Previous Feature 45s — Page 8

Burt Bacharach has written more than 70 charted hits, almost a half of them recorded by Dionne Warwick. Bacharach began a collaboration with Hal David in 1957 and Marty Robbins' recording of The Story of My Life gave them their first No.1 hit. In 1963, Bacharach recorded his composition, Saturday Sunshine for Kapp Records, with orchestra, chorus and an uncredited boy vocalist, thought to be 11-year-old Jay North of television's "Dennis the Menace" fame.

Former member of The King Toppers, Welton Young teamed with Brenda Lee Jones to form "Dean & Jean". They recorded their debut disc, We're Gonna Get Married for Buckeye Records in 1958. Later they recorded Dance The Roach, their first on the Rust label and eventually they had a minor hit with Tra La La La Suzy, followed by the more successful Hey Jean, Hey Dean. The latter was their only hit in Australia and made No.17 on the Sydney Top 40 on 10th and 17th April 1964.

Don't Throw Your Love Away was first recorded by The Orlons in 1963 as a flipside but the English band, "The Searchers" recorded the song in 1964 and took it to No.1 in the UK and Ireland. It followed their hits Sweets For My Sweet, Sugar and Spice and Needles and Pins and it made No.9 in Sydney for two weeks early in June 1964. The song was co-written by Jimmy Wisner who, as "Kokomo" had an instrumental hit, Asia Minor in 1961.

Mary Hopkin was one of the first artists to sign with the Beatles record label 'Apple' in 1968. Her first release was Those Were The Days and she followed with a Lennon-McCartney composition Goodbye in 1969 and Philamore Lincoln's Temma Harbour early in 1970. Mary Hopkin presented Knock Knock Who's There, Great Britain's entry in the Eurovision Song Contest of 1970, held in Amsterdam. The flipside of the disc is I'm Going to Fall in Love Again.

Bryan Davies was born in Manchester, England in 1944 and came to Australia with his parents as a child. He gained popularity on radio and television in Sydney and began recording for the HMV label in 1961. In 1964 he recorded Raincoat in the River with the Norrie Paramor Orchestra in London for Columbia Records. The song co-written by Aaron Schroeder had been recorded by Sammy Turner in the U.S.A in 1961 and the song was a hit in Australia for Dig Richards in 1962.

Tommy Edwards began recording for MGM in 1951 and his first pop chart hit was The Morningside of the Mountain in July of that year. He re-recorded this and his following hits It's All in the Game and Please Mr. Sun in stereo in 1958. The new versions of The Morningside of the Mountain and Please Mr. Sun were released as a seven inch 45 rpm coupling in 1959, making No.27 on the Billboard Hot 100 and eventually No.13 on the Sydney Top 40 on 30th June 1959.

The song was a world-wide hit for Gayla Peevy (from Okla., U.S.A.) late in 1953. Malcolm T. Elliott was a radio personality from Melbourne, Australia who became popular on radio 2UW, Sydney. He had previously recorded a version of Phil Harris' 1950 hit The Thing with mild success. Malcolm donated his royalties from I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas to The Royal Blind Society of NSW.

Gene Chandler (real name Eugene Dixon) began with the Gaytones in the early fifties and joined The Du-Kays in 1957. His habit of warming up with doo-doo-doo sounds led to his 1962 hit The Duke of Earl which sold a million copies in one month. Despite dethroning a "twist" record from the top spot on Billboard, he was invited to sing the song in the film Don't Knock the Twist. Gene Chandler continued with more Billboard hits through the sixties and seventies.

Lover Please began as a poem then Bill Swan, the composer set the words to music and it was recorded by The Rhythm Steppers in 1960. In 1962, Clyde McPhatter took the tune to No.7 on the Billboard Hot 100. McPhatter began with Billy Ward and the Dominoes in 1950 then formed The Drifters in 1953. In 1957 he went solo and hit with A Lover's Question (1958) and Little Bitty Pretty One (1962), the latter following Lover Please.

