#22: Run Runaway by Slade
City: Winnipeg, MB
Radio Station: CKY
Peak Month: July 1984
Peak Position in Winnipeg ~ #1
Peak Position in Vancouver ~ #6
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #20
YouTube: “Run Runaway”
Lyrics: “Run Runaway”
Slade is a band formed in 1963 in Wolverhampton, UK. There were a few lineup changes between 1963 and 1966. However, the classic lineup consisted of Dave Hill, Don Powell, Jim Lea, and Noddy Holder. David Hill was born in 1946 near Plymouth, Devon, England. Hill bought his first guitar from a mail-order catalogue and received some guitar lessons from a science teacher at his school. He then formed a band called The Young Ones with some school friends. Subsequently, Dave Hill played with Don Powell in a band called The Vendors, whose name was then changed to The N’ Betweens. Don Powell was born in a suburb of Wolverhampton in 1946. He started to play drums while he was in the Boy Scouts in 1958. Hill and Powell met Jim Lea and Noddy Holder, and the N’Betweens morphed into Slade.
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#11: Inside Looking Out by the Animals
City: St. John’s, NL
Radio Station: VOCM
Peak Month: April 1966
Peak Position in St. John’s ~ #3
Peak Position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #34
YouTube: “Inside Looking Out”
Lyrics: “Inside Looking Out”
Eric Victor Burdon was born in 1941 in Newcastle Upon Tyne, England. He was born into a working class family. Due to the river pollution and humidity in Newcastle he suffered asthma attacks daily. During primary school, Burdon writes in his memoir, Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood, he was “stuck at the rear of the classroom of around 40 to 50 kids and received constant harassment from kids and teachers alike”. He goes on to say his primary school was “jammed between a slaughterhouse and a shipyard on the banks of the Tyne. Some teachers were sadistic…and sexual molestation and regular corporal punishment with a leather strap was the order of the day.” In his song “When I Was Young”, he states he met his first love at 13, who was very experienced while he was not. He also says he smoked his first cigarette at 10 years old and would skip school with his friends to drink.
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#142: Young Guns by Wham!
City: Montreal, PQ
Radio Station: CKGM
Peak Month: May 1983
Peak Position in Montreal ~ #3
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Young Guns”
Lyrics: “Young Guns”
Wham! is the name of a British pop duo formed in 1981. George Michael (born Georgiōs Kyriakos Panagiōtou) was born in East Finchley, England, in 1963. In his teens, he began his involvement in the music business by working as a DJ, playing at the Bel Air Restaurant in London. In 1975, he met Andrew Ridgeley in school in Bushey, Hertfordshire. Andrew Ridgeley was also born in 1963, in Surrey, England. Prior to forming Wham! with George Michael, Ridgeley was in a band called The Executive. Ridgeley explained that the name originated from a need for “something that captured the essence of what set us apart—our energy and our friendship—and then it came to us: Wham! Wham! was snappy, immediate, fun and boisterous too.” In 1982, the debut record to be released by the band was “Wham Rap!” in June 1982. The song charted at only No. 105 on the UK pop chart. However, it was re-released in 1983 when the band was catching on and reached the Top Ten in Australia, the Netherlands and the UK.
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#46: Not Responsible by Helen Shapiro
City: Saskatoon, SK
Radio Station: CKOM
Peak Month: November 1963
Peak Position in Saskatoon ~ #6
Peak Position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Not Responsible”
Lyrics: “Not Responsible”
In 1946 Helen Kate Shapiro was born in East End, London. She is the granddaughter of Russian Jewish immigrants and her parents, who were piece-workers in the garment industry, attended Lea Bridge Road Synagogue. Although too poor to own a record player, Shapiro’s parents encouraged music in their home. Helen had to borrow a neighbor’s record player to hear her first hit single. Shapiro played banjolele as a child and sang occasionally with her brother, Ron, in his youth club skiffle group. Helen had a deep timbre to her voice, atypical in a girl who was still a child. Her elementary school friends gave her the nickname “Foghorn.” When she turned ten years old, Helen Shapiro became a member of Susie and the Hula Hoops, with her cousin, 60’s pop singer, Susan Singer. Shapiro also participated in a school band which included Marc Bolan (then using his real name of Mark Feld, and later founder of glam rock group T. Rex) as guitarist.
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#216: Sexcrime (Nineteen Eighty-Four) by Eurythmics
City: Montreal, PQ
Radio Station: CKOI
Peak Month: February 1985
Peak Position in Montreal ~ #9
Peak Position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #81
YouTube: “Sexcrime (Nineteen Eighty-Four)”
Lyrics: “Sexcrime (Nineteen Eighty-Four)”
The Eurythmics were the duo of Annie Lennox and David Stewart. They were part of the New Wave music with a heavy reliance on a synth-pop sound. They were especially successful in the UK with hits that included “Love is a Stranger”, “Sweet Dreams Are Made of This”, “Who’s That Girl?” and “Here Comes the Rain Again”. They had a successful duet with Aretha Franklin in 1985 titled “Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves”.
