#824: Rockin’ Band by Del Erickson

Peak Month: August 1961
10 weeks on Vancouver’s CKWX chart
Peak Position #4
WX DISC-overy of the Week August 5, 1961
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart

According to IMDb.com, Delmar Walter Erickson was born on June 30, 1943 in Hennepin, Minnesota. Buddy Clyde was host of the Dance Party show on CKWX. He wrote these liner notes for the album, Presenting Del Erickson on Thunderbird Records TBLP – 1001.
 Buddy Clyde stated, “I’ve been asked to write a few glowing words about the young gentleman you’re about to meet. When I’m sold on something I have a tendency to get a bit carried away. (Just ask any of my listeners). And Del Erickson is an artist that isn’t very hard to get sold on. 
Starting out as an actor in motion pictures, Del has appeared in Blackboard Jungle, Diary Of Anne Frank, Hot Rod Girl and Blue Angel, just to name a few. Also ninety major T.V. productions. From motion pictures to recording Del has succeeded in having two “single” hits. Now he enjoys his new found career as a disc jockey in Vancouver, B.C., of course singing is still a major part of Del’s active life.
 This album has established a new plateau in his varied and exciting career. Right now I’m going to ask you to open a bottle of your favourite refreshment, relax and enjoy Del Erickson in person…”

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#825: Fourteen Karat Gold by Don Cherry

Peak Month: September 1957
10 weeks on Vancouver’s CKWX chart
Peak Position #10
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com link: “Fourteen Karat Gold”
Lyrics: “Fourteen Karat Gold”

In 1924, Donald Ross Cherry was born in Wichita Falls, Texas. After high school he was already winning golf championships in the summer of 1941. But once America entered World War II, he was drafted into the Army-Air Corps. In 1946, he returned to golf and as an amateur won over ninety trophies in nine years. At night he began to perform in front of audiences singing popular songs of the day. He got noticed and by 1950 had a recording contract with Decca Records. Credited to the Victor Young Orchestra, Don Cherry’s vocal on “Mona Lisa” (a bigger hit for Nat King Cole) led to more attention. He recorded a 1927 hit titled “Thinking Of You” that was featured in the 1950 Tin Pan Alley film, Three Little Words. Cherry scored his second Top Ten hit as “Thinking of You” climbed to #4. The following year Don Cherry charted two more singles into the pop charts.
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#826: Love’s Gone Bad by Chris Clark

Peak Month: December 1966
7 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #3
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #105
YouTube.com link: “Love’s Gone Bad”
Lyrics: “Love’s Gone Bad”

Christine Elizabeth Clark was born in Santa Cruz, California, in 1946. From early childhood she expressed an interest in singing. She was active in school bands and by 1960, when she was 14, Chris Clark was on stage. She went on her first tour with Jan And Dean and Dick & Dee Dee. She also was on a tour with The Coasters and The Olympics at a VFW Hall in Marin County. Other recording artists Chris Clark performed with in the early 60’s was Bobby Freeman. She went down to Los Angeles to play in a number of clubs until she was kicked out when they discovered she was underaged. Her big break came near the end of 1963 when she had an audition with Motown.
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Peak Month: December 1961
9 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #5
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Static”

Dana and Dexter Smith were brothers who grew up Brentwood, California. Then they attended University High School, often called “Uni.” The school was opened in 1924 as Warren G. Harding High School, after the 29th President of the United States Warren G. Harding. But the name was changed in 1929 as a consequence of the Teapot Dome bribery scandal which unfolded from 1924 into 1930, tarnishing Harding’s name. The school was renamed University High School. Dana was the oldest and Dexter the youngest. They were signed up with Imperial Records who also had Ricky Nelson and Fats Domino among their lineup or recording artists. Imperial seems to have given little promotion to the brothers when they released their one single on the label, “Static”.

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#828: Summertime Guy by Eddie Rambeau

Peak Month: August 1962
9 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #3
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
Peak Position Music Vendor ~ #127
YouTube.com link: “Summertime Guy”
Lyrics: “Summertime Guy

“Eddie Rambeau was born Edward Cletus Fluri, in 1943. His birthplace was Hazelton, Pennsylvania. He is an singer, songwriter, actor and author. Rambeau sang at record hops in Hazelton where he impressed deejays with his talent. One of the deejays, Jim Ward, set up an audition for Rambeau at Swan Records. He was signed to the label and released his first single, “Skin Divin’”, under his new name, Eddie Rambeau, on graduation day in June 1961. The song made the Top 20 in several radio markets in Idaho and Massachusetts.

