#835: Stay Awhile by Dusty Springfield
Peak Month: June 1964
7 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #7
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #38
YouTube.com link: “Stay Awhile”
Lyrics: “Stay Awhile”
Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O’Brien was born in West Hampstead in north London, in 1939. Along with her oldest brother, Dion, she recorded her first tape of a song they sang while still children. Her dad was an unhappy accountant who dreamed of becoming a concert pianist, but never became one. While Mary’s mother, according to the Karen Bartlett autobiography, Dusty: An Intimate Portrait, “was continuously drunk and sat all day in cinemas.”As she grew up, Mary went to school at a Roman Catholic Convent. At the age of 18 she became a member of a female group named the Lana Sisters. The group sang backup to pop singer Al Saxton who had several Top 30 hits in the late 50’s in the UK, including a cover of Sam Cooke’s “Only Sixteen” and “You’re The Top Cha”. While Saxton enjoyed his moments of fame, Mary teamed up with her brother, Dion, and a friend of theirs named Tim Field. By the end of 1959 she had taken the stage name of Dusty Springfield. The trio, now known as The Springfields, got a record deal with Philips Records in 1961.
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#870: Tell Me What He Said by Helen Shapiro
Peak Month: May 1962
8 weeks on CFUN chart
Peak Position ~ #8
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
CFUN Twin Pick April 11, 1962
YouTube.com link: “Tell Me What He Said”
Lyrics: “Tell Me What He Said”
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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#885: 5-4-3-2-1 by Manfred Mann
Peak Month: November 1964
7 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #6
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
CFUN Twin Pick October 24, 1964
YouTube.com: “5-4-3-2-1”
Lyrics: “5-4-3-2-1”
Manfred Sepse Lubowitz was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 1940. Raised in a Jewish family, Manfred studied music at the University of the Witwatersrand, and formed a rock ‘n roll band called The Vikings in 1959. Lubowitz was against the South African system of Apartheid, first introduced in 1948, and becoming entrenched and expanded under the leadership of Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd. So Manfred Lubowitz moved to Britain. He began to write for Jazz News under the pseudonym, Manfred Manne. In time he shortened his adopted surname to Mann. In 1962 he met Mike Hugg at a holiday camp at Clacton-on-Sea. They decided to start a band and named it the Mann-Hugg Blues Brothers. Hugg was born in Hampshire, England, in 1942, and had studied jazz growing up. They got a record contract in 1963.
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#886: The Colour Of My Love by Jefferson
Peak Month: October 1969
7 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #7
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #68
YouTube.com: “The Colour Of My Love”
Lyrics: The Colour Of My Love”
Geoffrey Turton was born in Birmingham, UK, in 1944. Turton attended Turves Green Secondary Boys School. He played clarinet in the school band and it was there he met fellow clarinetist, Brian “Chuck” Botfield, around 1954. Botfield went on to Moseley College of Art and formed a skiffle band called the Bobcats. (In the late 50’s, one of the band members was Christine Perfect. She went on to become Christine McVie and was a lead vocalist for Fleetwood Mac). The Bobcats were renamed The Rockin’ Berries since they played a lot of songs by American R&B singer and guitar player, Chuck Berry. Meanwhile, Geoff Turton was in another band called The Swinging Chimes. The Rockin’ Berries had a tour to Germany, but had failed to land a record contract. Some of the band members departed and Chuck Botfield asked Geoffrey Turton to join the band ahead of the German tour. Turton remembers, “I got the call from Chuck right out of the blue so I literally downed tools – I was working in a factory as a toolmaker – and flew out to Germany to join them.”
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#893: (There’s) Always Something There To Remind Me by Sandie Shaw
Peak Month: December 1964
8 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #6
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #52
YouTube.com: “(There’s) Always Something There To Remind Me”
Lyrics: “(There’s) Always Something There To Remind Me”
Sandra Ann Goodrich was born in 1947 in Dagenham, a suburb in East London. In 1964 the British press called her the “original Brit Girl.” They were referring to her chiseled cheekbones, independent girl about town aura and otherworldliness as she performed on stages barefoot. In 1963, at the age of 16, Sandie Shaw was working as a fashion model for a photography company pitching photos to magazines. She was also singing on stages at night hoping to get a break. Shaw was “discovered” by singer, Adam Faith at a concert in which they both performed. Worked as a photographic fashion model to fill in time. At 17, she began her career as an international singing and recording star. Her first single, “As Long as You’re Happy Baby”, didn’t make the UK charts when it was released in July, 1964. However, Pye Records was confident she would soon be a make it big.
