#688: Yellow Balloon by The Yellow Balloon
Peak Month: May 1967
8 weeks on CKLG’s Vancouver Charts
Peak Position ~ #3
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #25
YouTube.com: “Yellow Balloon”
Lyrics: “Yellow Balloon”
Don Louis Agrati was born in 1944 in San Diego. His dad, Lou Anthony Agrati, was a sausage maker. His mother was talent agent. By the age of three Don was playing drums. Young Don became a child actor by the age of ten and took the show name Don Grady. When he was 13 Grady became one of the Mouseketeers on the Mickey Mouse Club in 1957. He got the role on the TV show due to being able to play the accordion, clarinet, drums, saxophone, trumpet, guitar and piano. In addition, he was able to sing and dance. For his audition he played five instruments while singing “Cry,” a hit for Johnnie Ray in 1951. In December 1957 Grady appeared in an episode of The Restless Gun. In 1958 and 1959 Don Grady appeared in selected episodes of the first two seasons of The Rifleman. In 1958, Don Grady also appeared in the western TV series Buckskin. He also appeared on several occasions in both Have Gun – Will Travel and Wagon Train. In 1960 Don appeared in three films: Cash McCall, Ma Barker’s Killer Brood and The Crowded Sky. Grady became an actor in the TV series My Three Sons. The TV series ran from 1960 to 1971 and Grady played the part of Robbie Douglas for all twelve years.
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#689: Road Hog by John Loudermilk
Peak Month: November 1962
8 weeks on CFUN’s Vancouver Charts
Peak Position ~ #5
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #65
YouTube.com: “Road Hog”
Lyrics: “Road Hog”
John D. Loudermilk was born in Durham, North Carolina, in 1934. Although he had a middle initial, D, the “D” wasn’t short for any middle name. His father was an illiterate carpenter, John D Loudermilk Sr. John D Jr. When he was seven his dad gave him a ukulele made from a cigar box. Young John D Jr. learned to play guitar in his youth and began to write poems and songs. His poetry was inspired after he began to read the works of Kahlil Gibran. In his late teens, in the early 50’s, John D Jr. wrote a poem titled “A Rose And A Baby Ruth.” It concerned a teenage couple who have a quarrel and the boy gives his girlfriend a rose and a Baby Ruth candy bar to make up. Loudermilk put notes to the poem and played the sung version on a local TV station. This caught the attention of country singer, George Hamilton IV. The song was published in 1956 and became a Top Ten hit on both the Country and Pop charts on Billboard Magazine. The following year, Loudermilk penned “Sittin’ In The Balcony” for Eddie Cochran. Once that became a hit, Loudermilk’s songwriting career was launched. He co-wrote “Waterloo,” a #1 country hit and #4 pop hit in 1959 for country singer, Stonewall Jackson.
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#691: (I Wanna) Love My Life Away by Gene Pitney
Peak Month: January 1961
10 weeks on CFUN’s Vancouver Charts
Peak Position ~ #5
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #39
YouTube.com: “(I Wanna) Love My Life Away”
Lyrics: “(I Wanna) Love My Life Away”
Gene Pitney was born in 1940 in Hartford, Connecticut. He was a songwriter who became a pop singer, something rare at the time. Some of the songs he wrote for other recording artists include “Rubber Ball” for Bobby Vee, “He’s A Rebel” for The Crystals and “Hello Mary Lou” for Ricky Nelson. Pitney was more popular in Vancouver than in his native America. Over his career he charted 14 songs into the Top Ten in Vancouver, while he only charted four songs into the Top Ten on the Billboard Hot 100. Curiously, only two of these songs overlap: “(The Man Who Shot) Liberty Vallance” and “I’m Gonna Be Strong”. Surprisingly “Only Love Can Break A Heart”, which peaked at #2 in the USA, stalled at #14 in Vancouver, and “It Hurts To Be In Love” stalled at #11 in Vancouver while it peaked at #7 south of the border.
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#696: Danger by Vic Dana
Peak Month: June 1963
10 weeks on CFUN’s Vancouver Charts
Peak Position ~ #5
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #96
YouTube.com: “Danger”
Lyrics: “Danger”
Samuel Mendola was born in 1940 in Buffalo, New York. He told reporter J. T. Crawford “I was nine years old and had just started tap dancing,” he says. “My parents asked me if I wanted to take dancing lessons. I said I didn’t because I thought it was just for girls. I wound up taking some lessons and did some local shows. I went to the Ted Mack Original Amateur Hour, which, in those days, was like American Idol. They had variety acts, and people wrote in from all over the country and picked the winners. And I won the Ted Mack Amateur Hour.” When he was eleven, Samuel Mendola was taken to see Sammy Davis Jr. perform in Buffalo. Vic Dana recalls, “They knew I loved the way he danced. He was 27 at the time and was just making it. He didn’t even have top billing at the time. My mother talked to the master of ceremonies and told him a local boy in the crowd had just won the Ted Mack show. So he called me up and asked if I’d dance. I said no because I didn’t have my dancing shoes. My mother said, ‘Yes you do!’ and pulled them out of her purse. So I danced. Apparently Sammy was watching from the wings. When he came out, he asked me to dance with him. We did this little tap challenge. It went over so well, that he asked my parents if I could travel with him. That began a relationship with Sammy that I’ll remember forever.”
