#39: Buffalo Soldier by Bob Marley and the Wailers
City: Edmonton, AB
Radio Station: CJSR
Peak Month: July 1983
Peak Position in Edmonton ~ #3
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Buffalo Soldier”
Lyrics: “Buffalo Soldier”
Robert Nesta Marley was born in 1945 in a village in Jamaica. His father died at the age of 70 when Bob Marley was ten-years old. While he was in primary school, Marley became friends with Neville Livingston, and they began playing music together. Livingston’s father and Marley’s mother had a child together, and the two boys ended up living under the same roof in Trenchtown, in Kingston, Jamaica. Marley and Livingston formed a band with Peter Tosh called the Teenagers, and renamed as the Wailing Rudeboys, and eventually the Wailers. Neville Livingston went by the stage name Bunny Wailer. Bob Marley released his first non-album single, “Judge Not”, in 1962. The Wailers first commercial success was a number-one hit in Jamaica in 1964 titled “Simmer Down”. During the Sixties, Bob Marley & the Wailers released fifty singles. Some of these include covers of the Tom Jones song “What’s New Pussycat?” and the Bing Crosby hit “White Christmas”. In 1967, the Wailers released “Stir It Up“, which was successfully covered in 1968 by Johnny Nash.
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#56: Misunderstanding by Genesis
Peak Month: July 1980
15 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #2
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #14
YouTube: “Misunderstanding”
Lyrics: “Misunderstanding”
Genesis formed in Surrey, UK, in 1967. The bands name was suggested by their producer, Jonathan King, of “Everyone’s Gone to the Moon” fame on the pop charts in 1965. King had earlier suggested the band go by the name of Gabriel’s Angels. Though the band initially adopted that name, they soon changed their name to From Genesis to Revelation. Soon, they shortened their name to Genesis. It was a band name that led to many possibilities, including a riff off of their name on their first album, Genesis to Revelation. The band consisted of keyboard player Tony Banks, bass and guitar player Mike Rutherford, guitarist Anthony Philips, drummer Chris Stewart, and Peter Gabriel as lead vocalist. Stewart was fired from the band in 1968 and replaced by John Silver. The band’s debut album was From Genesis to Revelation, in 1969. Silver was replaced by John Mayhew on drums. In 1970, Genesis released Trepass, after which both Mathew and Guitarist Anthony Philips left the band. In 1971, Philips was replaced on guitar by Steve Hackett and the band released their third studio album Nursery Cryme. The fourth studio album, Foxtrot, featured new bandmate Phil Collins on drums. The band released Genesis Live in 1973 with Gabriel, Banks, Rutherford, Hackett, and Collins in the lineup. It climbed to #9 on the UK Pop Album chart.
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#40: Marble Breaks And Iron Bends by Drafi Deutscher
City: Edmonton, AB
Radio Station: CJCA
Peak Month: May 1966
Peak Position in Edmonton ~ #8
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #31
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #80
YouTube: “Marble Breaks And Iron Bends”
Lyrics: “Marble Breaks And Iron Bends”
Drafi Deutscher was born in 1946 in Charlottenburg, in the western zone of Berlin, West Germany. In his youth he began to sing and write songs. At the age of 17 he got his first record deal. And between 1964 and 1966, Deutscher had a string of hits in West Germany. These include a number-one hit in June 1964 titled “Shake Hands”, and a #7 hit on the West German pop chart titled “Keep Smiling”. In 1965 Deutcher returned to the Top Ten in West Germany with a #3 hit titled “Cinderella Baby”. And for three weeks he had a number-one hit in June and July 1965 with the German-language song titled “Heute male ich dein Bild, Cindy-Lou”.
