#1354: She’s Boss by The Dimensions
Peak Month: June 1966
6 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #10
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “She’s Boss”
In 1966 things were becoming “boss.” The record survey on CKLG Radio 73, “You’re Information Station,” bid farewell to its last Silver Dollar Survey on September 10, 1966. The following week ‘LG began promoting its survey on September 17th as the Boss 40. As a slang adjective, “boss” meant excellent, first-rate, superlative. It became a fashionable word among teenagers in America and spread to the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and in ex-pat English-speaking communities around the world. Originally, boss was an English derivative from the Dutch word baas, meaning master or overseer. As far back as the 1620s baas was the standard title of a Dutch ship’s captain.
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#1321: A Rose and A Thorn by Andy Rose
Peak Month: November 1960
7 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #13
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “A Rose And A Thorn”
In 2011 there was a 31-track volume from Cat King Kole Records covering recordings by Andy Rose. He was a Paul Anka-like vocalist whose lone claim to fame was “Just Young”, a song that peaked at #69 on the Billboard Hot 100 in October 1958. A version of “Just Young” by Paul Anka charted at #80 during the same month. This was Andy’s only record to chart on the Billboard Hot 100. On the Cashbox Magazine charts “Just Young” listed both Andy Rose and Paul Anka’s recorded versions together and the song climbed to #28. In Vancouver the song peaked at #16 on CKWX and Andy Rose had some local fans. The B-side of “Just Young” was a rockabilly tune called “Love-A-Lov-A-Love” with a clear influence from the phrasing in Buddy Holly’s songs. However, Andy Rose was born Andrew Gattuso in Brooklyn, New York. His mother was an Italian immigrant from Sicily. Andy Rose has only one child a daughter. Andy had two brothers, Roger and Sal, and one sister.
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#1324: Try Me by Margie Rayburn
Peak Month: January 1961
7 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #12
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Music Vendor ~ #107
YouTube.com: “Try Me”
In 1924, Marjorie Helen Orwig was born in the San Joaquin Valley in the central California town of Madera. As a recording artist and performer, she was known as Margie Rayburn. While still in her late teens, during World War II, she began singing with big bands and in that capacity entertained American soldiers. At the end of the war she was hired as a featured vocalist with Ray Anthony’s Orchestra. Anthony had been part of the Glenn Miller band until he was drafted to serve in the US Navy in 1942, and at the end of the war formed his own band. Margie Rayburn went on tour with Gene Autry and got gigs at several nightclubs in San Francisco.
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#1325: The Piano Boy by Joanie Sommers
Peak Month: July 1961
8 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #12
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “The Piano Boy”
Lyrics: “The Piano Boy”
Joan Drost was born in Buffalo, New York, in 1941. She sang in church choirs from the age of ten. After moving to Venice, California, she got a break to sing at the Deauville Country Club north of the Topanga State Park in greater Los Angeles. Tommy Oliver was the band leader at the country club and he subsequently got her to record a demo for Warner Brothers in 1959. She made her club debut as Joanie Sommers at the prestigious Ye Little Club in Beverly Hills when she was 18. Sommers got a minor role dancing and singing with Ed Byrnes in the TV show 77 Sunset Strip. She was in a duet with Byrnes in “Kookie’s Love Song” in a 1959 episode of the show.
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#1329: Teen Prayer by The Velveteens
Peak Month: August 1961
8 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #12
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Teen Prayer”
“Teen Prayer” was a big local hit for a girls doo-wop group from Springfield, Massachusetts, called the Velveteens. In May 1961 it was #1 for three weeks in Springfield, Massachusetts, on WHYN and one week on WSPR (also in Springfield).
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#1339: Dream Boy by Annette
Peak Month: February 1961
7 weeks on Vancouver’s CKWX chart
Peak Position #14
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 #87
YouTube.com: “Dream Boy”
Lyrics: “Dream Boy”
On July 17, 1955 Annette Funicello made her television debut during the live broadcast of Disneyland’s opening day ceremonies. She participated in a song and dance routine promoting the upcoming debut of Walt Disney’s new television show, The Mickey Mouse Club. Following the shows premier on Monday, October 3, 1955, The Mickey Mouse Club became an immediate hit. Its army of small, amateur mouse-eared stars took America by storm. It wasn’t long before the young audience of boys and girls developed a particular interest in a little dark haired girl named Annette. Just as she had appealed to Walt Disney himself, when he discovered her at a dance recital, Annette emerged as a favorite among many children across the USA, launching her into television stardom. As a result she appeared on numerous magazine covers and a variety of Disney branded merchandise.
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#1356: Time by Jerry Jackson
Peak Month: June 1961
8 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #13
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Time”
Lyrics: “Time”
Jerry was born in the Northeastern USA and raised in a large, talented family consisting of six sisters and six brothers. His dad was a preacher who traveled extensively throughout the southern states in the USA. His mother, a missionary, provided excellent mentoring to their children at home. They had migrated from the southern USA with their first three children several years before Jerry was born. They were all raised under strict biblical principles.Continue reading →
#1361: Julie by Jan and Dean
Peak Month: September 1961
6 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #10
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com link: “Julie”
“Oh Julie” (The Crescendos original lyrics)
Jan and Dean were a pop duo who formed in 1958. They met in 1957 while they were students at Emerson Junior High School in Los Angeles. A year later they were on the football team of University High School. They had adjoining lockers and began singing and harmonizing in the showers with a number of other football players. Dean Torrence was drafted into the US Army Reserve in 1958. Jan Berry went on to record his first single with Arnold P. “Arnie” Ginsburg under the name Jan & Arnie. (Ginsburg happened to have a namesake, Arnie “woo woo” Ginsburg, who was a career DJ in Boston including on WMEX). The hit, “Jennie Lee”, was penned by Ginsburg and inspired by a poster of a local Hollywood burlesque performer. Jan and Arnie performed on American Bandstand in May and the tune went to #8 on the Billboard charts. When Dean Torrence returned Jan & Dean recorded their first Top Ten hit, “Baby Talk”, peaking at #10 in 1959 (#20 on CKWX in Vancouver).
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#1389: What Does A Girl Do by Marcie Blane
Peak Month February 1963
6 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #13
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 #82
YouTube.com: “What Does A Girl Do?”
Lyrics: “What Does A Girl Do?”
Marcie Blane’s actual name was Marcia Blank and she was raised in Brooklyn, New York. She was the second oldest of four children living with her parents, Ernest and Muriel. Marcie had music in her blood. Ernest Blank made his salary as a professional musician and music teacher. He’d been working as a pianist in the Catskill Mountains when he met and fell in love with 16-year-old Muriel Shalit. Her parents only gave their blessing to their daughter’s marriage on the condition that Ernest graduate from college. After he graduated from New York University with a degree in music education the couple were married.
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#1379: Boys’ Night Out by Patti Page
Peak Month: August 1962
6 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #11
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #49
Peak Position on Cashbox ~ #60
YouTube.com: “Boys Night Out”
Lyrics: “Boys Night Out”
Patti Page was born on November 8, 1927. The New York Times writes “She was born Clara Ann Fowler in Claremore, Oklahoma, the second youngest of 11 children of a railroad laborer. Her mother and older sisters picked cotton. She often went without shoes. Because the family saved money on electricity, the only radio shows Miss Page heard as a child were Grand Old Opry, The Eddie Cantor Show and Chicago Barn Dance.”
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