#9: Green, Green by the New Christy Minstrels
City: Calgary, AB
Radio Station: CFAC
Peak Month: August 1963
Peak Position in Calgary ~ #2
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #19
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #14
YouTube: “Green, Green”
Lyrics: “Green, Green”
The New Christy Minstrels were a folk group formed by Randy Sparks in 1961. Randy Sparks was born in Leavenworth, Kansas, in 1933. He was singing at the Purple Onion in San Francisco by the mid-50s. He released two solo albums in the late 50s. He sang over the opening credits for the 1958 movie Thunder Road, the film’s theme song. Sparks combined his trio with the Oregon quartet the Fairmount Singers, the Inn Group (singers John Forsha, Karol Dugan and Jerry Yester), banjo player Billy Cudmore, folk-blues singer Terry Wadsworth, folk singer Dolan Ellis and singer/guitarist Art Podell. In 1962, the group released their debut album titled Presenting the New Christy Minstrels. The album won a Grammy Award for Best Performance by a Chorus in 1963. In 1962, the group had a minor hit with “This Land Is Your Land”, which stalled at #93 on the Billboard Hot 100. Jerry Yester left the group and in time joined the Lovin’ Spoonful.
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#6: Island Of Lost Souls by Blondie
City: Edmonton, AB
Radio Station: CFRN
Peak Month: July 1982
Peak Position in Edmonton: #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #23
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #37
YouTube: “Island Of Lost Souls”
Lyrics: “Island Of Lost Souls”
Blondie is a band founded in 1974 in New York City by singer Deborah Harry and guitarist Chris Stein. The band was a pioneer in the new wave scene of the mid-1970s in Manhattan. Angela Trimble was born in 1945 in Miami, Florida. She was adopted into the Harry family and raised in Hawthorne, New Jersey. Out of school, she worked as a Playboy Bunny, a go-go dancer, and a secretary for the BBC in New York City. In the late 60s she was in a folk group called Wind in the Willows who released an album in 1968. By this time she billed herself as Deborah Harry. In 1973 Harry joined The Stillettoes, which included guitarist Chris Stein. Harry and Stein became romantically involved. In 1974, Stein and Harry became the core for the band Angel and the Snake. By late 1974, they renamed the band Blondie.
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#11: Look Of Love by Lesley Gore
City: Edmonton, AB
Radio Station: CJCA
Peak Month: February 1965
Peak Position in Edmonton: #3
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #14
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #27
YouTube: “Look Of Love”
Lyrics: “Look Of Love”
Lesley Sue Goldstein was born in 1946 in Brooklyn, New York City. She was raised in Tenafly, New Jersey, and attended the Dwight School for Girls. Lesley Gore recalls that in February 1963, “It’s My Party” was among some two hundred demos producer Quincy Jones brought to review with her in the den of her family home. On hearing the song, Gore told Jones: “That’s not half bad. I like it. Good melody. Let’s put it on the maybe pile.” The song proved to be the only demo Gore and Jones found agreeable. She recorded “It’s My Party” with Quincy Jones on March 30, 1963, while she was still a Junior (Grade 11) in high school. The singer was in tears because her boyfriend Johnny left with her best friend Judy. The song was released in early April 1963. It reached number-one on June 1, 1963, remaining for a second week on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Cashbox Top 100 Singles chart. In Canada it peaked at #1 in Vancouver, Hamilton (ON), Toronto and Montreal. While on May 30, 1963, Leslie Gore was a guest on American Bandstand.
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#14: Things I’d Like To Say by the New Colony Six
City: Edmonton, AB
Radio Station: CHED
Peak Month: March 1969
Peak Position in Edmonton: #2
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #10
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #16
YouTube: “Things I’d Like To Say”
Lyrics: “Things I’d Like To Say”
New Colony Six was formed in Chicago in 1964. They first sang the Beatles’ “I Want To Hold Your Hand” with the St. Pats Chorus. The live performance went over well and they briefly called themselves The Patsmen. Original members were Ray Graffia Jr. on vocals, who was born March 28, 1946; Chic James on drums, Pat McBride on harmonica, Craig Kemp on organ, Wally Kemp on bass guitar, and Gerry Van Kollenburg (born 1946) on guitar. Initially, they were a garage-rock band. Rock music critic, Richie Unterberger, described the group’s sound as “a poppier American Them with their prominent organ, wobbly Lesley-fied guitar amplifications, and rave-up tempos”, later devolving into “a cabaret-ish band with minor national hits to their credit by the end of the 1960s.” Like Paul Revere & the Raiders – with whom New Colony 6 shared a two-flat before either band hit the charts or knew that the other had nearly identical stage wear, they wore colonial outfits on stage. So when you hear the name New Colony Six, think about the American colonies when America was still a British colony prior to the American Revolution.
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#39: Baby Elephant Walk by Lawrence Welk
City: Calgary, AB
Radio Station: CFAC
Peak Month: June 1962
Peak Position in Calgary ~ #7
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #22
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #48
YouTube: “Baby Elephant Walk”
Lawrence Welk was born in 1903 in the hamlet of Strasburg, North Dakota. His German-speaking parents emigrated to American from Odessa, Russian Empire (now Ukraine). The Welk family lived in a homestead in Strasburg that is now a tourist attraction. When he was nine years old, Lawrence Welk left public school to work full-time on the family farm. Welk decided on a career in music and persuaded his father to buy a mail-order accordion for $400 (equivalent to $5,843 in 2023). He promised his father that he would work on the farm until he was 21, in repayment for the accordion. He was good on his word and after reaching age 21, he set his sights on a music career.
