Previous Feature 45s — Page 10

Chewy Chewy was written by Joey Levine and Kris Resnick and recorded for Buddah Records in 1968; it made No.9 on the 2UE Top 40 on 8th January 1969. The group had a number of changes since their formation in 1967 and the touring band differed from the studio musicians. Their first two hits Yummy Yummy Yummy and Down at Lulu's were released in Australia on Astor but the third hit Chewy Chewy was on the newly formed Buddah label. One more hit, Mercy, followed in 1969.

John 'Booka' Hyland worked in a butcher shop and entered talent quests from age 15. In 1959 he was a regular with his band at Sydney hotspots: The Belmore Police Boys Club and Moylan's Beer Garden, Sandringham Point. Later that year, he was introduced to Johnny O'Keefe, resulting in appearances on Six O'Clock Rock (ABC TV). In 1960 O'Keefe offered him an American song by Ernie Marascalco and Scotty Turnbull called Sweet Thing. It made No.33 on the 2UE Top 40 on 20th August 1960 and was his only Top 40 hit.

Three cattlemen from Queensland, Fabian, Marius and Berard Webb wrote and recorded The Call of the Bellbird for Rodeo records in 1955 and it sold 40,000 copies. Follow-up hits This Road and Guilty soon followed and they also sold well. In 1964 they recorded another of their own compositions, Pop Said to Me for RCA's Bluebird label. Later the boys won two Golden Guitar Awards at Tamworth and in 2004 they were inducted into the Australian Country Music 'Roll of Renown'.

After more than 13 years with Aaron Shroeder's 'Musicor' label, Gene Pitney recorded a number of songs with Gerry Bron's (UK) 'Bronze' label in 1974. Among them was the Roger Cook composition Blue Angel which topped Sydney's chart for 2 weeks in May 1975; his previous Top 40 hit was Backstage in 1966. Gene followed with a smaller hit on the Bronze label in July 1975, Trans Canada Highway.
--See also--Liberty Valance and
If I Didn't Have a Dime.

The Sensations first recorded for the Atco label from 1954 and the group disbanded in 1957. Lead singer Yvonne Mills married and started a family but she was persuaded to reform the group in 1961, recording for the Argo label, a subsidiary of Chess Records. The Sensations revived the Teresa Brewer hit Music Music Music in 1961 and later that year they recorded Yvonne (Baker) Mill's own composition Let Me In. It made No.33 on the Sydney Top 40 for two weeks.

The multi-talented American musician, Mel Torme is best known in Australia for his hits Careless Hands and Cast Your Fate to the Winds. He began as a drummer after leaving high school in 1942 and later formed 'The Mel-Tones'. His lead vocals were described as velvety and gained him the nickname 'The Velvet Fog'. Gravy Waltz was written by Ray Brown in 1962 as a jazz instrumental then TV host and pianist, Steve Allen recorded an instrumental version and later set words to the tune.

Johnny Johnson was raised in New York City and began as lead singer of 'The Bandwagon' in 1967. They recorded for Epic Records and later changed to Columbia Pictures 'Bell' label. The group broke up in 1969 and Johnny Johnson continued with hired vocalists for recording and touring purposes, basing themselves in London. In 1970 they recorded a composition by Englishmen, Tony Macauley, Rogers Cook and Greenaway, (Blame It) On the Pony Express. It made No.18 in Sydney 6th May 1971.

Bing Crosby began recording in 1926 but his solo career began in 1931. Until 1954 he was unarguably the worlds most popular singer. His two best selling records were Christmas Songs, Silent Night, Holy Night and White Christmas together selling in excess of 100 million copies. He recorded many other Christmas songs, including Grace Saxon's Christmas Dinner Country Style.

Thurston Harris began recording in 1953 with The Lamplighters on the Federal label and in 1957 he signed a contract with Alladin records as a solo artist. His first was Bobby Day's Little Bitty Pretty One which sold a million copies; the follow-up Do What You Did, although it charted in the U.S.A. it was not as successful. In the sixties he recorded for Cub, Dot, Imperial, King, United Artists and the Reprise label for which he recorded the Jimmy Bowen song Dance On, Little Girl.

Formed in 1948 in Springfield, Missouri as a gospel and spiritual group, The Jordanaires took their name from Jordan Creek in Springfield and sang on a local radio station. They moved to Nashville in 1949 and released their first recording on RCA in 1950, later recording for Decca and Capitol as well. They famously backed Elvis on his recordings from 1956 to 1970 also recorded with Rick Nelson, Johnny Cash, Cliff Richard and Ringo Starr. Little Miss Ruby was one of their many single releases.

