#1: Don’t Let The Rain Fall Down On Me by the Critters
City: Cranbrook, BC
Radio Station: CKEK
Peak Month: September 1967
Peak Position in Cranbrook ~ #4
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #39
YouTube: “Don’t Let The Rain Fall Down On Me”
Lyrics: “Don’t Let The Rain Fall Down On Me”
In 1964 there was a group in Plainfield, New Jersey called the Vibratones. The lineup was comprised of Jimmy Ryan on lead guitar, Ken Gorka on bass guitar, Jack Decker on drums, Chris Darway on keyboards, and Bob Podstawski on saxophone. One night a local singer-songwriter named Don Ciccone came by to hear the group. His dad owned Bill Williams Auto Sales, and the Ciccone family lived in a 56-room mansion in Plainfield. Don Ciccone learned to play both guitar and bass guitar. The Vibratones were impressed with Ciccone being both a musician and a singer-songwriter. They asked him to join their group. Ciccone suggested they change their name to the Critters, a riff off of the British Invasion band the Animals who had a number-one hit with “House Of The Rising Sun”.
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#2: She May Call You Up Tonight by the Left Banke
City: Cranbrook, BC
Radio Station: CKEK
Peak Month: August 1967
Peak Position in Cranbrook ~ #5
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #120
YouTube: “She May Call You Up Tonight”
Lyrics: “She May Call You Up Tonight”
Carmelo Esteban “Steve” Martin Caro was born in Madrid, Spain, in 1948. His birth name was Carmelo Esteban Steve Martin. His father was a Spanish Consul General to the state of New York, but died just six months after taking up his new position. Steve Martin added “Caro” to his surname in the 1980s to avoid confusion with the popular comedian and actor, Steve Martin. Michael David Lookofsky was born in 1949 in Brooklyn, New York. He later took the surname of Brown. The Guardian writes “15-year-old Brown worked as a part time engineer at his father Harry Lookofsky’s recording studio in New York. In photos he looked mournful and out of time, with King Charles spaniel hair. He looked as if he would have felt at home in a Victorian drawing room, but the studio was where he met George Cameron, Tom Finn and singer Steve Martin (not the comedian). They became fast friends, forming the Left Banke in 1965.” Carlemo Esteban Steve Martin had met Tom Finn in front of the City Squire Hotel, in New York, after a Rolling Stones concert in May 1965. Finn told Martin about a mid-town recording studio which needed singers for session play. Before Michael Brown met up with his future bandmates, he had written one song for Reparata and the Delrons, as well as playing piano on some of their recording. Tom Finn had previously been in a group called the Magic Plants.
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#1: Somethin’ Else by Eddie Cochran
City: Cornwall, ON
Radio Station: CJSS
Peak Month: October 1959
Peak Position in Cornwall ~ #3
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #32
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #58
YouTube: “Somethin’ Else”
Lyrics: “Somethin’ Else”
Eddie Cochran was born in Albert Lea, Minnesota, in 1938. His family moved to the Los Angeles area in 1951 where Eddie attended Bell Gardens Junior High. While there he became friends with Connie ‘Guybo’ Smith. Smith was already a promising musical talent who played bass, steel guitar and mandolin. Eddie and Connie began to jam together and gave a concert at their junior high school. Connie “Guybo” Smith went on to become Cochran’s bass player and was one of the musicians heard on most records during Eddie’s brief professional career. In 1953, while still in junior high school, Eddie met another musician named Chuck Foreman. The two experimented with Foreman’s two-track tape recorder. The pair made recordings of a number of songs including “Stardust”, “The Poor People Of Paris”, “Hearts of Stone” and the “Cannonball Rag”. Cochran graduated from Bell Gardens Junior High in 1954.
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#1: I’m So Lonely by Bobby Jameson
City: Chatham, Ontario
Radio Station: CFCO
Peak Month: September 1964
Peak Position in Chatham ~ #3
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “I’m So Lonely”
Lyrics: N/A
Robert Parker Jameson was born in 1945 in Geneva, Illinois. He grew up in Tucson, Arizona. He and his brother began to learn guitar and entered talent contests, before his parents divorced. In 1963, at the age of 17, he began to record under the name Bobby Jameson. His first single was “Let’s Surf”. In 1964, Jameson met Tony Alamo, who became his manager and promised to make him a star. Alamo mounted a major promotional campaign in the music press, describing the 19-year-old Jameson as “The Star Of The Century” and “The World’s Next Phenomenon”.
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#2: Poor Man’s Son by the Reflections
City: Chatham, Ontario
Radio Station: CFCO
Peak Month: March 1965
Peak Position in Chatham ~ #6
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #17
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #55
YouTube: “Poor Man’s Son”
Lyrics: “Poor Man’s Son”
The Reflections were a group from Detroit. Tony Micale, born in the Bronx, New York, in 1942, was the lead vocalist. Detroit native, Phil Castrodale, was born in 1942 and was the first tenor. Dan Bennie was born in 1940 and born in Scotland, he was a second tenor with the Reflections. Baritone Ray Steinberg, born in Washington, Pennsylvania, in 1942. In 1941, bass singer John Dean was born in Detroit. Prior to the Reflections forming, Tony Micale was in a group called the Parisians. They They released their first single in 1963 titled “Helpless” on Kay-Ko Records. In January 1964, the Reflections released “(Just Like) Romeo & Juliet”. Soon after, they appeared on American Bandstand. In Canada, the single peaked at #1 in Windsor (ON), #2 in Winnipeg (MB), #3 in Peace River (AB), #4 in Hamilton (ON), #8 in St. John (NB), #10 in Revelstoke (BC) and #17 in Vancouver (BC). In the USA “Romeo & Juliet” climbed to #6 on the Billboard Hot 100.
