officer. He went to college and from 1974-76 was a public school teacher. Sumner performed jazz in the evening, weekends and during breaks from college and teaching, playing with the Phoenix Jazzmen, Newcastle Big Band, and Last Exit. He gained his nickname, “Sting,” due to his habit of wearing a black and yellow sweater with hooped stripes with the Phoenix Jazzmen. Bandleader Gordon Solomon thought Sumner looked like a bee which prompted the name “Sting.” According to Sting, in an interview with CBS Sunday Morning, “they thought I looked like a wasp, and they’d joke. They called me Sting. They thought it was hilarious…That became my name.”
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#1: Boys Do Fall In Love by Robin Gibb
City: Yellowknife, NWT
Radio Station: CJJD
Peak Month: September 1984
Peak Position in Yellowknife ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #37
Peak Position on South African Singles chart ~ #7
Peak Position on Italian Singles chart ~ #10
YouTube: “Boys Do Fall In Love”
Lyrics: “Boys Do Fall In Love”
Robin Hugh Gibb was born with his twin brother, Maurice Gibb, on December 22, 1949, on the Isle of Man. He was one of the three brothers who became the Bee Gees. Living in England, the brothers initially formed a band called the Rattlesnakes. The boys, with their older brother Barry and their parents, moved to Australia in 1959. Barry, Robin and Maurice began to perform locally and build up a reputation in their new hometown in Australia. The Gibbs brothers started to perform to raise spare change and spending money. They were introduced to Brisbane radio presenter jockey Bill Gates by dirt track racing promoter and driver Bill Goode, who had hired the brothers to entertain the crowd at the Redcliffe Speedway in 1960. The crowd at the speedway would throw money onto the track for the boys, who generally performed during the breaks. Gates changed their name from the Rattlesnakes to the BGs (Barry Gibbs initials).
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#21: Dance Little Lady Dance by Tina Charles
City: Montreal, PQ
Radio Station: CKGM
Peak Month: December 1977
Peak Position in Montreal ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Swedish Singles chart ~ #2
Peak Position on Australian Singles chart ~ #4
Peak Position on UK Singles chart ~ #6
YouTube: “Dance Little Lady Dance”
Lyrics: “Dance Little Lady Dance”
Tina Charles was born Tina Hoskins in London, England, in 1954. By the age of 14, in 1969, she was working as a session singer. When Hoskins was taken to CBS Records, that year she released her first non-album single titled “Nothing in the World” with a then obscure piano player in the studio named Reginald Dwight (who was soon took the stage name Elton John). During the early 1970s, she supplied vocals for the Top of the Pops album series of cover versions of contemporary hits. In 1971, she made appearances in the first series of The Two Ronnies, the BBC1 sketch show starring Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett, performing “River Deep – Mountain High”, “Ruby Tuesday” and other pop hits. Starting in the 70s, Tina Charles provided vocals and spoken word on a variety of TV commercials. These include Crosse & Blackwell, Vauxhall, Interflora and others.
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#29: Gold by Spandau Ballet
City: Montreal, PQ
Radio Station: CKOI
Peak Month: January 1984
Peak Position in Montreal ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #11
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #29
Peak Position on UK Singles chart ~ #2
Peak Position on Belgian Singles chart ~ #3
Peak Position on Dutch Singles Top 100 ~ #3
Peak Position on Ireland Singles chart ~ #4
Peak Position on Spain Singles chart ~ #4
YouTube: “Gold”
Lyrics: “Gold”
Spandau Ballet were an English new wave band formed in London, England, in 1979. Gary Kemp, on lead guitar, was the principal songwriter for the band. He was born in London in 1959. From the age of eleven, he appeared in several British children’s films. He performed on guitar for the children’s television show You Must Be Joking! in 1975. The following year he formed a band called Roots. The band subsequently changed its name to The Cut, The Makers and then Gentry. At this point, Gary’s brother Martin Kemp was in the band. Kemp was born in 1961 in London. He was also a child actor, in his case from the age of 7. He quit school at age 16 and worked as an apprentice at a print factory. He joined Gentry after learning to play bass guitar in three months.
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