#430: Tra La La La Suzy by Dean And Jean
Peak Month: January 1964
12 weeks on CFUN’s Vancouver Chart
Peak Position ~ #3
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #35
YouTube: “Tra La La La Suzy”
Lyrics: “Tra La La La Suzy”
Dean and Jean an African-American recording act from Ohio. They were Welton Young and Brenda Lee Jones. Brenda Lee Jones had previously released “I Ain’t Gonna Give Nobody None” on the Apollo label in 1957, backed by the Vocaltones. Welton “Pappy” Young was born in Dayton, Ohio. He learned to play guitar and sing. In 1956 he joined the King Toppers, who subsequently changed their name to the Corvettes. On Marv Goldberg’s website, he states that while they were the Corvettes, they played at local Dayton venues like the Democratic Club with Count Basie, and the Fifth Street YMCA. The Corvettes headed for the Big Apple in the fall of ’56 and auditioned for the Apollo Amateur Show. They changed their name back to the King Toppers by the end of the year. But the group disbanded by February 1957 when too many members got drafted into the United States Army. Welton Young worked for Western Union and moved back to Dayton. Back in Dayton, Welton Young met Brenda Lee Jones. They had common goals to move advance their musical careers and decided to become a singing duo. In 1958 they signed up with the small Buckeye label and released “Oh Yeah”. This was co-written by Young and Jones. Though the song was a hit number, with Chuck Berry-inspired guitar riffs, it was a commercial failure. So Dean and Jean switched labels and got signed with Ember Records in New York City.
Continue reading →
#1239: Boys Of Autumn by David Roberts
Peak Month: September 1982
8 weeks on CFUN’s Vancouver Chart
Peak Position ~ #16
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Boys Of Autumn”
Lyrics: “Boys Of Autumn”
David Roberts was born in Boston in 1958. His family moved to Toronto when he was young and he grew up in Canada. When he was 19 years old, in 1977, he was signed to WEA Records in Canada. In 1981 he provided backing vocals for an album by Lisa Dal Bello. In 1982 he released his debut album All Dressed Up. Roberts wrote all ten tracks for the album. On his Facebook page Roberts states that the album was recorded in Sunset Studios in Los Angeles. And that his session musicians included Jeff Pocaro, Steve Lukather and Mike Pocaro from Toto, recent winner of a 1980 Grammy Award for Best Rhythm & Blues Song – “After The Love Has Gone” by Earth, Wind & Fire: David Foster (writer and arranger), multi-instrumentalist and Grammy Award nominee in 1982 for Album of the Year (Breakin’ Away): Jay Graydon, Michael Boddicker – a studio musician whose electronic keyboards were featured on “Rock With You” and “Off The Wall” for Michael Jackson, percussionist Paulinho Da Costa who had recently been in the studio with George Benson on “Give Me The Night” and the Brothers Johnson hit “Stomp”, and Bill Champlin from the rock band Chicago.
Continue reading →
#431: Ponchinello by Frankie Avalon
Peak Month: March 1962
10 weeks on CFUN’s Vancouver Chart
Peak Position ~ #4
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Ponchinello”
Lyrics: “Ponchinello”
Francis Thomas Avallone was born in Philadelphia in 1940. When he was 12-years-old, he appeared in a Christmas episode on The Jackie Gleason Show, playing trumpet in a Honeymooners sketch. RCA signed Frankie Avalon to the label and in 1954 released the trumpet solo he performed in the December 1952 Honeymooners sketch. “Trumpet Sorrento” climbed to #42 on the Cashbox Best Selling Singles chart in March 1954. Avalon also appeared on The Perry Como Show where he played trumpet. With Bobby Rydell, Avalon was in a doo-wop group called Rocco and the Saints. They were backing vocalists for his debut single in 1957, “Cupid”, written by Peter DeAngelis. He appeared in the 1957 rock and roll film Jamboree and performed “Teacher’s Pet” (also written by DeAngelis, and different from “Teacher’s Pet” recorded by Doris Day in 1958). In the film Jamboree, Frankie Avalon got to meet other pop stars in the cast including Fats Domino, Connie Francis, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Jimmy Bowen, Buddy Knox, Charlie Gracie, and jazz singer Joe Williams. Continue reading →
#432: Tokyo Rose by Idle Eyes
Peak Month: May 1985
14 weeks on CKLG’s Vancouver Chart
Peak Position ~ #9
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Tokyo Rose”
Lyrics: “Tokyo Rose”
Tad Campbell was born in Vancouver (BC). After high school he found himself in Australia moonlighting for a band called the Daydream Islanders between shifts while working for a luxury liner that cruised around parts of the continent. In 1980 he replied to an ad looking for a guitarist, and ended up with the band playing for months at a resort in the Whitsunday Islands. A chambermaid at a hotel Campbell knew, Donna McConville, became the bands’ lead singer. Though they had other Australian musicians in the line-up, when Campbell and McConville decided to move to Vancouver, the other bandmates chose not to follow. Back in Vancouver the pair got a new lineup and called themselves Idle Eyes. But the lineup kept changing. Tad Campbell recalls that “their first tour was cancelled when the drummer backed out the day they were supposed to leave.” Part of the problem was that Idle Eyes was made up almost entirely of bandmates from New Zealand and Australia who had visa issues. Eventually, Donna McConville returned to Australia and became a backing singer for John Farnham.
