"Blue Moon of Kentucky" is a waltz written in 1947 by bluegrass musician Bill Monroe. Many artists have recorded their versions of this tune, but most notable was Elvis in July 1954. During an unproductive recording session at Sun Records, Sam Phillips was trying to produce a second side for the previously recorded "That's Alright Mama". According to guitarist Scotty Moore, it was bassist Bill Black who began playing an irreverent and uptempo version of the song between takes. Elvis and Scotty joined in, and Sam “rolled tape”. This was Elvis’ second recording with Sun, his first single (Sun 209), and the rest is history.AlexBrowne said:
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Cass Elliot from The Mamas & The Papas set out on a solo career in 1968 identified on her Dunhill/ABC releases as Mama Cass (or Mama Cass Elliot) with moderate success: singles including "It's Getting Better," "Make Your Own Kind Of Music," and "New World Coming" were played on middle-of-the-road radio stations, but only "Dream A Little Dream Of Me" (by Mama Cass with The Mamas & The Papas) cracked the top 25, peaking at #12 on the Billboard Hot 100.
"Music! Music! Music!" is a popular song first published in 1949. The biggest-selling version of the song was recorded by Teresa Brewer, it became a number 1 hit and a million-seller in 1950. A version recorded by British singer Petula Clark was popular in Australia the same year. An instrumental version was recorded and released by Bill Haley & His Comets in 1960. The Sensations released an updated rendition in 1961 b/w “Part Of Me” (Argo 5391), which reached #54 Pop and #12 R&B, their first R&B hit in five years.AlexBrowne said:
We remember the British Invasion as an event dominated by groups, but there were at least two great female artists who also took America by storm in 1964: Petula Clark, who had two #1 hits (and many other memorable ones), "Downtown" and "My Love," and Dusty Springfield, whose singles including "I Only Want To Be With You" and "Wishin' And Hopin'" were outstanding.
The founding members of The Flamingos formed in 1952 in Chicago where they sang in a black Messianic Jewish synagogue choir. Having mastered the minor-key melodies of Jewish hymns, they retained this influence when they began singing pop and R&B. Initially known as the Swallows, El Flamingos, the Five Flamingos, and eventually just the Flamingos, they recorded on the Chance and Parrot labels, winding up with Checker, a Chess Records subsidiary in early 1955. “I’ll Be Home,” became their first national hit, peaking at #5 on the R&B chart and #10 on the Best Seller chart. “I Only Have Eyes for You”, their biggest hit (#3 R&B, #11 pop), is among the most sublime performances of the doo-wop era. The Flamingos charted nine singles between 1956 and 1970 and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001.AlexBrowne said:
In 1961, the Vibrations, a Los Angeles R&B vocal group, had their first charted single (on the Checker label), "The Watusi," but it was the bigger hits that followed which really got America interested in the new dance craze: in 1962, "The Wah Watusi" by The Orlons from Philadelphia (which explained why the watusi was the dance more likely to lead to romance than the twist, the fly, and the mashed potato); and in 1963, the Spanish-language "El Watusi," by Brooklyn-born percussionist Ray Barretto.
The Mashed Potato is a dance move that made participants look as if they were mashing potatoes with their feet and was a popular dance craze of 1962. It was danced to songs such as Dee Dee Sharp's "Mashed Potato Time", a tune based loosely on the tune of the Marvelettes "Mr. Postman". James Brown had two Mashed Potato-related chart hits, (Do the) Mashed Potatoes" (1960) and "Mashed Potatoes U.S.A." in 1962. Bill Haley & His Comets had a Latin American hit in 1963 with "Pure de Papas", a song based on the dance craze. (OK, translated = Mashed Potatoes. Points?)AlexBrowne said:
"Please Mr. Postman" by The Marvelettes was the first #1 pop hit for Motown (it was also #1 on the R&B chart), recorded on the Tamla label in 1961; the quartet from a Detroit suburb charted with another 22 songs from 1962-1969, the biggest including "Playboy" and "Beechwood 4-5789" in 1962, "Too Many Fish In The Sea" in 1964, "Don't Mess With Bill" in 1966, and "The Hunter Gets Captured By The Game" and "My Baby Must Be A Magician" in 1967.
