#87: Love Walked In by Dinah Washington
City: Ottawa, ON
Radio Station: CKOY
Peak Month: November 1960
Peak Position in Ottawa ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #25
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #30
YouTube: “Love Walked In”
Lyrics: “Love Walked In”
Ruth Lee Jones was born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, in 1924. After her family moved to Chicago, she played piano for the choir in St. Luke’s Baptist Church while still in elementary school. She sang gospel music in church and played piano, directing her church choir in her teens and was a member of the Sallie Martin Gospel Singers. In 1939 when she was fifteen, she won an amateur contest at the Regal Theater in Chicago singing “I Can’t Face the Music”. By 1941–42, she was performing in such Chicago clubs as Dave’s Café and the Downbeat Room of the Sherman Hotel (with Fats Waller). She was playing at the Three Deuces, a jazz club, when a friend took her to hear Billie Holiday at the Garrick Stage Bar. Club owner Joe Sherman was so impressed with her singing of “I Understand”, – a hit that year on the pop chart for Jimmy Dorsey and on the R&B chart for Fats Waller – that he hired her. During her year at the Garrick—she sang upstairs while Holiday performed in the downstairs room—she acquired the name by which she became known. She credited Joe Sherman with suggesting the change from Ruth Jones, made before Lionel Hampton came to hear Dinah at the Garrick. Hampton’s visit brought an offer, and Washington worked as his female band vocalist after she had sung with the band for its opening at the Chicago Regal Theatre.
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#32: Goodbye Baby (I Don’t Want To See You Cry) by Tommy Boyce & Bobby Hart
City: Fredericton, NB
Radio Station: CFNB
Peak Month: May 1968
Peak Position in Fredericton: #4
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #53
YouTube: “Goodbye Baby (I Don’t Want to See You Cry)”
Lyrics: “Goodbye Baby (I Don’t Want to See You Cry)”
Sidney Thomas “Tommy” Boyce was born in 1939 in Charlottesville, Virgina. He was one half of the pop duo with Bobby Hart. The two wrote numbers of songs for other recording artists including The Monkees, Jay and The Americans and Little Anthony and The Imperials. Boyce was separately pursuing a career as a singer. After being rejected numerous times, Boyce took his father’s suggestion to write a song called “Be My Guest” for rock and roll star Fats Domino. He waited six hours at Domino’s hotel room to present him with the demo, and got Domino to promise to listen to the song. In 1959 the song hit #8 in the US and #11 in the UK, becoming Domino’s biggest hit there in several years, and sold over a million copies.
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#198: Night Life by Rusty Draper
City: Montreal, PQ
Radio Station: CJAD
Peak Month: November 1963
Peak Position in Montreal ~ #5
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #57
YouTube: “Night Life”
Lyrics: “Night Life”
Farrell Haliday “Rusty” Draper was born in 1923 in Kirksville (MO). Nicknamed “Rusty” for his red hair, he began performing on his uncle’s radio show in Tulsa (OK) in the mid-1930s. Draper moved on to work at radio stations in Des Moines (IA) —sometimes filling in for sports announcer Ronald Reagan —and in Illinois before moving to San Francisco. He began to sing in local clubs, becoming resident singer at the Rumpus Room in San Francisco. By the early 1950s, he had begun appearing on national TV shows, including The Ed Sullivan Show and Ozark Jubilee.
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#168: Wild Is The Wind by Johnny Mathis
City: Ottawa, ON
Radio Station: CKOY
Peak Month: January 1958
Peak Position in Ottawa ~ #4
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #16
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #22
YouTube: “Wild Is The Wind”
Lyrics: “Wild Is The Wind”
Johnny Mathis was born in Gilmer (TX) in 1935. His family moved to San Francisco when he was 5-years-old. His father was a vaudeville singer and piano player. Mathis began learning songs and routines from his father. Mathis’ first song was “My Blue Heaven”. He started singing and dancing for visitors at home, at school, and at church functions. When Mathis was 13, voice teacher Connie Cox accepted him as her student in exchange for housework. Mathis studied with Cox for six years, learning vocal scales and exercises, voice production, classical and operatic singing. In 1955, Mathis got a job singing weekends at Ann Dee’s 440 Club in San Francisco.
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#1: Like To Get To Know You by Spanky and Our Gang
City: New Glasgow, NS
Radio Station: CKEC
Peak Month: May 1968
Peak Position in New Glasgow ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #23
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #17
YouTube: “Like To Get To Know You”
Lyrics: “Like To Get To Know You”
Spanky and Our Gang was a sunshine pop group led by Elaine “Spanky” McFarlane. She was born in Peoria, Illinois, in 1942. In 1959, she arrived in Chicago and began to perform in jazz clubs with Lil Hardin Armstrong (Louis Armstrong’s second wife), Earl Hines, and Little Brother Montgomery. She soon got involved with the burgeoning folk crowd and formed a trio with Roger McGuinn (future frontman of The Byrds) and Guy Guilbert called the Old Town Trio. The trio played in local Chicago area bars and coffee houses for a summer. In 1962, she joined the New Wine Singers. Fellow singer Arnie Lanza nicknamed her Spanky because of the similarity of her last name, McFarlane, to the last name of child actor George McFarland who played Spanky in the Our Gang(also known as The Little Rascals) comedies about poor neighborhood children and their adventures. The nickname stuck.