The song was from the 1960 musical production Bye Bye Birdie sung by the characters Mr. and Mrs. MacAfee (played by Paul Lynde and Marijane Maricle in the original Broadway production). The Kirby Stone Four version was released in the U.S.A. in May 1960 on a Columbia single. The quartet had pop chart success in 1958 with Baubles, Bangles and Beads from the 1953 musical Kismet. On Sydney's 2UE Top 40, Kids was listed for 9 weeks from March 1961, peaking at No.19 on 22nd April.

Probably best known for her TV character Cricket Blake, the photographer in Hawaiian Eye (1959-1963), Connie Stevens began singing professionally in the early fifties and acted in B grade movies before she signed a contract with Warner Brothers. She appeared in some episodes of 77 Sunset Strip which led to a duet with Ed Byrnes, Kookie, Kookie (Lend Me Your Comb). The recording was followed by her biggest seller Sixteen Reasons and a minor hit, Too Young to Go Steady in 1960.

Dave Bridge was heard on Australian radio as early as 1949 and became a guitarist with Col Joye's Joy Boys in 1957. In 1961 he formed his own quartet and recorded an instrumental rock version of the 19th century American children's song, Skip to My Lou. It made No.4 on Sydney's Top 40 on 2nd September 1961.
See The Swan

Written by Eric Carmen, this was Shaun Cassidy's first hit in Australia, reaching No.3 on Sydney's Top 40 on the 16th March 1977. He followed with revivals of Hey There Lonely Girl and Da Doo Ron Ron, rounding off 1977 with another Eric Carmen song, Hey Deanie. Later he turned to acting and in 1987 he joined the cast of the TV soapie General Hospital. Shaun's half brother, David Cassidy had earlier success with 'The Partridge Family' and solo work.

The single that followed Toni Fisher's No.1 hit West of the Wall. Her hits were written and produced by Wayne Shanklin, the first being The Big Hurt in 1959, famous for its phasing effect. Shanklin had success as the writer of Jezebel, a hit for Frankie Laine in 1951 and Toni Fisher came to the attention of Shanklin when he heard her demo of Cry Me a River. The Music From the House Next Door made four appearances on Sydney's Top 40 climaxing at No.34 on 15th December 1962.

Following their No.1 hit Silver Threads and Golden Needles, the Springfields had limited success. Of their seven subsequent singles, only one made Sydney's Top 40, namely Little By Little in April 1963. Island of Dreams was written by Tom Springfield and was a No.5 hit in Britain. Later in 1963, the group disbanded with Tom concentrating on song writing, Mike Hurst on production and Dusty Springfield creating a successful solo singing career which lasted through the sixties and early seventies and was revived in the eighties.

Originally published in 1920 as Tic Ti Tic Ta, Gaetano Lama's tune was a big hit in the early twenties, introduced by Elvira Donnarumma. In 1955, Mike Andre wrote English words and Gordon MacRae recorded the new version. Dean Martin's 1962 revival, his first single on the Reprise label was a Top 10 hit in Hong Kong but failed elsewhere. Later, Dean Martin returned to the charts with Everybody Loves Somebody and a string of hits and successful television shows followed, making him an even bigger star than he had been in the fifties.

The song My Grandfather's Clock was composed by an American sheet music printer, Henry Clay Work in 1876. A 1905 Victor recording by The Haydn Quartet became a best seller and led a number of later recordings many of them parodies. An instrumental by the Coventry group Lieutenant Pigeon, famous for Mouldy Old Dough (1972) and I'll Take You Home Again, Kathleen (1974), was issued. The quartet was Nigel Fletcher, Steve Johnson, Rob Woodward and his mother, Hilda on honky-tonk piano. Tin whistles made their sound characteristic.

Born in Nashville, Johnny Ferguson worked as an announcer on radio stations in Tennessee and Georgia before recording Angela Jones, his first and only hit. His previous recordings, Sad, Sad Day and Candy Love were self compositions without success. John D. Loudermilk wrote Angela Jones based on a girl of that name with whom he learned dancing. He recorded his own version for RCA in 1962. Loudermilk was a successful songwriter with A Rose and a Baby Ruth and Waterloo to his credit in the fifties.

