#1011: Da Da Da by Trio
Peak Month: November 1982
8 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #6
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Da Da Da”
Lyrics: “Da Da Da”
Stephan Remmler was born in Witten, Germany, in 1946. Gert Kralle Krawinkel was born in 1947 in Wilhelmshaven. In the late 1960’s the pair were part of a band called Just Us (a.k.a. MacBeats). They played a two-week engagement in the famous Star Club in Hamburg. Just Us split up in 1969 and Remmler and Kralle went separate ways. Kralle formed his own band Cravinkel, which released two albums in the early 70’s. Stephan Remmler recorded two singles under the pseudonym, Rex Carter. In each case they met with commercial failure. During these years Peter Behrens played the drums in a psychedelic rock band called Silberbart and also released one album in 1971. The three guys knew each other. Behrens was the illegitimate son of an American GI, and was put up for adoption by his biological mother. He was adopted by the Behrens family, where he grew up in northern Germany.
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#1012: Beatnik Sticks by Paul Revere And The Raiders
Peak Month: September 1960
9 weeks on Vancouver’s CKWX chart
Peak Position #9
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Beatnik Sticks”
A band called The Downbeats formed in Boise, Idaho, in 1958. Paul Revere Dick started the band originally as an instrumental group. They had their first chart single in Vancouver in 1960, an instrumental riff on the piano tune, Chopsticks, called “Beatnik Sticks.” They changed their name to Paul Revere & The Raiders in 1960. Between 1960 and 1976 they released 41 singles. They charted five songs into the Top Ten on the Billboard Hot 100 in the USA beginning in 1966 with songs like “Kicks”, and “Hungry” (1966), “Him Or Me – What’s It Gonna Be?” (1967) and their cover of Don Fardon’s 1968 single “Indian Reservation” which peaked at #1 for the band in 1971. They were even more popular in Vancouver where they charted over fifteen songs into the Top Ten on the local charts here on the West Coast.
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#1013: Brown Paper Sack/Spread It On Thick by The Gentrys
Peak Month: February 1966
8 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #8
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #101/#50
YouTube.com: “Brown Paper Sack”
Lyrics: “Brown Paper Sack”
YouTube.com: “Spread It On Thick”
Lyrics: “Spread It On Thick”
The Gentrys were seven guys who all had attended Treadwell High School in Memphis, Tennessee. The group formed in May 1963 to play for local high school dances. They consisted of lead vocalist and guitar player, Larry Raspberry, vocalists Jimmy Hart and Bruce Bowles, trumpet player Jimmy Johnson, bass guitarist Pat Neal, saxophone and keyboard player Bobby Fisher and drummer Rob Straube. At the Mid-South Fair Talent Competition in September 1964, The Gentrys came in third and auditioned for and appeared on the Ted Mack Amateur Hour. That same year they won the Memphis Battle of the Bands. By the end of the year The Gentrys signed a record deal with Youngstown Records. They released their first single, “Sometimes”, which became a hit in the Memphis radio market in January 1965.
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#1015: Willyam, Willyam by Dee Dee Sharp
Peak Month: February 1964
8 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #9
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #97
CFUN Twin Pick ~ January 18. 1964
YouTube.com: “William, Willyam”
Dione LaRue was born in Philadelphia in 1945. She began singing as a child at her grandfather’s church. She answered a newspaper ad at age 13 for a girl who could read music, play piano and sing. From 1959 on she was singing background vocals on records by Frankie Avalon, Freddie Cannon, Bobby Rydell and Chubby Checker. In 1962 she took center stage at Cameo-Parkway Records when she was asked to record her first solo record, “Mashed Potato Time” which climbed to #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #5 in Vancouver. The hits kept on coming in 1962 in the midst of a dance craze and record buyers keen to scoop up the latest song about the latest dance. Sharp had the following hits make the Top Ten on the Billboard Hot 100 from March 1962 to March 1963, “Slow Twistin'” (with Chubby Checker) (#3),”Gravy” (#9), “Ride” (#5) and “Do The Bird” (#10). In Vancouver, it was “Ride” that actually charted the highest at #4.
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#1016: We’re On Our Way by Chris Hodge
Peak Month: July 1972
6 weeks on Vancouver’s CKVN chart
Peak Position #3
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #44
YouTube.com: “We’re On Our Way”
Lyrics: “We’re On Our Way”
Ringo Starr was responsible for signing Chris Hodge with Apple Records. Hodge was 22-years-old when signed. Hodge had been living in Rome as a fashion photographer, but had come back to London and signed a music publishing deal with Robert Mellin Publishing. At the time he’d been given money to record some demos. Hodge called Apple’s A&R man Tony King and described his composition about UFO’s and later met with King and played him a demo. Tony played the demo tape for Ringo later and Ringo wanted to meet Chris Hodge. Ringo suggested some lyrical changes, but let Hodge record “We’re On Our Way” and “Supersoul” as he wished.