Ray Charles Robinson overcame his total loss of vision at age seven by learning to write music and play various musical instruments. When he entered show business, his name was shortened to Ray Charles to avoid confusion with boxer Sugar Ray Robinson. Almost immediately after signing with Atlantic, Charles scored his first hit singles with the label with "It Should Have Been Me" and "Mess Around", both making the charts in 1953. But it was "I Got a Woman" that brought the musician to national prominence. The song reached the top of Billboard's R&B singles chart in 1955 and from there until 1959, Charles would have a series of R&B chart-toppers including "This Little Girl of Mine", "Lonely Avenue", "Mary Ann", "Drown in My Own Tears" and "The Night Time (Is the Right Time)". In 1959, Charles crossed over to top 40 radio with the release of his impromptu blues number, "What'd I Say". The song would reach number 1 on the R&B list and would become Charles' first top ten single on the pop charts, peaking at #6. Hit songs such as "Georgia On My Mind", "Hit the Road Jack" and "Unchain My Heart" helped him transition to pop success. His soulful rendition of "America the Beautiful" was referred to [by Ed Bradley of 60 Minutes] as the "definitive version of the American anthem”.AlexBrowne said:
Nancy Sinatra was Frank's first child, born in 1940 while her father was a band singer with Tommy Dorsey's orchestra, and she proved to be the most successful performer of his children: Nancy's duet with Frank, "Somethin' Stupid," was a #1 song in 1967, as was "These Boots Are Made For Walkin'" in 1966; her other hits included "How Does That Grab You, Darlin'?" and "Sugar Town" in 1966, and a group of duets with Lee Hazlewood, "Jackson" and "Lady Bird" in 1967, and "Some Velvet Morning" in 1968.
Connie Francis was born Concetta Rosa Maria Franconero in Newark, New Jersey. Connie’s first ten singles were failures and she considered giving up singing for a career in medicine. "Who's Sorry Now?" debuted on Dick Clark's American Bandstand television show in Jan 1958, followed by many other hits over the next decade. Francis specialized in downbeat ballads delivered in her trademark "sobbing" style, such as "My Happiness", "Among My Souvenirs", "Together", "Breakin' In a Brand New Broken Heart", and the Italian song "Mama". However, she also had success with a handful of more upbeat, rock-and-roll-oriented compositions, such as "Stupid Cupid", "Lipstick On Your Collar", and "Vacation". "Everybody's Somebody's Fool" and "My Heart Has a Mind of Its Own" went to #1 on Billboard in 1960. In 1962, Francis had another #1 hit with "Don't Break the Heart That Loves You". Francis remade many of her hits in foreign languages, including her signature song, "Where the Boys Are". Francis recorded in thirteen languages throughout her career: English, German, Swedish, Dutch, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian (and its dialect Neapolitan), Hebrew, Yiddish, Japanese, Latin and Hawaiian.AlexBrowne said:
Stan Getz was a legendary tenor saxophonist who played with many great bands -- Stan Kenton's, Jimmy Dorsey's, Benny Goodman's, and Woody Herman's -- in the 1940s, but he is best remembered today for his definitive bossa nova albums with guitarists Charlie Byrd (Jazz Samba recorded in 1962) and Joao Gilberto (Getz/Gilberto recorded in 1963); the huge hit from the latter was "The Girl From Ipanema," written by Brazilian composer Antonio Carlos Jobim, which featured vocals by Joao Gilberto (in Portuguese, but only on the LP version) and his wife Astrud Gilberto (in English), and was #1 on the adult contemporary chart in Summer 1964.
Roy Orbison wrote and recorded his first major hit, “Only The Lonely” (#2 on the Pop chart), which was released on the Monument label in 1960. Orbison possessed one of the great rock and roll voices: a forceful, operatic bel canto tenor capable of dynamic crescendos. Eschewing typical song construction, Orbison wrote melodramas that unfolded in unconventional ways. “It’s Over,” for instance, sounded more like a classical bolero than a pop tune. His five-year run on Monument netted nineteen Top Forty hits, nine of which made the Top Ten. Among them were “Oh! Pretty Woman”, “Running Scared”, “Blue Angel,” “Crying,” “Dream Baby,” “In Dreams” and “It’s Over”.AlexBrowne said:
Gary Puckett, a singer and guitarist, formed The Union Gap, named after a town in Washington, in 1967; the quintet had a brief but successful run on the Top 40 chart, their first four hits in 1967 and 1968 million-selling gold singles -- "Woman, Woman," "Young Girl," "Lady Willpower," and "Over You" -- and one more Top 10 record in 1969, "This Girl Is A Woman Now."
