#26: Bridget the Midget by Ray Stevens
City: Edmonton, AB
Radio Station: CHED
Peak Month: February 1971
Peak Position in Edmonton ~ #3
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #10
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #50
YouTube: “Bridget the Midget”
Lyrics: “Bridget the Midget”
Harold Ray Ragsdale was born in January 1939, in Clarkdale, Georgia. In high school he formed a group called The Barons. When he was 18, he was signed to Capitol Records on their Prep label. His debut single was “Five More Steps”. The single charted briefly on CKWX in Vancouver in February 1958. In the summer of 1960, Stevens “Sergeant Preston of the Yukon” climbed to #22 in Vancouver. While in 1961, Stevens released a single about unscrupulous pharmaceutical products pitched to cure whatever ails you. “Jeremiah Peabody’s Polyunsaturated Quick-Dissolving Fast-Acting Pleasant-Tasting Green and Purple Pills” reached #8 in Vancouver, and also charted in the Top 50 in Winnipeg and Montreal. For several decades, Ray Stevens’ song was the longest song title to make the Billboard Hot 100.
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#7: Violetta by Ray Adams
City: Hamilton, ON
Radio Station: CKOC
Peak Month: June 1962
Peak Position in Hamilton ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Violetta”
Lyrics: “Violetta”
Ragnar Asbjørnsen was born in 1931 in Norway. In the late 1950s he was part of the vocal group named The Cavaliers. The group released “Eselsangen” in 1958, and In 1958, he was part of a recording duo called Ruth & Ragnar, releasing a single titled “Når Tusen Stjerner Tenner Lys”. The following year they released the single “Den Gamle Tango (Cocktail Tango)”. Additionally, he released a duet with Alf Blyverkets Kvartett titled “Ungkarsdilemma”. Asbjørnsen released “Jeg Håper, Jeg Ønsker, Jeg Drømmer” in 1959. In 1960, he released a solo single titled “Roser Vil Jeg Alltid Gi Deg”. He changed his name to Ray Adams and recorded his first single, “Ding Dong Girl Bonny Belle”, in 1960. In 1961, he released a single titled “Dagen Er Din”.
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#8: Mamma Mia by ABBA
City: Hamilton, ON
Radio Station: CKOC
Peak Month: August 1976
Peak Position in Hamilton ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #32
YouTube: “Mamma Mia”
Lyrics: “Mamma Mia”
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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#9: Personal Jesus by Depeche Mode
City: Hamilton, ON
Radio Station: CKOC
Peak Month: April 1990
Peak Position in Hamilton ~ #4
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #28
YouTube: “Personal Jesus”
Lyrics: “Personal Jesus”
Depeche Mode is a band formed in Essex, UK, in 1980. Andrew “Andy” Fletcher was born in Nottingham, England, in 1961. His family moved to Basildon, Essex, when he was two-years-old. In 1977, when schoolmates Vince Clarke and Andy Fletcher formed a band called No Romance in China with Clarke on vocals and guitar and Fletcher on bass. In 1980, they formed the band Composition of Sound, and added Martin Gore, and later that year David Gahan. Vincent “Vince” Clarke was born in 1960 in Greater London. He learned violin and piano when he was a child. Martin Gore was born in 1961 in London. He learned to play keyboards through the 1970s. After graduating in 1979, he took a position working as a bank cashier.
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#33: Rovin’ Heart by The Lords
City: Edmonton, AB
Radio Station: CJCA
Peak Month: May 1967
Peak Position in Edmonton ~ #5
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Rovin’ Heart”
Lyrics: N/A
The Lords were a band formed in Edmonton, Alberta, in 1966. The members were Barry Allen, Lorne Peet and Mel Degen. Barry Allen Rasmussen was born in 1945 in Edmonton, Alberta. His family was musical, and he learned guitar and sang from an early age. Barry wrote for the Canadianbands.com website decades later of himself: “While attending Victoria High School, he was a member of the curling club, and had aspirations of becoming a chartered accountant. But by the time he’d graduated, he was looking at a musical future, and spent the next couple of years in a number of makeshift groups, honing his chops and emulating his British invasion idols.” He joined Wes Dakus and the Rebels in 1965. They band went to New Mexico and recorded with Norman Petty, producer of Buddy Holly and the Crickets, Roy Orbison, Buddy Knox and others. Petty was taken with Barry Allen’s vocal abilities and suggested Allen make some solo records. The outcome were the single releases in early 1965, “Easy Come Easy Go”, and “It’s Alright With Me Now”. The first single climbed to #6 in Edmonton in January 1965, and made the Top 30 in Regina (SK) and Calgary (AB). The followup single climbed to #9 in Edmonton in July 1965.