Four girls from Cleveland, Ohio, were invited to do twist shows with a local band. The shows drew the attention of a talent scout who introduced them to record producers and songwriters, John Madara and Dave White (composers of At the Hop and You Don't Own Me). Madara and White referred them to Mercury Records and wrote The Boy Next Door for them. The record made no.18 on Billboard in November 1963 but they had no follow-up success, eventually breaking up in 1965.

Born in Georgia U.S.A. in 1939, Ray Stevens was introduced to music publisher Bill Lowery in 1957. Lowery arranged his first recording for the Prep label, a self-composition Silver Bracelet (released in Australia on HMV). He signed a contract with Mercury in 1961 and changed to Monument in 1965. His first big hit was Ahab the Arab in 1962 and after a lull he returned to the charts in 1969 with Gitarzan. His biggest hit was for the Barnaby label, Everything Is Beautiful in 1970.
See Turn Your Radio On and Nashville.

Barry Mason and Tony Macaulay wrote the song for Tony Burrows of Edison Lighthouse. Like most English records it was subject to a radio ban in Australia in 1970. A Melbourne band, The Strangers, recorded it for Fable Records and it made No 14 on the Sydney charts on 27th Aug 1970. The Strangers formed in 1961 and their first hit was an instrumental version of The Cry of the Wild Goose which made No.12 in Melbourne in 1963.

No subsequent Santo and Johnny release was more popular than their first instrumental hit, Sleepwalk which topped Billboard in 1959; two further hits followed in 1960, Tear Drop and Bullseye! They were encouraged to play the steel guitar by their father and by 1953 the brothers were playing duets. They joined Canadian American Records in 1959 and became the major artists for the label. They toured Australia early 1960 with Crash Craddock, Duane Eddy, The Diamonds and Eddie Cochrane.
--See--Twistin' Bells.

David Box was a guitarist, vocalist and songwriter from Lubbock, Texas. He formed his own band in 1958, their style influenced by Buddy Holly. In 1960 he recorded with The Crickets when their lead, Sonny Curtis was serving in the army. David's initial Australian release was If You Can't Say Something Nice on Viking in November 1962 followed by Little Lonely Summer Girl which made No.94 on Sydney's Top 100 in September 1964, only weeks before he was killed in an air crash.

Dreams Are Ten a Penny was written by John Carter and his wife Gill. The recording of the song was a one-man performance with John Carter on guitar and vocal. The song was not a UK hit but sold a million copies in Germany and was successful in Scandinavia, Holland, South Africa and Australia. In Sydney it made No.7 on 25th February 1973. A touring band was needed and with Carter reluctant to travel, "Kincade" was formed from John Knowles, brothers Paul and Nigel Griggs and Rick Williams.

Walter Brennan started as a film actor in the silent era and later won three Academy Awards. He made a smooth transition to television and is best known for his role as Grampa (Amos) McCoy in The Real McCoys. After 35 years as an actor he turned to recordings and in 1960 he had a hit, Dutchman's Gold for Dot records. In 1961 he recorded Old Rivers with The Johnny Mann Singers for the Liberty label; it made No.2 on Sydney's Top 40 on 9th June 1962.

Bobby Curtola was a Canadian rock and roll singer who had no fewer than 30 hits in his home country but only two of his recordings made the US Billboard Top 100. In the seventies he moved towards country music and was successful in this idiom until the 1990s. In 1962 he released Fortune Teller, his first Billboard hit which eventually sold 2.5 million copies. Later the same year, Aladdin made the Billboard Top 100. There were three single releases in Australia: the afore-mentioned and Hitch Hiker.

The Mickey Mozart Quintet was a band formed by classically trained harpist Robert Maxwell, famous for his compositions Ebb Tide and Shangri-La. Robert played in the National Symphony Orchestra under Kindler, Toscanini and Koussevitsky. During World War II he played popular music in the Coast Guard Band, led by Rudy Vallee and after the war he performed on radio, television and in the movies. His first popular hit was Chinatown, My Chinatown in 1952. Little Dipper made No.17 in Sydney (15 Aug 1959). For more see Macaroni.

The Electric Light Orchestra was formed in the UK in 1970 from members of the sixties group 'The Move'. They released an average of four singles per year from their albums; the biggest hits were Livin' Thing, Don't Bring Me Down and Xanadu. Among their many million selling albums were A New World Record, Discovery and Time from which the single Hold On Tight was lifted. It made No.5 on Sydney's Top 40 on 7th October, 1981.

