#723: Piano Man by Billy Joel
Peak Month: May 1974
Peak Position #5
8 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG Chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #25
YouTube: “Piano Man”
Lyrics: “Piano Man”
William Martin Joel was born in 1949 in The Bronx. His father, Helmut “Howard” Joel, was born in Nuremberg, Germany, and sold his textile business at a fraction of its value to be able to move to Switzerland. From there his father traveled to Cuba and was able to enter the United States from the Caribbean. Billy Joel’s mother, Rosalind Nyman, was born in Brooklyn, also to Jewish parents. Young William was coerced by his mother to take piano lessons at the age of four. He kept taking piano lessons until he was sixteen. His parents divorced when he was eight, and in his later years in high school Billy Joel played at a piano bar to make some extra income to support his single mother, his sister and himself. Though his parents were Jewish, Billy Joel did not identify as Jewish and began to attend a Roman Catholic parish at age eleven. In 1964, at the age of 15, Joel was the pianist on the recording of “Remember (Walking In The Sand)” for the Shangri-Las. Later, he played piano on the demo for “Leader Of The Pack”, which the Shangri-Las later recorded and became a number-one hit in November 1964. He took up boxing and was in the Golden Gloves, winning 22 fights, but quit after he got his nose broken.
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#422: That’s All Right by Ray Smith
Peak Month: December 1959
9 weeks on CFUN’s Vancouver Chart
Peak Position ~ #4
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “That’s All Right”
Lyrics: “That’s All Right”
Ray Smith was born in 1934 in the hamlet of Melber, Kentucky, thirteen miles from the town of Paducah where the Ohio River and the Tennessee River meet. Smith was the seventh son of a sharecropper who, in turn, was also the seventh son in Smith’s grandfather’s family. His dad later worked at the atomic bomb plant in Paducah. Smith left his home at the age of twelve. He worked as a gopher on a Coca-Cola Truck and then operated an oven at Kirchoff’s Bread plant in Paducah. As he grew up Ray Smith worked as a curb hop at Price’s Barbecue at 34th and Broadway where he would serve U.S. (KY) Senator Alben W. Barkley, who later became President Harry Truman’s Vice-President. Next he worked as a sole back tacker and tack machine operator at the International Shoe Company.
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#423: Fallen Idol by Ken Lyon
Peak Month: June 1961
8 weeks on CKWX’s Vancouver Chart
Peak Position ~ #2
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Fallen Idol”
In 1941 Ken Lyon was born in Newport, Rhode Island. His mother was classically trained and began to give vocal lessons to Ken at age three. Ken’s father was an Episcopal priest and his family moved to East Weymouth (MA) before he entered his teens. When he turned 15 in 1956, Ken Lyon got his first guitar and taught himself to play. In 1957, Lyon teamed up with a South Weymouth high school classmate named Billy Allen to form a singing duo called The Seniors. Lyon was taken with both folk music and calypso and in 1959 started performing under the name “Calypso Ken.” In 1960 he made appearances playing calypso at Ted Hilton’s Dude Ranch in Moosup, Connecticut. The Woonsocket Call reported that Lyon also was in the United States Navy Reserves for two years, but got a medical discharge due to an asthmatic condition. After high school Ken Lyons got work as an electrician at the Ann & Hope Factory Outlet in Lower Cumberland, Rhode Island.
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#424: Peter Rabbit by Dee Jay And The Runaways
Peak Month: June 1966
8 weeks on CFUN’s Vancouver Chart
Peak Position ~ #2
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #45
YouTube: “Peter Rabbit” ~ Dee Jay And The Runaways (1966)
Lyrics: “Peter Rabbit”
YouTube: “Peter Rabbit” ~ Myron Lee and the Caddies (1961)
Dee Jay And The Runaways was a band formed in 1964. They were from Spirit Lake, Iowa. The “Dee” in the band was Denny Storey, from Spencer, Iowa, and was born in 1943. Denny played drums, and had formed his first band at the age of 14 in early 1958. The “Jay” in the band was bass guitar player John Stenn, born in Spirit Lake, Iowa, in 1940. Denny and John looked for other musicians to join their new band. The lead singer was Gary Lind. Other members of the band included bass guitarist Bob Godfredson, and keyboard player Dennis Kintzi from St. James (MN). Storey, Stenn and Kintzi had all been members of a six-piece band called The Chevelles. Stenn talked up a couple of local investors and founded IGL Studios in Milford, Iowa. IGL stood for Iowa Great Lakes. The band released “Love Bug Crawl” in 1965, a cover of a 1957 rockabilly tune by Jimmy Edwards that was popular in a few radio markets in Iowa, Illinois and Missouri.
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#428: Searching For My Love by Bobby Moore’s Rhythm Aces
Peak Month: August 1966
8 weeks on CKLG’s Vancouver Chart
Peak Position ~ #1
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #27
YouTube: “Searching For My Love”
Lyrics: “Searching For My Love”
Robert “Bobby” Moore was born in 1930 in New Orleans. When he was a teenager he joined the United States Army and was stationed at Fort Benning, near Columbus, Georgia. While in basic training, Moore learned to play the tenor saxophone. In 1952 he formed a band on the base called the Rhythm Aces made up of members of the marching band. He finished his service to the Army in 1961 and moved to Montgomery, Alabama. It was there he re-formed the Rhythm Aces with his brother Larry Moore on alto sax, Chico Jenkins on vocals and guitar, Marion Sledge on guitar, Joe Frank on bass, Clifford Laws on organ, and John Baldwin Junior on drums.