The song, For You was written by Al Dubin and Joe Burke in 1930 after their enormous success in the previous year with Tiptoe Through the Tulips. The Casa Loma Orchestra had the first hit version of For You and there were many versions of the song over the years including those of Perry Como (1947), Dean Martin (1957) and Timi Yuro (1961). Rick Nelson's version for the American Decca label was recorded in September 1963 and was introduced on the The Nelsons television show, soon becoming the best-selling version of the song.

A 45rpm single re-issue of the 78rpm release of June 1954 by a choir of war orphans from Germany. Formed in 1949, they toured Australia in 1950 and Great Britain in 1951. They won the International Trophy for Children's Chorus in North Wales on 12th July 1953 with a version of Mein Vater War Ein Wandersmann broadcast on BBC radio. After many requests it was put on record and it became an international hit under the English name The Happy Wanderer. It was No.1 on Sydney's hit parades for two months from late July 1954.

Sue Thompson's recording career dates back to 1950 but her first hit was not until 1961 when she was 36 years old: she recorded John D. Loudermilk's song Sad Movies (Make Me Cry) and it was the first of her records to make Billboard, peaking at No.5 in October 1961. There followed a run of hits including Norman, James (Hold the Ladder Steady) and Paper Tiger. After an absence of nine years, she returned to Sydney's Top 40 with Candy and Roses, making No.36 for two weeks in March 1974. See Walkin' to Missouri.

Heinz Burt was born in Germany but moved to England in his childhood with his mother. He was the bass guitarist for the English instrumental group, The Tornados, famous for their 1962 smash hit Telstar. Record producer Joe Meek groomed him for a solo career as a singer; his debut disc Dreams Do Come True was unsuccessful but Just Like Eddie, a tribute to Eddie Cochran was a Top 5 hit in the UK in 1963. He followed with a smaller hit Country Boy and The Beating of My Heart in 1964 but a falling out with Meek ended his career.

The record label gives composer credit to one of The Highwaymen but Cotton Fields was written and recorded by Huddie Ledbetter in 1940. However, The Highwaymen were the first to bring the song to Top 40 charts. Five university students from Connecticut formed the group in 1958 and three years later their recording of the negro spiritual Michael, Row the Boat Ashore made No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. In Sydney Cotton Fields made No.17 on the Top 40 for two weeks Feb/Mar 1962 after the other side The Gypsy Rover had made No.15.

The Ardells was a group from West Palm Beach, Florida led by guitarist Bill Ande. They recorded initially as "The R-Dells" for Dade Records and in 1959 released the single You Say. With a change of spelling to "The Ardells", they recorded a hillbilly style Jerry Reed composition Eefananny. Their concert tours made them very popular in South America, later calling themselves "The American Beetles". However their only Billboard hit (at No.77 in 1966) was Let's Call It a Day recorded under yet another name, Razor's Edge.

After singing with The Bees for the Imperial label, Billy Bland recorded solo for "Old Town" records from 1955 to 1963. In 1956 he released his first two singles, both self compositions, Chicken in the Basket and Chicken Hop, later concentrating on rhythm and blues numbers written by others. He accidentally recorded Let the Little Girl Dance while showing Titus Turner how it was done. The record company released Billy's version and it went to No.7 on Billboard's Hot 100 in May 1960 and No.9 for two weeks in Sydney in June 1960.

The song was written by John Stewart as a tribute to the first man on the moon. Australian artist Reg Lindsay recorded it in 1970 for his album Hot Shot Country and it was later released as a single, reaching No.7 in April 1971. The recording is in the time capsule in the Space Centre, Houston Texas. Reg Lindsay had a long radio and television career from 1951 when he won a talent quest in Sydney and recorded Hank Snow's The Blue Velvet Band for Rodeo Records. He was the first Australian to perform on The Grand Ole Opry (1968).

