#1227: Jingle Bell Rock by Chubby Checker and Bobby Rydell
Peak Month: December 1961
5 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN Chart
Peak Position #3
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #21
YouTube.com: “Jingle Bell Rock”
Lyrics: “Jingle Bell Rock”
Ernest Evans was born in 1941 in Spring Gulley, South Carolina. He grew up in South Philadelphia. As a child, his mother took him to a show performed by child piano prodigy Sugar Child Robinson. Also at the performance was the country singer Ernest Tubb. Ernest was so inspired, that he decided to become an entertainer when he grew up. At the age of eleven he formed a street corner doo-wop group. He took up piano and while attending South Philadelphia High School, one of his friends was Fabian Forte. After school he worked at Fresh Farm Poultry on 9th Street at the Produce Market. His boss decided to give a nickname to his portly employee and called him “Chubby.”
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#89: Bonnie B by Jerry Lee Lewis
Peak Month: January 1962
11 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN Chart
Peak Position #1
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Bonnie B”
Lyrics” “Bonnie B”
In 1935 Jerry Lee Lewis was born in Ferriday, Louisiana. On a 1961 album liner note, it was written “From the time he was big enough to reach the keyboard he has been playing and singing.” At the age of nine he started playing the piano. He imitated the styles of preachers and black musicians that passed through his community. His playing style was creative and outrageous. Jerry Lee Lewis rose to become one of rock ‘n rolls’ first showman in the mid-50s. He incorporated some of what he heard into his musical style from listening to radio shows like the Grand Ole Opry and Louisiana Hayride. Among his influences were Jimmie Rodgers, Hank Williams and Al Jolson. At the age of ten his dad decided to mortgage the family farm so he could purchase a piano for Jerry Lee to play. Lewis first performed in public when he was fourteen years old at the opening of a local car dealership. At age fourteen he quit school and honed his musical skills. But before he became a famous recording act, Lewis sold sewing machines to help make some money.
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#91: Poor Boy/Let Me/Were Gonna Move by Elvis Presley
B-side: “Poor Boy”
Peak Month: December 1956
7 weeks on Vancouver’s Red Robinson Teen Canteen Survey
Peak Position #1
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #35
YouTube.com: “Poor Boy”
Lyrics: “Poor Boy”
A-side: “Let Me”
Peak Month: December 1956
5 weeks on Vancouver’s Red Robinson Teen Canteen Survey
Peak Position #2
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Let Me”
Lyrics: “Let Me”
B-side: “We’re Gonna Move”
Peak Month: December 1956
6 weeks on Vancouver’s Red Robinson Teen Canteen Survey
Peak Position #3
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “We’re Gonna Move”
Lyrics: “We’re Gonna Move”
Elvis Aaron Presley was born on in a two-room house in Tupelo, Mississippi, on January 8, 1935. His twin brother, Jessie Garon Presley, was stillborn. When he was eleven years old his parents bought him a guitar at the Tupelo Hardware Store. As a result Elvis grew up as an only child. He and his parents, Vernon and Gladys, moved to Memphis, Tennessee, in 1948. The young Presley graduated from high school in 1953. That year he stopped by the Memphis Recording Service to record two songs, including “That’s When Your Heartaches Begin”. Elvis’ musical influences were the pop and country music of the time, the gospel music he heard in church and at the all-night gospel sings he frequently attended, and the black R&B he absorbed on historic Beale Street as a Memphis teenager. In 1954, Elvis began his singing career recording “That’s All Right” and “Blue Moon Of Kentucky” at Sun Records in Memphis.
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#92: Automatic Reaction by Nino & The Ebb Tides
Peak Month: October 1964
10 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #1
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Automatic Reaction”
Nino & The Ebb Tides formed in 1956, initially billed as The Ebb Tides. They were from the Bronx, one of the boroughs of New York City. The members of the classic lineup of this doo-wop group were lead singer Antonio “Nino Aiello, bass singer Vinnie Drago, baritone Tony Imbimbo, and second tenor Ralph Bracco. Nino and Vinnie were schoolmates, and initially recruited Tony Delesio and another singer remembered only as Rudy. They met talent scout Murray Jacobs, who cut two sides with them in 1957: “Franny Franny”. The song was written by Nino, Vinnie and Tony. By the fall of 1957 the quartet was billed as Nino and the Ebb Tides. They got a record deal with Bill Miller’s West 44th Street Acme label. “Franny Franny” was getting some solid rotation from New York jocks like Alan Fredericks and Alan Freed and the group was performing at Sock hops along with other New York groups. Tony wanted the group to shift their sound to a light jazz in the vein of the Hi-Los. But, Tony was drafted into the United States Army. He was replaced by Ralph Bracco. Meanwhile, Rudy left the group and was replaced by Tony Imbimbo.
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#93: Joey by Concrete Blonde
Peak Month: September 1990
15 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #1
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #19
YouTube.com: “Joey”
Lyrics: “Joey”
Concrete Blonde is a band co-founded in 1986 by Johnette Napolitano and James Mankey. Napolitano was born in Los Angeles in 1957. She was a gifted child in an arts program from a young age. In 1982, she and Mankey began to perform together in Dream 6. Mankey was born in Washington State in 1952. He moved to Los Angeles and was a member of a band called Sparks. Mankey was featured on Sparks first two studio albums in 1971 and 1973. In 1986, Dream 6 signed with I.R.S. Records and it was suggested they change their name to Concrete Blonde. The name was intended to signal both their contrasting hard rock songs with their introspective lyrics. Napolitano played bass guitar, Mankey played guitar and the pair were joined on drums by Chicago born Harry Rushakoff (b 1958). In 1979, Rushakoff was part of the glam-punk band Special Affects who released the album Mood Music.