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#430: Tra La La La Suzy by Dean And Jean
Peak Month: January 1964
12 weeks on CFUN’s Vancouver Chart
Peak Position ~ #3
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #35
YouTube: “Tra La La La Suzy”
Lyrics: “Tra La La La Suzy”
Dean and Jean an African-American recording act from Ohio. They were Welton Young and Brenda Lee Jones. Brenda Lee Jones had previously released “I Ain’t Gonna Give Nobody None” on the Apollo label in 1957, backed by the Vocaltones. Welton “Pappy” Young was born in Dayton, Ohio. He learned to play guitar and sing. In 1956 he joined the King Toppers, who subsequently changed their name to the Corvettes. On Marv Goldberg’s website, he states that while they were the Corvettes, they played at local Dayton venues like the Democratic Club with Count Basie, and the Fifth Street YMCA. The Corvettes headed for the Big Apple in the fall of ’56 and auditioned for the Apollo Amateur Show. They changed their name back to the King Toppers by the end of the year. But the group disbanded by February 1957 when too many members got drafted into the United States Army. Welton Young worked for Western Union and moved back to Dayton. Back in Dayton, Welton Young met Brenda Lee Jones. They had common goals to move advance their musical careers and decided to become a singing duo. In 1958 they signed up with the small Buckeye label and released “Oh Yeah”. This was co-written by Young and Jones. Though the song was a hit number, with Chuck Berry-inspired guitar riffs, it was a commercial failure. So Dean and Jean switched labels and got signed with Ember Records in New York City.
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#431: Ponchinello by Frankie Avalon
Peak Month: March 1962
10 weeks on CFUN’s Vancouver Chart
Peak Position ~ #4
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Ponchinello”
Lyrics: “Ponchinello”
Francis Thomas Avallone was born in Philadelphia in 1940. When he was 12-years-old, he appeared in a Christmas episode on The Jackie Gleason Show, playing trumpet in a Honeymooners sketch. RCA signed Frankie Avalon to the label and in 1954 released the trumpet solo he performed in the December 1952 Honeymooners sketch. “Trumpet Sorrento” climbed to #42 on the Cashbox Best Selling Singles chart in March 1954. Avalon also appeared on The Perry Como Show where he played trumpet. With Bobby Rydell, Avalon was in a doo-wop group called Rocco and the Saints. They were backing vocalists for his debut single in 1957, “Cupid”, written by Peter DeAngelis. He appeared in the 1957 rock and roll film Jamboree and performed “Teacher’s Pet” (also written by DeAngelis, and different from “Teacher’s Pet” recorded by Doris Day in 1958). In the film Jamboree, Frankie Avalon got to meet other pop stars in the cast including Fats Domino, Connie Francis, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Jimmy Bowen, Buddy Knox, Charlie Gracie, and jazz singer Joe Williams. Continue reading →
#435: Echo Park by Keith Barbour
Peak Month: November 1969
9 weeks on CKLG’s Vancouver Chart
Peak Position ~ #3
1 week Hit Bound
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #40
YouTube: “Echo Park”
Lyrics: “Echo Park”
Keith Barbour was born in 1941 in New York City. He is an American singer-songwriter. While he was an undergraduate, Barbour was a member of the Jabborwocks, Brown University’s oldest male vaudeville-inspired a cappella group. He was a member of The New Christy Minstrels from 1967 to 1969, singing their hit song “Green Green”. During that time the ‘Minstrels were singing their own versions of happy songs like “Chitty-Chitty Bang Bang”. Barbour left in 1969 to pursue a solo career, signing with Epic Records. Barbour released an album, Echo Park, in 1969, which hit #163 on the Billboard 200.
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#438: Keep The Fire by Kenny Loggins
Peak Month: April 1980
10 weeks on CFUN’s Vancouver Chart
Peak Position ~ #5
1 week Hit bound
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #36
YouTube: “Keep The Fire”
Lyrics: “Keep The Fire”
Kenneth Clark Loggins was born in Everett, Washington, in 1948. He grew up in Seattle, Detroit and Los Angeles County. Kenny Loggins started his professional music career at the age of 18, earning $100 per week by writing songs for a publishing firm. In 1966 he formed a band called The Second Helping that had a minor hit in San Bernardino (CA) titled “Floating Downstream On A Rubber Inflatable Raft”. In 1969 he briefly played guitar in concerts with the New Improved Electric Prunes, before writing four songs for the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. In 1970 he wrote “Danny’s Song”, which became a Top Ten hit for Anne Murray in early 1973. Kenny Loggins met Jim Messina in 1970 and the pair became a folk-pop duo Loggins and Messina in 1971.
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#759: Remember (Walking In The Sand) by Aerosmith
Peak Month: February 1980
11 weeks on CFUN’s Vancouver Chart
Peak Position ~ #10
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #67
YouTube: “Remember (Walking In The Sand)” ~ Aerosmith
YouTube: “Remember (Walking In The Sand)” ~ Shangri-Las
Lyrics: “Remember (Walking In The Sand)”
Steven Victor Tallarico was born in 1948 in Manhattan, and known professionally as Steve Tyler. He grew up in the Bronx and then Yonkers. Growing up he learned to play drums, guitar, harmonica and keyboard. In 1964 he formed a band called the Strangers. By 1970 the band was remanded Chain Reaction. They played at a concert in New Hampshire and heard Jam Band on stage, which included Joe Perry and Tom Hamilton. Within a year the three decided to form a band. Anthony Joseph Pereira was born in 1950 in Lawrence, Massachusetts, and was known professionally as Joe Perry. Though he was left-handed, he learned to play guitar at the age of 10 right-handed. While at a college prep school, the Vermont Academy, Pereira was Jimi Hendrix, The Who, The Kinks and The Yardbirds. Thomas William Hamilton was born in Colorado Springs (CO) in 1951. He learned to play guitar at the age of 12. Hamilton and Joe Perry formed the Jam Band late spring in 1970. The band morphed into Aerosmith.
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