#814: Calling Dr. Casey by John D. Loudermilk

Peak Month: July 1962
9 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #7
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #83
YouTube.com: “Calling Dr. Casey”
Lyrics: “Calling Dr. Casey”

John D. Loudermilk was born in Durham, North Carolina, in 1934. Although he had a middle initial, D, the “D” wasn’t short for any middle name. His father was an illiterate carpenter, John D Loudermilk Sr. John D Jr. When he was seven his dad gave him a ukulele made from a cigar box. Young John D Jr. learned to play guitar in his youth and began to write poems and songs. His poetry was inspired after he began to read the works of Kahlil Gibran. In his late teens, in the early 50’s, John D Jr. wrote a poem titled “A Rose And A Baby Ruth”. It concerned a teenage couple who have a quarrel and the boy gives his girlfriend a rose and a Baby Ruth candy bar to make up. Loudermilk put notes to the poem and played the sung version on a local TV station. This caught the attention of country singer, George Hamilton IV. The song was published in 1956 and became a Top Ten hit on both the Country and Pop charts on Billboard Magazine. The following year, Loudermilk penned “Sittin’ In The Balcony” for Eddie Cochran. Once that became a hit, Loudermilk’s songwriting career was launched. He co-wrote “Waterloo,” a #1 country hit and #4 pop hit in 1959 for country singer, Stonewall Jackson.
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Peak Month: June 1962
8 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #5
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart

There was a British-born jazz and dance band leader named Henry Levine who was born in 1906. He moved to America when he was small and became a naturalized American citizen. But Hank Levine, who released the instrumental single, “Dr. Kildare”, in 1962, was a completely different person. (For excellent background about British-born Henry Levine, see Nick Dellow’s article under the Reference section at the bottom of this post). Hank Levine was born in the USA. He graduated at Peabody High School in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1944. He went on to study at Carnegie Mellon University, also in Pittsburgh, where he graduated in 1952. Hank Levine and His Orchestra made instrumental versions of pop tunes from the late 1950’s into the 1970’s. According to information at Discogs.com, these included “Tequila”, “Walk Right In”, “Michelle”, “Downtown”, “Georgy Girl”, “California Dreamin’’” and “Groovin'”, “Since I Fell For You”, “Elusive Butterfly” and “59th Street Bridge Song”. He was also an arranger, composer and conductor for over four decades.

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#816: It Happened Today by The Skyliners

Peak Month: November 1959
8 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #7
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #59
YouTube.com link: “It Happened Today”
Lyrics: “It Happened Today”

Jimmy Beaumont was the lead singer for The Skyliners, a doo-wop group comprised of four males and one female from the Allentown neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The group formed in 1956 as The Crescents. The other members of the group were soprano Janet Vogel, tenor Wally Lester, bass singer Jackie Taylor and baritone Joe Verscharen. By the fall of 1958 The Crescents changed their name to The Skyliners. The group had a #3 hit on the R&B charts in early 1959 called “Since I Don’t Have You“. They made a demo of the song in 1958 which was rejected by 13 record labels until they got a contract with Calico record label, a subsidiary of Laurie Records in New York City. Calico Records made a new recording of the song. Marc Myers, writing for Jazz Wax, writes, “A string arrangement was written and 18 musicians were contracted for the date in New York in early December. Toward the end of the recording, Vogel unleashed a series of “you-ooo” soprano notes behind lead singer Jimmy Beaumont that sounded like a soaring falsetto. Then she crushed the ending with a vocal line that went up, came down slightly and then shot way up to end the song. They were electrifying notes that capped a perfect recording.” “Since I Don’t Have You” appeared on the Pittsburgh pop charts in January, 1959, on January 10 on KQV 1410 AM. It jumped from #26 to #3 the next week and spent two weeks at #1 and spent eight weeks in the Top Ten in Pittsburgh. The song also went to #1 in New York City.

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#817: Marcheta by Karl Denver

Peak Month: October 1961
8 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #5
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com link” “Marcheta”
Lyrics: “Marcheta”

Angus Murdo McKenzie was born in Glasgow, Scotland, in December 1931. He quit school at the age of fourteen. Soon he got work as a deckhand with the Scandinavian Mercantile Marine at the close of World War II. Next he went into the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders and fought in the Korean War where he was wounded. Then he returned to the sea. In his 1999 obituary in The Independent, it is written, “He was such a tough, hard-living character that the Rhodesians gave him the nickname “Boaty Maseteno,” meaning “brother of Satan.” In 1953, Denver arrived in a port in America. He impressed people with his guitar playing, falsetto and yodeling abilities. He made friends with Faron Young and Lefty Frizzell. In 1956, going by the name, Karl Denver, he became the first British act to perform on the Grand Ole Opry. He would later tell the British press, “I had a son called Karl who was killed and I thought I would keep his name. For a time I lived in Fort Collins in Colorado and I thought Denver was a good place, so I became Karl Denver.”
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#819: Tube Snake Boogie by ZZ Top

Peak Month: October 1981
9 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #9
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #104
YouTube.com link: “Tube Snake Boogie”
Lyrics: “Tube Snake Boogie”

ZZ Top was formed in 1969 in Houston, Texas. The band has had three members since it began. Guitar player, Billy Gibbons, is the lead vocalist for the trio. Dusty Hill also shared lead vocals and plays bass guitar. The bands’ drummer is Frank Beard. Gibbons and Hill wear beards, however Frank Beard is clean-shaven. The band has sold over 25 million records of their blues-rock infused recordings. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004. They credit the rock group Cream as one of their major influences. Among their early singles was “La Grange”, in 1973. This was a song about a brothel actually called the Chicken Shack on the outskirts of La Grange, Texas, from 1905 to 1973. The Chicken Shack was the basis for a play called The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas that debuted on Broadway in 1978. The song peaked at #41 on the Billboard Hot 100, but did not chart in Vancouver.

