Patti Page sold more records than any other female vocalist of the 1950s, and her recording of Grand Ole Opry star Pee Wee King's composition "The Tennessee Waltz" was one of the biggest hits of all time, #1 for 13 weeks and with sales of over six million; "The Tennessee Waltz" charted for many other artists in the 50s and 60s as well, including Guy Lombardo & His Royal Canadians (1950), Les Paul & Mary Ford (their very first hit, in 1950), Jo Stafford (1950), Spike Jones & His City Slickers (a novelty version, in 1951), the Fontane Sisters (1951), the great Anita O'Day (1951), Bobby Comstock & The Counts (1959), Jerry Fuller (1959), and even Sam Cooke (1964).
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Tennessee Ernie Ford had an early career as a radio DJ (WOPI - Bristol, Tenn, and KXLA - Pasadena). He was assigned to host an early morning country music disc jockey program (on WOPI) titled "Bar Nothin' Ranch Time." To differentiate himself, he created the personality of "Tennessee Ernie," a wild, madcap exaggerated hillbilly. At KXLA he continued doing the same show and also joined the cast of Cliffie Stone's popular live KXLA country show "Dinner Bell Roundup" as a vocalist while still doing the early morning broadcast. In 1949, while still doing his morning show, he signed a contract with Capitol. Ford eventually ended his KXLA morning show and in the early 1950's, moved on. He released almost 50 country singles through the early 1950s, several of which made the charts. He became a household name in the U.S. largely as a result of his portrayal of the 'country bumpkin,' "Cousin Ernie" on the "I Love Lucy" TV series. Ford scored an unexpected hit on the pop charts in 1955 with his rendition of Merle Travis' "Sixteen Tons". "Sixteen Tons" spent ten weeks at number one on the country charts and eight weeks at number one on the pop charts, and made Ford a crossover star. It became Ford's 'signature song.'AlexBrowne said:Patti Page sold more records than any other female vocalist of the 1950s, and her recording of Grand Ole Opry star Pee Wee King's composition "The Tennessee Waltz" was one of the biggest hits of all time, #1 for 13 weeks and with sales of over six million; "The Tennessee Waltz" charted for many other artists in the 50s and 60s as well, including Guy Lombardo & His Royal Canadians (1950), Les Paul & Mary Ford (their very first hit, in 1950), Jo Stafford (1950), Spike Jones & His City Slickers (a novelty version, in 1951), the Fontane Sisters (1951), the great Anita O'Day (1951), Bobby Comstock & The Counts (1959), Jerry Fuller (1959), and even Sam Cooke (1964).
I love this game, but it's gotten to complicated. It used to be associate song titles like "Dinner with Drac", "Kissin' Cousins" , "Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds", Sixteen Candles" from a line in the previous graph. Holy smokes, it's too much research and far too much to remember on the fly. Credit the artist, composer, arranger, label, but wow, it's gotten deep.
Thanks for your input, afs. I can’t speak for Alex, but for myself…after having posted replies numbering in the hundreds and hundreds and hundreds, I find myself running out of posts which would (or could) be interesting to read.amfmsw said:I love this game, but it's gotten to complicated. It used to be associate song titles like "Dinner with Drac", "Kissin' Cousins" , "Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds", Sixteen Candles" from a line in the previous graph. Holy smokes, it's too much research and far too much to remember on the fly. Credit the artist, composer, arranger, label, but wow, it's gotten deep.
I mean, how many times do you want to read:
Five Keys, “Story Of Love”, b/w “Serve Another Round”; Alladin 3312 – 1955.
Nice to know, but rather boring after reading it for the tenth (or whatever) time.
But, to use my most recent post as an example (sorry): There was information which is not normally known by the casual, or sometimes, the more knowledgeable Oldies fan. OK, I’m retired from radio and all other career choices, and I have nothing but time on my hands. If time were money, I’d be a millionaire. I try to use the knowledge of Oldies music I can still muster in my elderly cranium to find an interesting topic to post. Yes, it often requires some research, but that is how I stay young, mentally, that is.
I do agree with you, sometimes the replies tend to give more information than is needed, I myself have done this. Brevity should be a rule. I’ll try to reform.