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#698: Walking My Cat Named Dog by Norma Tanega
Peak Month: April 1966
7 weeks on CKLG’s Vancouver Charts
Peak Position ~ #3
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #22
YouTube.com: “Walking My Cat Named Dog”
Lyrics: “Walking My Cat Named Dog”
In 1939, Norma Cecilia Tanega was born in Vallejo, California, in the East Bay. Her mother was born in Panama. Her Filipino-American father was a bandmaster in the United States Navy on the USS Hornet. At the age of nine she began taking piano lessons. By the time she was sixteen Norma Tanega was doing piano recitals playing Beethoven and Bartok. She was also exhibiting her paintings at Long Beach’s Main Public Library on Pacific Avenue, and the Municipal Art Center. She studied music and graduated out of Claremont in 1962 with a Masters Degree in Fine Arts. She backpacked across Europe and pursued her artistic and musical passion. Returning to the USA, she moved to New York City and became involved in the folk scene in Greenwich Village.
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#699: Peace Of Mind/Do Unto Others by Paul Revere & The Raiders
Peak Month: December 1967
8 weeks on CKLG’s Vancouver Charts
Peak Position ~ #4
1 Week Hit Bound
“Peace Of Mind”
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #39
YouTube.com:”Peace Of Mind”
Lyrics: “Peace Of Mind”
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #102
YouTube.com: “Do Unto Others”
Lyrics: “Do Unto Others”
A band called The Downbeats formed in Boise, Idaho, in 1958. Paul Revere Dick started the band originally as an instrumental group. They had their first chart single in Vancouver in 1960. It was an instrumental riff on the piano tune, Chopsticks, which they titled “Beatnik Sticks.” They changed their name to Paul Revere And The Raiders in 1960. Between 1960 and 1976 they released 41 singles. They charted five songs into the Top Ten on the Billboard Hot 100 in the USA. These included “Kicks,” and “Hungry” (1966), “Him Or Me – What’s It Gonna Be?” (1967) and their cover of Don Fardon’s 1968 single “Indian Reservation,” which peaked at #1 for the band in 1971. They were even more popular in Vancouver where they charted over fifteen songs into the Top Ten on the local charts here on the West Coast.
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#700: Can I Get A Witness by Lee Michaels
Peak Month: December 1971
8 weeks on CKVN’s Vancouver Charts
Peak Position ~ #3
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #39
YouTube.com: “Can I Get A Witness”
Lyrics: “Can I Get A Witness”
Michael Olsen was born in Los Angeles in 1945. In 1961, Michael Olsen joined a surf-rock band named The Sentinels. In 1962, they played in concert with The Coasters and The Righteous Brothers. One of the members of the band was John Barata, who later joined The Turtles, Jefferson Airplane and Jefferson Starship. Michael Olsen next joined the Joel Scott Trio. Scott had formerly been the frontman for Joel Hill & The Strangers. The band had a #11 hit in November 1960 in Vancouver titled “Little Lover.” In 1966, he moved to San Francisco and began to bill himself as Lee Michaels, drawing on his first name to become his surname. That year he joined a group named The Family Tree who had some regional hits in a few radio markets in California.
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#703: Moon River by Jean Thomas
Peak Month: May 1962
10 weeks on CFUN’s Vancouver Charts
Peak Position ~ #6
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Moon River”
Lyrics: “Moon River”
Jean Thomas was born in Weymouth, Massachusetts, in the early 40’s. She grew up in Sarasota, Florida. Since her parents own a summer business in Nantasket Beach, one of the busiest beaches in the Greater Boston area, she returned with her family to Massachusetts each summer. At Sarasota High School, Jean was part of a singing group called Preacher John and the Five Saints. In the fall of 1959, she attended Florida State University in Tallahassee. In 1961, Jean and her brother Don went to New York City to pursue their dreams. They headed over to Paul Anka’s Spanka Publishing Company. They were promptly and signed to a songwriting contract. Jean Thomas did an audition in the Brill Building at 1650 Broadway.
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#731: Spanish Eyes by Al Martino
Peak Month: January 1966
9 weeks on CFUN’s Vancouver Charts
Peak Position ~ #3
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #15
YouTube.com:”Spanish Eyes”
Lyrics: “Spanish Eyes”
Jasper Cini was born in 1927 in Philadelphia. His first name was an Anglicization of his father’s name, Gasparino. His parents were immigrants from Abruzzo, Italy. His family were bricklayers. He worked in his father’s construction business. When he was still in his teens he joined the United States Navy. But during World War II he got a shrapnel injury and was sent back home. Next, he was inspired by his boyhood friend, Alfredo Cocozza, and hoped to pursue a singing career. Alfredo Cocozza later changed his name to Mario Lanza. At night, Jasper Cini sang in local Philly bars and clubs. Mario Lanza convinced Jasper Cini to change his name to Al Martino. Al moved to New York City in 1948 and became roommates with Eddie Fischer and Guy Mitchell, fellow crooners also hoping for a big break. Martino got noticed and was invited to appear on the Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scout Show in 1952. He won the context singing a #1 hit from 1951 by Perry Como titled “If (They Made Me A King)”. In 1952 Al Martino had a breakthrough #1 hit in America, Canada and Britain with “Here In My Heart”.
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#1376: Same Song by Digital Underground
Peak Month: May 1991
8 weeks on CKLGs Vancouver Charts
Peak Position ~ #18
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Same Song”
Lyrics: “Same Song”
In 1987, Digital Underground formed in Oakland, California. The frontman for the group is Gregory Jacobs who is billed as Shock G. Jacobs was born in 1963 in Brooklyn, New York, and spent most of his childhood in Tampa, Florida. But after his parents divorce when he was age 12, he moved back to Brooklyn. At that time he discovered turntabling: the manipulation of phonograph records and needles and a mixer by a DJ. At that time he used the nickname MC Starchild. His nickname changed to Shah-G when his cousin, Shah-T gave him the name. It shifted in time from Shah-G to Shock G. Moving back to Tampa and then to Oakland, Shock G got work as a clerk in a music store. He met up with Chopmaster J and Kenny-K. The trio became Digital Underground.
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