1974 Gordon Sinclair – The Americans
The Red Cross has worked tirelessly for decades to provide support to areas hit by natural disasters. June 5, 1973, the Red Cross ran out of money due to a series of disasters.
One Canadian journalist was inspired by the problems the US was facing at that time and broadcast an editorial on the radio he titled The Americans. In the editorial, he pointed out how the Americans were always there worldwide to help anybody that was impacted by a crisis, but when the Americans needed help, nobody showed up to help.
The magazine, U.S. News & World Report, published the complete transcript of his editorial. Washington DC Radio station WWDC-AM began broadcasting the editorial backed with Bridge Over Troubled Water playing in the background.
Byron MacGregor read the editorial on the air on CKLW during a public affairs program. The response facilitated a recording of the editorial with The Detroit Symphony Orchestra playing America The Beautiful as background music.
Bryon’s single reached the Hot 100 the first week of 1974 and peaked at #4 the second week of February. He titled his single Americans and it sold over three and a half million copies.
Gordon also recorded a copy of his editorial as a single entitled The Americans. His version used The Battle Hymn Of The Republic (Glory, Glory Hallelujah) as the background music. The single reached the Hot 100 the second week of 1974 and reached #24 in February.
Happy ending: the proceeds from the records appear to have gone directly to the Red Cross.
Gordon also entered the record books with his single. He was the second oldest performer to reach the top forty on the Hot 100. Gordon was 73 years old when the record reached the chart. Moms Mabley is the only older performer to reach the chart; she was 75 years old in 1969 when her cover version of Abraham, Martin, and John reached #35 on the Hot 100.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Sinclair
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byron_MacGregor
My books are on sale on Amazon (or free with Kindle Unlimited) and contain a lot more Lost or Forgotten Oldies. You can visit my author page to see them and you can read them for free with Kindle Unlimited!
What Was Left In 