#51: Another Nail In My Heart by Squeeze
City: Hamilton, ON
Radio Station: CKOC
Peak Month: July 1980
Peak Position in Hamilton ~ #7
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #20
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Another Nail In My Heart”
Lyrics: “Another Nail In My Heart”
Squeeze was a new wave-synth pop band from the UK. Christopher Henry Difford was born in South East London in 1954. Glenn Martin Tilbrook was born in London in 1957. Julian Miles “Jools” Holland was born in South East London in 1958. The trio formed Squeeze in 1974 in London. After a year Squeeze settled on Gilson Lavis as the bands drummer. David Leslie Gilson Lavis was born in 1951 and Bedford, England. Before he joined Squeeze in 1975 he toured with Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Skeeter Davis and Dolly Parton. In 1978 Squeeze released their debut self-titled album which included their UK Top 20 hit “Take Me I’m Yours”.
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#52: My Heart Belongs To Only You by Bobby Vinton
City: Hamilton, ON
Radio Station: CKOC
Peak Month: April 1964
Peak Position in Hamilton ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #17
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #9
YouTube: “My Heart Belongs Only To You”
Lyrics: “My Heart Belongs Only To You”
Stanley Robert Vinton was born in 1935 in Canonsberg, Pennsylvania. His father was a bandleader, and the Polish surname was originally Vintula, and anglicized to Vinton. He was given a weekly 25-cent allowance as an incentive to learn the clarinet (about $4.25 in 2024 dollars). By the age of sixteen, Bobby Vinton had his own band in Pittsburgh. He got a degree in university in music composition, and learned to also play saxophone, piano, drums, trumpet and oboe. In the fall of 1959, Bobby Vinton wrote a song titled “First Impression” which became a Top 40 hit in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Syracuse (NY) and Flint (MI). In early 1960, Vinton had a Top 20 hit in Syracuse (NY) with “A Freshman And A Sophomore”. He served in the United States Army for two years and got a record deal late in 1960 on the Epic label.
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#53: Turn Down Day by the Cyrkle
City: Hamilton, ON
Radio Station: CKOC
Peak Month: September 1966
Peak Position in Hamilton ~ #2
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #12
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #16
YouTube: “Turn Down Day”
Lyrics: “Turn Down Day”
Don Dannemann was born in 1944 in Brooklyn, NY. By age eight, he started playing piano. In 1961, he formed The Rhondells at Lafayette College in Easton (PA). Tom Dawes was born in Albany (NY) in 1943. He co-founded The Rhondells with Dannemann. Earl Pickens also joined the group, playing keyboards and bass guitar. Marty Fried (alias Troy Honda) joined the band when they needed a drummer in 1963. The Rhondells covered songs by the Four Seasons, the Beach Boys, Beatles and other recording artists into the mid-60s. The four band members were performing as the Rhondells in Atlantic City, N.J., when they were discovered by an associate of Beatles’ manager Brian Epstein. A that point, The Rhondells had released one garage rock single titled “Don’t Say That You Love Me”.
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#30: Burning Bridges by Mike Curb Congregation
City: Calgary, AB
Radio Station: CKXL
Peak Month: December 1970
Peak Position in Calgary ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Burning Bridges”
Lyrics: “Burning Bridges”
Mike Curb was born in Savannah, Georgia, in 1944. In 1963, he formed Sidewalk Records in Los Angeles when he was just 19 years old. In 1966, he scored music for the biker film The Wild Angels. He wrote the music for “Blues Theme”, a hit for Dave Allan and the Arrows. In 1967, he scored music for two more biker films, Devil’s Angels and The Born Losers, and in 1968 another biker film titled The Savage Seven, and The Sidehackers (1969). As well, Mike Curb scored music for auto racing films Thunder Alley (1967), and The Wild Racers (1968). In 1969, he co-wrote a new theme tune for American Bandstand which aired on the TV show from 1969 to 1974. Over the years Mike Curb produced songs for Terry Stafford, the Hondells, Bill Medley, the Osmonds, Petula Clark, Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gore, Eddie Arnold, Mike Douglas, Tony Bennett, Pat Boone, Roy Orbison, Bobby Sherman, Solomon Burke, Debbie Boone and Andy Williams, and more.
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#54: Go Back To Your Woods by Robbie Robertson
City: Hamilton, ON
Radio Station: CKOC
Peak Month: February 1992
Peak Position in Hamilton ~ #6
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Mainstream Rock chart ~ #32
YouTube: “Go Back To Your Woods”
Lyrics: “Go Back To Your Woods”
In 1943, Jaime Royal “Robbie” Robertson was born in Toronto. His biological father was a Jewish and a professional gambler named Alexander David Klegerman. He had impregnated Robertson’s mother, Rosemarie Dolly Chrysler, a Cayuga and Mohawk woman from the Six Nations Reserve, near Hamilton, Ontario. Dolly soon after met James Patrick Robertson at a jewelry plating factory in Toronto where they both worked. Dolly and James married in late 1942. And Alexander David Klegerman was killed in a hit-and-run accident just prior to their marriage. It wasn’t until “Robbie” Robertson was 14 that he was told who his real biological father was.