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#15: Time by the Pozo-Seco Singers
City: Edmonton, AB
Radio Station: CJCA
Peak Month: May 1966
Peak Position in Edmonton: #5
Peak position in Vancouver: #32
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100: #47
YouTube: “Time”
Lyrics: “Time”
In 1964, baritone singer Don Williams and tenor Lofton Kline were a Corpus Christi singing duo that went by the name of The Strangers Two. They heard 17-year-old Ray High School student, Susan Taylor, performing solo at the Del Mar Hootenannies. Lofton recalls, “Don was married and had a little one to support, and was working at Pittsburgh Plate Glass. I was going to Del Mar College in Corpus. The college had a hootenanny scheduled and Don and I were asked to entertain.” After they met Susan Taylor, as Lofton tells it, ““We asked her to come over and practice with us the following week. She did…and the rest is ‘history.’” Susan’s alto voice blended perfectly with Don’s baritone and Lofton’s tenor.
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#17: Hey Joe by the Enemys
City: Edmonton, AB
Radio Station: CJCA
Peak Month: September 1966
Peak Position in Edmonton: #3
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Hey Joe”
Lyrics: “Hey Joe”
The Enemys were a band formed in 1965. The founder was Cory Wells, born Emil Lewandowski in 1941 in Buffalo, NY. He played in a number of bands in Buffalo in his teens. He was raised in a troubled home by his abusive stepfather. As soon as he got out of high school, Lewandowski joined the United States Air Force. While in the Air Force, he formed a band of interracial musical performers, inspired by his boyhood love of a similar popular band called The Del-Vikings who were known for their 1957 hit “Come Go With Me”. When he returned from service in the USAF, Lewandowski joined a band in Buffalo called the Vibratos. He was encouraged to take the band to California, and on route they changed their name to the Enemys. His full stage name “Cory Wells” was suggested by The Enemys’ first manager, Gene Jacobs, who had a son named Cory.
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#19: Tippy Toeing by The Harden Trio
City: Edmonton, AB
Radio Station: CJCA
Peak Month: June 1966
Peak Position in Edmonton: #3
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #44
YouTube: “Tippy Toeing”
Lyrics: “Tippy Toeing”
Bobby, Robbie (born Fern) and Arlene (born Arleen) Harden were siblings born in England, Arkansas. Bobby was born in 1935, and Arleen was born in 1945. Robbie was likely born in the 1930s. They began their career as teenagers singing on a radio station KVLC in Little Rock, Arkansas. They performed as teenagers on the Ozark Jubilee and the Louisiana Hayride. In the early 60s’, Robbie moved to Nashville as part of The Browns filling in for Bonnie Brown on the Grand Ole Opry, and most road dates. The Browns were country-pop crossover recording artists with “The Three Bells” and “The Old Lamplighter” among their biggest hits. The Hardens and the Browns had grown up in the same area and worked together on the Ozark Jubilee. Bobby and Arleen soon followed and the trio was re-formed. In 1964, the trio signed with Columbia Records and released their debut single “Poor Boy”.
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#2: It’s So Easy by the Crickets
City: Charlottetown, PEI
Radio Station: CVER
Peak Month: October 1958
Peak Position in Charlottetown ~ #2
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “It’s So Easy”
Lyrics: “It’s So Easy”
The Crickets became a rock ‘n roll/rockabilly group in 1957. They are credited with influencing a whole range of recording artists including Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones and the Beatles. In fact, the Beatles got the idea for their name as a riff off of another insect, cricket, just going up one letter of the alphabet from C to B for Beatles. Paul McCartney once told the press, “If it wasn’t for the Crickets, there wouldn’t be any Beatles.” The Crickets were initially the backing band for Buddy Holly and among their hits are “That’ll Be The Day”, Peggy Sue”, “Oh Boy”, “Not Fade Away”, “Maybe Baby”, “It’s So Easy” and “Rave On”.
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#21: Ballad of You & Me & Pooneil by Jefferson Airplane
City: Edmonton, AB
Radio Station: CJCA
Peak Month: October 1967
Peak Position in Edmonton: #5
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #17
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #42
YouTube: “Ballad Of You, Me And Pooneil”
Lyrics: “Ballad Of You, Me And Pooneil”
Paul Kantner was born in San Francisco in 1941. His mother died when he was eight, and his father sent him to see the circus instead of allowing him to attend the funeral. Kantner was sent to a Catholic Military boarding school. In the face of his strict upbringing, Paul Kantner became interested in Pete Seeger, folk and protest songs. At the University of Santa Clara he met Jorma Ludwik Kaukonen, Jr. Born in 1940, Jorma Kaukonen was from Washington D.C. and had Finnish and Russian Jewish roots. His family lived in Pakistan for awhile before they returned to Washington D.C. where Jorma formed a band called the Triumphs. From 1962 he was a solo act in the San Francisco Bay area. In 1964, he recorded a solo album with Janis Joplin playing acoustic guitar on “The Typewriter Tapes”, given that name due to his spouse typing on the typewriter in the background.
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