Continue reading →
#433: In Your Soul by Corey Hart
Peak Month: July 1988
13 weeks on CKLG’s Vancouver Chart
Peak Position ~ #6
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #38
YouTube: “In Your Soul”
Lyrics: “In Your Soul”
Corey Hart was born in 1962 in Montreal, Quebec. He is best known for his international Top Ten hits “Sunglasses at Night” (#7 Billboard Hot 100) and “Never Surrender” (#3 Billboard Hot 100). Hart is known as one of Canada’s most successful singer-songwriters. He’s sold over 16 million records worldwide. On the Billboard Hot 100 Hart scored 9 consecutive Top 40 Hits. Back in Canada he succeeded in charting 30 top 40 singles (including 11 Top 10 singles during his career). Hart is a Grammy Nominated, ASCAP & multiple Juno and ADISQ award winner. He has also written and produced several songs for fellow Quebec recording star Celine Dion.
Continue reading →
#1462: Souvenir by Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
Peak Month: June 1982
Number of weeks on Vancouver’s CFMI Chart – insufficient data due to unavailable charts
Peak Position ~ #10
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Souvenir”
Lyrics: “Souvenir”
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD) is a band that formed in 1978 in the Liverpool suburb of Wirral, UK. The bands’ co-founder, George Andrew “Andy” McCluskey, was born in 1959 in the town of Heswall on The Wirral peninsula. In primary school McCluskey met Paul Humphreys. The two teamed up in their teens to play in the bands Hitlerz Underpantz, VCL XI and the Id. The latter was a synth-pop band that also included future OMD member Malcolm Holmes. Paul David Humphreys was born in 1960 Merseyside. He was influenced by Kraftwerk and Brian Eno. Malcolm Holmes was born in a suburb of Merseyside in The Wirral in 1960. When the Id was founded in 1977, Holmes became the band’s drummer. He joined OMD in 1980. Martin Cooper was born in 1958 and joined OMD in 1980.
Continue reading →
#434: Never Going Back by the Lovin’ Spoonful
Peak Month: August 1968
8 weeks on CKLG’s Vancouver Chart
Peak Position ~ #2
1 week Hit Bound
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #73
YouTube: “Never Going Back”
Lyrics: “Never Going Back”
Bass player Steve Boone (born on Long Island) and drummer Joe Butler (born on Long Island in 1941) had been playing in a band called The Kingsmen based on Long Island in the early 1960’s. By 1964 their band (not to be confused with the Kingsmen from Washington State who had a hit with “Louie Louie”) were one of the top rock and roll bands on Long Island. Their live sets included folk songs put to a rock beat, pop standards and some new hits showcasing the British Invasion. Steve’s brother, Skip Boone, and several three other bandmates filled out the group. In 1964, Joe and Skip chose to relocate to Manhattan. They focused on writing original material and blending a rock bass and drums with their jug band sound. Three other bandmates chose not to move, except Steve Boone, who joined Joe and Skip in New York City’s Greenwich Village, the nexus of the folk music scene.
Continue reading →
#435: Echo Park by Keith Barbour
Peak Month: November 1969
9 weeks on CKLG’s Vancouver Chart
Peak Position ~ #3
1 week Hit Bound
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #40
YouTube: “Echo Park”
Lyrics: “Echo Park”
Keith Barbour was born in 1941 in New York City. He is an American singer-songwriter. While he was an undergraduate, Barbour was a member of the Jabborwocks, Brown University’s oldest male vaudeville-inspired a cappella group. He was a member of The New Christy Minstrels from 1967 to 1969, singing their hit song “Green Green”. During that time the ‘Minstrels were singing their own versions of happy songs like “Chitty-Chitty Bang Bang”. Barbour left in 1969 to pursue a solo career, signing with Epic Records. Barbour released an album, Echo Park, in 1969, which hit #163 on the Billboard 200.
Continue reading →
#436: Taos New Mexico by R. Dean Taylor
Peak Month: May 1972
9 weeks on CKLG’s Vancouver Chart
Peak Position ~ #4
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #83
YouTube: “Taos New Mexico”
Lyrics: “Taos New Mexico”
Richard Dean Taylor was born in Toronto in 1939. At the age of 12 in 1951, he made his debut singing performance at open-air Country & Western shows in Greater Toronto. In 1960 he recorded his first single release titled “At The High School Dance”, and also formed a band. Taylor toured around south-central Ontario and into Upstate New York and Michigan. In 1962 he went to New York City, recorded and released “I’ll Remember”. It was a Top 30 hit on CHUM-AM in Toronto. In 1963 R. Dean Taylor auditioned to be a writer for a new record label called Motown. He was hired to work at Motown and released a Beatlemania-themed song titled “My Ladybug (Stay Away From That Beatle)”. However, the label chose not to release the single.
Continue reading →
#875: I’m Free by the Soup Dragons
Peak Month: April 1991
10 weeks on CKLG’s Vancouver Chart
Peak Position ~ #11
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #79
YouTube: “I’m Free” ~ Soup Dragons
YouTube: “I’m Free” ~ Rolling Stones
Lyrics: “I’m Free”
In 1982 Sean Dickson, Jim McCullough and Sushil K. Dade were bandmates in the Scottish indie-pop group BMX Bandits. Though they continued to perform with the band, the trio decided to form the Soup Dragons in 1985. They were an alternative rock band from Bellshill, Scotland. The Soup Dragons released Hang Ten in 1986. Two singles from the album, “Whole Wide World” and “Hang Ten” climbed to #2 on the UK Indie singles chart. a second studio album, This Is Our Art, in 1988. From the album came “Can’t Take No More”, which climbed to number-one on the UK Indie singles chart. Another single from the album, “Soft As Your Face”, had a more accessible sound for the UK Pop singles chart. Both of these single releases cracked the Top 70 on the pop chart. A third single, “The Majestic Head”, became the sixth single to peak in the Top 5 on the UK Indie chart. Up to this point the band had an indie rock sound.
Continue reading →
