#33: Brontosaurus by the Move
City: London, ON
Radio Station: CJOE
Peak Month: September 1970
Peak Position in London ~ #11
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Brontosaurus”
Lyrics: “Brontosaurus”
The Move were a British band that formed in 1965. The band consisted of Bev Bevan on drums (born in 1944 in Birmingham), Roy Wood on vocals, guitar, bass guitar, cello, saxophone, oboe, percussion and keyboards, (born in 1946 in Birmingham), Carl Wayne on lead vocals, sitar and bass guitar (born in Birmingham in 1943), Ace Kefford on bass guitar (born in 1946 in Birmingham), and Trevor Burton on guitar, bass guitar and vocals (born in 1949 in Birmingham). Bev Bevan learned to play drums and in 1956 he joined a rock band named Denny Laine & the Diplomats. In 1965 he moved on to join Carl Wayne & the Vikings, and in 1966 The Move.
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#125: Shame, Shame, Shame by Shirley & Company
Peak Month: April 1975
Peak Position #1
10 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG Chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #12
YouTube.com: “Shame, Shame, Shame”
Lyrics: “Shame, Shame, Shame”
Shirley & Company was a disco group that consisted of Shirley Goodman and Jason Alvarez, and an impression group of studio musicians. Bernadette Randle was a soul/funk pianist and songwriter who played or wrote songs recorded by Etta James, Brook Benton, Solomon Burke, Donnie Ebert, Candi Staton and others. Clarence Oliver was a drummer who was also in the recording studio with Bernadette Randle for the same recording acts, as well as for Chuck Jackson. Jonathan Williams was also in the studio with Bernadette Randle and Clarence Oliver, playing bass guitar. Walter Morris was also in the recording studio with Randle, Oliver and Williams, contributing guitar. Randle, Oliver and Williams were all members of Brother to Brother, an R&B band founded in 1974.
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#35: Canada by the Sugar Shoppe
City: London, ON
Radio Station: CFPL
Peak Month: July 1967
Peak Position in London ~ #20
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Canada”
Lyrics: “Canada
The Sugar Shoppe was formed in Toronto by lead singer, songwriter and pianist Peter Mann. Born in 1940 in New York City, Mann grew up in Miami before working as an arranger and relocating to Canada in 1965. There, he met University of Toronto School of Music student and singer Laurie Hood, and singers Lee Harris and Victor Garber, an actor and singer who was also studying in Toronto as well as singing in the city’s clubs. Garber was born in 1949 in London (ON) and began acting at the age of nine in 1958. He enrolled at the University of Toronto’s theatre training program at Hart House when he was 16 years old. In the mid-60s he performed as a folk singer before joining the Sugar Shoppe in 1967. With two male singers (Mann and Garber) and two female (Hood and Harris), they modeled themselves on the Mamas & the Papas and began working in the studio on a project to mark Canada’s Centennial in 1967.
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#1: Sixty Years On by Elton John
City: Lethbridge, AB
Radio Station: CHEC
Peak Month: February 1971
Peak Position in Lethbridge ~ #4
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Sixty Years On”
Lyrics: “Sixty Years On”
Reginald Kenneth Dwight was born in 1947. When he was three years old he astounded his family when he was able to play The Skater’s Waltz by Émile Waldteufel by ear at the piano. When he was eleven years old he won a scholarship as a Junior Exhibitor at the Royal Academy of Music. Between the ages of 11 and 15 he attended the Academy on Saturday mornings. In 1962, by the age of 15, he was performing with his group, The Corvettes, at the Northwood Hills Hotel (now the Northwood Hills Public House) in a northern borough of London. While he was playing with a band called Bluesology in the mid-60s he adopted the stage name Elton John. His stage name, which became his legal name in 1967, was taken from Bluesology saxophonist Elton Dean, and their lead singer, Long John Baldry.
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#2: Awaiting On You All by George Harrison
City: Lethbridge, AB
Radio Station: CHEC
Peak Month: January 1971
Peak Position in Lethbridge ~ #4
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Awaiting On You All”
Lyrics: “Awaiting On You All”
George Harrison was born in Liverpool in 1943. Harrison remembers cycling past a home in his neighborhood that was playing “Heartbreak Hotel” by Elvis Presley. The encounter with the song got him hooked on rock ‘n roll. He subsequently was influenced by Little Richard and Buddy Holly. Harrison’s father bought him his first guitar in 1956 when Harrison was 13 years old. After Paul McCartney joined John Lennon’s group, the Quarymen, McCartney suggested that his friend, George Harrison, join the group. Harrison became one of the Quarrymen in early 1958, though he was still only 14. They changed their name to the Silver Beatles and then the Beatles in the spring of 1960. They group headed to Hamburg, Germany, on August 17, 1960, for a three-and-a-half month stint. In early 1961 the Beatles returned for more engagements in Germany. On June 22, 1961, Bert Kaempfert produced “My Bonnie”, “Ain’t She Sweet” and eight other songs. Later in 1961, “My Bonnie” climbed to #4 on the Hamburg pop charts and #32 on the German pop charts.