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#910: Just Another Guy/The Minute You’re Gone by Cliff Richard
Peak Month: May 1965
9 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #10 ~ Just Another Guy
5 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #11 ~ The Minute You’re Gone
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Just Another Guy”
Lyrics: “Just Another Guy”
YouTube.com: “The Minute You’re Gone”
Lyrics: “The Minute You’re Gone”
Cliff Richard was born Harry Roger Webb on October 14, 1940, in the city of Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh, India. In 1940 Lucknow was part of the British Raj, as India was not yet an independent country. Webb’s father worked on as a catering manager for the Indian Railways. His mother raised Harry and his three sisters. In 1948, when India had become independent, the Webb family took a boat to Essex, England, and began a new chapter. At the age of 16 Harry Webb was given a guitar by his father. Harry then formed a vocal group called the Quintones. Webb was interested in skiffle music, a type of jug band music, popularized by “The King of Skiffle,” Scottish singer Lonnie Donegan who had an international hit in 1955 called “Rock Island Line”.
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#924: What’s It Gonna Be by Dusty Springfield
Peak Month: January 1968
8 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #9
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #49
YouTube.com: “What’s It Gonna Be”
Lyrics: “What’s It Gonna Be”
Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O’Brien was born in West Hampstead in north London, in 1939. Along with her oldest brother, Dion, she recorded her first tape of a song they sang while still children. Her dad was an unhappy accountant who dreamed of becoming a concert pianist, but never became one. While Mary’s mother, according to the Karen Bartlett autobiography, Dusty: An Intimate Portrait, “was continuously drunk and sat all day in cinemas.”As she grew up, Mary went to school at a Roman Catholic Convent. At the age of 18 she became a member of a female group named the Lana Sisters. The group sang backup to pop singer Al Saxton who had several Top 30 hits in the late 50’s in the UK, including a cover of Sam Cooke’s “Only Sixteen” and “You’re The Top Cha”. While Saxton enjoyed his moments of fame, Mary teamed up with her brother, Dion, and a friend of theirs named Tim Field. By the end of 1959 she had taken the stage name of Dusty Springfield. The trio, now known as The Springfields, got a record deal with Philips Records in 1961.
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#948: Take A Chance With Me by Roxy Music
Peak Month: September 1982
9 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #10
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Take A Chance With Me”
Lyrics: “Take A Chance With Me”
In 1945, Bryan Ferry was born in Washington, near Durham, England. His dad worked on a farm and took care of pit ponies. After he got his undergraduate degree, he took courses in fine art at Newcastle University in the mid’60’s. While he was studying, he was part of a student band named the City Blues. With his fine arts degree he started to teach pottery at a girl’s school in London. Concurrently, Ferry founded a band called Banshees. After that he formed a band that included Graham Simpson named the Gas Board. In 1968 he took up residence in London. Ferry was fired from his teaching post for hosting sessions with the ceramics students where they listened to records. Ferry moved on and assembled a band with bass player, Graham Simpson, saxophone and oboe player, Andy MacKay, synthesizer player, Brian Eno, guitarist, Phil Manzanera, and Paul Thompson on drums and percussion being the musicians who endured in the midst of a few minor lineup changes in the early years. He called the band Roxy Music.
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#954: Gimmie Shelter by The Rolling Stones
Peak Month: July 1970
6 weeks on Vancouver’s CKVN chart
Peak Position #6
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Gimmie Shelter”
Lyrics: “Gimmie Shelter”
Michael Philip Jagger was born in Dartford, Kent, England, in 1943, some 18 miles east of London. Though his father and grandfather were both teachers by profession, and he was encouraged to be a teacher, the boy had different aspirations. “I always sang as a child. I was one of those kids who just liked to sing. Some kids sing in choirs; others like to show off in front of the mirror. I was in the church choir and I also loved listening to singers on the radio–the BBC or Radio Luxembourg –or watching them on TV and in the movies.” In 1950 Mick Jagger met Keith Richards while attending primary school. They became good friends until the summer of 1954 when the Jagger family moved to the village of Wilmington, a mile south of Dartford. The pair bumped into each other at a train station in 1961 and resumed their friendship.
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#749: Bend It by Dave, Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick And Tich
Peak Month: December 1966
7 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #2
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Bend It”
Lyrics: “Bend It”
In the late 1950’s there were a number of bands playing in Salisbury, England. Trevor “Dozy” Davies was in a band called the Beatnicks. He cross paths with Ian “Tich” Amey who was playing in a band called Eddy and the Strollers. Dozy got Tich to join the Beatnicks. Looking for new members for the Beatnicks, a bandmate with the Coasters and also the Big Boppers, named David “Dave Dee” Harman, was added to the Beatnicks. Then Tich suggested to his buddy from school days, John “Beaky” Dymond, to also leave the Big Boppers and join the Beatnicks. Soon the band was named Ronnie Blonde and the Beatnicks. But when Ronnie didn’t appear for a gig, Dave Dee did the lead vocals. The performance went so well that Dave Dee became the lead vocalist. Meanwhile, Dozy met a bloke named Michael “Mick” Wilson while riding on a bus. Mick joined the band who soon changed their name to Dave Dee & the Bostons. By the end of 1961 most of the bandmates, who were painters and auto-mechanics by trade, quit their jobs to become musicians. Continue reading →
