#5: The Aisle by Roy Hamilton
City: Dauphin, MB
Radio Station: CKDM
Peak Month: September 1957
Peak Position in Dauphin ~ #7
Peak Position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~did not chart
YouTube: “The Aisle”
Lyrics: “The Aisle”
Roy Hamilton was born in the village of Leesburg, Georgia, in 1929. He began singing in church choirs at the age of six. In the summer of 1943, when Hamilton was fourteen, the family moved to New Jersey in search of a better life. There, he sang with the Central Baptist Church Choir, the state’s most famous African American church choir. Hamilton studied commercial art and was gifted enough to place his paintings with a number of New York City galleries. In February 1947, 17-year-old Roy Hamilton won a talent contest at the Apollo Theater. Yet, Hamilton recalled, “I couldn’t get a break. I really had nothing different to offer. They were seeking blues singers at the time, and I didn’t know any blues at all.” So, as he developed his vocal styling, Hamilton worked as an electronics technician during the day. At night, he was an amateur heavyweight boxer, with a record of six wins and one defeat. From 1948 to 1953, Hamilton was a member of the Searchlight Gospel Singers, performing in churches and gospel concerts. When the group split, Hamilton began performing at The Caravan night club in Newark, New Jersey.
Continue reading →
#35: Porpoise Song by the Monkees
City: Edmonton, AB
Radio Station: CJCA
Peak Month: November 1968
Peak Position in Edmonton: #4
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #62
YouTube: “Porpoise Song”
Lyrics: “Porpoise Song”
Robert Michael Nesmith was born on December 30, 1942 in Houston, TX. His mother, Bette invented liquid paper and would later leave the $20 million estate to him. Affectionately nicknamed “Nez,” he learned to play saxophone as a young child and joined the United States Air Force years later. After two years in the Air Force, he left to pursue a career in folk music. In 1962 Nesmith won a talent contest at San Antonio College. He left Texas and moved to Los Angeles, with the intent of getting into the movie business. He became the “hoot master” at a regular hootenanny at the Troubadour in West Hollywood. In 1963 Nesmith released a 45 of a song he wrote called “Wanderin'”. In 1964 Nesmith wrote “Different Drum”, which was a #13 hit for Linda Ronstadt and the Stone Poneys on the Billboard Hot 100 and #5 in Vancouver in 1967.
Continue reading →
#25: Lucky Star by Rick Nelson
City: Edmonton, AB
Radio Station: CJCA
Peak Month: August 1964
Peak Position in Edmonton ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #127
YouTube: “Lucky Star”
Lyrics: “Lucky Star”
In 1940 Eric Hilliard Nelson was born. On February 20, 1949, while still eight years old, he took the stage name of Ricky Nelson when appearing on the radio program, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. A child actor, Ricky was also a musician and singer-songwriter. who starred alongside his family in the long-running television series, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (1952–66), as well as co-starring alongside John Wayne and Dean Martin in the western Rio Bravo (1959). He placed 53 songs on the Billboard singles charts between 1957 and 1973.
Continue reading →
#10: Bad Boy by the Jive Bombers
City: Dauphin, MB
Radio Station: CKDM
Peak Month: March 1957
Peak Position in Dauphin ~ #9
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #36
YouTube: “Bad Boy”
Lyrics: “Bad Boy”
The Jive Bombers were an R&B doo wop group whose members consisted of Clarence Palmer, William “Pee Wee” Tinney, Al Tinney, and Earl Johnson. Palmer was born in 1911, in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, and was stricken with polio as a child. He was the lead vocalist for the Jive Bombers. Al Tinney was born in Alsonia, CT, in 1921, and his brother “Pee Wee” Tinney was born in 1930. Earl Johnson was born in 1932. Al Tinney was a child actor and appeared in the Broadway cast of Porgy and Bess starting in October 1935 at the Alvin Theater in Manhattan. The Tinney brothers , Pee Wee and Al, had both been part of the cast of a 1938 Broadway musical, Sing Out The News. Al Tinney was part of the band that played at Monroe’s Uptown House at 198 West 134th St in Harlem. Tinney was with the band from 1939 to 1943. Others in the house band at the time included saxophonist Charlie Parker, drummer Max Roach, trumpeters Vic Coulsen, Benny Harris, and George Treadwell. Al Tinney was drafted into the United States Army in 1943, and served until 1946.
Continue reading →
#8: Rosie Lee by the Tunedrops
City: Dauphin, MB
Radio Station: CKDM
Peak Month: June 1957
Peak Position in Dauphin ~ #4
Peak Position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Rosie Lee”
Lyrics: “Rosie Lee”
Malcolm Dodds was born in Brooklyn, and studied classical music at NYU. In the early 50s, he was living in Brooklyn in and was busy working as a musical/vocal instructor and as always was involved with choral groups in Schools, YMCAs and churches. He was using his birth name, Malcolm Williams. It was during this period that he was approached by arranger Fred Norman, to sing in a group. Consequently, the Normanaires were formed, comprised of Malcolm Dodds, Dorice Brown, Bill Glover and Sam Dillworth.