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#830: Wait For Me by The Playmates

Peak Month: October 1960
8 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #5
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #37
“YouTube.com: “Wait For Me”
Lyrics: “Wait For Me”

The Nitwits were a vocal group that began performing in Waterbury, Connecticut, in 1952. They were a trio consisting of Chic Hetti (born Carl Cicchetti) on piano and lead vocals, drummer and vocalist Donny Conn (born Donald Clapps), and Morey Carr (born Morey Cohen) on vocals and bass. All three were born in the Waterbury area. Each had attended the University of Connecticut in the early 50’s and decided to form a comedy group that also sang songs. They toured lounges in the USA and Canada. Their routine and material resembled another vocal group from the mid-50’s into the early 60’s named the Four Preps. Over five years of touring, the Nitwits shifted their focus from comedy skits with songs to being primarily a  vocal group with comedic banter between tunes. In the spring of 1957, the Nitwits got a contract with Roulette Records, becoming the labels first vocal group. They changed their name from the Nitwits to the Playmates. In the middle of the calypso craze, they released an album titled Playmates Visit the West Indies. In 1958 they had a #4 novelty hit called “Beep, Beep”. The group appeared on the Milton Berle Show in December. The single was their third Top 30 record. Since the song mentioned the Nash Rambler in the lyrics, it created a bump in sales for that model. “Beep Beep” sold a million records and got The Playmates many invitations to tour around the USA and Canada. From 1958 to 1962 they charted ten songs on the Billboard Hot 100.

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#1443: Tall Men by Johnny Cash

Peak Month: November 1961
6 weeks on Vancouver’s CKWX chart
Peak Position #17
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com link: “Tall Men”
Lyrics: “Tall Men”

John R. “Johnny” Cash was born in Kingsland, Arkansas, in 1932. At the age of five he started working with his sharecropping parents and siblings in the cotton fields. During his childhood his family home was flooded twice. He began singing and playing guitar by the age of 12. He moved to Detroit in his late teens for work. He was drafted and served in the U.S. Air Force as a Morse Code Intercept Operator for Soviet Army transmissions at a base in Germany from 1950 to 1954. When he was discharged from the military he and his new wife, Liberto, moved to Memphis. Cash worked as an appliance salesman while trying to get a break in the music industry. Cash got to audition with Sun Records in 1954. He had his first charting single on the Billboard Country charts in 1955 titled “Cry! Cry! Cry!” Subsequently single releases, “So Doggone Lonesome” and “I Walk The Line” climbed to #4 and #1 on the Country charts. The latter hit also was his first debut on the Billboard pop charts where it made it to #17 in 1956.
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#831: A Change Is Gonna Come by Sam Cooke

Peak Month: February 1965
12 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #5
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #31
YouTube.com “A Change Is Gonna Come”
Lyrics: “A Change Is Gonna Come”

Samuel Cook was born in 1931 Clarksdale, Mississippi. His father was a Baptist pastor. After the family moved to Chicago, Cook joined a children’s choir called The Singing Children at the age of nine. At the age of 17 Cook joined an established gospel group formed in 1926 called the Soul Stirrers. He also added an “e” to his surname, becoming Sam Cooke. He honed his vocal abilities further and was signed to Los Angeles based Keen Records in 1957. It was there he recorded his biggest hit, “You Send Me.” It climbed to #1 in November 1957. Cooke got national exposure on the Guy Mitchell Show and The Ed Sullivan Show.

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#834: Summer Wine by Nancy Sinatra

Peak Month: January 1967
6 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #3
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #49
YouTube.com link: “Summer Wine”
Lyrics: “Summer Wine”

Nancy Sinatra is the daughter of crooner Frank Sinatra and was born in New Jersey in 1940. When she was 5 years old he recorded a song about her titled “Nancy, With the Laughing Face”. At the age of twenty she began her career appearing on The Frank Sinatra Timex Show: Welcome Home Elvis. This was a television special on the occasion of Elvis Presley’s discharge from the U.S. Army after being drafted to into the services in 1958. Nancy was sent by her father to meet Elvis at the airport in front of a pack of photographers. In 1960, she also got married to singer and actor, Tommy Sands.
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#836: The Warmth of the Sun by The Beach Boys

Peak Month: January 1965
7 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #6
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com link: “The Warmth Of The Sun”
Lyrics: “The Warmth Of The Sun”

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. His named the group Carl and the Passions in order to convince his brother to join. They had a performance at Hawthorne High School, where they attended. Among the people in the audience was Al Jardine, another classmate. Jardine 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.

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