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#57: I Need A Man by the Eurythmics
City: Hamilton, ON
Radio Station: CKOC
Peak Month: February 1988
Peak Position in Hamilton ~ #7
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #10
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #46
YouTube: “I Need A Man”
Lyrics: “I Need A Man”
The Eurythmics were the duo of Annie Lennox and David Stewart. They were part of the New Wave music with a heavy reliance on a synth-pop sound. They were especially successful in the UK with hits that included “Love is a Stranger”, “Sweet Dreams Are Made of This”, “Who’s That Girl?” and “Here Comes the Rain Again”. They had a successful duet with Aretha Franklin in 1985 titled “Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves”.
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#58: Magical Mystery Tour by the Beatles
City: Hamilton, ON
Radio Station: CKOC
Peak Month: January 1968
Peak Position in Hamilton ~ #6
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Magical Mystery Tour”
Lyrics: “Magical Mystery Tour”
Paul McCartney was born in Liverpool in 1942. He attended the Liverpool Institute High School for Boys and met fellow classmate George Harrison on a school bus. When Paul was 14 his mom died from a blockage in one of her blood vessels. In his early teens McCartney learned to play trumpet, guitar and piano. He was left-handed and restrung the strings to make it work. In 1957, Paul met John Lennon and in October he was invited to join John’s skiffle band, The Quarrymen, which Lennon had founded in 1956. After Paul joined the group his suggested that his friend, George Harrison, join the group. Harrison became one of the Quarrymen in early 1958, though he was still only 14. Other original members of the Quarrymen, Len Garry, Rod Davis, Colin Hanton, Eric Griffiths and Pete Shotton left the band when their set changed from skiffle to rock ‘n roll. John Duff Lowe, a friend of Paul’s from the Liverpool Institute, who had joined the Quarrymen in early 1958 left the band at the end of school. This left Lennon, McCartney and Harrison as remaining trio. On July 15, 1958, John Lennon’s mother died in an automobile accident.
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#59: Second Thoughts by Cheyenne Winter
City: Calgary, AB
Radio Station: CKXL
Peak Month: October 1970
Peak Position in Calgary ~ #8
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak position on RPM Canadian Singles chart ~ #49
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Second Thoughts”
Lyrics: N/A
Cheyenne Winter were a band from Edmonton (AB) formed in 1970. They backed up Barry Allen who was the lead singer. Ken Dangerfield, the group’s bass guitarist, told Canuckistanmusic.com “Cheyenne Winter weren’t really a ‘band’ in the sense that ‘we formed a group and we’re all in this together, one for all, all for one, etc. The musicians in the group were selected by Barry and Wes to form a backup group for Barry, more or less as sidemen.” In addition, Cheyenne Winter went to the recording studio. In addition to Ken Dangerfield and Barry Allen were guitarist Jordan York, keyboardist Brad Carlson, drummer Dave Mitchell and a horn section of Earl Seymour on saxophone, Lorne Peet on trumpet, and Ed Gilchrist on trombone.
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#60: Part Of The Union by the Strawbs
City: Hamilton, ON
Radio Station: CKOC
Peak Month: May 1973
Peak Position in Hamilton ~ #6
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Part Of The Union”
Lyrics: “Part Of The Union”
In 1964, a band in England was formed a bluegrass band called the Strawberry Hill Boys. Dave Cousins was one of the original founders. Born David Joseph Hindson, in 1945, Cousins grew up in Chiswick, UK. The Strawberry Hill Boys played bluegrass, and expanded to folk music. In June 1967, before appearing in concert they shortened their name to The Strawbs in order to get their band’s name displayed on stage. They began to release singles and albums beginning in 1968 with their self-titled album, Strawbs. In 1972, they released a single from the album Bursting at the Seems, titled “Lay Down”, which was based on Psalm 23. The single climbed to #12 in the UK.
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#61: Bizarre Love Triangle by New Order
City: Hamilton, ON
Radio Station: CKOC
Peak Month: February 1987
Peak Position in Hamilton ~ #7
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #98
YouTube: “Bizarre Love Triangle”
Lyrics: “Bizarre Love Triangle”
Bernard Sumner was born in 1956 in Salford, Lancashire, England. In his youth he learned to play guitar, keyboards, synthesizer and melodica. After graduation from public school, he got work with Stop Frame as a television animator cartoonist. After Sumner and his childhood friend Peter Hook saw the Sex Pistols at a concert in Manchester, they decided to form the post-punk band Joy Division. Born Peter Woodhead in 1956 in Salford, he took his stepfather’s surname, Hook, after his mother remarried. Peter Hook learned to play bass guitar, guitar, melodica, electronic drums and synthesizer. Stephen Paul David Morris was born in 1957 in the market town of Macclesfield, 16 miles south of Manchester. He learned to play the drum from a young age. Over the years he added percussion, keyboards and synthesizer to his resume.
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