That being said, here is a review of the rules, as posted in #1 on this board:
In this game, I will write the initial sentence. You may take any word from that sentence and link the second sentence to any subject relating to 50's, 60's, 70's oldies. The subject could be the name of an:
Individual recording artist
Band/group member
Song
Record label
Record producer
Town from which a group, artist, or label originatedOldies Radio Station (past or present)
Oldies Disc Jockey (past or present)
Number of hits a particular artist or group recorded
B-Side
Oldies Store (past or present)
Or ANYTHING AT ALL that is related to oldies music.
Don’t go away amfmsw, you are one of the few still posting on this thread. Your input is valuable.
I've tried to stick to single sentences, although I have made generous use of semi-colons and colons to stretch them out. OK, I'll try to reform, too! Here is a simple entry following up on amfmsw's most recent post:
Chubby Checker recorded a number of songs which introduced dances, everything from "The Twist" to "Pony Time" to "The Fly."
Chubby Checker recorded a number of songs which introduced dances, everything from "The Twist" to "Pony Time" to "The Fly."
In 1960, Joey Dee and The Starliters was booked at an intimate venue on 45th Street in New York City called the Peppermint Lounge for what was supposed to be a one-time weekend gig. Joey Dee and company made such a smash that they ended up becoming the house band for the Peppermint Lounge, remaining onboard for more than a year. Joey penned "Peppermint Twist" as a tribute to the lounge and the group took the song all the way to the top spot on the U.S. charts in early 1962.AlexBrowne said:I've tried to stick to single sentences, although I have made generous use of semi-colons and colons to stretch them out. OK, I'll try to reform, too! Here is a simple entry following up on amfmsw's most recent post:
Chubby Checker recorded a number of songs which introduced dances, everything from "The Twist" to "Pony Time" to "The Fly."
The Peppermint Twist and Checker's original, set the stage for several years of Dance theme hits (I believe) because of the proximity of American Bandstand at 46th and Market St. in Philly. Clark always needed live performers, and geography of NYC talent and the synergy fed labels like Laurie, Cameo-Parkway, Wand for years. Besides Checker, Cameo boasted dance hits like Mashed Potato Time (and the rediculous follow up...Gravy), The Bristol Stomp, and Wand marketed the Isley Brothers "Twist & Shout" in the summer of '62, mixing the success with Joey Dee's Peppermint Twist and their own "Shout".
“The Twist” by Chubby Checker was #1 on Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks in 1962 - January 13 and 20. The following three weeks, January 27 and February 3 and 10 had “Peppermint Twist – Part I” by Joey Dee and the Starliters at the #1 position on Hot 100.amfmsw said:The Peppermint Twist and Checker's original, set the stage for several years of Dance theme hits (I believe) because of the proximity of American Bandstand at 46th and Market St. in Philly. Clark always needed live performers, and geography of NYC talent and the synergy fed labels like Laurie, Cameo-Parkway, Wand for years. Besides Checker, Cameo boasted dance hits like Mashed Potato Time (and the rediculous follow up...Gravy), The Bristol Stomp, and Wand marketed the Isley Brothers "Twist & Shout" in the summer of '62, mixing the success with Joey Dee's Peppermint Twist and their own "Shout".
How unusual is this – five consecutive weeks at number one with an identical word within the title of two separate songs? (Let’s not count conjunctions such as ‘and’ or ‘or’, or articles such as ‘the’.)
The Chords had a massively successful hit with their B-side cut of “Sh-Boom” on the Atlantic label in 1954. This recording is considered to be one of the first to introduce black R&B music to a white audience. The group later changed their group name to the Chordcats when it learned there was a more-obscure group already using the name The Chords.amfmsw said:Ah, and let's not forget that cult, "dirty" do-wop record, Peppermint Stick by the Elchords.
The 1954 #1 recording of "Sh-Boom" by the Canadian quartet The Crew-Cuts is the first notable example during the rock era of a white vocal group covering a song and having greater success with it than the better, original R&B version (by The Chords, in this case).
The chart hits in 1954 had more than one which lasted multiple weeks at the #1 position, such as: “Oh Mein Papa”, Eddie Fisher, 8 weeks; “Wanted”, Perry Como, 8 weeks… but the top hit of the year was: “Little Things Mean A Lot”, Kitty Kalen, which rode the top position for 9 weeks, from the week of June 5 through the week of July 31, 1954.AlexBrowne said:The 1954 #1 recording of "Sh-Boom" by the Canadian quartet The Crew-Cuts is the first notable example during the rock era of a white vocal group covering a song and having greater success with it than the better, original R&B version (by The Chords, in this case).