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#41: Stranded In The Jungle by the Cadets
City: Edmonton, AB
Radio Station: CFRN
Peak Month: September 1956
Peak Position in Edmonton ~ #2
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #15
Peak Position on the Cashbox R&B Singles ~ #10
YouTube: “Stranded In The Jungle”
Lyrics: “Stranded In The Jungle”
In the late 1940s, a gospel group formed in the Los Angeles area named the Santa Monica Soul Seekers. The members were Lloyd McCraw, Willie Davis, Austin “Ted” Taylor, Aaron Collins, Glendon Kingsby, and Will “Dub” Jones. Aaron Collins was born in Arkansas in 1930, and in his teens moved to Michigan to sing in a gospel group for three years. Collins next moved to Los Angeles in the late 40s to join the Santa Monica Soul Seekers. In 1955, the group auditioned with Modern Records and got a contract. They decided to switch their style from gospel to R&B. The decision led Glendon Kingsby to leave the group. The record label came up with the name The Cadets. A single was released which was a cover of the Nappy Brown song “Don’t Be Angry”. They also released a single titled “Why Don’t You Write Me?”, which was a cover of a song by the Feathers. Modern was concerned the two released would compete with each other. So, “Why Don’t You Write Me?” was credited to The Jacks (even though it was the same group). The single peaked at #3 on the Cashbox R&B Singles chart in 1955. It earned them a spot on a tour sharing the stage with Ruth Brown, T-Bone Walker, Etta James, and the Orioles.
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#1: I’m Gonna Love You Too by Buddy Holly
City: Abbotsford, BC
Radio Station: CFUR
Peak Month: February 1964
Peak Position in Abbotsford ~ #7
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #12
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “I’m Gonna Love You Too”
Lyrics: “I’m Gonna Love You Too”
In 1936, Charles Hardin Holley was born in Lubbock, Texas. When he was five years old he won $5 when he entered a local talent show and sang “Down The River of Memories.” He listened to the Grand Ole Opry growing up and after trying to learn the piano settled on taking up the guitar. During his Junior and Senior years in school, Holley entered some talent shows with friends in duos and doing gigs with a band playing a blend of country & western and rhythm & blues. He had a band that performed live on the Lubbock radio station KDAV. After high school graduation Holly focused on making a career as a musician. He heard Elvis Presley in concert in Lubbock in 1955. Shortly after Hollry would appear as the opening act for Presley in concert three times in 1955. Owen Bradley, who would also produce records for Conway Twitty, Brenda Lee, Patsy Cline and Gene Vincent, became Holley’s record producer after he signed a record deal with Decca Records in February 1956. After signing the record deal, Buddy Holley dropped the “e” from his surname to become Buddy Holly.
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#1: Don’t Let The Rain Fall Down On Me by the Critters
City: Cranbrook, BC
Radio Station: CKEK
Peak Month: September 1967
Peak Position in Cranbrook ~ #4
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #39
YouTube: “Don’t Let The Rain Fall Down On Me”
Lyrics: “Don’t Let The Rain Fall Down On Me”
In 1964 there was a group in Plainfield, New Jersey called the Vibratones. The lineup was comprised of Jimmy Ryan on lead guitar, Ken Gorka on bass guitar, Jack Decker on drums, Chris Darway on keyboards, and Bob Podstawski on saxophone. One night a local singer-songwriter named Don Ciccone came by to hear the group. His dad owned Bill Williams Auto Sales, and the Ciccone family lived in a 56-room mansion in Plainfield. Don Ciccone learned to play both guitar and bass guitar. The Vibratones were impressed with Ciccone being both a musician and a singer-songwriter. They asked him to join their group. Ciccone suggested they change their name to the Critters, a riff off of the British Invasion band the Animals who had a number-one hit with “House Of The Rising Sun”.
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#2: She May Call You Up Tonight by the Left Banke
City: Cranbrook, BC
Radio Station: CKEK
Peak Month: August 1967
Peak Position in Cranbrook ~ #5
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #120
YouTube: “She May Call You Up Tonight”
Lyrics: “She May Call You Up Tonight”
Carmelo Esteban “Steve” Martin Caro was born in Madrid, Spain, in 1948. His birth name was Carmelo Esteban Steve Martin. His father was a Spanish Consul General to the state of New York, but died just six months after taking up his new position. Steve Martin added “Caro” to his surname in the 1980s to avoid confusion with the popular comedian and actor, Steve Martin. Michael David Lookofsky was born in 1949 in Brooklyn, New York. He later took the surname of Brown. The Guardian writes “15-year-old Brown worked as a part time engineer at his father Harry Lookofsky’s recording studio in New York. In photos he looked mournful and out of time, with King Charles spaniel hair. He looked as if he would have felt at home in a Victorian drawing room, but the studio was where he met George Cameron, Tom Finn and singer Steve Martin (not the comedian). They became fast friends, forming the Left Banke in 1965.” Carlemo Esteban Steve Martin had met Tom Finn in front of the City Squire Hotel, in New York, after a Rolling Stones concert in May 1965. Finn told Martin about a mid-town recording studio which needed singers for session play. Before Michael Brown met up with his future bandmates, he had written one song for Reparata and the Delrons, as well as playing piano on some of their recording. Tom Finn had previously been in a group called the Magic Plants.