Written by Glen Larson and Bill Periera, Love Bandit was recorded by Alicia Adams in the U.S. in 1961. The Taylor Sisters, Marilyn and Lynette recorded it in Australia in 1963. Marilyn was one of four children who sang the 1954 "Happy Little Vegemites" ad with Bob Gibson's Orchestra. The Taylor Sisters appeared on television programmes Café Continental, Teen Time, Six O'Clock Rock and Sing Sing Sing. They sang the theme of Tony McLaren's 2UW radio show Something Funny's Going On, the song later released on HMV.

Alma Cogan had more charted hits in the U.K. than any other female singer of her era, however she had little success abroad. Her fifties releases were mostly cover versions of U.S. hits but in the sixties she recorded Irving Berlin's All Alone in rock and roll style which made the predictions for Sydney's Top 40. Its flipside Cowboy Jimmy Joe was an English language version of a German song, Die Sterne der Prärie written by Werner Scharfenberger. For more on Alma Cogan see Tennessee Waltz.

Gene Pitney's initial success was as a songwriter but this song was written by Bert Russell and Phil Medley, the writers of Twist and Shout. The single was coupled with Only Love Can Break a Heart and reached No.3 on Sydney's Top 40 for two weeks in October and November 1962. As with Gene's previous hit, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, this recording was arranged and conducted by Chuck Sagle and produced by Aaron Schroeder.
--See also--Blue Angel.

Don Lane was an American entertainer who became popular in Australia when he took over Sydney TV's Tonight Show in 1965. Born in The Bronx, New York, Don appeared on Ed Sullivan's Show in 1955 as part of the All-Army entertainment contest and in 1964 he was the headline act at The Dunes Nightclub, Honolulu, Hawaii. In Australia, as well as appearing on television, he worked in radio, on stage, and recorded discs, notably You're Everything which made No.3 on Sydney's Top 40 on 11th February 1970 during a 21-week run. See also We Were Lovers Then.

A young star of television, film and disc, Shelley Fabares had a Billboard No.1 with Johnny Angel in 1962. By that time she had appeared in six films and seven television programmes excluding the long running Donna Reed Show from which she and co-star Paul Petersen gained the opportunity to record for the Colpix label. Her film and TV appearances continued into the nineties but her recording career waned in the mid sixties.
For more, see Welcome Home.

Perry Como was born in Pennsylvania of Italian immigrants and he signed with RCA in 1943 after many years as a vocalist with the bands of Fred Carlone and Ted Weems. He recorded exclusively for the RCA label for 44 years. More than fifty of his songs featured on Australian radio hit parades from 1944 including Just Born (To Be Your Baby) which reached No.16 in February 1958. This recording was the one which started Mark Gould's hobby of record collection.

Buddy Holly's 1958 hit re-worked by Bruce Johnston and Terry Melcher (son of Doris Day), performing as The Rogues. Bruce Johnston began in 1957 as a backing artist for the Everly Brothers, Ritchie Valens, Eddie Cochran, Sandy Nelson and others. Bruce and Terry formed a collaboration in 1963 and produced and performed on records for The Rip Chords including Here I Stand and Hey Little Cobra. In 1964 they recorded as Bruce and Terry for Columbia (U.S.A), most of their later releases also under that name.

Vikki Carr recorded this Gene Pitney song in 1962 and it became a hit in Australia making No.5 in Sydney on 5th January 1963. Its success prompted EMI (Aust) to issue her earlier U.S. release, I'll Walk the Rest of the Way but it failed and her next Top 40 hit It Must Be Him came almost five years later. It Must Be Him earned her three Grammy award nominations and With Pen in Hand earned a fourth. In the eighties and nineties, Vikki Carr recorded a number of albums of Spanish songs and won three Grammy awards for Latin/Mexican music.

Written and produced by Roger Cook and Roger Greenaway and recorded in October 1969, this is a recording by the English band "White Plains" who were studio musicians once associated with the Carter-Lewis groups of the sixties. It featured lead singer, Tony Burrows who had sung for "The Ivy League", "The Flower Pot Men" and "Edison Lighthouse". The song peaked at No.13 in Sydney on 4th June 1970 sharing chart honours with an American cover version by Joe Jeffrey.