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#13: Don’t Make Me Over by the Swinging Blue Jeans
City: St. John’s, NL
Radio Station: VOCM
Peak Month: April 1966
Peak Position in St. John’s ~ #2
Peak Position in Vancouver ~ #24
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #116
Peak Position on UK Singles chart ~ #31
Peak Position on Australian Singles chart ~ #35
YouTube: “Don’t Make Me Over”
Lyrics: “Don’t Make Me Over”
The Swinging Blue Jeans had their origins in a band called the Bluegenes, a jazz-influenced skiffle sextet group formed by Bruce McCaskill. From the liner notes on their 1964 album Hippy Hippy Shake, there is a great description about the Swinging Blue Jeans’ origins. “It was in 1959 that Ray Ennis (born in 1942 in Liverpool) and Norman Kuhlke (born in 1942 in Liverpool) met in a dance hall in Garston, a suburb of Liverpool. And it was that meeting that led to the formation of the Swinging Blue Jeans. Ray was a regular singer with the group playing at Garston’s Wilson Hall. Norman used to go in, listen to the band, and request songs for Ray to sing. (“One of my biggest fans,” Ray laughs). Together they formed the SBJ – washboard (which Norman played), tea-chest bass and three guitars (one of which Ray played). They appeared at clubs and dance halls in and around Liverpool for a year, and then, in a talent contest at the Empire Theatre one night, they came up against a group led by Ralph Ellis (born in 1942 in Liverpool).”
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#8: We’re Doing Fine by Billy J. Krammer and the Dakotas
City: St. John’s, NL
Radio Station: VOCM
Peak Month: April 1966
Peak Position in St. John’s ~ #2
Peak Position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “We’re Doing Fine”
Lyrics: N/A
William “Billy” Howard Ashton was born in Bootle, Lancashire, England, in 1943. He sang in a children’s choir and learned to play guitar. Out of high school he apprenticed as an engineer with British Railways, while playing rhythm guitar on the side. He formed a band and only ended up lead vocalist when his guitar was stolen after a gig. Billy was the highest-ranking non-professional artist in a popularity contest sponsored by the local music newspaper Merseybeat. His manager got him connected to Brian Epstein, the manager of The Beatles. Epstein took over Billy’s management, and got his a contract with George Martin, who was producing The Beatles’ recordings.
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#4: La La La by Gerry and the Pacemakers
City: St. John’s, NL
Radio Station: VOCM
Peak Month: April 1966
Peak Position in St. John’s ~ #1
Peak Position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #90
YouTube: “La La La”
Lyrics: “La La La”
In September 1942, Gerry Marsden was born in Liverpool, UK. His interest in music began at an early age. During World War II Marsden recalls standing on top of an air raid shelter singing “Ragtime Cowboy Joe”. Passers by applauded. Gerry and Fred Marsden’s father was a railway clerk who entertained the neighbours by playing the ukulele. With the vogue for skiffle music in the mid-’50s, he took the skin off one of his instruments, put it over a tin of Quality Street and said to Freddie, “There’s your first snare drum, son.” Gerry sang in a church choir by the age of twelve. In 1957 the brothers appeared in the show Dublin To Dingle at the Pavilion Theatre in Lodge Lane. Studies meant little to either of them. Freddie left school and worked for a candle-maker earning £4 a week, and Gerry’s job was as a delivery boy for the railways. Their parents did not mind and encouraged their musical ambitions. Marsden formed the group in the late ’50s, calling themselves, The Mars-Bars, a nod to the Mars Bar candy bar and the first syllable of Marsden’s surname. The band consisted of Marsden as frontman and guitarist, Fred Marsden on drums, Les Chadwick on bass, and Arthur Mack on piano. The latter left in ’61 to be replaced by Les McGuire (who also played saxophone).
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#16: Don’t Push Me by Hedgehoppers Anonymous
City: St. John’s, NL
Radio Station: VOCM
Peak Month: April 1966
Peak Position in St. John’s ~ #4
Peak Position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #123
Peak Position on Australian Singles chart ~ #28
YouTube: “Don’t Push Me”
Lyrics: “Don’t Push Me”
Hedgehoppers Anonymous were a British band founded in 1963. The members were Mick Tinsley (born 1940 in Portsmouth, England), John Stewart (born in Kincardineshire, Scotland, in 1941), Ray Honeybull (born in 1941 in County Durham, England), and Leslie Dash. The rhythm guitarist with the group was Tony Cockayne. Tinsley was with the Electrons before forming the band in 1963. In 1963 they took the name The Trendsetters and settled on Hedgehoppers in 1964. The bandmates were Royal Air Force personnel at the RAF base in Wittering, England. “Hedgehoppers” was RAF slang for low flying aircraft. Jonathan King took over management of the band in 1965 and added “Anonymous” to their name.
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#1: Go Now by the Moody Blues
City: Chatham, ON
Radio Station: CFCO
Peak Month: April 1965
Peak Position in Chatham ~ #1
Peak Position in Vancouver ~ #5
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #10
YouTube.com: “Go Now”
Lyrics: “Go Now”
Born in 1941 in wartime England, Ray Thomas picked up harmonica at the age of nine. He was in the Birmingham Youth Choir and in October 1958 he joined a skiffle group called The Saints and Sinners. The band split up in June 1959. The Saints and Sinners helped Ray discover how well his vocals were received by audiences. Next, he formed El Riot and the Rebels, featuring Ray Thomas as El Riot dressed in a green satin Mexican toreador outfit. The band won a number of competitions in the Birmingham area. It was here that Ray became known for making an entrance onstage by sliding to center stage on his knees. On one occasion Thomas sent a row of potted tulips flying into the audience. El Riot and the Rebels appeared several times on a local variety show called Lunchbox. They made their debut on Lunchbox on November 14, 1962, and played “Guitar Tango” and “I Remember You”. Mike Pinder joined El Riot and the Rebels on keyboards. On April 15, 1963, El Riot and the Rebels performed at The Riverside Dancing Club in Tenbury Wells as the opening act for The Beatles. Pinder went off to serve in the British Army. When he returned, Thomas and Pinder left El Riot and the Rebels and formed a new band called the Krew Kats.Continue reading →
