#26: Mama Guitar by Julius La Rosa
City: Hull, QC
Radio Station: CKCH
Peak Month: June 1957
Peak Position in Hull ~ #2
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #98
YouTube: “Mama Guitar”
Lyrics: “Mama Guitar”
Julius La Rosa was born in Brooklyn in 1930 and raised in an Italian-American Roman Catholic milieu. Out of high school he joined the U.S. Navy and became a radioman. According to a 1991 New York Times article, La Rosa sang in the Navy Choir, at officers clubs and bars to pay for drinks. La Rosa was in the Navy when Arthur Godfrey heard him sing. Godfrey had been encouraged to listen to La Rosa by a buddy of La Rosa’s named George “Bud” Andrews, who happened to be the seaman mechanic on Godfrey’s personal airplane. Godfrey soon invited Julius La Rosa to appear on his CBS TV show. After his discharge, Julius La Rosa became a star on the Arthur Godfrey and his Friends from 1951 to 1953, recording several hits including “Eh, Cumpari”, which shot to #2 on the Billboard pop charts.
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#27: Why Oh Why by Kathy Linden
City: Hull, QC
Radio Station: CKCH
Peak Month: August 1958
Peak Position in Hull ~ #2
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~did not chart
YouTube: “Why Oh Why”
Lyrics: N/A
Kathy Linden was born in 1938 in Moorestown, New Jersey, south of Philadelphia. Linden’s talents appeared early. Her first public appearance was as a tap and ballet dancer when she was five years old. Since then, she acted in school plays and musicals, appeared in public pageants, played piano and violin in several local symphony orchestras, and with an all-girl string quintet called the Singing Strings. She attended the University of New Hampshire Summer Youth Music School in 1954, was a soprano soloist with the All State Chorus in 1955, and studied at the Philadelphia Conservatory of Music. As featured vocal soloist with the Singing Strings, she appeared in many well-known spots in Philadelphia and around New Jersey. She also sang with several local bands. At 19, she was discovered by record producer, bandleader, and trumpeter Joe Leahy when she auditioned for him. He was so intrigued with her sound that he recorded her and her first release was “It’s Just My Luck to Be Fifteen.” The single made the Top 5 in Buffalo.
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#28: Things I Didn’t Say by Al Alberts
City: Hull, PQ
Radio Station: CKCH
Peak Month: December 1958
Peak Position in Hull ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~did not chart
YouTube: “Things I Didn’t Say”
Lyrics: N/A
Al Albertini was born in Chester (PA) in 1922. In his childhood, young al appeared on a radio show from Philadelphia called The Horn and Hardart Children’s Hour. Horn and Hardart’s slogan was “Less work for mother dear whose gentle hands, lead us so kindly through little folk lands. We’ll give her happiness, each kindness, each caress repaid with thoughtfulness. Less work for mother dear.” After high school graduation in 1940, he was drafted into the United States Navy after the nation entered WWII in December 1941. While he was in the navy, Albertini met Dave Mahoney, and the pair discovered a mutual interest in singing and music. After WWII, they added Rosario “Sod” Vaccaro and Lou Silvestri to become a foursome. By the late 40s they were billed as The Four Aces. They released their first single, “Baby, wha hoppen”, in 1949. When they recorded “(It’s No) Sin” in 1951, they couldn’t get a record company to record the song. So Al Albertini started Victoria Records and made a recording. The single soared to #4 on the Billboard pop chart, and spent 22 weeks on the survey. On the Cashbox Best Selling Singles chart, the song spent nine non-consecutive weeks at number-one, between November 3, 1951, and January 5, 1952. The song was also number-one for seven weeks on Your Hit Parade.