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#1: Love Like A Man by Ten Years After
City: Chilliwack, BC
Radio Station: CHWK
Peak Month: July 1970
Peak Position in Chilliwack ~ #2
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #98
YouTube: “Love Like A Man”
Lyrics: “Love Like A Man”
In 1960 a band formed in the Nottingham and Mansfield region called Ivan Jay and the Jaycats. They changed their name to the Jaybirds in 1962, and later to Ivan Jay and the Jaymen. Ivan Jay sang lead vocals from late 1960 to 1961. Original members included Alvin Lee and Leo Lyons. Alvin Lee (born Graham Anthony Barnes) was born in Nottingham in 1944. He began playing guitar at the age of 13. He was one of the co-founders of Ivan Jay and the Jaycats. Leo Lyons was born in 1943 in Mansfield, England. At the age of 16, he joined Ivan Jay and the Jaycats in 1960. The Jaybirds played in Hamburg, West Germany, at the Star Club for over a year. Lyons and Lee were were joined by Ric Lee in August 1965. Ric Lee was born in 1945 in Mansfield, England. Before joining Ivan and the Jaymen in 1965, Lee had been a drummer for Ricky Storm and The Mansfields. In 1966, Chick Churchill joined the band on keyboards, piano and synthesizer. Churchill was born in 1946 in the coal mining town of Ilkeston, in Derbyshire in the East Midlands of England. Churchill began playing the piano at the age of six and studied classical music until he was fifteen. He became interested in blues and rock music, and joined his first band Sons of Adam in Nottingham.
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#1: Somethin’ Else by Eddie Cochran
City: Cornwall, ON
Radio Station: CJSS
Peak Month: October 1959
Peak Position in Cornwall ~ #3
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #32
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #58
YouTube: “Somethin’ Else”
Lyrics: “Somethin’ Else”
Eddie Cochran was born in Albert Lea, Minnesota, in 1938. His family moved to the Los Angeles area in 1951 where Eddie attended Bell Gardens Junior High. While there he became friends with Connie ‘Guybo’ Smith. Smith was already a promising musical talent who played bass, steel guitar and mandolin. Eddie and Connie began to jam together and gave a concert at their junior high school. Connie “Guybo” Smith went on to become Cochran’s bass player and was one of the musicians heard on most records during Eddie’s brief professional career. In 1953, while still in junior high school, Eddie met another musician named Chuck Foreman. The two experimented with Foreman’s two-track tape recorder. The pair made recordings of a number of songs including “Stardust”, “The Poor People Of Paris”, “Hearts of Stone” and the “Cannonball Rag”. Cochran graduated from Bell Gardens Junior High in 1954.
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#2: Rain-O by Chilliwack
City: Chilliwack, BC
Radio Station: CHWK
Peak Month: January 1971
Peak Position in Chilliwack ~ #12
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #15
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Rain-O”
Lyrics: “Rain-O”
Bill Henderson was born in Vancouver in 1944. He learned guitar and became the guitarist for the Panarama Trio that performed at the Panarama Roof dance club on the 15th Floor of the Hotel Vancouver. He formed the psychedelic pop-rock Vancouver band, The Collectors, in 1966. The Vancouver rock band The Collectors, was formerly named The Classics who were a Vancouver group led by Howie Vickers in the mid-60s who often appeared on CFUN. The Classics were part of the regular line-up on Let’s Go, a show on CBC TV. Though the Classics released several singles the group needed room to grow and reformed as The Collectors. They would become one of the most innovative of Vancouver’s recording acts through the rest 60s. In the spring of 1966, Vickers was asked to put together a house band at the Torch Cabaret in Vancouver. Along with Claire Lawrence on horns, they recruited guitarist Terry Frewer, drummer Ross Turney and Brian Newcombe on bass. Within a couple of months, fellow Classics member Glenn Miller replaced Newcombe on bass and Bill Henderson, a student at UBC, replaced Frewer on guitars. With Vickers now handling vocals, their sound changed from doing covers of R&B tunes to psychedelic rock. This led them to gigs along the Canadian and US west coast. Their strongest fan base in America was in California.
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