#919: Here’s To You by Hamilton Camp
Peak Month: June 1968
7 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #8
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #76
1 week Hitbound CKLG, April 20, 1968
YouTube.com: “Here’s To You”
Lyrics: “Here’s To You”
Bob Camp was born in London, England, in 1934. His family moved to the United States during World War II. At the age of twelve he got his first part in a motion picture called Bedlam, a B-horror movie starring Boris Karloff. Camp got cast as a shoeshine boy in Outrage in 1950, the second film out of Hollywood concerning a plot about rape. He played in the film noire classic from 1950, Dark City, and in another horror film, The Son of Dr. Jekyll. Over a career in film from 1946 to the mid-2000’s, he played in sixty movies. Some of the actors played alongside over his with include Errol Flynn, Robert Preston, Charlton Heston, Jack Webb, Olivia de Havilland, Richard Burton,Barbara Stanwyck, Robert Wagner, William Holden, Fredric March, Shelley Winters, Tony Curtis, Janet Leigh, Tommy Sands, Pat Boone, Anne Bancroft, Dustin Hoffman, Jim Backus, Ryan O’Neal, Tatum O’Neal, Burt Reynolds, Sally Field, Jackie Gleason, Billy Crystal, Joan Rivers, Warren Beatty, Julie Christie, Christopher Plummer, Art Carney, Barbra Streisand, Gene Hackman, Julie Andrews, Larry Hagman, Stockyard Channing, David Carradine, Demi Moore, Nick Nolte, Ed Harris, Tim Robbins, Clint Eastwood, Madeline Kahn, Mickey Rooney, Forest Whitaker, Al Pacino, Madonna, Catherine O’Hara and others.
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#1008: Concrete And Clay by Unit Four plus Two/Eddie Rambeau
Peak Month: May 1965
7 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #5
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #28/#35
YouTube.com: “Concrete And Clay” ~ Unit Four plus Two
YouTube.com: “Concrete And Clay” ~ Eddie Rambeau
Lyrics: “Concrete And Clay”
The east Hertfordshire, UK, based Unit Four plus Two had originally been formed as a four piece band named Unit Four. It was the brain child of the former lead guitarist of the Hunters, and member of Adam Faith’s Roulettes, Brian Parker. Parker, born in 1940 in Cheshunt, dropped out of the original line up (Parker, Moeller, Meikle, and Moules) because of failing health, but stayed in the background. Unit Four plus Two’s style was closer to folk music than progressive beat music. Still, they got a recording contract with Decca. Their singles were largely ignored and failed commercially in the UK singles chart until Parker co-wrote and produced the song “Concrete and Clay.” Pianist and guitar player, Tommy Moeller, born in Liverpool in 1945, was the other co-writer of the song, and a member of the group. This was a diversion from the folk material the band had been working with. Two of Parker’s former colleagues from the Roulettes (Russ Ballard and Bob Henrit) were drafted in to boost the rhythm section. The resulting record was a #1 hit in the UK which peaked at #28 on the Billboard Hot 100.
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#1319: From Me To You By Del Shannon/The Beatles
Peak Month: July 1963
8 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #14
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #77 (Del Shannon)/ #116 (the Beatles in 1963)
Youtube.com “From Me To You” The Beatles
Youtube.com “From Me To You” Del Shannon
Lyrics: “From Me To You”
Charles Weedon Westover was born on December 30, 1934. He was known professionally as Del Shannon. Westover was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He learned ukulele and guitar and listened to country music. He was drafted into the Army in 1954, and while in Germany played guitar in a band called The Cool Flames. When his service ended, he returned to Battle Creek, Michigan. There he worked as a carpet salesman and as a truck driver in a furniture factory. He found part-time work as a rhythm guitarist in singer Doug DeMott’s group called Moonlight Ramblers, working at the Hi-Lo Club. Ann Arbor deejay Ollie McLaughlin heard the band. In July 1960, Westover signed to become a recording artist and composer on the Bigtop label. Westover changed his name to Del Shannon. It was a combination of Shannon Kavanagh (a wannabe wrestler who patronized the Hi-Lo Club) with Del, derived from the Cadillac Coupe de Ville, which Westover’s carpet store boss drove.
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