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#10: Little Deuce Coupe by the Beach Boys
City: Hamilton, ON
Radio Station: CKOC
Peak Month: September 1963
Peak Position in Hamilton ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #15
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #15
YouTube: “Little Deuce Coupe”
Lyrics: “Little Deuce Coupe”
Brian Wilson was born in Inglewood, California, in 1942. In biographer Peter Ames Carlin’s book, Catch a Wave: The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of the Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson, he relates that when Brian Wilson first heard George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” it had a huge emotional impact on him. As a youngster, Wilson learned to play a toy accordion and sang in children’s choirs. In his teens he started a group with his cousin, Mike Love and his brother, Carl. Mike was born in Los Angeles in 1941 and Carl was born in 1946 in Hawthorne, California. Brian Wilson named the group Carl and the Passions in order to convince his brother to join. They had a performance in the fall of 1960 at Hawthorne High School, where they attended. Their set included some songs by Dion and the Belmonts. Among the people in the audience was Al Jardine, another classmate. Jardine was born in Hawthorne in 1942. He was so impressed with the performance that he let the group know. Jardine would later be enlisted, along with Dennis Wilson to form the Pendletones in 1961. Dennis was born in Inglewood in 1944.
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#11: Nova Heart by the Spoons
City: Hamilton, ON
Radio Station: CKOC
Peak Month: July 1982
Peak Position in Hamilton ~ #4
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Nova Heart”
Lyrics: “Nova Heart”
The Spoons were a band formed in 1979 in Burlington, Ontario. After several lineup changes they released their debut album, Stick Figure Neighbourhood. But they had to wait until 1982 with the release of their second album, Arias & Symphonies to get national attention. By that time the band consisted of Spoons co-founders Gordon Deppe (on lead vocals and guitar) and Sandy Horne on bass and vocals. The Spoons second drummer, Derrick Ross, joined the band in late 1979. The keyboard player, Rob Preuss, was the band’s second keyboard player after Brett Wickens departed.
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#12: Is She Really Going Out With Him by Joe Jackson
City: Hamilton, ON
Radio Station: CKOC
Peak Month: September 1979
Peak Position in Hamilton ~ #2
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #5
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #21
YouTube:”Is She Really Going Out With Him”
Lyrics: “Is She Really Going Out With Him”
Joe Jackson was born David Ian Jackson in 1954 in Burton upon Trent, England. In his teens he learned to play violin and piano. In 1970 when he was 16-years-old, Jackson was playing piano in bars and pubs. Out of high school he attended London’s Royal Academy of Music. In the early 70s he formed a British band called Edward Bear (different from the Canadian band from Ontario), which soon changed its name to Arms and Legs. David Ian Jackson started getting the nickname “Joe” because some people thought he looked like the Charlie Brown character Snoopy in his “Joe Cool” persona.
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#24: Jennifer Eccles by the Hollies
City: Edmonton, AB
Radio Station: CHED
Peak Month: April 1968
Peak Position in Edmonton: #4
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #40
YouTube: “Jennifer Eccles”
Lyrics: “Jennifer Eccles”
The Hollies are an English rock group formed by Allan Clarke and Graham Nash in the early 1960’s. Known for their distinctive vocal harmony style, they became one of the leading British groups of the 1960s and early 1970s. They enjoyed considerable popularity in many countries, although they did not achieve major US chart success until 1966. Nash left the group in 1968, and then formed Crosby, Stills and Nash. The Hollies had 30 charting singles on the UK Singles Chart, and 21 on the Billboard Hot 100. Their hits included “Bus Stop”, “I Can’t Let Go”, “On A Carousel”, “Stop, Stop, Stop” and “Carrie Anne” in the mid-60s.
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#13: She Sells Sanctuary by the Cult
City: Hamilton, ON
Radio Station: CKOC
Peak Month: March 1986
Peak Position in Hamilton ~ #2
Peak position in Vancouver ~ “also getting airplay”
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “She Sells Sanctuary”
Lyrics: “She Sells Sanctuary”
The Cult is a band formed in Bradford, West Yorkshire, UK, in 1983. The band was fronted by Ian Astbury, who was born in Heswall, Cheshire, UK, in 1962. He lived in Hamilton (ON) from 1973 to 1979. In 1981, Astbury formed Southern Death Cult, a punk band. In 1983, Astbury formed Death Cult. He was joined on guitar by William “Billy” Duffy, who was born in 1961 in Manchester, UK. On bass guitar was Jamie Stewart, who was born in Middlesex, UK, in 1964. Before joining Death Cult, Stewart was part of a gothic-post-punk band called Ritual. Before appearing in January 1984 on a Channel 4 variety show called The Tube, Astbury changed the band’s name again to The Cult. They released their debut album, Dreamtime, in 1984, including a new drummer named Nigel Preston (born Birmingham, 1963). Several singles from Dreamtime cracked the Top 100 of the UK Singles chart.
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