Bix Bryant and The Raiders were talent-spotted at a concert at Dee Why beach, Sydney and were signed to a five-year contract with Rex records, their first single being Move Two Mountains / Let's Have a Party. The Raiders' bass player, Howie Leslie wrote Little Miss Muffet and Bix Bryant sang the lead vocal. The saxophonist with The Raiders, Tony Stapleton shared credit with Bix Bryant for the composition of the flipside Ever-Lovin' Honey Bee. A third single, Wishing Well followed.

Richard Sarstedt was born in India and moved to England at age 12 with his family. He began his recording career in 1960 with a Cadbury's Chocolate advertising jingle and was offered a contract with Decca Records. He changed his name to Eden Kane and his first hit was Well I Ask You in 1961, Get Lost and Forget Me Not following. Dropped by Decca in 1963, he joined Fontana and succeeded with Boys Cry from the pen of legendary American lyricist, Buddy Kaye.
--See--Shoppin' Around.

Ben E. King was a lead singer of The Drifters before going solo in 1960. Jerry Lieber and Phil Spector's Spanish Harlem was his first solo hit and it was followed by Stand By Me, Amor and Ecstasy. There were a total of 25 singles on London and Atlantic labels released in Australia until 1968. Ecstasy made No.13 for two weeks in April 1962 on Sydney's Top 40 chart. For more on Ben E. King see Around the Corner.

Dorothy Jones, Earl-Jean McCrea and Margaret Ross were The Cookies. In the early sixties they were a backing group for Neil Sedaka, Tony Orlando and Mel Tormé. Don Kirshner, of Dimension records gave them a chance on their own and in 1962 they recorded Chains which went to the Top 20 on Billboard. Girls Grow Up... was written by Jack Keller and Gerry Goffin and reached No.27 on Sydney's Top 40 on 28th February 1964.

James Gilreath was born in Mississippi U.S.A. and began his musical career in a band called the Nite-Liters playing piano and guitar. They had an instrumental release Nervous in 1962 for Vee-Eight records. His first solo single I Need It was unsuccessful. Little Band of Gold, a self composition, was arranged and produced by Hurshel Wiginton for Statue Records and released nationally (U.S.) on the Joy label in February 1963. It made No.4 on the Sydney Top 40 (27th April 1963).--more--

There were many recordings of Danny Boy since the first in 1915 but none as rock 'n' roll as Conway Twitty's 1959 version. It followed his rocked up Top 10 version of Nat King Cole's 1950 hit Mona Lisa. In Britain Mona Lisa made Top 5 but there were copyright restrictions on the lyrics of Danny Boy so Twitty wrote new words to the tune especially for the British market but the BBC banned it. With no restrictions in Australia, Danny Boy made No.9 in Sydney. See Hey Little Lucy!

Eric Boswell an English engineer and physicist wrote Little Donkey, a song of Mary and Joseph's trip to Bethlehem for the birth of Jesus. Boswell offered the song to veteran performer, Gracie Fields and it became the Christmas hit of 1959. Twelve months later it was a bigger hit for Nina and Frederik. In Australia it was recorded by a popular backing group, the Graduates and it made No.37 on the Sydney Top 40 in December 1959.

Leroy Van Dyke was an auctioneer, a special agent in the Korean War and a journalist before writing his first million selling hit Auctioneer in 1956. His second million seller was Walk On By written by Kendall Hayes in 1961. The record made No.16 on the Sydney Top 40. The following release, If a Woman Answers and an earlier Mercury release, Big Man in a Big House had some airplay in 1962, the latter charting for two weeks in April.

John Sebastian and Zal Yanovsky formed The Lovin' Spoonful in New York and began recording for Elektra early in 1965. Later they signed with Kama Sutra and recorded their first U.S. hit Do You Believe in Magic. International success came early in 1966 with Daydream. It was followed by a succession of hits, Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind, Summer in the City and Rain on the Roof before Nashville Cats climbed to No.18 on the Sydney Top 40 in April 1967.

Ricky Nelson became part of his parents radio show from age eight in 1949 and the related television show from its beginning in 1952. In 1956 he signed a one-record deal with Verve and it was his performance of I'm Walkin on the family television programme that secured a 5-year contract with Imperial. Poor Little Fool and Travelin' Man were two of many hits. The song Everlovin' was written and recorded by Dave Burgess and The Chimes in 1959 for the Challenge label.