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#95: Boom Boom (Let’s Go Back To My Room) by Paul Lekakis
Peak Month: April 1987
13 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #1
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #43
YouTube.com: “Boom Boom (Let’s Go Back To My Room)”
Lyrics: “Boom Boom (Let’s Go Back To My Room)”
Paul Lekakis was born in 1966 in New York City. He grew up in Tarrytown, New York – home to Mark Twain, J.D. Salinger, and big band leader Cab Calloway. Lekalis was in the boys choir. He came out at the age of 15 in 1981. At 16, Paul Lekakis got a job waiting tables at Zippers, a gay club in nearby New Rochelle. He dropped out of high school and at the age of 17 he moved to New York City and began studying to become a dancer. “I did some dance industrials,” he recalls, “and auditioned for music videos — but I never got cast. I got the stuff that was like the model/fashion show/dance kinda thing.”
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#99: A Mess Of Blues by Elvis Presley
Peak Month: August 1960
11 weeks on Vancouver’s CKWX chart
Peak Position #1
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #32
YouTube.com: “A Mess Of Blues”
Lyrics: “A Mess Of Blues”
Elvis Aaron Presley was born on in a two-room house in Tupelo, Mississippi, on January 8, 1935. His twin brother, Jessie Garon Presley, was stillborn. When he was eleven years old his parents bought him a guitar at the Tupelo Hardware Store. As a result Elvis grew up as an only child. He and his parents, Vernon and Gladys, moved to Memphis, Tennessee, in 1948. The young Presley graduated from high school in 1953. That year he stopped by the Memphis Recording Service to record two songs, including “That’s When Your Heartaches Begin”. Elvis’ musical influences were the pop and country music of the time, the gospel music he heard in church and at the all-night gospel sings he frequently attended, and the black R&B he absorbed on historic Beale Street as a Memphis teenager. In 1954, Elvis began his singing career recording “That’s All Right” and “Blue Moon Of Kentucky” at Sun Records in Memphis.
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#103: Come Back by the J. Geils Band
Peak Month: April 1980
15 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #2
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #32
YouTube.com: “Come Back”
Lyrics: “Come Back”
The classic lineup of the J. Geils Band had five members. They are John “J” Geils on lead guitar; Danny Klein on bass guitar; Peter Wolf as lead vocalist and on percussion; Magic Dick on harmonica, saxophone, trumpet; Seth Justman on keyboards and backing vocals; And Stephen Jo Bladd on drums, percussion, and backing vocals. John Warren Geils Jr. was born in 1946, in New York City. He grew up in New Jersey. He learned jazz trumpet and drums and was part of a marching band in school. He dated Meryl Streep in 1962. In the mid-60’s he switched from jazz trumpet to guitar. In 1966, he formed a jug band named Snoopy and the Sopwith Camels, which was rounded out with Danny Klein and Magic Dick. This was different from the San Francisco band Sopwith Camel who had a Top 30 hit in the winter of 1966-67 with “Hello Hello.” Danny Klein was born in the Bronx, New York, in 1946. Richard “Magic Dick” Salwitz was born in New London, Connecticut, in 1945. He first learned to play the trumpet, and then harmonica and saxophone. Peter Walter Blankfield was born in the Bronx in 1946. In 1964, billed as Peter Wolf, he formed a Boston-area band called The Hallucinations, which included drummer Stephen Jo Bladd. Wolf was later DJ Woofa Goofa on Boston station WBCN, with an all-night blues and jazz radio show. Stephen Jo Bladd was born in Boston in 1942. Seth Justman was born in 1951 in Washington D.C. The J. Geils Band formed in Worcester, Massachusetts in 1968. Continue reading →
#104: Stairway To Heaven by Neil Sedaka
Peak Month: March 1960
11 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #1
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #9
YouTube.com: “Stairway To Heaven”
Lyrics: “Stairway To Heaven”
In 1939 Neil Sedaka was born in Brooklyn and grew up in Brighton Beach beside Coney Island. His paternal grandparents immigrated to America from Constantinople, Ottoman Empire, in 1910. His fathers side of the family there were Sephardi Jews and his mother’s side Ashkenazi Jews from Russian and Polish background. When Neil was eight years old he listened to a show on the radio called The Make-Believe Ballroom that opened his world to appreciation for music. Within a year Neil had began learning classical piano at the Julliard School of Music. His progress was impressive and Arthur Rubinstein voted Neil as one of the best New York High School pianists after he turned 16 years old.
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#106: Little Bitty Girl by Bobby Rydell
Peak Month: January 1960
13 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #1
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #19
YouTube.com: “Little Bitty Girl”
Lyrics: “Little Bitty Girl”
Robert Louis Ridarelli was born in 1942 in Philadelphia. He displayed a musical aptitude as a young child. At the age of eight, his reputation led to an appearance on a talent show on the national television series, TV Teen Club. He won the contest, and the show’s presenter, Paul “The King of Jazz” Whiteman, recruited him into the cast, where he remained for several years. It was here that his name was Anglicised to Bobby Rydell. When he was 15 in 1957, he played drums for Rocco and the Saints, across from trumpet player Frankie Avalon. In 1958 he released “Dream Age” on the small Veko Record label. Two followup releases on Cameo, “Please Don’t Be Mad” and “All I Want Is You” also failed to make a breakthrough. But his third release on Cameo Records, “Kissin’ Time”, got him national exposure. The single climbed to #11 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #14 in Vancouver’s Sensational Sixty on CKWX in September 1959. A followup, “We Got Love” broke into the Top Ten to peak at #6 on CFUN in Vancouver in late October ’59, matching its peak on the Billboard Hot 100. In all, Bobby Rydell had a hit record on the Vancouver pop charts in 1959 for a total of 21 weeks.
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