#743: Gypsy by Abraham’s Children

Peak Month: March 1973
8 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #6
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #119
YouTube.com: “Gypsy”
Lyrics: “Gypsy”

Vincenzo Donato Bertucci moved with his Italian immigrant family to Toronto when he was six years old. When he was in high school he formed a band named Just Us. His school mate, Ron Bartley, was a singer and guitarist. Bartley had been raised as a child in Virden, Manitoba. His parents were a duo called the Singing Sweethearts. Bartley’s family moved to the Annex neighborhood in Toronto when he was ten. When he was 13-years-old, Ron Bartley met Jimi Bertucci. They hung around the St. Alban’s Boy Club and talked about music. Soon, Bartley and Bertucci co-founded the London Tones. Bertucci also was asked to join a band called The Death, which opened for James Brown and the Famous Flames at a venue in the Toronto suburb of Mimico, Ontario.

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#562: I Think It’s Gonna Rain Today by Tom Northcott

Peak Month: January 1971
8 weeks on Vancouver’s CKVN chart
Peak Position #4
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com:”I Think It’s Going To Rain Today”
Lyrics: “I Think It’s Going To Rain Today”

Tom Northcott is a Vancouver folk-rock singer with hits on the local pop charts from the mid-60s into the early 70s. He became known to a Canadian audience by his regular appearances on CBC Television’s Let’s Go music program in 1964-68. He was nominated as best male vocalist for a Juno Award in 1971. Later he co-founded Mushroom Studios in Vancouver and produced records. His hits are played regularly on Canadian oldies music stations.

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#563: Unfaithful Diane by Don Deal

Peak Month: November 1957
5 weeks on Vancouver’s CKWX Teen Canteen chart
Peak Position #2
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Unfaithful Diane”
Lyrics: “Unfaithful Diane”

In 1938 Don Deal was born on a farm in Honey Creek, Iowa, a dozen miles north of Council Bluffs. He developed an interest in music while he was a child. His family relocated to California during 1952, first living in Bell, California, south of downtown Los Angeles. Then his family moved a few miles east to the LA suburb of Bell Gardens. Don got a job working as an assistant at Bert Keiffer’s Music Store. One day while working at the store he met Eddie Cochran. They became good friends. One day Don Deal was singing at the back of the music store after finishing a shift. It happened that a talent scout named Smoky Rodgers heard Deal singing. Rodgers was blown away and convinced young Deal to move to San Diego. Deal was given a gig performing at the Bostonian Ballroom three nights a week. Deal also was put on a television show based in Tijuana, Mexico, where he appeared five times a week.

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#564: Connie-O by The Four Seasons

Peak Month: January 1963
9 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #3
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Connie-O”
Lyrics: “Connie-O”

Pianist Bob Gaudio was born in The Bronx in 1942. At 14 years of age he co-founded The Royals. Gaudio had been playing piano since he turned eight in 1950. Gaudio was born in November 1942 in Bergenfield, New Jersey. The Royals opened for a local New Jersey doo-wop group named The Three Friends who had a hit in New York and Baltimore in the winter of 1956-57 titled “Blanche”. After the Fort Lee concert, The Three Friends invited The Royals to come to New York to be the session musicians for their upcoming recording date in the Brill Building at 1650 Broadway. It was there The Royals met The Three Friends manager, Leo Rogers. On the strength of their musical skills, Rogers invited The Royals to be session musicians for numerous recording artists in the building. They were also given a chance to record a song.

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#1083: Everyone’s A Winner by Bootsauce

Peak Month: April 1991
9 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #14
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Everyone’s A Winner”
Lyrics: “Everyone’s A Winner”

Sonny Greenwich Jr. was born on January 1, 1962, in Toronto. In his childhood his family moved to the south shore of Montreal and went to high school in the suburb of Longueuil. He got his first guitar on the occasion of his sixteenth birthday and formed a band that became named Dogstar. At a Montreal area Christmas party in 1988, Greenwich met singer Drew Ling (born Drew Thorpe) and guitarist Perry Johnson (who was later billed as Pere Fume). They instantly hit it off and found they shared musical interests. Soon they were playing with each other and formed a band.