The Coachmen was a folk band formed in 1957 by Doug Tanner and Don Koss who later enlisted a third member, Doug Brown. They were auditioned by "The Purple Onion", a cellar club in San Francisco and were given two months top billing which was renewed. They recorded Soldier's Joy adapted from an old fiddle tune from 18th century Scotland which was popular with soldiers of the American Civil War a century later. The soldiers changed the words to tell of their use of whisky, beer and morphine as a pain killer mixture.

Johnny Cymbal was born in Scotland and migrated as a child with his family to North America. The surname Cymbal was that of his mother's second husband who adopted him. In Ohio, Johnny began as a songwriter and negotiated a recording contract with MGM records, later signing to Kapp. In December 1962 he recorded his own composition, a smash hit Mr. Bass Man for the Kapp label. The follow-ups, Teenage Heaven and Dum Dum Dee Dum were only mild hits but in 1968 he returned to the charts as 'Derek' with Cinnamon.

Three brothers, Jay, James and Moses Uzell and their cousin, George Wooten, all from North Carolina were discovered in a New Jersey night spot by Abner Spector of Tuff Records. Their début disc It Won't Be a Sin/Time Waits was issued on the Smash label in the U.S. in 1961 but it was their second release Smoky Places (Tuff/Chess) with vocal lead by Jay Uzell, that became an international hit. It made No.25 on the Sydney charts on 12th May 1962, appearing for eight weeks.

This English group of five friends was formed in 1961 as "Dave Dee and the Bostons". In 1964 they auditioned for Fontana and recorded the first single No Time and Is It Love under their individual nicknames, Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich. Their first big hit, Hold Tight came early in 1966. It was the first of seven Top 40 hits in Sydney, the biggest The Legend of Xanadu being the only one to make the Top 10. Although not a hit in Australia, Snake in the Grass/Bora Bora was popular in New Zealand.

Mike Brady, Pete Watson and Danny Finley formed the trio, M.P.D. Limited early in 1965 in Melbourne. The group was together for less than two years and released six singles, two EP's and an LP for the Go!! label. Their revival of Johnny Burnette's 1961 hit, Little Boy Sad was their first release and made No.5 in Sydney on 17th November 1965 but they were less successful with their second release, Paul Anka's Lonely Boy. Mike Brady continued alone and went on to produce one of Australia's best sellers, Up There Cazaly in 1979.

Janie Grant was a school friend of one of Gerry Granahan's band members. When Granahan formed his record label Caprice, in New York, Janie was invited to record her own composition Triangle for the label. It was released in March 1961 and made No.29 on the U.S. national charts. The following single, Romeo was another of her own compositions but fared not as well as the first single. The Caprice label folded in 1963 and Janie tried her luck with United Artists and Parkway but had no success.

Billy Thorpe migrated to Australia from England with his family when he was five years old. He met the members of the band The Aztecs in Sydney in 1963. Blue Day, written by band member Tony Barber, was the first single for The Aztecs with Billy Thorpe as vocalist; it followed the instrumental Smoke and Stack. The third single, a revival of Lieber and Stoller's Poison Ivy sent Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs to No.1 on the Australian charts and prompted the reissue of Blue Day in June 1964 on the Festival label.

The song, Dance belonged to Swedish supergroup Abba who released it as a B side to Honey, Honey in Australia (and the U.S.A.) in September 1974. A group of session musicians from Munich, put together by Michael Kunze of Butterfly Productions and calling themselves "Milk & Honey", made a cover version for Jupiter Records of West Germany. Butterfly Productions was responsible for the big seventies hits, Lady Bump by Penny McLean, Fly Robin Fly by Silver Convention and Ooh What a Night by Linda G. Thompson.

Eden Kane formed a skiffle group with his brothers in England in the mid 1950s. He won a talent quest in 1960 and was managed by Barclay and Waddilove, recording his first single for the Decca label Hot Chocolate Crazy which failed to chart. However, his second release Well, I Ask You went to the top of the British charts in the summer of 1961. Forget Me Not was mildly successful in Australia early in 1962 but it was not until 1964 after a change to the Fontana label that he returned to the charts with Boys Cry.