Dante and the Evergreens was a group from California formed in 1959. A meeting with Herb Albert and Lou Adler resulted in their recording for the Madison label in the U.S.A. In May 1960 they released a cover version of Dallas Frazier's novelty composition, Alley Oop which made No.15 on Billboard and Dream Land / Time Machine followed with minor success. The song Dream Land was written by Sharon Sheely who had success in 1958 with Poor Little Fool recorded by Ricky Nelson.

Jimmy Beaumont was the lead singer of The Skyliners and co-wrote their 1959 hit Since I Don't Have You. Disbanding in the sixties, The Skyliners reformed in 1974 and Jimmy Beaumont performed with them until his death in 2017. From 1961 he had a number of solo sides for Colpix and their subsidiary, May Records. His first was The End of a Story followed by Everybody's Crying which was arranged and produced by Stu Phillips. On Christmas Day 1961, it made No.100 on Billboard.

The Ivy Three were Artie Berkowitz, Don Rubin and Charles Koppelman, three undergraduates from Adelphi University, New York who formed a musical group in 1959 and recorded for Shell Records. In September 1960 they made No.8 on Billboard with a novelty song, Yogi, about cartoon characters Yogi Bear and his sidekick Boo Boo. They released three more singles on Shell up to June 1961 and then they disbanded. Koppelman and Rubin later managed 'Gary Lewis and the Playboys' and 'The Critters'.

Diane Ray was discovered by Shelby Singleton (A&R man for Mercury Records) while judging a talent quest in North Carolina. The song Please Don't Talk to the Lifeguard was written by Sylvia Dee and George Goehring and originally recorded by Andrea Carroll in 1961. Diane Renay's version made No.31 on Billboard and No.9 on Sydney's (2UE) chart dated 1st November 1963. An unsuccessful follow-up single, Where Is the Boy was released later in the year.

Maurice Williams wrote Stay when he was 15 and seven years later recorded a demo with his band, The Zodiacs. In New York they re-recorded it for the Herald label with minor changes and it made No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in November 1960. The song was also recorded successfully by The Four Seasons (1963), The Hollies (1963), Jackson Browne (1978) and Cyndi Lauper (2004). Stay was not a Top 40 hit for Maurice Williams in Australia and there was no follow-up single.

British singer Peter Shelley worked in music publishing and recording for eight years before he co-founded Magnet Records and produced the label's first hit My Coo Ca Choo under the pseudonym 'Alvin Stardust'. In 1974 he recorded the hit, Gee Baby under his own name, having transferred the name 'Alvin Stardust' to Shane Fenton. A less successful follow-up, Bye, Bye was released before his next hit, Love Me, Love My Dog which made No.14 in Sydney 7th August 1975.

This recording from American Columbia Records stayed high in the predictions list for our Top 40 for many weeks early in 1961. The song was written by Scott Turner and John Marascalco who had much success writing for Little Richard in the early days of rock and roll with Good Golly Miss Molly, Ready Teddy and Rip It Up. The Del Reys recorded Let's Stay Together with De Vol's music in mid 1960 and it appears there was no follow up release.

Bobby Rydell was an American singer from Pennsylvania who toured Australia twenty times over 54 years; his first tour was in May 1960. Twenty-two of his Cameo label recordings were released locally and he had 18 songs listed on Sydney's 2UE Top 40 over three years. The Cha-Cha-Cha made No.2 on 17th November 1962 and remained in the Top 10 for eight weeks.

--See A World Without Love.

Ray Melton was a frequent performer on radio and television, hosting a half-hour TV programme, "Serenade" on ATN-7 in 1959 and a 15-minute ABC radio show in Canberra in 1962-3. His first recording was a cover of Ivory Tower for Prestophone Records in 1956. Another cover version, Mr. Blue became popular late in 1959 then Top 40 success came with The Key for the Teen label, making No.28 on 26th March 1960. The flipside was a Harlan Howard composition Chain Gang.

Buddy Knox wrote his first three hits, Party Doll, Rock Your Little Baby to Sleep and Hula Love and each sold a million copies. In 1956, he and his group, The Rhythm Orchids, approached record producer Norman Petty, who agreed to produce Party Doll. It was initially released on small labels before national release on Roulette. A six-month stint in the U.S. Army Tank Corps, prompted the title Lieutenant on this second single release.

Tommy Steele formed a skiffle group, "The Cavemen" in 1956 and his first single release Rock With The Cavemen made the UK Top 20. In January 1957 his cover of Singing The Blues shot to the top of the chart. A film and stage career began alongside his successful recording career. In 1959 he recorded Little White Bull which became his first Top 40 hit in Australia, followed by another novelty song What a Mouth which made No.1 on the Sydney Top 40 for two weeks in July 1960.