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#31: Kitty Doyle by Dino, Desi & Billy
City: Edmonton, AB
Radio Station: CJCA
Peak Month: September 1967
Peak Position in Edmonton: #4
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Kitty Doyle”
Lyrics: N/A
Desiderio Alberto Arnaz IV is the son of Des Arnaz and Lucille Ball. His birth in 1953 was one of the most publicized in television history. His parents were the stars of the television sitcom I Love Lucy, and Ball’s pregnancy was part of the storyline, which was considered daring then. The same day Lucy gave birth to Desi Jr., the fictional Lucy Ricardo gave birth to “Little Ricky.” As a testament to how interested the American public was in Lucy’s TV baby, Arnaz appeared on the cover on the very first issue of TV Guide with a title that read: “Lucy’s $50,000,000 baby.” The reason he was given this title was because revenue from certain tie-in commitments were expected to top that mark. In 1964 Desi became the drummer for the pop trio Dino, Desi and Billy. “Dino” was Dean Paul Martin, the son of pop singer Dean Martin “Billy” was Billy Hinsche, brother-in-law of Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys.
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#29: Mocking Bird by the Four Lads
City: Hull, QC
Radio Station: CKCH
Peak Month: December 1958
Peak Position in Hull ~ #2
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #40
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~#32
YouTube: “Mocking Bird”
Lyrics: “Mocking Bird”
The Four Lads are a Canadian male quartet from Toronto, Ontario. They were originally made up of Corrado “Connie” Codarini, James F. “Jimmy” Arnold, John Bernard “Bernie” Toorish and Frank Busseri. They met as members of St. Michael’s Choir School. Originally, they named themselves the Otnorots (made up mostly of spelling the place name Toronto backwards. They changed their name to the Four Dukes. But after they found out a group in Detroit had the same name, then they settled on the Four Lads. They got a break when Mitch Miller noticed them when they were recruited by talent scouts to go to New York. Mitchell had them sing back-up on Johnny Ray’s 1951 smash hit, “Cry”, and his big follow up, “The Little White Cloud that Cried”.
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#30: Clementine by Bobby Darin
City: Hull, QC
Radio Station: CKCH
Peak Month: May 1960
Peak Position in Hull ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #16
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~#21
YouTube: “Clementine”
Lyrics: “Clementine”
Walden Robert Cassotto was born in the Bronx in May, 1936. His mother, born in November 1917, was pregnant with him when she was only sixteen, giving birth to him when she was seventeen. In the 1930’s, being a pregnant teenager was very improper. So she gave birth and was introduced to her son as his older “sister.” In order for the deceit to be pulled off, young Robert was raised by his grandmother, Polly, who he understood was his mother. And he understood that his “mother” had given birth at a later stage in life. His “mother” was a showgirl in her earlier days and so not the “grandmother type.” So the ruse was successful. It was not until 1968, when he was 32 years of age, that he discovered that his older sister, Giovannina Cassotto, was actually his mother. In his childhood, Robert learned to play piano, drums and guitar. According to his biographies, Walden Robert Cassotto suffered from rheumatic fever as a child. Bobby’s real sister, Vivienne, said years later, “my earliest memory of Bobby as a child was about his rheumatic fever. We couldn’t walk on the floor because just walking across the floor would put him in agony. I remember Bobby crying and screaming and my father having to pick him up and carry him to the bathroom, he was in so much pain. I remember being told all my life, “Bobby’s sickly. You have to be careful, and you have to protect him.” Between the ages of eight and thirteen, Bobby had four illnesses with rheumatic fever. Each one damaging his heart muscle more severely than the previous illness.