This was Jimmie Rodgers' last charted hit after an absence of three years, the previous hit being Someplace Green. He began in 1957 with a revival of the Bob Merrill/Georgie Shaw original Honeycomb and had thirteen Top 40 hits in Sydney. Shortly after the release of Child of Clay Jimmie suffered severe skull injuries in an incident on a California highway involving police officers. He recovered with some memory loss. Child of Clay reached No.35 on our Top 40 on 15th November 1967. more

Bobby Goldsboro started as a guitarist for Roy Orbison then joined Laurie Records releasing his first single You Better Go Home in 1962. His first hit in the U.S.A. was See The Funny Little Clown (United Artists) which made No.9 on Billboard and sold a million copies. A year later his song Little Things reached No.7 (10th March 1965) on the Sydney charts, but a bigger hit would follow early in 1968: the No.1 hit Honey. There were four more hits culminating in Summer (The First Time) in 1973.

Hal Blaine, a drummer from Massachusetts played on more recordings than any other drummer of the rock era. Before the release of Surfin' Band he performed on such hits as Johnny Angel, He's a Rebel, Return to Sender, The Night Has a Thousand Eyes, Da Doo Ron Ron and Surf City; many more in the mid to late sixties and seventies. There were three RCA releases in Australia with the Young Cougars who were Darlene Love, Fanita James and Gloria Jones, also known as 'The Blossoms'.

Pickettywitch was a British group who signed to Pye Records after appearing on Opportunity Knocks (ITV) singing Tony Macaulay and John Macleod's composition, Solomon Grundy; the song became the B side of their first single You Got Me So I Don't Know, released in July 1969. Early in 1970 they made No.5 in England and also made the Billboard 100 in the U.S.A. with That Same Old Feeling. Lead singer Polly Browne left the group in 1972, had a hit in 1974 with Up in a Puff of Smoke and formed the group 'Sweet Dreams'.

James Darren recorded a string of hits from 1959 to 1963, his biggest being Goodbye Cruel World in 1961 which sold a million copies. Darren started as a film actor after being spotted by Joyce Selznick, talent scout for Screen Gems; a long term contract with Columbia ensued. He played the part of Moondoggie in three 'Gidget' films and recorded the songs from those films: Gidget, Gidget Goes Hawaiian and Gegetta for Colpix Records. He also had Top 40 success in 1962 with Her Royal Majesty and Conscience.

Johnny Young was of Dutch ancestry and came to Australia as a child, settling in Perth. In 1965 he hosted a television programme 'Club Seventeen' in Perth and recorded two singles for the '7 Teen' label before joining Martin Clarke's Clarion label. Johnny Young and Kompany recorded an Easybeats composition Step Back which became a national No.1 hit in 1966. He also composed songs, notably The Real Thing for Russell Morris, Star for Ross D. Wyllie (later recorded by Herman's Hermits) and Smiley for Ronnie Burns.
See Kiss Me Now

After a mediocre start as a recording artist, Dickey Lee became well known through his composition She Thinks I Still Care, a hit for George Jones in 1962. Later, Dickey recorded Patches, a controversial song about a teenage double suicide; it became his first hit and sold a million copies. His later hit single, I Saw Linda Yesterday was a BMI Award Winning song composed by Dickey and Allen Reynolds and recorded by Smash Records in 1962. The disc made No.11 on the Sydney Top 40 on 23rd February 1963.

The Tip Tops was a group of backing girls brought together by Bernie Lowe of Cameo-Parkway Records in 1962 to record the Kal Mann and Dave Appell song Oo-Kook-A-Boo. The song writing team, Mann-Appell was well established with hits including Teddy Bear, Wild One and Let's Twist Again. However, Oo-Kook-A-Boo was only a minor hit on Sydney's 2SM Top 100 at No.88 on 2nd May 1963. Chubby Checker's version was released as a single in some countries, notably The Netherlands where it was popular late in 1963.