#112: First Anniversary by Cathy Carr

City: Ottawa, ON
Radio Station: CKOY
Peak Month: February 1959
Peak Position in Ottawa ~ #6
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #32
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #42
YouTube: “First Anniversary”
Lyrics: “First Anniversary”

Angelina Helen Catherine Cordovano was born in The Bronx (NY) in 1936. In her early childhood, Catherine became a regular on The Children’s Hour broadcast from both Philadelphia and New York City. The closing song was sung to the tune of “A Bicycle built for Two”: Childhood, childhood, sweetest days of all.
Children playing hide and seek and ball.
Tripping to school so merry,
The Golden Rule to study.
Oh, how we’ll miss, the years of bliss,
When our childhood days are gone.

After WWII, she became a singer and dancer with the USO (United Service Organizations Inc.) when they reformed in 1950. She was involved in both peacetime programs, and musical events for United States Armed Forces in the Korean War. She also sang with bandleaders Sammy Kaye and Johnny Dee. In 1953, she was given the stage name Cathy Carr and signed a record deal with Coral Records. Having no hit records with the label with three commercial flops, she moved over to Fraternity Records in 1955. The following year, Cathy Carr had her only Top 40 hit, “Ivory Tower”, which peaked at #2 on the Billboard pop chart. It also spent nine weeks in the Top Ten on the Cashbox Best Selling Singles chart. In Canada, the single reached #2 in Ottawa and #3 in Edmonton (AB). (“Ivory Tower” was covered by Gale Storm to reach #6 on the pop charts, while Otis Williams and the Charms had a #5 hit with the song on the R&B charts).

Cathy Carr’s “Ivory Tower” was a traditional pop tune that
successfully competed with the new rock ‘n roll sound in 1956.

However, Cathy Carr’s followup “Heart Hideaway” stalled at #67 on the Billboard pop charts in the summer of ’56. Though, in Canada, the single peaked at #2 in Ottawa and #8 in Winnipeg (MB).

On June 2, 1956, Carr appeared on Perry Como’s Kraft Music Hall variety show. Other guests on this episode included actor Dick Powell, the Ray Charles Singers, and actress Dana Wynter (who had received a Most Promising Newcomer award at the Golden Globes in 1955).

“Ivory Tower” had been Cathy Carr’s third single release on the Fraternity label. In 1957, Fraternity released Cathy Carr’s debut album, Ivory Tower, hoping to revive interest in their recording star’s fleeting appearance in the Top 40. Fraternity released six more singles into 1958, but these didn’t catch on. Of note, “It Looks Like Love” reached #5 in Toronto on CFRB in March 1957. While the B-side, “Una Momento”, charted into the Top 40 on CKWX in Vancouver. In 1958, Cathy Carr switched to Roulette Records. She released a cover of the Teddy Bears’ “To Know Him Is To Love Him”. However, she got little attention from her cover as teen record buyers snapped up copies of the Teddy Bears version which topped the pop charts in December 1958.

In early 1959, Cathy Carr had a new single on the pop charts titled “First Anniversary”.

“First Anniversary” was written by Aaron Schroeder and Sid Wayne. Aaron Schroeder was born in Brooklyn in 1926. He wrote “At a Sidewalk Penny Arcade” for Rosemary Clooney in 1948. Schroeder wrote 17 hit songs for Elvis Presley including five that topped the charts: “A Big Hunk o’ Love”, “Good Luck Charm”, “I Got Stung”, “It’s Now Or Never” and “Stuck On You”. He also wrote songs recorded by Chaka Khan, Roy Orbison, Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers, Nat “King” Cole, Perry Como, Guy Mitchell, The Playmates, Barry White, Tony Bennett, Dionne Warwick, Pat Boone, “Bandit Of My Dreams” for Eddie Hodges, “I’m Gonna Knock On Your Door” for the Isley Brothers in 1959 which was successfully covered by Eddie Hodges, “First Name Initial” for Annette, “Cincinnati Fireball” for Johnny Burnette, “Rubber Ball”” for Bobby Vee, “Because They’re Young” for Duane Eddy, the Staple Singers and Paul McCartney. Schroeder also wrote “French Foreign Legion” for Frank Sinatra. Schroeder also produced numerous hits for Gene Pitney that included “I Wanna Love My Life Away”, “Town Without Pity”, “(The Man Who Shot) Liberty Valance”, “Only Love Can Break A Heart” and “24 Hours From Tulsa”. Aaron Schroeder later became an international music representative for Hanna-Barbera Productions and provided music, singers and songs for “The Banana Splits” and “Scooby Doo, Where Are You!” Aaron Schroeder had a cameo appearance as a songwriter in the 1957 rock ‘n roll film Jamboree, and once appeared on the TV panel show To Tell The Truth. Schroeder died in 2009 at the age of 83.