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Peak Month: August 1973
6 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #11
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #57
YouTube.com “Bongo Rock”

Preston Epps was born in Oklahoma in 1930 and learned to play percussion instruments while he was in the Korean War. In the early 50s Epps found his passion after he fell in love with the drums after visiting Bop City, a San Francisco jazz club. Epps was the main percussionist on “Earth Angel”, which was recorded in 1954 by the Penguins. In April 1955, “Earth Angel” climbed to #1 on the Billboard R&B charts, #8 on the Billboard Best Sellers in Stores pop music chart, and #2 on the Cashbox Best Selling Singles chart. In 1957 Preston Epps was featured in the film Calypso Heat Wave where he played the bongos. In 1959 Preston Epps released an instrumental he co-wrote titled “Bongo Rock”. The single peaked at #14 in June ’59 on the Billboard Hot 100. The instrumental climbed to #6 in Vancouver (BC).
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#1254: Acapulco 1922 by Tijuana Brass

Peak Month: January 1963
8 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #8
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com “Acapulco 1922”

Herb Alpert was born in 1935 in Los Angeles. His parents were Jewish immigrants, from the Ukraine and Romania. He started to play the trumpet at the age of eight. After he graduated from high school, he joined the United States Army and played trumpet. In 1956 he was one of the drummers at Mt. Sinai in the film The Ten Commandments. In 1957 he became a songwriter for Keen Records. He teamed up with Lou Adler in 1958 and released a single titled “The Trial” credited to Herb B. Lou and the Legal Eagles. The recording was of the “break-in” genre, like Buchanan & Goodman’s “Flying Saucer” from 1956. The single had break-in’s from “Tears On My Pillow” by Little Anthony & The Imperials, “Splish Splash” by Bobby Darin, “To Know Him Is To Love Him” by the Teddy Bears, “Little Star” by The Elegants, “Volare” by Domenico Modugno and others. “The Trial” made the Top Ten in Cincinnati, Ohio.

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#565: Pepe by Duane Eddy

Peak Month: January 1961
10 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #3
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #18
YouTube.com: “Pepe”
“Pepe” song from Pepe, as sang by Shirley Jones

Duane Eddy was born in Corning, New York, in 1938. When he turned five years old he started to play guitar. His family moved to Coolidge, Arizona, in 1954. At the age of 16 Eddy got a Chet Atkins Gretch guitar. In 1954, at Coolidge High School Duane met Jimmy Delbridge who shared his love of music. Both boys played guitar and sang. In short order they were appearing on local radio in Coolidge, KCKY, as Jimmy and Duane. Jimmy sang best and Duane was a superior guitar player. Duane persuaded Jimmy leave the guitar behind and play piano. During 1955 local Phoenix disc jockey Lee Hazlewood was informally managing the duo. In June ’55 Hazlewood drove Eddy and Jimmy Dell (as he was now known) to Ramsey Recording Studio in Phoenix. In the studio the duo recorded the first of Hazelwood’s songs, “Soda Fountain Girl” and “I Want Some Lovin’ Baby”. These were old hillbilly tunes  backed by Buddy Long & the Western Melody Boys.

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#566: Wild Eyes by The Stampeders

Peak Month: August 1972
10 weeks on Vancouver’s CKVN chart
Peak Position #6
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Wild Eyes”
Lyrics: “Wild Eyes”

The Stampeders are a rock trio from Calgary named after that city’s football team, The Calgary Stampeders. Although, it could be argued that the yearly Calgary Stampede was also an inspiration for their name. During the band’s most successful chart run from 1968 to 1976, it was made up of guitarist Rich Dodson, bass player Ronnie King (born Cornelius Van Sprang) and drummer Kim Berly (born Kim Meyer). All three provided vocals. Originally, the band was a group of five formed in 1964 called The Rebounds. The Rebounds had five members: Rich Dodson, Len Roemer, Brendan Lyttle, Kim Berly, and Race Holiday. They renamed themselves The Stampeders in 1965 and Len Roemer was replaced with Ronnie King and Van Louis, making them a band of six for a few years. But after a temporary move to Toronto in 1966 the band was down to three members, Dodson, King and Berly by 1968. Between 1967 and 1976 The Stampeders charted 15 singles into the Canadian RPM Top 40.

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#1307: Tango by Dalbello

Peak Month: March-April 1989
9 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #18
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #91
YouTube.com: “Tango”
Lyrics: “Tango”

In 1959 Lisa Dal Bello was born in Weston, Ontario, a suburb of Toronto. At age 11, she taught herself to play the guitar and started writing her own songs. And she also started to perform at the Mariposa Folk Festival and the Fiddlers’ Green club in Toronto. The first song she wrote was a protest song called “Oh, Why?” In 1971 she got a summer job touring as part of a 35-member musical troupe sponsored by the Ontario Provincial Government. However, as she was only 13, she had to fib about her age to get hired for Summer Sounds ’71. The following year Lisa Dal Bello met singer-songwriter Ian Thomas at an audition. This led to her recording three songs she’d written for the CBC. The other person at the audition,  Jack Budgell got Lisa connected with jingle producer Tommy Ambrose. She also was introduced to numerous producers and got to be a back-up singer on studio recording sessions.

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