#1081: Star Crossed Lovers by Neil Sedaka
Peak Month: January 1969
6 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #8
1 week Hitbound
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Record World ~ #115
YouTube.com: “Star Crossed Lovers”
Lyrics: “Star Crossed Lovers”
In 1939 Neil Sedaka was born in Brooklyn and grew up in Brighton Beach beside Coney Island. His paternal grandparents immigrated to America from Constantinople, Ottoman Empire, in 1910. His fathers side of the family there were Sephardi Jews and his mother’s side Ashkenazi Jews from Russian and Polish background. Sedaka is a cousin of the late singer Eydie Gorme. When Neil was eight years old he listened to a show on the radio called The Make-Believe Ballroom that opened his world to appreciation for music. Within a year Neil had began learning classical piano at the age of nine at the Julliard School of Music. His progress was impressive and Arthur Rubinstein voted Neil as one of the best New York High School pianists after he turned 16 years old.
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#1082: The Blizzard by Jim Reeves
Peak Month: April 1961
8 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #9
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #62
YouTube.com: “The Blizzard”
Lyrics: “The Blizzard”
James Travis Reeves was born in 1923 at home on a farm between Galloway and Deadwood, in East Texas. The youngest of eight children, Reeves was known as Travis during his upbringing. His dad died when he was ten months old. When he was five years old he learned to play on a guitar he borrowed from an older brother. When he turned nine he bought his own guitar and learned more about guitar picking from an oilfield cook. He won an athletic scholarship to the University of Texas and studied speech and drama. His studies helped him deal with a stammer. However, out of necessity, he left his studies during his first semester for work in the Houston shipyards. In time he began to play in a semi-professional baseball league, prior to joining the roster of a farm team for the St. Louis Cardinals. In 1944 Reeves was a pitcher for the farm team. In his third year in the minor leagues, Reeves severed his sciatic nerve while pitching. This put an end to his athletic career. Reeves next turned his attention to radio and got a job at a station in Henderson, Texas.
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#1083: Right Before Your Eyes by Ian Thomas Band
Peak Month: March 1977
8 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #11
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Right Before Your Eyes”
Lyrics: “Right Before Your Eyes”
In 1950, Ian Thomas was born in Hamilton, Ontario. Once he began to play piano at the age of six Thomas fell in love with the world of music. He later learned the guitar. By 1969 he was in a folk group called Tranquility Base which began to tour across Canada. They had a #3 hit in Hamilton in 1970 called “If You’re Looking”. This led to an album, but further success eluded them. Thomas became a producer at the CBC. By 1973 he got his own record deal with GRT Records and released “Painted Ladies”. The song climbed to #9 in Vancouver and #34 on the Billboard Hot 100. His self-titled album went Gold. Thomas won the 1974 Juno Award for Most Promising Male Vocalist and toured with April Wine. He got exposure on a number of TV variety shows in Canada which included both his musical and comedic talents.Continue reading →
#1085: A Symphony For Susan by The Arbors
Peak Month: December 1966
8 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #7
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #51
YouTube.com: “A Symphony For Susan”
Lyrics: “A Symphony For Susan”
Identical twins, Ed and Fred Farran, met Scott Herrick when they were part of the University of Michigan Men’s Glee Club. The three successfully had auditioned to each be one of thirty members of the ‘Glee Club from among over 300 applicants. They graduated from the University of Michigan in 1961 and added Scott’s brother, Tom, to become a quartet. In the summer of 1961 they moved to New York City and sold their blood, for research purposes, for rent money while they followed their dream of becoming a professional recording act. In a November 1974 issue of The Michigan Alumnus (Volume 81, No. 3) the journal featured an article titled “Three Former Glee Club Members in Vocal Group Called ‘The Arbors.'” The article mentioned how over their twelve year career, at the time, the quartet had appeared in TV commercials for United Airlines, Texaco, Bay Gasoline, Sears, Seven-Up, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Mcdonald’s and Jolly Green Giant.
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#1087: Abergavenny by Shannon
Peak Month: August 1969
7 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #9
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #47
YouTube.com: “Abergavenny”
Lyrics: “Abergavenny”
Reginald Leonard Smith was born in Blackheath, London, UK, in 1939. At the age of 15 he left school and became a messenger boy in the city of London for a firm of brokers in Rood Lane, Eastcheap. Reginald formed a group with some of his local friends called Reg Smith and the Hound Dogs. This led to a series of local gigs in the South of England. At the age of 18 he took the pseudonym, Reg Patterson prior to performing at London’s Condor Club in 1957. While on stage he was noticed by impresario Larry Parnes. The recording acts that Parnes was manager for were all given stage names like Billy Fury, Duffy Power and Dickie Pride. He gave Reginal Leonard Smith a new name in 1957: Marty Wilde. The “Marty” came from the Oscar winning Best Picture of 1955, Marty, starring Earnest Borgnine and Betsy Blair. “Wilde,” like Fury and Power, was a surname intended to convey that the singer was edgy and charismatic.