"Papa Was A Rollin' Stone," a song about the decline of the black male's role within the nuclear family, written by Motown's Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong, was first recorded by The Undisputed Truth in 1972; but it was the version later that year by The Temptations, with its memorable, extended, and funky musical introduction, which became a soul classic, the last of that group's #1 hits.
In 1966 alone, seventy-five percent of Motown's releases made the charts. The Motown label, founded by Berry Gordy, was one of the most successful in the history of R&B, with memorable artists including but not limited to: Jackie Wilson, Smokey Robinson, Mary Wells, the Marvelettes, Martha and the Vandellas, Marvin Gaye and Diana Ross (the Supremes).AlexBrowne said:"Papa Was A Rollin' Stone," a song about the decline of the black male's role within the nuclear family, written by Motown's Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong, was first recorded by The Undisputed Truth in 1972; but it was the version later that year by The Temptations, with its memorable, extended, and funky musical introduction, which became a soul classic, the last of that group's #1 hits.
I know Wilson was very close to Berry Gordy, but I thought he only recorded for Brunswick. Gordy was the third label launch by Motown, following Tamla. Later followed by Soul, with Gladys Knight and Jimmy Ruffin. Topped with Rare Earth on Rare earth label, where he promoted his acts of the caucasion persuasion, including R. Dean Taylor.
Nice catch amfmsw, I erred by including Jackie Wilson as a Motown artist. Senior moment? :-[amfmsw said:I know Wilson was very close to Berry Gordy, but I thought he only recorded for Brunswick. Gordy was the third label launch by Motown, following Tamla. Later followed by Soul, with Gladys Knight and Jimmy Ruffin. Topped with Rare Earth on Rare earth label, where he promoted his acts of the caucasion persuasion, including R. Dean Taylor.
Berry Gordy, along with his partner, Roquel Davis, co-wrote a number of hit singles for Jackie Wilson. Davis and Gordy left Wilson in 1958 after royalty disputes with Wilson’s manager. Davis moved on to staff songwriter at Chess, and Gordy then formed Motown Records.
This is an interesting question.amfmsw said:Leonard Chess, owned the label that bore his name, and sister label Checker. Home to some AWESOME talent like Chuck Berry and Fontella Bass, both of whom found themselves in prolonged litigation to recoup royalties on sales.
Q: Was Cadet Records also from the same stable?
When one researches the Cadet Record label, one gets conflicting historical notes, i.e., Cadet began as Argo. But there are two Argos. One was a Jazz sub of Chess, and the other was a Jazz sub of Decca. Which is correct? I’ll try to answer, I hope I don’t blow it.
Cadet Records (based in Chicago) was known as Argo Records from it’s inception in 1955 as the jazz subsidiary of Chess Records. In 1965 they discovered the name was already being used in the UK by the jazz, classical and spoken word label Argo in the U.K., and the label name was changed to Cadet.
The British record label Argo was founded in 1951, and was taken over in 1957 by the British Decca label. Argo specialized in “spoken word” recordings, i.e., theatrical recordings of Shakespearean plays on the British stage and recordings of radio ballads originally produced by BBC Radio. The label also diversified into modern British Jazz, through the poetry and jazz movement of the early 1960s, and later into British and American classical music.
The Argo catalog is now controlled by Universal Music Group, the largest family of record labels in the recording industry.
Julie London, best remembered today as nurse Dixie McCall on the TV series “Emergency”, had a sensual and smoky singing voice. One of her most famous singles, "Cry Me a River”, became a million-selling single in 1957, and an absolute top 10 late-night easy-listening favorite of mine. The song was featured in the 1956 film The Girl Can't Help It.amfmsw said:ARGO had some cool talent on it, like Steve Alaimo (PLEASE listen to the flip of Everday I Have To Cry. "Little Girl" is an fabulous, infectious A-side quality song). Cadet had the wild swing of talent from The Dells to Status Quo's "Pictures Of Matchstick Men".
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