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#820: English Country Garden by Jimmie Rodgers

Peak Month: November 1961
10 weeks on Vancouver’s CKWX chart
Peak Position #10
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com link: “English Country Garden”
Lyrics: “English Country Garden”

Jimmie Rodgers was a country singer who is best known for his 1957 hit “Honeycomb”. James Frederick Rodgers was born in Camas, Washington, in 1933. His mother taught him to play the piano and guitar. During the Korean War Rodgers served in the U.S. Air Force. While there he played in a band called The Melodies. After the war ended in 1953 Rodgers entered Arthur Godfrey’s talent show. The attention he gained got him a record deal with Morris Levy’s Roulette Records. He had a string of Top 10 hits that followed in the late 1950’s including “Secretly”, “Oh-Oh I’m Falling In Love Again”, “Kisses Sweeter Than Wine” and “Bimbombey”. In Vancouver Rodgers charted nine singles into the Top 10 and eighteen singles onto the local pop charts.

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#821: Sign Of A Gypsy Queen by Lorence Hud

Peak Month: December 1972
9 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #9
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com link: “Sign Of A Gypsy Queen”
Lyrics: “Sign Of A Gypsy Queen”

Lorence William Hud was born in 1947 in Saskatchewan. He signed with A&M Records in 1972 and released a self-titled album that year. The single from his debut album, “Sign of the Gypsy Queen”, was his most successful charting single at #16 on the RPM charts and #9 on CKLG. He would release seven more singles between 1973 and 1982. However, none of them cracked the Top 30. The Canadian band, April Wine, had a Top 40 hit in Canada with “Sign of the Gypsy Queen” in 1981.

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#845: Hold Me Now by One To One

Peak Month: January 1989
10 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #13
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Hold Me Now”

One To One were a band that formed in Ottawa, Ontario, in 1984. It consisted of vocalist Louise Reny and producer/multi-instrumentalist Leslie Howe. The duo had been in a local rock band since the mid-70s called Mainstream. Tired of playing covers of 60’s, 70’s and 80’s pop tunes, Reny and Howe were inspired to collaborate and release original material. In late 1985 they released “There Was A Time“. The song climbed to #1 on CFRA-AM in Ottawa, and #14 on the Canadian RPM singles chart. According to Canadian Bands.com, the single made the Top 20 in several European record markets. In the spring of 1986, One To One had another Top Ten hit in Ottawa with “Angel In My Pocket“. The single cracked the Billboard Hot 100. It also topped the pop charts in The Philippines. Their debut album, Forward Your Emotions, was recorded in West Germany. It earned them credibility in the music industry. One To One were nominated for Most Promising Group of The Year at the Juno Awards in 1986. They lost out to Glass Tiger. Leslie Howe was nominated for Producer of the Year, but he lost out to David Foster and his soundtrack to St. Elmo’s Fire. Howe was also nominated at the 1986 Juno’s for Recording Engineer of the Year, but lost out to Gino and Joe Vannelli for their recording of the Black Cars album.

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#822: Big Brother by Dickie Lee

Peak Month: January 1965
8 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #7
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #101
YouTube.com link: “Big Brother”
Lyrics: “Big Brother”

Dickey Lee was born in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1936. In 1957 he recorded “Dream Boy” which was a #2 hit on the Memphis pop music stations. With that success he got signed to Sun Records. In 1962 he wrote “She Still Thinks I Care”, which was a hit for George Jones. Lee was signed to Smash Records and at the age of 26 had a #6 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Patches.” The song about teen suicide was banned in various markets and was not playlisted on CFUN in Vancouver. He had another song about a girl named “Laurie” who died a year before her ghost asks for a teenage boy’s sweater. Most of his songs in the 1960’s had a tragic side to them.

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#823: General Hand Grenade by Trooper

Peak Month: January 1976
9 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #9
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com link: “General Hand Grenade”
Lyrics: “General Hand Grenade”

In 1967 Ra McGuire and Brian Smith played in a Vancouver band named Winter’s Green. The band recorded two songs, “Are You a Monkey” and “Jump in the River Blues” on the Rumble Records Label. “Are You A Monkey” later appeared on a rock collection: 1983’s “The History of Vancouver Rock and Roll, Vol. 3.” In the early seventies Winter’s Green changed their name to Applejack and added drummer Tommy Stewart and bassist Harry Kalensky to their lineup. Applejack became a very popular band in the Vancouver area, and began touring extensively in British Columbia. The band played a few original tunes such as “Raise A Little Hell”, and “Oh, Pretty Lady”, as well as Top 40 songs by artists such as Neil Young, and Chicago.

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