Ray Ethier was born in Ontario, Canada and played lead guitar with Ben Hewitt's Band in the 1950s. Ray was heard on a number of Hewitt's Mercury releases from 1958, including I Ain't Givin' Up Nothin' which was released in Australia. In October 1959 he recorded his own single for Mercury, Slave Girl / President's Walk but sales were disappointing and both Hewitt and Ethier ceased recording in 1960.

Ol'55 was a rock revival band from Sydney formed in 1975 from the earlier quintet 'Fanis'. Their first single released in September 1975 was Paul Anka's Diana but the initial Top 40 hit came in 1976 with an original composition by the bass player Jimmy Manzie, On the Prowl. After four Top 40 hits for Mushroom they recorded their final hit in 1980 for Polydor/Leo, a revival of Lou Christie's Two Faces Have I which peaked at No.10 in Sydney on 3rd December. more

Tony Orlando had two successful periods as a recording artist, the first when he was a teenager. In 1961 he recorded Halfway to Paradise, Bless You and Happy Times, written by heavyweights of pop composition, Gerry Goffin, Carole King and Cynthia Weil. In 1970, Tony found new success when he recorded two hits under the name "Dawn", namely Candida and Knock Three Times. They were followed by Tie a Yellow Ribbon, the biggest hit of 1973.

Chris Farlowe began his musical career by forming a skiffle group in 1957 then joining a rhythm and blues group before recording with 'The Thunderbirds'. In 1965, Farlowe met Andrew Loog Oldham and was signed to his Immediate label. After two singles and one extended play release, he recorded the Mick Jagger and Keith Richards composition Out of Time. It topped the UK charts at the end of July 1966 and made No.12 in Sydney (2nd November 1966).

Oscar Hammerstein II and Jerome Kern wrote the song for their 1932 musical Music in the Air and in 1961 it was a million selling hit for Linda Scott. Linda recorded her first disc, In-Between Teen for Epic records in 1959 under her real name Linda Sampson but the Canadian American label changed her name to Linda Scott. Starlight Starbright and Never in a Million Years followed but could not repeat the success of I've Told Every Little Star. It made No.14 in Sydney on 24th June 1961.

The public face of Whistling Jack Smith was Billy Moeller, road manager of the group "Unit Four Plus Two" and brother of the lead singer, Tommy but it is doubtful that Moeller did any whistling on record. Noel Walker, a record producer for the Deram label and The Mike Sammes Singers were the performers on this record but John O'Neill, a professional singer from Durham is thought to be the whistler on the first hit, I Was Kaiser Bill's Batman.

Well known for her interesting role in the 1956 film Never Say Goodbye starring Rock Hudson, Shelley Fabares soon became famous on television as Donna and Alex Stone's daughter on The Donna Reed Show and early in 1962 had a Billboard No.1 with Johnny Angel. It was the first of a number of singles released in the years 1962 to 1965 including Johnny Loves Me, The Things We Did Last Summer and Welcome Home.

Colin Jacobsen was born and raised in Sydney and with older brother Kevin and three other musicians, they formed the KJ Quintet. They renamed the group Col Joye and the Joy Boys, included their younger brother Keith and in 1959 had three number one singles. In 1963 Col Joye recorded a Barry Gibb (Bee Gees) composition (Underneath The) Starlight of Love which made the Sydney Top 100 in May.

Diana Trask was born in Australia, came to the notice of American bandleader Mitch Miller and was invited to perform on his television programme in 1960. In the 1970s, she returned to the U.S.A. with her husband and became a popular country singer in Nashville. Soldier, Won't You Marry Me was an arrangement of a traditional song by Hugo Peretti, Luigi Creatore and Jimmie Rodgers who also recorded the song in 1959.

Blue Haze was an English studio group formed in 1972 by Phillip Swern and Johnny Arthey. Their first recording was the Jerome Kern song Smoke Gets in Your Eyes which made No.15 in Sydney on 6th August 1972. The song was originally recorded by Gertrude Niesen in 1933 and 25 years later by The Platters. Blue Haze followed their initial success with other revivals such as Unchained Melody, Blue Moon and You'll Never Walk Alone.

Twinkle was the childhood nickname of Marilyn Ripley from Surrey, England. At age 16 she wrote and recorded Terry which became an instant hit. It reached No.3 on the Sydney Top 40 (17th Feb 1965) and was one of her four Decca singles released in Australia. She followed with other self penned songs namely, Golden Lights, Poor Old Johnny and a cover version of an American song Tommy originally recorded by Reparata and the Delrons.