Continue reading →
#2: Humpty Dumpty Heart by LaVern Baker
City: Dauphin, MB
Radio Station: CKDM
Peak Month: September 1957
Peak Position in Dauphin ~ #3
Peak Position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #71
YouTube: “Humpty Dumpty Heart”
Delores Evans was born in 1929 in Chicago. Baker began singing in Chicago clubs such as the African-American Club De Lisa in 1946. She was often billed as Little Miss Sharecropper, and first recorded under that name in 1949. This led to a recording deal with that title for National Records in 1951, shortly before the label folded. She changed her name briefly to Bea Baker when recording for Okeh Records in 1951. She switched to Delores Baker, and then was billed as LaVern Baker when she sang with Todd Rhodes and his band in 1952. In 1953, she signed with Atlantic Records as a solo artist, her first release being “Soul on Fire”. In May 1953, LaVern Baker appeared at her first Alan Freed show, at the Cleveland Arena, along with the Drifters, the Spaniels, Faye Adams, and Roy Hamilton. Later that year she went on a 19-week tour of Europe. In September 1954, she performed at The Elbow Room in Windsor, Ontario. Her first hit came in early 1955, with the Latin-tempo “Tweedle Dee”, which reached number 4 on the R&B chart and #14 on the Billboard pop chart. It sold over one million copies.
Continue reading →
#1: Love Is A Beautiful Song by Dave Mills
City: Hamilton, ON
Radio Station: CKOC
Peak Month: November 1973
Peak Position in Hamilton ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Love Is A Beautiful Song”
Lyrics: “Love Is A Beautiful Song”
Dave Mills was born in England in 1935. He moved to Australia in 1961. In 1965, he moved to South Africa and began a singing. He got a record deal with the Storm label in 1968. In 1969, he had a number-one double-sided hit in Rhodesia titled “Theresa”/”Nobody”. The single climbed to #2 in South Africa. An album was released in 1970 titled Theresa. His second single release from the album was “Love Is A Beautiful Song”.
Continue reading →
#3: Lucky Lips by Ruth Brown
City: Dauphin, MB
Radio Station: CKDM
Peak Month: March 1957
Peak Position in Dauphin ~ #6
Peak Position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #25
YouTube: “Lucky Lips”
Lyrics: “Lucky Lips”
Ruth Brown (nee Weston) was born in 1928 in Portsmouth, Virginia. She was the eldest of seven siblings. In 1945, aged 17, Brown ran away from her home in Portsmouth along with the trumpeter Jimmy Brown, whom she soon married, to sing in bars and clubs. Jimmy Brown was an 18 year old Navy vet who played trumpet and sang in an acrobatic crowd-pleasing style, sort of Jackie Wilson before Jackie Wilson. The two formed a show they called Brown and Brown and their ensuing popularity up and down the Eastern seaboard put them on the track to something akin to stardom for non-recording singers. When they were about to head to her home state to perform they decided to get married to stave off questions from her friends and family about the show’s name and the impropriety of their relationship. The union didn’t last long but the name “Brown” did. Ruth Brown next spent a month with Lucky Millinder’s orchestra. But he fired her for bringing sodas to the bandmates after the concert was over. Millinder complained that he hadn’t hired her to be a waitress. She also was a vocalist with Duke Ellington. Brown was also singer at the popular Crystal Caverns night club in Washington DC.
Continue reading →
#1: I Love You, Baby by Paul Anka
City: Dauphin, MB
Radio Station: CKDM
Peak Month: December 1957
Peak Position in Dauphin ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #15
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #97
Peak Position on UK Singles chart ~ #3
YouTube: “I Love You, Baby”
Lyrics: “I Love You, Baby”
Paul Anka was born in Ottawa, Canada, in 1941. His father was Syrian-American and his mother was Canadian-Lebanese. While growing up in Ottawa he was part of a vocal trio at Fisher Park High School called the Bobby Soxers. In the fall of 1956, Anka signed with the RPM label and released his first single, “Blau-Wile-Deveest-Fontaine”. It made the Top Ten in Smith Falls (ON). He had a #1 hit in 1957 titled “Diana”, and performed in concert at the Georgia Auditorium in Vancouver on October 23, 1957. Others on stage were Buddy Holly and The Crickets, Buddy Knox, Eddie Cochran, and Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers.
Continue reading →
#2: Shiny Happy People by R.E.M.
City: Hamilton, ON
Radio Station: CKOC
Peak Month: October 1991
Peak Position in Hamilton ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #7
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #10
YouTube: “Shiny Happy People”
Lyrics: “Shiny Happy People”
R.E.M. is a band from Athens, Georgia, formed in 1980. Drummer William “Bill” Berry was born in Duluth (MN) in 1958. His family spent some years variously in Wisconsin and then Ohio, before moving to Macon (GA) in 1972. In high school he met guitar player Mike Mills. Born in Orange County (CA), Mills moved with his family to Georgia when he was six months old. Mills and Berry formed a band called Shadowfax, which later became The Back Door Band. Lead vocalist, Michael Stipe, was born in Decatur (GA) in 1960. Like Mike Mills, he was raised in a military family. When Stipe was in university, he met store clerk and guitar player Peter Buck. The pair formed a band and were later joined by Berry and Mills. Peter Buck was born in 1956 in Berkeley (CA). His family moved to Georgia where he attended public school.
Continue reading →
