#196: Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft by the Carpenters
Peak Month: November 1977
17 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #2
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #101
YouTube: “Calling Occupants”
Lyrics: “Calling Occupants”
Richard Lynn Carpenter was born in 1946 in New Haven, Connecticut. He is a singer, songwriter, musician, record producer, and music arranger, who formed half of the sibling duo the Carpenters, alongside his younger sister Karen. He had numerous roles in the Carpenters including record producer, arranger, pianist, keyboardist, lyricist, and composer, as well as joining with Karen on harmony vocals. He learned to play musical instruments at an early age and was considered a child prodigy. Karen Carpenter was born in 1950, also in New Haven. She enjoyed dancing and by age four was enrolled in tap dancing and ballet classes. The family moved in June 1963 to suburban Los Angeles. At the age of 19, in 1965, Richard Carpenter created the Richard Carpenter Trio with sister Karen and friend Wes Jacobs. Richard played the piano, Karen played the drums, and Wes played the tuba and bass. In 1966 the Richard Carpenter Trio played “Iced Tea” and “The Girl from Ipanema” at the Hollywood Bowl Battle of the Bands. They recorded three songs with RCA in 1967. But their sound was too dissonant with the prevailing psychedelic pop-rock sound in the Summer of Love.
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#197: I’m Down by the Beatles
Peak Month: July-August 1965
5 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #1
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #101
YouTube: “I’m Down”
Lyrics: “I’m Down”
Paul McCartney was born in Liverpool in 1942. He attended the Liverpool Institute High School for Boys and met fellow classmates 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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#198: Echo Beach by Martha & the Muffins
Peak Month: June 1980
15 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #2
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Echo Beach”
Lyrics: “Echo Beach”
Martha Johnson was born in Toronto, Ontario, in 1950. Johnson worked in Toronto as a medical receptionist. She started her career playing the organ with cover band “Oh Those Pants”. She then was part of Toronto band the Doncasters in the early 1970s. Johnson joined David Millar, Mark and Tim Gane, and Carl Finkle to form the band Martha & the Muffins in 1977. Martha & the Muffins emerged from the early punk/new wave/art pop scene which was centered around various clubs along Toronto’s Queen Street West and the Ontario College of Art, where Millar and Mark Gane were students. Martha Johnson played keyboards, David Millar and Mark Gane played guitar. Gane’s brother, Tim, was the band’s drummer. And Carl Finkle played bass guitar. The band had their debut performance at the Ontario College of Art Hallowe’en party in October 1977. Some of the clubs they played at included the Beverly and the Rivoli. Regarding the name for the band, Mark Gane recalls “We decided to use it as a temporary name until we could all agree on something better.” They had wanted a name that was edgy, but not aggressive like the Sex Pistols.
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#199: Under Pressure by Queen featuring David Bowie
Peak Month: January 1982
14 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #2
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #29
YouTube: “Under Pressure”
Lyrics: “Under Pressure”
Farrokh Bulsara was born in 1946 in Zanzibar. He was raised by his Parsi parents who came to Africa from India. His family moved to India in 1954 when he was eight, where he attended British-style boarding schools near Bombay. He moved back to Zanzibar in 1963, but his family fled to England in 1964 after the Zanzibar Revolution and the overthrow of the Sultan of Zanzibar by indigenous Africans. Bulsara was born a British subject, as Zanzibar was a British protectorate until 1963. After studying graphic art and design, Farrokh was part of several bands in the London area. In 1970 he hooked up with several members from a band called Smile, Brian May and Roger Taylor. Farrokh Bulsara named their new band Queen. He also legally changed his name to Freddie Mercury.
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#1012: Baby Weemus by April Stevens & Nino Tempo
Peak Month: June 1963
9 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #9
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Baby Weemus”
Caroline Vincinette LoTempio was born in 1929 in Niagra Falls, New York. Stevens has recorded since she was fifteen years old. From the official website of April Stevens & Nino Tempo comes this story: “One day, while standing outside Hollywood’s famous Wallach Music City on Sunset and Vine, she was approached by Tony Sepe, the owner of Laurel Records, who asked her if she could sing. The young teenager thought he was probably flirting, but answered his question in the affirmative. Before long, she changed her name to April Stevens and recorded a few songs for Sepe’s small independent label. An aunt of Carol LoTiempo’s had suggested April as a name, and as she was born in April LoTiempo liked the name. Still in high school, April then moved on to record for Society Records. on “Don’t Do It”, her first for Society, her sweetly innocent approach to addressing very real concerns for a teenage girl was given a twist at the end by giving in to the boy’s advances, as long as there’s a commitment. “Don’t Do It” was banned from airplay… “”Stop holding my hand,” April pleaded; but in the second verse, she suggestively purred “I need it, how I need it…ooooh I want it.” Consequently, “Don’t Do It” sold by word of mouth only, from under the counter.”