Debbie Harry and Chris Stein formed "Blondie" in 1974. They released their first single in America in June 1976 but their first commercial success was in Australia. The video clip of In the Flesh was played on the television programme "Countdown" and the song made No.4 on our charts in October 1977. The Tide Is High was originally recorded by The Paragons in the U.S.A. in 1966; Blondie's version made No.5 in Sydney on 7th January 1981.

Formed in Birmingham U.K. in 1963 as a vocal trio named 'The Cliftones', they later added two more members and became 'The Fortunes'. Their first recording was a remake of The Jamies 1958 hit, Summertime, Summertime and then came Caroline which was adopted as the theme for the U.K. pirate radio station, 'Radio Caroline'. It was in 1965 that You've Got Your Troubles took them onto the charts and the following single, Here It Comes Again made No.29 on the Sydney chart on 8th December 1965.

'The Gentrys' was a septet from Memphis, Tennessee whose only hit was Keep On Dancing (No.4 on the Billboard Hot 100, 30th Oct 1965); Larry Raspberry was lead vocalist. The recording ran for only one minute so it was repeated to make it last twice as long on disc. There was a following single, Spread It On Thick after which 'The Gentrys' disbanded. Jimmy Hart reformed the band in 1969 and several Bell and Sun label recordings were released in the early seventies.

Brenda Lee was a child star who was offered a contract with American Decca at age 11. Her first single was a version of Hank Williams' Jambalaya and her first Top 40 hit, Sweet Nothin's came in 1960. Sixteen of her singles made the Sydney Top 40 and three of them were Top 10: I'm Sorry; So Deep and All Alone Am I. Her penultimate Top 40 entry, My Whole World Is Falling Down made No.16 on 30th August, 1963.

B. J. Thomas joined the Houston-based group, 'The Triumphs' in 1963 and released Billy and Sue/Never Tell late in 1964. Both sides were written by group member Mark Charron. The recording was unsuccessful and unreleased in Australia until Thomas's smash hit Mama in 1966. B. J. Thomas continued his solo career through the later 60s and 70s with many hits including: Hooked on a Feeling, Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head and Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song.

The second Festival release for the Kalin Twins, When made No. 1 on Sydney's charts on 12th September 1958. Herbie and Hal Kalin were born in New York and as 5 year-olds they performed in their local Fire House Banquet Hall. After moving to Washington D.C. they signed with Decca and recorded for five years from 1957. Their first single, Jumpin' Jack/ Walkin' to School missed our Top 40 but Forget Me Not and Sweet Sugar Lips were later Top 40 hits.

The Moon Rockets was one of the mystery artists appearing on Lee Gordon's Australian record label, Leedon shortly after the label launched in 1958. Lee Gordon returned to the U.S.A and sent tapes of cover versions of hits by anonymous artists to Australia. Little Star was adapted from a 18th century French tune by members of the group The Elegants, who took it to No.1 on Billboard. The song was listed, title only, on Sydney's 2UE Top 40 at No.9 on 10th October 1958.

A German tune written in 1958 with English lyrics supplied by Paul Vance and Lee Pockriss in 1960. The vocal version by The Four Preps was joined on the charts by a more popular instrumental version from the orchestra of Lawrence Welk, making No.9 in Sydney on 18th March 1961. The Four Preps were discovered at a school talent quest by Voyle Gilmore of Capitol Records. Their big hits were 26 Miles (Santa Catalina) and Big Man, each one a multi-million selling single.
See Down by the Station
A Letter to The Beatles
--and-- The Girl Without a Top.

The Ronettes started their recording career with Colpix records in 1961 and less than two years later they auditioned for Phil Spector's Philles label. They had several hit singles through 1963-4 including Be My Baby, Baby I Love You and Walking in the Rain. Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich wrote I Can Hear Music and Phil Spector produced the recording. It scraped into the Billboard chart at No.100 (October 1966).
See also:
You Came, You Saw, You....

The Hucklebuck was a dance craze in the eastern states of U.S.A in 1949 inspired by Paul Williams' recording. The Hucklebuck entered the rock and roll sphere with Freddie Bell and the Bell Boys' rendition in 1956. After Chubby Checker's first release of The Twist in 1960, he followed with a new rendition of The Hucklebuck which reached Billboard at No.14.
For more, see:
Limbo Rock;
Hey, Bobba Needle;
Black Cloud;
Reggae My Way.

With the same manager as The Beatles, Billy J. Kramer was offered a number of Lennon-McCartney compositions to begin. Do You Want to Know a Secret was the first charted Beatles song, not sung by The Beatles. Both sides of the following single, Bad to Me and I Call Your Name were also Lennon-McCartney songs. The single made No.1 in the UK for three weeks and No.36 in Sydney (18th October 1963).