Freddy Cannon recorded a number of old songs including Way Down Yonder in New Orleans, Chattanoogie Shoe Shine Boy and California Here I Come before returning to the Frank Slay and Bob Crewe compositions that brought him success in 1959. Jump Over was one that made the Sydney Top 40 followed by the less successful, Happy Shades of Blue and Humdinger. He returned to our charts in 1962 with If You Were a Rock and Roll Record.

Born in Jamaica, Jimmy Cliff started recording for Beverley records in 1962 with his initial release Hurricane Hatty. His first Festival release That's the Way Life Goes in 1968 was followed by Wonderful World, Beautiful People (No.27 in Sydney 11th February 1970) and Vietnam. His subsequent records were released on the Island label and included the Cat Stevens song Wild World.

Tim Feild formed The Springfields with Dion O'Brien and his sister Mary in 1960. The O'Brien's became known as Tom and Dusty Springfield. In the following year they recorded Dear John for Philips (U.K). Mike Hurst replaced Tim early in 1962 and later that year they recorded Silver Threads and Golden Needles, a No.1 hit in Australia. They disbanded a year later, Tom concentrating on song writing and Dusty embarking on a successful solo singing career.
See--Island of Dreams

Brother and sister, Nino and Carol LoTempio had early solo careers; Nino as a musician, singer, actor and Carol as a singer using the name April Stevens. In 1960 they started recording together and in November 1963 topped Billboard's Hot 100 with their version of Deep Purple. The duo followed with more oldies, Whispering, Stardust, I'm Confessin' (That I Love You) and Tea for Two. In Sydney, Whispering made No.27 on 31st January 1964.

Tony Osborne started as trumpeter and relief pianist with Cyril Stapleton in the 40s and became known as an arranger of many hit singles in the 50s and 60s. He appeared on BBC television in the late 50s with his group 'The Brass Hats'. His preference was the piano and eventually he settled in Australia where he was resident pianist at the Sydney Yacht Club for 11 years until his death in 2009. Although uncharted, Sunspot was well played on Sydney radio.

Before "Beatlemania" hit Australia, Please Please Me, made position 78 on Sydney's Top 100 and the second release, From Me to You made No.3 (5th July 1963). An American cover version of From Me to You by Del Shannon took over the chart honours from mid July until the end of its run in September 1963. By the end of the year The Beatles had established themselves with two more single releases, an album and an extended play.

Ernie Maresca got his break as a song-writer in the mid-fifties when Dion heard his demo of No One Knows on a jukebox in New York. Dion and The Belmonts recorded it in 1958 and it became a hit; the first of many Ernie Maresca hit compositions which later included Runaround Sue and The Wanderer. Ernie Maresca had been a vocalist with The Regents but in 1962 he recorded his first solo hit Shout! Shout! (Knock Yourself Out) which made no.6 on Billboard.

There Was a Crooked Man is possibly a 400-year-old rhyme inspired by the succession of James VI of Scotland to the throne of England. After publication in 1842 it became well-known, particularly when rendered as a calypso song by 'The Serendipity Singers' of New York City. Previously working as 'The Newport Singers', they changed name and signed with Philips records early in 1964. In Sydney Crooked Little Man made No.14 on the Top 40 (15th May 1964).

The follow-up to Little Band of Gold, with James Gilreath now shown as Jimmy Gilreath. As before, the recording was arranged and produced by Hurshel Wiginton and released in the U.S. on the Joy label. Written by Rick Hall of Fame studios and Quin Ivy, a Mississippi disc jockey and record store proprietor who turned to song writing and record producing, Lollipops, Lace and Lipstick made No.93 on Sydney's Top 100 on 23rd August 1963.

The last recording credited to The Ronettes was recorded early in 1969 with only one voice, that of Veronica Spector, one of the original members of the group. Veronica and her sister Estelle formed a trio with their cousin Nedra and from 1963 had a run of hits produced by Phil Spector, including the smash hit Be My Baby. The trio split in 1967 and Veronica married Spector in the following year. Phil Spector co-wrote and produced You Came, You Saw, You Conquered! for A&M records.