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#200: Marina by Rocco Granata/Willy Alberti
Peak Month: December 1959
14 weeks on Vancouver’s CKWX chart
Peak Position #3
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #31/#42
YouTube: “Marina” ~ Rocco Granata
YouTube: “Marina” ~ Willy Alberti
Lyrics: “Marina”
Rocco Granata was born in 1938 in Figline Vegliaturo, Calabria, in southern Italy. He is an Italian-Belgian singer, songwriter, and accordionist. When he was ten years old he left sunny Calabria for the coal Belgian mining district. His father had moved to Belgium the year before and intended to return to Italy. But Salvatore felt so lonely in Belgium and sent for his family, his wife Ida and his two young children Rocco and Wanda. At school in Belgium, Rocco continue the solfège lessons he had started in Italy. At the age of fifteen his father let him drop out of school to start working as a mechanic in a Vespa-shop. Vespa and Italian engines were of great interest to Rocco. But his real passion was music.
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#201: State Of The World by Janet Jackson
Peak Month: March-April 1991
14 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position ~ #3
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “State Of The World”
Lyrics: “State Of The World”
Janet Damita Jo Jackson was born in 1966 in Gary, Indiana. She is the tenth and youngest child of the Jackson family. Her brothers Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon and Michael became the Jackson 5. They received three Grammy Award nominations and later had three of their songs inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. The Jackson 5 (later named The Jacksons) charted four singles to number-one, and seven more singles into the Top Ten on the Billboard Hot 100. In 1973, at age seven, Jackson with brother Randy performed a skit on TV and a month later performed at the MGM Casino in Las Vegas. Janet started acting in the variety show The Jacksons in 1976. In 1977, she was selected to have a starring role as Penny Gordon Woods in the sitcom Good Times, starring Ester Rolle as Florida Evans, and John Amos as James Evans. Janet Jackson later starred in A New Kind of Family as Jojo Ashton.
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#202: Does Your Mother Know by ABBA
Peak Month: August 1979
8 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #1
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #19
YouTube: “Does Your Mother Know”
Lyrics: “Does Your Mother Know”
ABBA is a pop band from Sweden. Agneta Fältskog was born in 1950 in the lakeside city of Jönköping in southern Sweden. Fältskog wrote her first song at the age of six, which she named “Två små troll” (“Two Small Trolls”). In 1958, she began taking piano lessons, and also sang in a local church choir. In early 1960, Fältskog formed a musical trio, the Cambers. At age 15 she left school to pursue a career in music. She considers Connie Francis, Lesley Gore, Aretha Franklin and Marianne Faithfull as her prime influences on her musical style. Fältskog worked on reception for a car firm while performing with the Bernt Enghardt band. In 1967 she wrote “Jag var så kär” (“I Was So in Love”), after a dating relationship ended. The single topped the Swedish pop charts in early 1968. That year she met Björn Ulvaeus, a member of the Hootenanny Singers. Ulvaeus was born in the western coast city of Gothenburg, Sweden, in 1945. In the early Sixties, Ulvaeus joined the Hootenanny Singers. They had a #5 hit in Sweden in 1964 with “Gabrielle”, based on the Russian folksong “May Here Always Be Sunshine”. The folk group had many Top Ten hits in Sweden into the early 70s, including a cover of “Green, Green Grass of Home” (“En sång en gång för längese’n”).
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#204: Joy by the Ventures
Peak Month: February 1972
13 weeks on Vancouver’s CKVN chart
Peak Position #1
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #109
YouTube: “Joy”
In 1958, The Ventures were formed by Don Wilson and Bob Bogle in Tacoma, Washington. They are an American instrumental rock band that helped popularize electric guitar in pop music during the 1960s. The band’s founders first met in 1958, when Bogle was looking to buy a car from a used car dealership in Seattle owned by Wilson’s father. Finding a common interest in guitars, the two decided to play together, while Wilson joined Bogle performing masonry work. They bought two used guitars in a pawn shop for about $10 each. Initially calling themselves the Versatones, the duo played small clubs, beer bars, and private parties throughout the Pacific Northwest. Wilson played rhythm guitar, Bogle lead. When they went to register the band name, they found that it was already taken. Disappointed, they cast about for an appropriate name. Wilson’s mother suggested the name “The Ventures”, upon which they eventually agreed in 1959.
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#204: Blue Hawaii/Moonlight Swim by Elvis Presley
Peak Month: November 1961
17 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #1 ~ CKWX
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ LP cut (Blue Hawaii Album) ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Blue Hawaii”
Lyrics: “Blue Hawaii”
Peak Month: November 1961
8 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #12
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ LP cut (Blue Hawaii Album) ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Moonlight Swim”
Lyrics: “Moonlight Swim”
Elvis Aaron Presley was born on in a two-room house in Tupelo, Mississippi, on January 8, 1935. His twin brother, Jessie Garon Presley, was stillborn. When he was eleven years old his parents bought him a guitar at the Tupelo Hardware Store. As a result Elvis grew up as an only child. He and his parents, Vernon and Gladys, moved to Memphis, Tennessee, in 1948. The young Presley graduated from high school in 1953. That year he stopped by the Memphis Recording Service to record two songs, including “That’s When Your Heartaches Begin”. Elvis’ musical influences were the pop and country music of the time, the gospel music he heard in church and at the all-night gospel sings he frequently attended, and the black R&B he absorbed on historic Beale Street as a Memphis teenager. In 1954, Elvis began his singing career recording “That’s All Right” and “Blue Moon Of Kentucky” at Sun Records in Memphis.
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