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#18: With The Wind and the Rain in Your Hair by Pat Boone
City: Hull, QC
Radio Station: CKCH
Peak Month: March 1959
Peak Position in Hull ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #10
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #21
YouTube: “With The Wind and the Rain in Your Hair”
Lyrics: “With The Wind and the Rain in Your Hair”
Pat Boone was born in Jacksonville, Florida, on June 1, 1934. He was the son of Margaret Virginia (Pritchard) and Archie Altman Boone. The Boone family moved to Nashville from Florida when Boone was two years old. In a 2007 interview on The 700 Club, Boone claimed that he is the great-great-great-great grandson of the American pioneer Daniel Boone. Boone is a singer, composer, actor, writer, television personality, motivational speaker, and spokesman. He won a talent contest on the Ted Mack Amateur Hour. He became a successful pop singer in the United States during the 1950s and early 1960s. He has sold over 45 million records, charted 38 Top 40 hits between 1955 and 1962. Boone has also appeared in more than a dozen Hollywood films. He still holds the Billboard record for spending 220 consecutive weeks on the charts with one or more songs each week.
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#36: Sidewinder by Wes Dakus
City: Edmonton, AB
Radio Station: CJCA
Peak Month: June 1964
Peak Position in Edmonton: #7
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Sidewinder”
In 1938, Wes Dakus was born in Mannville, Alberta. He moved to Edmonton and formed The Rebels in 1958. The Rebels quickly became one of the most popular predominantly instrumental groups on the prairies. They performed in rural hotels and seniors drop-in centres. Initially the band was known as the CJCA Rebels. It was Edmonton radio station that promoted them. CJCA gave The Rebels air-time on its local talent features and helped them with the bookings. The Rebels became one of the regular bands at The Commercial and The Rainbow Ballroom in Edmonton. By the time Dakus caught the attention of Quality Records’ VP Lloyd Dunn, he and The Rebels had gotten to know Alberta’s roads like the backs of their hands. By this time The Rebels were making tours across western Canada. The band travelled to Clovis, New Mexico where they recorded with Buddy Holly’s producer Norman Petty. He ultimately became their manager, and two singles were released under the name of The Club 93 Rebels, a nod to their radio station sponsor CJCA 930-AM.
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#31: Witchcraft by Frank Sinatra
City: Hull, QC
Radio Station: CKCH
Peak Month: April 1958
Peak Position in Hull ~ #3
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #20
YouTube: “Witchcraft”
Lyrics: “Witchcraft”
Francis Albert Sinatra was born in 1915 in Hoboken, NJ. Sinatra spent much time at his parents’ tavern in Hoboken, working on his homework and occasionally singing for spare change. After leaving school before graduating, Sinatra began performing in local Hoboken social clubs and sang for free on radio stations such as WAAT in Jersey City. In New York, Sinatra found jobs singing for his supper or for cigarettes. He got his first break in 1935 when his mother persuaded a local singing group called the 3 Flashes to let him join. Baritone Fred Tamburro stated that “Frank hung around us like we were gods or something”, admitting that they only took him on board because he owned a car and could chauffeur the group around. Sinatra soon learned they were auditioning for the Major Bowes Amateur Hour show, and “begged” the group to let him in on the act. With Sinatra, the group became known as the Hoboken Four, and passed an audition from Edward Bowes to appear on the show. They each earned $12.50, and ended up attracting 40,000 votes to win first prize—a six-month contract to perform on stage and radio across the U.S. Sinatra quickly became the group’s lead singer, and, much to the jealousy of his fellow group members, garnered most of the attention from girls.
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#32: My Love For You by Johnny Mathis
City: Hull, QC
Radio Station: CKCH
Peak Month: September 1960
Peak Position in Hull ~ #4
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #23
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #47
YouTube: “My Love For You”
Lyrics: “My Love For You”
Johnny Mathis was born in Gilmer (TX) in 1935. His family moved to San Francisco when he was 5-years-old. His father was a vaudeville singer and piano player. Mathis began learning songs and routines from his father. Mathis’ first song was “My Blue Heaven”. He started singing and dancing for visitors at home, at school, and at church functions. When Mathis was 13, voice teacher Connie Cox accepted him as her student in exchange for housework. Mathis studied with Cox for six years, learning vocal scales and exercises, voice production, classical and operatic singing. In 1955, Mathis got a job singing weekends at Ann Dee’s 440 Club in San Francisco.
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