#2: Stay Away From Bobby by the Sherry Sisters
City: Fort St. John, BC (and Peace River, AB)
Radio Station: CKNL/CKYL
Peak Month: April 1963
Peak Position in Fort St. John ~ #12
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Stay Away From Bobby”
The Sherry Sisters were a vocal pop duo from Brooklyn, New York. They were two sisters, Lois and Karen Klein. Karen Klein entered a talent contest at the age of 16 when she was a counselor at the Catskill Mountain resort of the famous Concord Hotel in Kiamesha Lake, New York. Spotted by a booking agent, she and Lois represented the United States in the First International Song Festival in Bogata, Colombia. They released their debut single on the Okey label titled “Stay Away From Bobby”.
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#1: Knock Knock Who’s There by Mary Hopkin
City: Fort St. John, BC
Radio Station: CKNL
Peak Month: February 1973
Peak Position in Fort St. John: #8
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #92
YouTube: “Knock Knock Who’s There”
Lyrics: “Knock Knock Who’s There”
Mary Hopkin was born in May 1950 in Pontardawe, Wales. She took weekly singing lessons as a child and began her musical career as a folk singer with a local group called the Selby Set and Mary. She released an EP of Welsh-language songs for a local record label called Cambrian, based in her hometown, before signing to the Beatles’ Apple Records. The model Twiggy saw Hopkin winning the ITV television talent show Opportunity Knocks and recommended her to Paul McCartney. Her debut single, “Those Were the Days”, produced by McCartney, was released in the UK on August 30, 1968. Hopkin had competition from well-established star Sandie Shaw, whose own single version of the song was released that fall. But Shaw’s recording stalled at #51 on the UK chart. Meanwhile, Mary Hopkin’s “Those Were the Days” became a number-one hit in Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Ireland, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK, USA, and West Germany. Hopkins smash hit also climbed to #2 in Argentina, Australia, Austria, and South Africa.
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#39: House Of Bamboo by Earl Grant
City: Hull, QC
Radio Station: CKCH
Peak Month: May 1960
Peak Position in Hull ~ #4
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #88
YouTube: “House Of Bamboo”
Lyrics: “House Of Bamboo”
Earl Grant was born in a small town in southeastern Oklahoma in 1931. Grant attended four music schools, eventually becoming a music teacher. He augmented his income by performing in clubs during his U.S. Army service, throughout which he was stationed in Fort Bliss, Texas. Grant signed with Decca Records in 1957. His first album was released in 1958 titled The Versatile Earl Grant. His first single “The End” reached #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 on October 13, 1958. It would be his only Top 40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100. “The End” subsequently appeared in the motion pictures Iron Maze (1991), Days of Tomorrow (1993), and A Dirty Shame (2004), and the TV show Lovecraft Country (2019).
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#2: Paradise by Sammy Turner
City: Fort William, ON
Radio Station: CJLX
Peak Month: March 1960
Peak Position in Fort William ~ #6
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #24
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #46
YouTube: “Paradise”
Lyrics: “Paradise”
Sammy Turner was born Samuel Black in Patterson, New Jersey, in 1932. When he was 18, he put his dream of being a singer on hold and joined the U.S. Air Force and fought in the Korean War as a paratrooper. After the war ended in 1953, Turner worked as an accounting clerk, and sang at nightclubs at night. He was spotted by a talent agent who got Sammy Turner a record deal with Bigtop. He was being compared to the Platters lead singer Tony Williams, and Tommy Edwards. In early 1959, Sammy Turner and the Twisters released “Sweet Laurie Anne” – based on an 18th century poem written by William Douglas. The single was a Top 30 hit in Winnipeg, and a Top 20 hit in Buffalo. Turner went solo after this, and the Twisters became the Rivingtons who had a hit in 1962 titled “Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow”.
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#1: After The Goldrush by Prelude
City: Kelowna, BC
Radio Station: CKOV
Peak Month: December 1974
Peak Position in Kelowna ~ #2
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #10
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #22
YouTube: “After The Goldrush”
Lyrics: “After The Goldrush”
Prelude are an English-based vocal harmony group, who in their most famous line-up consisted of singer and guitarist Brian Hume, his wife Irene Hume – on vocals, and guitarist and singer Ian Vardy. Vardy and Brian Hume had covered Simon & Garfunkel’s song “The Big Bright Green Pleasure Machine” in 1967, billed as The Carnival. They formed Trilogy in their native Gateshead in northeast England in 1970, adding Irene Hume. They changed their name soon after to Prelude. They backed Ralph McTell on his recording of “Streets Of London”, which was released as a single in the UK in 1974. Prelude released a non-charting single titled “Edge of the Sea” in 1972. The following year Prelude signed with the Dawn Record label. They went to the recording studio to work on their debut album, How Long is Forever? One of the tracks was “After The Goldrush”.
