#1177: A Broken Vow by The Chordettes

Peak Month: August 1960
8 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #12
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #102
YouTube.com: “A Broken Vow”
Lyrics: “A Broken Vow”

The Chordettes were a female quartette comprised of  Janet Ertel and her sister-in-law, Carol Buschmann, Dorothy “Dottie” Schwartz, and Jinny Osborn. They formed in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, in 1946. In 1952 Lynn Evans replaced Schwartz. Originally they sang folk music similar to The Weavers. However, they shifted their sound to barbershop harmony or close harmony. Jinny Osborn was born in Seattle, Washington. She was born Virginia Cole. Her father, O. H. “King” Cole, was president of the Barbershop Harmony Society. After local performances in Sheboygan, the Chordettes were winners on Arthur Godfrey’s radio program Talent Scouts in 1949. They appeared daily on Godfrey’s program, and made a number of 10-inch EPs for Columbia Records.

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Peak Month: September 1961
6 weeks on CFUN chart
Peak Position #13
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #68
CFUN Twin Pick ~ August 19, 1961
YouTube.com link: “Summer Souvenirs”

Karl Hammel, Jr. was born and raised in New Rochelle, New York. He was a contestant winner on the Original Amateur Hour hosted by Ted Mack. This CBS show was actually a half hour show, except for the 1956-57 season. The format was almost always the same. At the beginning of the show, the talent’s order of appearance was determined by spinning a wheel. As the wheel spun, the words “Round and round she goes, and where she stops nobody knows” were always intoned. Various acts: singers, musicians, jugglers, tap dancers, baton twirlers, and the like, would perform, with the audience being asked to vote for their favorites by postcard or telephone. The telephone number JUdson 6-7000 was on a banner at the bottom of the screen for viewers to call.

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#1189: Mind Excursion by The Trade Winds

Peak Month: September 1966
6 weeks on CKLG chart
Peak Position #6
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #51
YouTube.com: “Mind Excursion”
Lyrics: “Mind Excursion”

Peter Andreoli was born in Providence, Rhode Island, in 1941, and Vincent Ponica Jr. was born there one year later. At the age of five Peter was given a ukulele and by the age of nine began to play guitar and sing. Perhaps a natural aptitude passed down from his guitar playing mom and an aunt who played the accordion. Peter was comfortable performing on stage, along with his sister, Caroline at community, church and social functions. At the time he focused on Italian songs. But in 1954 Peter got introduced to Rhythm & Blues and never looked back. At Mount Pleasant High School in 1956, he became the lead singer of a doo-wop group called The Videls. “Vini” Poncia also joined The Videls, whose fan base steadily increased.

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#1190: Three Eyed Man by Buddy Knox

Peak Month: October 1961
7 weeks on CKWX chart
Peak Position #10
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Three Eyed Man”

Buddy Wayne Knox was born in 1933 Happy, Texas, a small farm town in the Texas Panhandle a half hour south of Amarillo. During his youth he learned to play the guitar. He was the first artist of the rock era to write and perform his own number one hit song, “Party Doll”. The song earned Knox a gold record in 1957 and was certified a million seller. Knox was one of the innovators of the southwestern style of rockabilly that became known as “Tex-Mex” music.

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#1209: Rice Is Nice by Lemon Pipers

Peak Month: April 1968
5 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #7
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #46
Youtube.com: “Rice Is Nice”
Lyrics: “Rice Is Nice”

The Lemon Pipers were an Oxford, Ohio, about 40 miles northwest of Cincinnati, Ohio, along the border with the state of Indiana. Their genre was sunshine psychedelic pop, and the group formed in 1966. Their sunshine pop sound gave them a number one hit called “Green Tambourine“. The band consisted of Ivan Browne on vocals and guitar, Bill Bartlett on vocals and guitar, Steve Walmsley on bass, R.G. Nave on keyboards and drummer Bill Albaugh.

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#1196: Harlan County by Jim Ford

Peak Month: October 1969
7 weeks on CKLG chart
Peak Position #10
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Harlan County”
Lyrics: “Harlan County”

In 1941 James Henry Ford was born in Paintsville, Kentucky. The county was rural, remote and had a history of having its citizens taken advantage of by carpetbaggers and coal companies. In an article in Kentucky for Kentucky in 2017, it was mentioned, “one of nine children, Ford was raised by his grandmother near Van Lear, Kentucky. In order to hear the radio, Ford said, he would often travel to a cabin on a hill in nearby Butcher Holler, where Loretta Lynn lived.” At age eleven, Ford moved first to Michigan with his dad who was in the military. Finding the weather too cold, Jim Ford moved down to New Orleans. He served in the armed forces in Germany for awhile. Then he moved to Los Angeles and then took up residence in Fort Bragg, California. He developed a fusion of soul, country and folk music. His songs often referenced people dealing with adversity. His songs have been recorded by a host of performers including Aretha Franklin, Dave Edmunds, Patti LaBelle, Tanya Tucker, Billy Preston, Burton Cummings, The Black Crowes, Bobby Gentry and The Temptations. Nick “Cruel to Be Kind” Lowe, from the UK, considers Jim Ford as his most formative musical influence.