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#14: Six Days On The Road by Dave Dudley
City: Calgary, Alberta
Radio Station: CFAC
Peak Month: July 1963
Peak Position in Calgary ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #32
Peak Position on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart ~ #2
YouTube: “Six Days On The Road”
Lyrics: “Six Days On The Road”
David Darwin Pedruska was born in 1928 in the hamlet of Spencer, Wisconsin. His grandparents came to the USA from East Prussia. At the age of 11, he was given a guitar by his grandfather and learned to play the chords. He had a short career as a semi-professional baseball player for a semi-pro team in Texas. After he suffered an arm injury, he was no longer able to play baseball. He then decided to pursue a career in country music. In 1955, he released his first single titled “Cry Baby Cry”. He was one of the earliest artists to record for the National Recording Corporation, with “Where’s There’s A Will” in 1959. Dudley was injured once again in 1960, this time in a car accident, setting back his career in music. By 1960, Dudley had released five singles and failed to crack the national country charts. He signed with Vee Jay Records and first appeared on the Country charts in 1961 with “Maybe I Do”. He later moved to Golden Wing Records.
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#15: Dear One by Darrell McCall
City: Calgary, Alberta
Radio Station: CFAC
Peak Month: May 1962
Peak Position in Calgary ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Dear One”
Lyrics: “Dear One”
Darrell McCall was born in 1940 in New Jasper Township, Greene County, Ohio. He was a childhood friend of future country music star Johnny Paycheck. At the age of 15, he landed a job as a disc jockey at a local Ohio radio show on Saturday mornings. During this time, he also performed as a musician at dances and other events. After graduating from high school, McCall joined the military and was stationed in Kentucky. In 1957 he appeared on an episode of Country Style U.S.A. In 1958, after finishing his duty in the army, McCall moved to Nashville with Paycheck to record as a duo. The duo failed, but McCall soon found work as a background singer during recording sessions for various artists including Faron Young, George Jones, and Ray Price. Next, he began to tour with the bands of Young, Price and Hank Williams Jr.
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#19: Do It Again by the Beach Boys
City: Calgary, Alberta
Radio Station: CKXL
Peak Month: September 1968
Peak Position in Calgary ~ #2
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #20
YouTube.com: “Do It Again”
Lyrics: “Do It Again”
Brian Wilson was born in Inglewood, California, in 1942. In biographer Peter Ames Carlin’s book, Catch a Wave: The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of the Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson, he relates that when Brian Wilson first heard George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” it had a huge emotional impact on him. As a youngster, Wilson learned to play a toy accordion and sang in children’s choirs. In his teens he started a group with his cousin, Mike Love and his brother, Carl. Mike was born in Los Angeles in 1941 and Carl was born in 1946 in Hawthorne, California. Brian Wilson named the group Carl and the Passions in order to convince his brother to join. They had a performance in the fall of 1960 at Hawthorne High School, where they attended. Their set included some songs by Dion and the Belmonts. Among the people in the audience was Al Jardine, another classmate. Jardine was born in Hawthorne in 1942. He was so impressed with the performance that he let the group know. Jardine would later be enlisted, along with Dennis Wilson to form the Pendletones in 1961. Dennis was born in Inglewood in 1944.
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#20: Magificent Seven by Al Caiola
City: Calgary, Alberta
Radio Station: CFAC
Peak Month in Calgary: January 1961
Peak Position #3
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #28
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #35
YouTube.com: “The Magnificent Seven”
Alexander Emil Caiola was born in 192o in Jersey City, New Jersey. During World War II Caiola played with the United States Marine Corps 5th Marine Division Band that also included jazz singer and bandleader Bob Crosby. Caiola served in the Battle of Iwo Jima as a stretcher bearer. He got work with CBS TV in 1946, and stayed until 1956, working on shows hosted by Ed Sullivan, Jackie Gleason, Arthur Godfrey and Steve Allen. Caiola was a studio musician in the 1950s in New York City. He released some minor records under his own name in that decade, including Deep in a Dream: The Guitar of Al Caiola in 1955. In addition, he performed under the musical direction of John Serry Sr. on an album for Dot Records in 1956. That year he released the album, Serenade In Blue. In 1958, Caiola released a jazz guitar album titled Music for Space Squirrels. And in 1959, another jazz guitar album High Strung, was released on RCA Victor after Caiola left Atco Records. In 1960, Al Caiola released seven studio albums featuring his guitar. These were variously on Time Records, Roulette Records, Chancellor Records, and finally United Artists.
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#5: People Sure Act Funny by Arthur Conley
City: Belleville, ON
Radio Station: CJBQ
Peak Month: August 1968
Peak Position in Belleville ~ #8
Peak Position in Vancouver ~ Hit Bound
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #58
YouTube: “People Sure Act Funny”
Lyrics: “People Sure Act Funny”
Arthur Lee Conley was born in rural McIntosh County, Georgia, on the Atlantic coast in 1946. At the age of 13, in 1959 he recorded as the lead singer of Arthur & the Corvets. With this group, he released three singles in 1963 and 1964—”Poor Girl”, “I Believe”, and “Flossie Mae”. In 1964, Conley released the single “I’m A Lonely Stranger” on a small Baltimore label. It got the attention of Otis Redding, and was re-recorded on Redding’s Jotis Records in 1965. The single climbed to #2 in December 1965 on the R&B station WAWA in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. More single releases followed as Conley switched to the Fame label, including “I Can’t Stop (No, No, No)”, which peaked at #3 on WRBD in Fort Lauderdale. While Fame Records release “Take Me Just As I Am” made the Top Ten on the Miami R&B station WAME, also in December 1966.
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