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#2: Come See Me by the Pretty Things
City: Kelowna, BC
Radio Station: CKOV
Peak Month: August 1966
Peak Position in Kelowna ~ #6
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Come See Me”
Lyrics: “Come See Me”
The Pretty Things were a band formed in London, England, in 1963. The name was inspired by a song from 1955 by Bo Diddley. Prior to its formation, a band called Little Boy Blue and the Blue Boys was formed in 1962. It consisted of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, and guitarist Dick Taylor. They hooked up with Brian Jones, Ian Stewart and Bill Wyman to become the Rolling Stones. Taylor left the band five months later to pursue studies at the Central School of Art and Design in London. A friend from college, vocalist Phil May, convinced Taylor to start a new band. Phil May (nee Kattner), born in 1944, was raised by an aunt whose surname was May. He took her name in his teens. They recruited Brian Pendleton on rhythm guitar, John Stax on bass guitar, and Pete Kitely on drums. Pendleton was born in 1944, and was working as a trainee to become an insurance clerk before responding to an ad placed in Melody Maker by Taylor and May. Stax was born in 1944 with the birth name John Edward Lee Fullagar. He adopted the name “Stax” because of his fondness for the music produced by Stax Records. Several more drummers tried to prove a good fit until the band settled on the drummer for Carter-Lewis and the Southerners’ Viv Prince.
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#16: The Walls Have Ears by Patti Page
City: Hull, PQ
Radio Station: CKCH
Peak Month: May-June 1959
Peak Position in Hull ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #55
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #77
YouTube: “The Walls Have Ears”
Lyrics: “The Walls Have Ears”
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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#1: With Open Arms by Jane Morgan
City: Hull, PQ
Radio Station: CKCH
Peak Month: September 1959
Peak Position in Hull ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #42
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #39
YouTube: “With Open Arms”
Lyrics: “With Open Arms”
Florence Catherine Currier was born in 1924 in the suburbs of Boston. Her family moved to Florida when she was four-years-old. When she was five, Florence started taking voice lessons as well as piano. In the summertime, she was a child actor in theater productions at the Kennebunkport Playhouse in Kennebunkport, Maine. The Playhouse was founded by her brother. At the age of 17, in the summer of 1941, she was listed as the Treasurer of the Kennebunkport Playhouse. During her years at school, she competed in singing competitions with other students across Florida and the Southeast. Upon graduating from high school in Daytona Beach, she was accepted into the Juilliard School of Music in Manhattan. She had plans to become an opera singer, and studied opera at the school.
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#2: Chanson D’Amour by the Fontane Sisters
City: Hull, QC
Radio Station: CKCH
Peak Month: July 1958
Peak Position in Hull ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #12
YouTube: “Chanson D’Amour”
Lyrics: “Chanson D’Amour”
The Fontane Sisters were a trio of sisters. They were Bea (born 1915), Geri (born 1921) and Marge (born 1917) Rosse, all from New Milford, New Jersey. Bea and Marge started out singing for local functions, doing so well that they were urged to audition in New York City. Originally they performed as a trio with their guitarist brother Frank, under the name the Ross Trio (Rosse with the “e” omitted). The group auditioned for NBC and was soon sent off to work in Cleveland, Ohio. When they returned to New York in 1944, Frank was drafted into the Army. He went to France and was mortally wounded by a German sniper. Geri, who had just finished school, took her brother’s place, making it an all-girl trio. The sisters first performed together as The Three Sisters. Sheet music of two of their songs, “I’m Gonna See My Baby”, and “Pretty Kitty Blue Eyes”, was published by Santly-Joy in 1944.
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#3: Round The Bay Of Mexico by Harry Belafonte
City: Hull, QC
Radio Station: CKCH
Peak Month: October 1959
Peak Position in Hull ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
Peak Position Dutch Singles Chart ~ #11
YouTube: “Round the Bay Of Mexico”
Lyrics: “Round The Bay Of Mexico”
Harold “Harry” George Bellanfanti Jr. was born in 1927 in New York City. He lived with one of his grandmothers in Jamaica from 1932 to 1940. In the 1940s, he worked as a janitor’s assistant, during which a tenant gave him, as a gratuity, two tickets to see the American Negro Theater. He fell in love with the art form and befriended Sidney Poitier, who was also financially struggling. At the end of the 1940s, Belafonte took classes in acting at the Dramatic Workshop of The New School in New York City. His classmates included Tony Curtis, Bea Arthur, Marlon Brando, Sidney Poitier, and Walter Matthau. He launched his recording career as a pop singer on the Roost label in 1949, but quickly developed a keen interest in folk music, learning material through the Library of Congress’ American folk songs archives. Along with guitarist and friend Millard Thomas, Belafonte soon made his debut at the legendary jazz club The Village Vanguard. In the 1949-50 season, Belafonte was a regular on the all-black variety show Sugar Hill Times on CBS.
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