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#172: Mr. Success by Frank Sinatra
City: Ottawa, ON
Radio Station: CKOY
Peak Month: December 1958
Peak Position in Ottawa ~ #5
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #30
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #41
Peak Position on UK Singles chart ~ #25
YouTube: “Mr. Success”
Lyrics: “Mr. Success”
Francis Albert Sinatra was born in 1915 in Hoboken, NJ. Sinatra spent much time at his parents’ tavern in Hoboken, working on his homework and occasionally singing for spare change. After leaving school before graduating, Sinatra began performing in local Hoboken social clubs and sang for free on radio stations such as WAAT in Jersey City. In New York, Sinatra found jobs singing for his supper or for cigarettes. He got his first break in 1935 when his mother persuaded a local singing group called the 3 Flashes to let him join. Baritone Fred Tamburro stated that “Frank hung around us like we were gods or something”, admitting that they only took him on board because he owned a car and could chauffeur the group around. Sinatra soon learned they were auditioning for the Major Bowes Amateur Hour show, and “begged” the group to let him in on the act. With Sinatra, the group became known as the Hoboken Four, and passed an audition from Edward Bowes to appear on the show. They each earned $12.50, and ended up attracting 40,000 votes to win first prize—a six-month contract to perform on stage and radio across the U.S. Sinatra quickly became the group’s lead singer, and, much to the jealousy of his fellow group members, garnered most of the attention from girls.
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#1: Three Sheets To The Wind by the Four Aces
City: Oshawa, ON
Radio Station: CKLB
Peak Month: July 1957
Peak Position in Oshawa ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Three Sheets To The Wind”
Lyrics: N/A
Al Albertini was born in Chester (PA) in 1922. In his childhood, young al appeared on a radio show from Philadelphia called The Horn and Hardart Children’s Hour. Horn and Hardart’s slogan was “Less work for mother dear whose gentle hands, lead us so kindly through little folk lands. We’ll give her happiness, each kindness, each caress repaid with thoughtfulness. Less work for mother dear.” After high school graduation in 1940, he was drafted into the United States Navy after the nation entered WWII in December 1941. While he was in the navy, Albertini met Dave Mahoney, and the pair discovered a mutual interest in singing and music. After WWII, they added Rosario “Sod” Vaccaro and Lou Silvestri to become a foursome. By the late 40s they were billed as The Four Aces. They released their first single, “Baby, wha hoppen”, in 1949.
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#28: Run Sally Run by the Cuff Links
City: Fredericton, NB
Radio Station: CFNB
Peak Month: March 1970
Peak Position in Fredericton: #3
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #76
YouTube: “Run Sally Run”
Lyrics: “Run Sally Run”
The Cuff Links were a creation of Paul Vance and Lee Pockriss who wrote and produced the group’s material. They hired musicians to sing and play, and controlled the Cuff Links name. Ron Dante, the lead singer of The Archies, was the lead singer on the Cuff Links debut single “Tracy”. He provided multi-tracks of Dante’s voice to record “Tracy”. The single shot to #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the fall of 1969. When a band was assembled to tour with the hit single, Ron Dante decided not to tour with the Cuff Links. The band that was assembled to tour was comprised of Pat Rizzo (saxophone), Rich Dimino (keyboards), Bob Gill (trumpet/flugelhorn/flute), Dave Lavender (guitar), Andrew “Junior” Denno (bass), Joe Cord (vocals) and Danny Valentine (drums).
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#3: Date With The Blues by Billy Williams
City: Oshawa, ON
Radio Station: CKLB
Peak Month: July 1957
Peak Position in Oshawa ~ #2
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Date With The Blues”
Lyrics: “Date With The Blues”
Wilfred “Billy” Williams was born in Waco (TX) in 1911. His dad was a Methodist minister. Growing up, he sang in choirs at churches where his father was the pastor, with his mother often the choir director. He was frequently a soloist, and he also learned to help her arrange music. From the early 1930s, Billy Williams was a member of the Charioteers, a gospel and pop group. With Williams as lead singer from 1935, The Charioteers signed a contract with Decca Records. They had a #23 pop hit in the USA in 1940 titled “So Long”. Williams served in the United States Army during World War II after the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. He received a medical discharge in 1944. Back from the Army, Williams and the Charioteers had a #9 pop hit backing Frank Sinatra in 1945 titled “Don’t Forget Tonight Tomorrow”. In 1947 The Charioteers version of “Open The Door Richard” climbed to #6 on the pop chart. They equaled their success in 1948 backing Buddy Clark on “Now Is The Hour”.
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#2: Strawberry Shortcake by Jay & the Techniques
City: New Glasgow, NS
Radio Station: CKEC
Peak Month: February-March 1968
Peak Position in New Glasgow ~ #2
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #27
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #39
YouTube: “Strawberry Shortcake”
Lyrics: “Strawberry Shortcake”
Jay & The Techniques was a pop group from Allentown (PA) formed in 1965. The group Jay & The Techniques was born when lead vocalist Jay Proctor (born in October 1940) and vocalist George “Lucky” Lloyd teamed with an all-white band. The white members of the newly formed inter-racial band were lead guitar player Dante Dancho, bass guitar player Chuck Crowl, drummer Karl Landis (born Karl Lippowitsch), saxophone player Ronnie Goosley, and trumpeter Jon Walsh. Along with Sly and the Family Stone, Jay & The Techniques were among the first inter-racial bands to break into Top 40 radio. Jay Proctor had his stage debut singing acapella in 1958 in a group called Hambone. In 1960 and ’61, Proctor had cut a few unsuccessful singles. George Lloyd was born in 1941, and by 1956 was an aspiring singer who made his first recording at the age of 15 with a group called the Jaylarks. Initially, Jay & The Techniques were called the Floridians.
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