Vic Dana trained as a dancer in his hometown, Buffalo and at age 11 was spotted by Sammy Davis Jr. who influenced the family to move to California. There Vic studied dancing and singing and filled in as lead singer for The Fleetwoods' live performances when Gary Troxel was in the navy. A contract with Dolton Records followed and his first U.S. hit was Little Altar Boy. Six of his singles made the Sydney Top 40, with A Very Good Year For Girls reaching No.28 on 24th November 1962.

Anne Shelton from London, made her radio debut in 1940 and auditioned for Bert Ambrose. In 1943 she signed a solo record contract. She hosted two radio programs during WWII, successfully competing against German propaganda. She recorded her most famous song, Lay Down Your Arms in 1956 and continued to perform until four days before her death in 1994.

The song from the 'roaring twenties' was published in 1925 and successfully recorded by Jones and Hare for Victor records. In the television series The Roaring 20's which ran for 45 episodes, Dorothy Provine played the part of Pinky Pinkham and sang the song in an episode called "Lucky Charm" which aired in 1961. Don't Bring Lulu made the Top 20 in Britain but despite the popularity of the television program it failed to chart in Australia.

Johnny Horton was born in Los Angeles, California and began a music career by performing country ballads on local radio stations. His first hit was Honky Tonk Man in 1956 and it was followed by three world-wide best sellers in The Battle of New Orleans, Sink the Bismarck and North to Alaska. He lost his life, aged 35 in an automobile accident in November 1960. The Same Old Tale The Crow Told Me was released on the other side of Sink the Bismarck.

Adam Faith was born in London in 1940 and started recording for Parlophone Records in 1959 after three unsuccessful singles on HMV and Top Rank. In seven years he made the British Charts twenty four times, initially in 1959 with What Do You Want ? then with Poor Me in 1960, both reaching the No.1 on the British charts. His fifth Parlophone single, How About That! was released in September 1960 and made No.4 in Britain.

Marv Johnson drew the attention of Berry Gordy Jr. with his first recording in 1958. Gordy had started his "Tamla" label in Detroit and Marv Johnson was the first on the new label. However, due to Tamla's local distribution, Johnson signed to United Artists and his two Top 10 hits, You Got What It Takes and I Love the Way You Love followed. In 1965 he returned to Motown by joining the "Gordy" label but no hits came forth, except for a 1968 release in Britain, I'll Pick a Rose for My Rose.

Alma Cogan's recording career began in 1952 with her first single To Be Worthy of You/Would You for HMV. Many of her hits were cover versions of American songs, including her first charted single Bell Bottom Blues in 1954. Dreamboat in 1955 was her only No.1 hit despite having 18 chart entries in the fifties. She was a friend of the Beatles, Paul McCartney playing tambourine on her 1964 recording of I Knew Right Away which followed her version of the old Patti Page hit Tennessee Waltz.

The song Boys and Girls was written by Cy Coben, famous for compositions The Old Piano Roll Blues (1950), I Saw Esau (1956) and a new arrangement of Sweet Violets in 1951. Floyd Robinson recorded the song after his only Billboard Hot 100 hit Makin' Love, and a revival of the old twenties song Tonight You Belong to Me, also a hit on Sydney's Top 40. Released on both mono and stereo single formats in the U.S.A. Boys and Girls was not a hit but Floyd returned to the Sydney charts early in 1961 with Out of Gas.

A surfing instrumental version of John Brown's Body, a civil war song of 1861 also known as The Battle Hymn of the Republic, was especially recorded for the American market by the British group, The Saints under the name "The Ambassadors". Produced by Joe Meek in a style similar to that of his group "The Tornados", the single was also released in Australia. The Saints recorded a cover version of The Surfaris' Wipe Out for Pye Records in 1963, released in Australia (on Astor in 1966).

As a sixteen girl choir, The Vernons Girls secured a contract with Parlophone Records after their performance on British Television in 1958. A charted hit eluded them until in 1962 after reducing their number to three and switching to Decca they made it with a cover of Clyde McPhatter's Lover Please. In 1964 they recorded a novelty tribute to The Beatles, We Love The Beatles but soon after, they disbanded. Some of the girls backed other artists on recordings in the later sixties.

The McGuire Sisters began singing at church performances when very young. An agent heard them at a revival meeting in Dayton, Ohio in 1949 and arranged for them to appear on radio. In 1951 they were signed as regulars on Arthur Godfrey's television show and in the next year they joined Coral Records. Their first hit was Goodnight, Sweetheart, Goodnight in 1954 and a cover version of the Moonglows' Sincerely spent two months at No.1 in 1955. They earned a gold record for Sugartime, (No.4 in Sydney, 1 June 1958).