Johnny Rebb was born in Sydney in 1939 and sang in a charity show to a rousing reception in November 1957. His first disc was a cover version of Johnny B. Goode for Columbia Records but Allan Heffernan of Leedon Records offered him a contract in 1958 and he recorded five singles before switching to the Coronet label early in 1960. His second Coronet single, Think Me a Kiss made Sydney's Top 40 and peaked at No.10, 3rd December 1960.

--See-- Pathway to Paradise.

American singer, Damita Jo began recording in her teens and had mild success in Australia with her HMV release Sadie Thompson's Song / I Don't Care in 1954. An answer song to the Drifter's hit Save the Last Dance for Me placed her high on our Top 40 charts in December 1960 and prompted her Damita Down Under shows in Australia. A second answer song, I'll Be There, a response to Ben E. King's Stand By Me failed to make Sydney's charts but made No.12 on Billboard, 14th August, 1961.
See-I'll Save the Last Dance For You.

Titus Turner was a singer and songwriter from Atlanta, Georgia. He began recording in 1949 as 'Mr. T. and His Band' but he became better known for his songwriting. His songs All Around The World, Leave My Kitten Alone and Tell Me Why became popular when recorded by other artists. However in 1961 he scored on Billboard (No.77, January 23rd) with a version of Pte W. L. Duckworth's famous chant of 1944, Sound Off, which had been a big hit ten years before by Vaughn Monroe.

Tony Perkins began acting on stage and in films in 1953 and released his early records on the Epic label. He starred in the film Friendly Persuasion and was nominated Best Actor in a Supporting Role; later he won an Oscar for Best Actor in Hitchcock's 1960 film Psycho. His first record hit was for RCA in 1957, Moon-Light Swim and it was followed by When School Starts Again and later, The Prettiest Girl in School which made No.18 in Sydney on 17th August 1958.

Dragon was a 4-tet formed in New Zealand in 1972 by bassist and vocalist, Todd Hunter, and was later joined by Todd's younger brother, Marc. Their first single Vermillion Cellars was released in 1974. They settled in Australia in 1975 and recorded for CBS, having success with This Time and Get That Jive before their smash hit April Sun in Cuba, late in 1977. The following year they had a bigger hit with Are You Old Enough? written by band member, Paul Hewson. It made No.2 in Sydney 27th September 1978.

Teddy Randazzo was a New York singer, songwriter, arranger and producer. He began in 1951 with 'The Three Chuckles' accordeon band. His compositions Pretty Blue Eyes (1959) and Goin' Out of My Head (1964) made him world famous. He had three solo hits on Billboard and eleven of his singles were released in Australia from 1958 to 1967 but none was a hit in Sydney. Teenage Senorita appeared on the Eighty Top 40 Predictions list at No.26 on 16th June 1962.

The first publication of Short'nin' Bread was as a poem in 1900, then 15 years later a song version was published. A recording by Fats Waller was released in 1941 but Short'nin' Bread got its first rock and roll treatment with The Gayles version in 1956. A New York rock and roll group, The Bell Notes recorded a version in 1960 after their Billboard No. 6 hit I've Had It. Their version was adapted by Jo Ann Douglas and it made No 96 on Billboard, August 29th, 1960.

Bobby Darin began as a songwriter with Don Kirshner in 1955 and signed to Decca Records the following year without much success. A change of label to Atco in 1958 led to his first hit Splish Splash. A number of hits followed including Dream Lover, Mack the Knife, Beyond the Sea and from the 1961 film "Come September", in which he starred, Multiplication. In 1962 he starred in another film "If a Man Answers" and he wrote the title song; it made No.25 in Sydney, 1st December 1962.
See Baby Face and Mack the Knife.

Jimmy Little, an indigenous Australian singer, songwriter, stage and screen actor and recording artist released his first single, Mysteries of Life/The Heartbreak Waltz in 1956 on Regal Zonophone 78rpm. In 1959 his version of Danny Boy made the Top 40 and in 1963, he recorded Royal Telephone which earned him a gold record. His last Top 40 hit, Baby Blue came in 1974 and it was followed by Ain't It Good (To Feel This Way).

After two years with Decca Records, Roger Miller signed with RCA Victor and had a hit with his composition, You Don't Want My Love. A move to Mercury Records subsidiary, 'Smash' led to a recording session early in 1964 which included Chug a Lug and Dang Me, both were hits later in the year. In 1965 he released his biggest hit King of the Road, and later a tribute to the British, England Swings. His success continued on the U.S. Country charts through the late 60s and 70s.