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#1018: Hello Hello by The Sopwith Camel
Peak Month: January 1967
6 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #5
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #26
Lyrics: “Hello Hello”
The Sopwith Camel was a psychedelic rock band involved with the San Francisco hippie scene of the late 1960’s. The Sopwith Camel is remembered for being the second San Francisco band to get a recording contract with a national record label. They were the first San Francisco band from the psychedelic rock scene to have a Top 40 hit. In 1965, vocalist and lyricist, twenty-one-year-old Peter Kraemer, had conjured the name The Sopwith Camel for a band he wanted to form. Kraemer’s name was based on The Sopwith Camel, a British First World War single-seat biplane fighter aircraft introduced on the Western Front in 1917. It was developed by the Sopwith Aviation Company and became one of the most iconic fighter aircraft of the First World War.
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#1019: Christina by Terry Jacks
Peak Month: July 1975
8 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #10
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Christina”
Lyrics: “Christina”
Terrence Ross Jacks was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in 1944. During his career as a recording artist he became a household name and recognized as a singer, songwriter, record producer and environmentalist. His family moved to Vancouver in 1961 and he formed a band named The Chessmen along with local guitarist, Guy Sobell. The Chessmen had four singles that made the Top 20 in Vancouver, two which were double-sided hits. These included “Love Didn’t Die” “The Way You Fell” and “What’s Causing This Sensation”, and Top Ten hits. Jacks met Susan Pesklevits on a local CBC music show called Let’s Go in 1966. In 1968 they become the core of the band, The Poppy Family.
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#1020: I’m Tired by Savoy Brown
Peak Month: February 1970
8 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #6
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #74
YouTube.com: “I’m Tired”
Lyrics: “I’m Tired”
Savoy Brown, originally known as the Savoy Brown Blues Band, formed in 1965, in Battersea, South West London. The band was formed by Kim Simmonds who was a multi-instumentalist playing guitar, keyboards, harmonica and offering vocals. Simmonds collaborated with harmonica player John O’Leary to form the band. The pair had struck up a conversation at Transat Imports record shop in Lisle Street, Soho, in 1965. Savoy Brown went though constant lineup changes. This would continue with some periods of stability over the next five decades. Keyboard player Bob Hall joined shortly after the band’s formation to provide some stability, and the band’s debut album, Shake Down, showcased a collection of blues covers. In 1967 they released a single from the album, “Shake Em On Down,” which made the Top 40 in Orlando, Florida.
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#1021: Cool Operator by Sandy Nelson
Peak Month: January 1961
6 weeks on Vancouver’s CKWX chart
Peak Position #4 – CFUN
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Cool Operator”
Lloyd Sander Nelson was born in Santa Monica, California, in 1938. Jan Berry, Dean Torrence and Phil Spector were among the students in his school who also pursued careers in pop music. Sandy became a proficient drummer and joined his first group, Kip Tyler and the Flips. Another member of the group was future Beach Boy, Bruce Johnston, who played piano. Ki Tyler and the Flips recorded a few songs on local record labels in Los Angeles, introducing Sandy Nelson to the world of studio recording. In 1957, with three friends from high school, Marshall Leib, Sandy Nelson, and Annette Kleinbard, Phil Spector formed a group called the Teddy Bears. Nelson played drums on the Teddy Bears’ chart-topping 1958 hit, “To Know Him, Is To Love Him”. In 1959 Sandy Nelson played drums for Gene Vincent on “Crazy Times” before going solo.
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#1023: I Need Somebody Tonight by Fosterchild
Peak Month: March 1978
9 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #13
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “I Need Somebody Tonight”
James Edwin Foster was born in Victoria, Canada, in 1950. His family moved to Edmonton and then Calgary. There he met Vern Willis around 1970 and they played in a few bands and learned the ropes of performing in concert. Willis moved on to New York City while Jim Foster formed a quartet named Fosterchild where they were a regular band at Calgary’s the Scotch and Sirloin. The band went to Edmonton and recorded a demo of a song Jim Foster wrote called “Let Me Down Easy.” On the strength of that demo the band got a record deal with CBS Records. However, CBS was unimpressed with the other three musicians in Fosterchild and got session musicians to work on the single release. Consequently, Jim Foster had a new record out to the general public but no intact Fosterchild band. It was 1976 and Vern Wills had come back to Calgary since his US visa had expired. Jim Foster recalls, “So I called Vern who was living in Edmonton. He said he’d just heard me on the radio. I said ” You wanna join forces?” and that was it. He’d always been one of my faves. Then we had to find more players and get an album together.”
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