Donny Osmond sang with The Osmond Brothers in the early seventies and began recording solo hits in 1971. His version of Sweet and Innocent began a run of revivals of old songs which continued with Go Away Little Girl, Puppy Love, Too Young, The Twelfth of Never and Young Love which was a hit for Tab Hunter in 1957 and Lesley Gore in 1966. Donny Osmond's version only made No. 21 in Sydney (21 October 1973) but was a number one in the U.K.

Two Sydney musicians, Jim Gillan and James Earl Smith Jr. recorded a number of tracks for Leedon Records in 1964. At the end of the year, they released a single Da Doo Ron Ron / Who Will Buy (from the musical 'Oliver') and a 12-track LP Introducing Jay 'N' Jay. An extended play titled Da Doo Ron Ron and a second single (with two tracks lifted from the LP), Car Car / Click Go the Wheels (The Poker Machine Song) were released in 1965.

The Shadows were formed from skiffle musicians as an instrumental backing group for Cliff Richard. Self-taught musician, Jerry Lordan wrote The Shadows initial hit Apache and followed with Wonderful Land, their first hit with an orchestral backing. Their record producer and musical arranger, Norrie Paramor added French horns, strings and a short vocal to the take and it was No.1 in England for eight weeks in 1962. It made No.2 on Sydney's Top 40 on 19th May 1962.

Pat Boone began recording in 1954 with R&B cover versions, his first No.1 being the Fats Domino song Ain't That a Shame. Later he starred in films and sang on the soundtracks of April Love and State Fair. His hits dwindled in number in the early sixties after Moody River and Speedy Gonzales. In 1963 he recorded a version of Tie Me Kangaroo Down Sport, the 1957 Australian composition recorded in 1960 by the composer, Rolf Harris.

Wayne Fontana's first solo hit after splitting with The Mindbenders was the Jackie Edwards composition Come On Home. Fontana started recording with The Mindbenders in 1963 and they were best known for their 1965 hit The Game of Love. Wayne Fontana split from the Mindbenders half way through a stage performance in October 1965. Continuing separately, The Mindbenders recorded their biggest hit A Groovy Kind of Love in 1966 and Wayne Fontana followed with Pamela Pamela in 1967.

An Australian band from Newcastle NSW, inspired by the Elton John song, Benny and the Jets, formed in 1974, played at the infamous Star Hotel and recorded for Copperfield Records. Their first recording was a revival of Barry Mann's 1961 hit Who Put the Bomp (in the Bomp Bomp Bomp) with a slight change of lyrics. They followed with Hey Rock and Roll later in the same year and then switched to the ATA label before disbanding in the late seventies.

The label of this record states that it was "recorded live in The Student Lounge of Fink University". The Glencoves was a quartet from New York State, recording for Select Records. Hootenanny referred to a folk music party, borrowed from an old Scottish word for a celebration. The song made No.38 on the Billboard chart and eventually reached No.10 in Sydney (30 August 1963). There were two further releases on W&G, Ginny's Come Home and Devil's Waitin'; neither was successful.

Three students, Don, Morey and Chic from Connecticut U.S.A. formed a humorous pop group in 1952. Renamed as The Playmates they recorded their first record I Only Have Myself to Blame for Rainbow in 1956 and later signed to Roulette. Their first hit, Jo-Ann made the Top 20 in 1958 and Beep-Beep was released later in the same year. A few more hits followed before they disbanded in 1965. While the Record Goes Around was their third Australian single, released just before Beep-Beep.

Four school friends from New York formed a female singing group in 1958 called The DeVaurs and won a contract with D-Tone Records of Brooklyn. In the sixties, after some changes in the line up, they began recording demos for Lieber and Stoller. In 1962, Jerry Lieber arranged the Patti Page hit Doggie in the Window for the DeVaurs and released it on United Artists under the name "Baby Jane and the Rockabyes". It made No.69 on Billboard thus becoming their first hit record.

Chubby Checker spent many weeks on the Top 40 charts in the early sixties with not only "Twist" songs but a number of other dance hits. His popularity waned when the British groups invaded the pop scene but he managed to have a hit record, Hey Bobba Needle when the Beatles were at their peak in 1964. Larry Weiss, of Rhinestone Cowboy fame, wrote Reggae My Way. See more in the Feature 45 archives at Limbo Rock and Black Cloud.