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#1: J’ Entends Frapper by Pagliaro
City: Kingston, ON
Radio Station: CKLC
Peak Month: February 1973
Peak Position in Kingston ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “J’ Entends Frapper”
Lyrics: “J’ Entends Frapper”
Montreal’s Michel Pagliaro was born in 1948. He picked up guitar when he was eleven years old. At the age of 15 he was in a band les Stringmen. They morphed into les Bluebirds and finally les Merseys. Pagliaro got a break at the age of 18 when he was asked to join the Quebec band les Chanceliers. He was lead vocalist for the group which had a succession of singles and a self-titled album in the mid-60s. Their catalogue included “La generation d’aujourd’hui” (Today’s Generation), “Toi jeune fille”, a French version of “White Christmas”, and “Le p’tit popy” (The Little Poppy). In 1968, at the age of twenty, Pagliaro released some singles as a solo artist. His “Comme d’habitude” became a #1 hit in Quebec. Some of the lyrics in French “Tu the deshabillera come d’habitude” meant in English “you’ll take your clothes off as usual.” Nonetheless, the tune was adapted by Canadian pop singer Paul Anka and became the classic “My Way” popularized by Frank Sinatra. It was followed with another number one hit for Pagliaro in French Canada in 1968 called “Avec la Tete, Avec la Coeur”.
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#1: Let’s Spend The Night Together by Rolling Stones
City: Kitchener, ON
Radio Station: CHYM
Peak Month: February 1967
Peak Position in Kitchener ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #55
YouTube: “Let’s Spend The Night Together”
Lyrics: “Let’s Spend The Night Together”
Michael Philip Jagger was born in Dartford, Kent, England, in 1943, some 18 miles east of London. Though his father and grandfather were both teachers by profession, and he was encouraged to be a teacher, the boy had different aspirations. “I always sang as a child. I was one of those kids who just liked to sing. Some kids sing in choirs; others like to show off in front of the mirror. I was in the church choir and I also loved listening to singers on the radio–the BBC or Radio Luxembourg –or watching them on TV and in the movies.” In 1950 Mick Jagger met Keith Richards while attending primary school. They became good friends until the summer of 1954 when the Jagger family moved to the village of Wilmington, a mile south of Dartford. The pair bumped into each other at a train station in 1961 and resumed their friendship.
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#2: Old Emotions by the Spoons
City: Kitchener, ON
Radio Station: CHYM
Peak Month: December 1983-January 1984
Peak Position in Kitchener ~ #10
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Old Emotions”
Lyrics: “Old Emotions”
The Spoons were a band formed in 1979 in Burlington, Ontario. After several lineup changes they released their debut album, Stick Figure Neighbourhood. But they had to wait until 1982 with the release of their second album, Arias & Symphonies to get national attention. By that time the band consisted of Spoons co-founders Gordon Deppe (on lead vocals and guitar) and Sandy Horne on bass and vocals. The Spoons second drummer, Derrick Ross, joined the band in late 1979. The keyboard player, Rob Preuss, was the band’s second keyboard player after Brett Wickens departed.
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#4: Daisy A Day by Jud Strunk
City: Kingston, ON
Radio Station: CKWS
Peak Month: May 1973
Peak Position in Kingston ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #3
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #14
YouTube: “Daisy A Day”
Lyrics: “Daisy A Day”
Justin Roderick Strunk Jr. was born in 1936 in Jamestown, New York. He graduated in 1959 with a B.A. in history from the Virginia Military Institute. He worked in Maine as a salesman for True Temper skis and also for the U.S. Ski Team. Strunk learned to play the banjo from childhood. He played his banjo at military bases across Europe. Jud Strunk’s big break came when Sylvester “Pat” Weaver, former NBC president, saw him perform in Sun Valley, Idaho. His son, Rory Strunk, relates, “He (Weaver) tracked him down on a ski lift and signed him to a contract and suddenly he was locked into the entertainment world.” Doors opened and Strunk appeared on Hee Haw, The Mere Griffin Show, and The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson. He appeared with Jim Neighbors, Burt Bacharach, Vikki Carr and Petula Clark, among others. In 1969, Strunk wrote a song titled “Ski Bum” that was featured in the sport documentary The Last of the Ski Bums.
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#3: Wild Thing by Fancy
City: Kingston, ON
Radio Station: CKWS
Peak Month: September 1974
Peak Position in Kingston ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #7
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #14
YouTube: “Wild Thing”
Lyrics: “Wild Thing”
Fancy was a band made up of studio musicians produced by Mike Hurst. They were fronted by Penthouse pet Helen Caunt (October 1971) to add sex appeal to the band. The musicians included Ray Fenwick (born in Greater London in 1946), Fenwick was with the blues band the Syndicats in 1964. In 1965, he joined the Dutch band Tee-Set (who had a 1970 international hit with “Ma Belle Amie”). From 1967 to 1969, Fenwick was with the Spencer Davis Group. He played in the Chess Records studio for Bo Diddley from 1972 onward. Another bandmate was Michael “Mo” Foster, who was born in Wolverhampton, England, in 1944. He learned the recorder at the age of nine. He formed a skiffle band in 1959 named The Tradewinds. From 1961 to 1964 he played dances with a band called the Baskervilles. The third musician was Les Binks, born in Portadown, Northern Ireland, in 1951.
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