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#1088: Here Comes The Boy by Tracey Dey
Peak Month: January 1964
9 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #10
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #93
YouTube.com: “Here Comes The Boy”
Lyrics: “Here Comes The Boy”
Nora Ferrari was born in 1943 in Yonkers, New York. After completing high school, at the age of 19, while taking classes at Fordham University Ferrari made a demo tape of a song. Producer, Bob Crewe, became aware of her demo tape and signed her to his production company, Genius Inc. In the summer of 1962 Crewe had produced a song for a new pop group named The Four Seasons called “Sherry“. The song climbed the national charts in the USA for five weeks (as well as three weeks in Vancouver). Crewe got the idea for an answer song and had co-written “Jerry (I’m Your Sherry)“. The song was released on the Vee Jay, the same label the Four Seasons were with, billing the singer not as Nora Ferrari but as Tracey Dey. It appeared on a record survey in Phoenix, Arizona, the second week of October 1962, when “Sherry” was #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for its fifth and final week. “Jerry (I’m Your Sherry)” got airplay in New York City, made the Top 30 on CHUM in Toronto and #8 in Fresno, California. Though the song was only a regional hit, Bob Crewe was encouraged and Tracey Dey became part of what was dubbed the “girl group” sound for both female solo and female group singers in the early to mid-60’s.
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#1366: Monday Morning Choo Choo by The Stampeders
Peak Month: March 1972
7 weeks on CKLG chart
Peak Position #15
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Record World ~ #107
YouTube.com: “Monday Morning Choo Choo”
Lyrics: “Monday Morning Choo Choo”
The Stampeders are a rock trio from Calgary named after that city’s football team, The Calgary Stampeders. Although, it could be argued that the yearly Calgary Stampede was also an inspiration for their name. During the band’s most successful chart run from 1968 to 1976, it was made up of guitarist Rich Dodson, bass player Ronnie King (born Cornelius Van Sprang) and drummer Kim Berly (born Kim Meyer). All three provided vocals. Originally, the band was a group of five formed in 1964 called The Rebounds. The Rebounds had five members: Rich Dodson, Len Roemer, Brendan Lyttle, Kim Berly, and Race Holiday. They renamed themselves The Stampeders in 1965 and Len Roemer was replaced with Ronnie King and Van Louis, making them a band of six for a few years. But after a temporary move to Toronto in 1966 the band was down to three members, Dodson, King and Berly by 1968. Between 1967 and 1976 The Stampeders charted 15 singles into the Canadian RPM Top 40.
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#1453: River Deep-Mountain High by Ike & Tina Turner
Peak Month: June 1966
6 weeks on CKLG chart & 1 week Up ‘N Comers
6 weeks on CFUN chart
Peak Position #12 on CFUN
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #88
YouTube.com link: “River Deep – Mountain High”
Lyrics: “River Deep – Mountain High”
Izear Luster “Ike” Turner, Jr. was born in Clarkesdale, Mississippi in 1931. He was an American musician, bandleader, songwriter, arranger, talent scout, and record producer. When he was eight he started learning how to play guitar and piano. In his teens he established an R&B group named the Kings of Rhythm, as cited in John Collis’ book Ike Turner, King of Rhythm. The Kings of Rhythm became his backing band for the rest of his career. In 1951 his first recording was “Rocket 88”. The lead vocals were sung by the Kings of Rhythm’s saxophonist, Jackie Brenston. Ike Turner played piano on the recording. But Phillips Records sold the recording to Chess in Chicago, who released it under the name Jackie Brenston and His Delta Cats. Though the record sold over half a million copies, Turner was paid $20. Relocating to St. Louis, Missouri, in 1954, Ike Turner built the Kings of Rhythm into a successful act on the local club circuit. It was in this setting Ike Turner met Anna Mae Bullock, who was working at a club where he performed. He would later go on to rename her as Tina Turner. Together, they formed the Ike & Tina Turner Revue and became a stars in both the soul music and pop charts.
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#1467: I Wanna Be A Flintstone by The Screaming Blue Messiahs
Peak Month: February 1988
7 weeks on CKLG chart
Peak Position #19
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com link: “I Wanna Be A Flintstone”
Lyrics: “I Wanna Be A Flintstone”
In 1980 Bill Carter and Chris Thompson were in a London, UK, band called The Small Brothers, with Tony Moon on vocals. They changed their name to the Motor Boys Motor and released a single in the UK called “Drive Friendly.” A line-up change followed with Tony Moon leaving the band and being replaced with Kenny Harris. By 1983 they billed themselves as The Screaming Blue Messiahs. Bill Carter played guitar and was the lead vocalist. Thompson was the backing singer and bass player, while Kenny Harris played drums. The group emerged in the wake of the pub rock and punk scenes that had been very predominant in London’s live music circuit from the late ’70’s into the early ’80’s. Pub rock was deliberately nasty, dirty and post-glam. Dress style of Pub Rockers was based around denim and plaid shirts, tatty jeans and droopy hair. The Screaming Blue Messiahs were a classic power trio. They performed in small venues and recorded three studio albums between 1983 and 1990. They toured extensively throughout Europe, North America and Australia and Asia. They were given stellar reviews by music critics throughout their years on tour and for their recordings. Critics especially liked the Screaming Blue Messiahs aggressive blend of rhythm and blues, punk and rockabilly. Bill Carter recalled later that the band’s name was arrived at when Ted Caroll, who played with Big Beat, gave the thumbs down to the band’s initial decision to bill themselves as The Blue Messiahs. Caroll felt the name sounded too pub rock.
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#1422: Footprints in the Snow by Jerry Fuller
Peak Month: April 1964
7 weeks on CFUN chart
Peak Position #18
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com link: “Footprints In The Snow”
In 1938 Jerry Fuller was born in Fort Worth, Texas. His father was a carpenter who had a voice like Bing Crosby, while his mom sang like Patti Page. As a musical family, at the age of eleven, Jerry and his brother Bill became were billed as The Fuller Brothers. His mother arranged for them to appear at school, churches, talent contests, minstrel shows and jamborees. Out of high school, Fuller wrote a rockabilly tune called “I Found A New Love” and got it recorded Lin records in 1958.
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