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#1198: Cheryl’s Goin’ Home by The Cascades

Peak Month: May 1966
7 weeks on CFUN chart
Peak Position #7
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #131
YouTube.com: “Cheryl’s Going Home”
“Cheryl’s Going Home” lyrics

John Gummoe was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and was drafted to join the U.S. Navy. On the USS Jason, a group of sailors in the U.S. Navy formed a band in 1960 called the Silver Strands. Among the San Diego based crew was John Gummoe who provided lead vocals. The group left the Navy and renamed themselves the Thundernotes. Among Gummoe’s bandmates were Eddy Snyder (guitar), G, David Szabo (keyboards) Dave Stevens (bass guitar) and Dave Wilson (drums). They became The Cascades and recorded “There’s A Reason,” making #10 in San Francisco and #15 in San Diego in July ’62. Their second release with Valliant Records was “Rhythm Of The Rain”. The song went to #1 in the USA, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan and Ireland. The song peaked at #3 on CFUN and spent 15 weeks on the chart in 1963. It tied for the second longest chart run for a single in Vancouver that year behind “She Loves You” by The Beatles.

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#1400: School Bus by Kris Jensen

Peak Month: October 1960
7 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #13
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com link: “School Bus”

In 1942, Peter Jensen was born in New Haven, Connecticut. From a young age, Pete was a big fan of the singing cowboys, Gene Autry and Roy Rogers. When Pete was sixteen years old, he met Denise Norwood. She was a songwriter who penned “The Garden Of Eden.” This was a hit for Joe Valino. Between the ages of sixteen and nineteen, Jensen collaborated with Denise Norwood. He recorded numbers of her songs at her home studio. In 1959, Colpix Records released Jensen’s recording of “Bonnie Baby”. The tune made the local charts on WHIL Boston. Jensen variously recorded for Leader, Kapp, Hickory and finally White Whale. Jensen could not only sing, but also play the guitar and bass guitar. Though he would release at least sixteen singles between 1959 and 1966, he is remembered in America as a one-hit wonder. But not in Vancouver where he charted three songs on the local pop charts.

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#1200: Can I Get to Know You Better by The Turtles

Peak Month: November 1966
6 weeks on CKLG chart
Peak Position #5
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #89
YouTube.com: “Can I Get To Know You Better”
Lyrics: “Can I Get To Know You Better”

In 1947 two of the founding members of The Turtles were born. Howard Kaplan spent his first eight years in the Bronx and Manhattan. Then his dad got a job in Utica, in upstate New York, with General Electric. Several years later he moved with his family to the Los Angeles community of  Westchester, just to the south of Santa Monica. Mark Volman was born in Redondo Beach and his family later also moved to Westchester. At Westchester High School both boys were in the Westchester High A Capella Choir. Mark was a first tenor and Howard was a second tenor. Kaplan and Volman’s first band, the Crossfires, played instrumental music, but the arrival of the Beatles in 1964 encouraged a change of focus. Howard’s vocal abilities made him a clear choice to be the frontman when the Crossfires evolved into the Turtles. In ’65 Kaplan changed his surname to Kaylan. Other high school friends, Al Nichol, Don Murray and Jim Tucker were among the original Crossfires bandmates who made the transition to The Turtles. After several changes bass player Chip Douglas was in the Turtles’ line-up by the spring of 1966.

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#1207: I Was Made To Love Her by King Curtis & the Kingpins

Peak Month: February 1968
6 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #10
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #76
YouTube.com: “I Was Made To Love Her” ~ King Curtis
YouTube.com: “I Was Made To Love Her” ~ Stevie Wonder
Lyrics: “I Was Made To Love Her”

Born Curtis Ousley in Fort Worth, Texas, in 1934. His trademark was a honking Texas tenor sound inspired by his main influences Illinois Jacquet, Earl Bostic, Arnett Cobb albeit with a rock and roll edge. He moved to New York in 1952 and played with Lionel Hampton’s and Horace Silver’s jazz groups. He began doing session work for R&B and rock and roll artists in the mid-Fifties. One of his most memorable solos, and the one that sealed his reputation as a rock and roll sideman, appeared in the Coasters’ 1958 smash, “Yakety Yak”.

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