Sidney Weinberg was born in Brooklyn (NY) in 1923. He took the stage name Sid Wayne and began writing songs in the mid-50s. His first success as a songwriter was “Ninety Nine Years (Dead or Alive)”, a Top 30 hit for Guy Mitchell. Later that year “Two Different Worlds” for Don Rondo reached #11 on the Billboard pop singles chart. In 1957, Wayne wrote “Mangos” for Rosemary Clooney which became a Top Ten hit. In 1959, “I Need Your Love Tonight” reached number-one in the UK and #4 in the USA. That year the Tempos had a Top 30 hit with “See You In September”. The song was successfully covered in 1966 by the Happenings when it peaked at #3. In 1960, “Biology” by Danny Valentino reached number-one in Vancouver (BC). While his composition “My Love For You” reached #9 in the UK.

In 1961, “Flaming Star” by Elvis Presley reached #14 on the Billboard Hot 100. And Eddie Hodges “I’m Gonna Knock On Your Door” peaked at #12 that year.

From 1960 to 1962, Wayne was the musical director of the CBS game show Video Village, which debuted shortly after the scandal-tainted rigged quizzes of the 1950s left the air. In 1966, he cowrote give songs for the teen flick Hold On! featuring Herman’s Hermits and Shelley Fabares. During the sixties, Wayne cowrote thirty songs that appeared across 17 movies starring Elvis Presley. In 1970 Wayne wrote English lyrics for the Spanish song “Somos Novios”. Wayne’s adaptation was titled “It’s Impossible” which  became the last Top Ten hit for Perry Como. Recording artists who took a Sid Wayne song to the studio include The Platters, Bobby Vee, The Kalin Twins, Johnnie Ray, Toni Arden, The Isley Brothers, and Tony Martin. Sid Wayne died in 1991 at the age of 68.

In “First Anniversary” the anniversary in question concerns a newly formed couple who “just met one week ago.” The pair have found a compelling chemistry, as she sings “with every kiss, we know, we know, it won’t be the last (anniversary).” She recalls “when we met, when we danced, I just knew somehow” the spark between them would continue to grow. The clever hook and anticipation that a two people in their first week of dating might feel – when everything is going well – is expressed in the phrasing and the treatment Cathy Carr gives.

“First Anniversary” peaked at #4 in Milwaukee (WI), and Boston, #5 in Pittsburgh, and Manchester (NH), #6 in Ottawa, #7 in Baltimore, and Las Vegas, #8 in Fairfax (VA), #9 in Allentown (PA), St. Louis, and Albany (NY), and #11 in Chicago. The single stalled at #21 in Toronto and #32 in Vancouver. The single just missed the Top 40, stalling at #42 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the spring of 1959. Though on the Cashbox Top 100 Singles chart, “First Anniversary” spent eleven weeks on the chart and climbed to #31.

Her followup, “I’m Gonna Change Him”, stalled at #63 on the Billboard Hot 100 in June of 1959. It made the Top 60 on CKWX’s Sensational Sixty. Routette Records released Carr’s second studio album, Shy, in 1959.

On August 20, 1959, Cathy Carr appeared on The Jimmie Rodgers Show, along with Johnny Cash and The Playmates. On January 15, 1960, Carr appeared along with Jimmy Jones, and instrumental group The Fireballs, on Big Beat. She also appeared on American Bandstand and The Dick Clark Saturday Night Beechnut Show. She also performed in Australia with the Lee Gordons Record Star Parade Show Tour.

After ten single releases with Roulette Records, Cathy Carr moved on to Smash Records in 1961. Roulette had little success trying to pitch teen-oriented tunes for Carr. Smash tried a cover of the Jerry Fuller tune “Footprints In the Snow”. It was a commercial flop. In 1962, Carr moved on to Laurie Records. Her recording of “Sailor Boy” charted in the Top 40 in Montreal and Toronto in early 1963. However, it stalled at #103, just below the Billboard Hot 100. A fourth and final single on the Laurie label (recorded in 1963), was released in 1967, wound up her recording career. As with all but four of her single releases, her final single also failed to crack the Billboard Hot 100.

After she recorded with Laurie Records, in 1964, Carr moved over to RCA. With her new label she recorded more mature material. Songs for Sentimentalists marked the end of Carr’s attempts to revive her commercial pop career. Now, she opted for an album of standards from the early 20th century.

The album contained “Let Me Call You Sweetheart”, “Embraceable You”, “It Had To Be You”, “Me And My Shadow”, and other pop standards. In 1966, RCA released another album of pop standards on Travel by Carr.

This time out, fans could hear Cathy Carr singing “Canadian Sunset”, “Moonlight In Vermont”, “Saint Louis Blues”, “South Of The Border (Down Mexico Way)”, “Deep In The Heart of Texas” and other favorites.

For most radio listeners, despite having released 28 singles, she is remembered as a one-hit-wonder for “Ivory Tower”. Of the songs she wrote herself, they were credited to Cathy Cordovan.

Cathy Carr died from ovarian cancer in 1988 in Fayetteville (NY) at the age of 52.

September 15, 2025
Ray McGinnis

References:
Boppin’ Bob, “From the Vaults: Cathy Carr,” June 28, 2020.
“The Story and Music of Cathy Carr,” The Mental Itch.com.
Dennis McLellan, “Aaron Schroeder Dies at 83; Prolific Songwriter for Elvis Presley and Others,” Los Angeles Times, December 4, 2009.
“Sid Wayne,” Wikipedia.org.

CKOY 1310-AM Ottawa Top Ten | February 28,  1959