The Moonglows originally formed in their native Louisville, Kentucky as the Crazy Sounds. Alan Freed took them under his wing after they moved to Cleveland and renamed them the Moonglows (after his own nickname, "Moondog"). The Moonglows recorded one single for Freed's Champagne label in late 1952, “I Just Can’t Tell No Lie/I’ve Been Your Dog (Ever Since I’ve Been Your Man) ((Champagne 7500). After no success with five singles for the Chance record label in 1953 and 1954, they moved to Chess. "Sincerely", their first Chess release in 1954, reached #1 R&B. In 1956 the Moonglows appeared in the Alan Freed movie “Rock, Rock, Rock“ in which their singles “I Knew From The Start” and “Over And Over Again” were featured. In late 1957, the group recorded their classic "Ten Commandments of Love", featuring Harvey Fuqua on lead vocals and guitarist Billy Johnson flawlessly executing the spoken recitation. This was the first record to be billed on the Chess label as "Harvey & the Moonglows".AlexBrowne said:
In 1958, ABC-Paramount called on three of its popular singing artists, Paul Anka, Geo. Hamilton IV, and Johnny Nash, to record an inspirational spoken single, "The Teen Commandments," which peaked at #29 on the Billboard Hot 100; written by Bill Givens, it offered young listeners advice which was heavy on traditional values and included: drinking in moderation, respecting parents, driving safely, choosing a date "who would make a good mate," attending church, turning away from "unclean thinking," and ultimately keeping the original Ten Commandments.
Bill Justis became music director for Sun in 1957, arranging hits for Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Charlie Rich. "Raunchy " - teenage slang for dirty or messy, originally named "Backwoods" was a tune that he recalled from his childhood in Birmingham, Alabama. It consisted of Sid Manker playing a short guitar riff over and over, alternating with Justis on tenor sax leading the Sun house band. The only thing remarkable about the recording was the riff and the unorthodox way Manker played it. Rather than play in the middle string range, as most rock and country guitarist would, Manker used the bass strings, further exaggerated by the studio echo. "Raunchy" shot up the Billboard charts, just missing becoming #1 and staying in the Top 40 for fourteen weeks. The record became a classic, one of rock's first true instrumentals. Before his death from cancer in 1982, Justis wrote the musical scores to Burt Reynolds film "Smokey and the Bandit", and later produced major hits for Bobby Vinton.AlexBrowne said:
The two most successful instrumentals in rock history were both from movies, both the top songs during the years they were released, and both recorded by bands led by men who were born in other countries: "Cherry Pink And Apple Blossom White" by Cuban-born Perez Prado And His Orchestra, from the film Underwater! was #1 for 10 weeks in 1955, and "The Theme From 'A Summer Place'" by Canadian-born Percy Faith and His Orchestra was #1 for 9 weeks in 1960.
The movie, "A Summer Place," featured California's
beautiful Monterey penninsula (where I got my first
radio gig; KMBY) for much of it's location shots, and
starred Troy Donohue, whose sultry love interest was
the inspiration for the hit musical song "Look At Me,
I'm Sandra Dee," in Grease.
beautiful Monterey penninsula (where I got my first
radio gig; KMBY) for much of it's location shots, and
starred Troy Donohue, whose sultry love interest was
the inspiration for the hit musical song "Look At Me,
I'm Sandra Dee," in Grease.
Johnny Mathis, a male vocalist who emerged before the rock-dominated 1960s, concentrated on romantic jazz and pop standards for the adult contemporary audience. He remains one of the few popular singers who has received years of professional voice training that included opera. In late 1956, Mathis recorded two of his most popular songs, "Wonderful! Wonderful!" and "It's Not For Me To Say", which reached #14 and #5 respectively on the Pop charts in 1957. Later that year “Chances Are” went to #1 and “The Twelth Of Never” peaked at #9 Pop. In 1958, Johnny’s Greatest Hits was released and was the first ever Greatest Hits album in the music industry. It began the Greatest Hits tradition copied by every record company. Johnny's Greatest Hits spent an unprecedented 490 consecutive weeks (nine and a half years) on the Billboard Album Chart; a feat unmatched by any other recording artist in history, earning him a place in the Guinness Book Of World Records. His recording of the jazz standard “Misty” went to #12 Pop in 1959 – the opening phrase of which begins with – “Look at me…”skyrocker said:
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