Month: June 2021

1964 Freddy Cannon – Abigail Beecher

Freddy Picariello grew up near Boston. He joined several local bands and sang and played rhythm guitar. He started his own band, Freddy Karmon & the Hurricanes, and began appearing regularly on a local television dance show, Boston Ballroom. Local disk jockey Jack McDermott signed up to manage Freddy.

Freddy’s mother was an amateur songwriter, and she presented Freddy with a poem she had written. Freddy recorded a demo of the song entitled Rock and Roll Baby. Jack took the recording and Freddy to producers Bob Crewe and Frank Slay. In exchange for two-thirds of the royalties, the pair rearranged the song, changed the lyrics, and produced a new recording: Tallahassee Lassie. 

The new recording did not interest any record companies until Dick Clark heard it. Dick had a financial interest in Swan Records and suggested that the label could release the record with a few overdubs: a big bass drum sound, hand claps, and Freddy’s cries of “whoo!” at a few places in the song.

The result was a hit record that peaked at #6 on the Hot 100 and #13 on the R&B chart in 1959.

Freddy released four to six more singles each year from 1959 to 1963, and five of the singles reached the top forty on the Hot 100.

When the hits slowed down to a crawl, Freddy moved to Warner Brothers Records in 1963. The next year, he snuck back onto the charts just as the British Invasion began. Frank produced his ode to Abigail Beecher, and the single peaked at #16 on the Hot 100.

Freddy only reached the Hot 100 three more times after that hit, but he continued to tour extensively, especially in the UK and Europe. He also holds the record for the most appearances on American Bandstand: he appeared on the show 110 times!

Freddy created The Svengoolie Stomp in 2016 for the host of the MeTV late-night horror show. The single may not have charted, but it shows up periodically on Svengoolie’s show and during many of Svengoolie’s public appearances.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/freddy-cannon-mn0000185584/biography
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freddy_Cannon

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1989 Erasure – A Little Respect

Vince Clarke played keyboards for several groups before joining Composition of Sound in 1980. The band changed its name to Depeche Mode and began recording a series of successful singles. Vince left the group in late 1981 and formed Yazoo with Alison Moyet.

After a pair of albums, the group separated in 1983, and Vince formed The Assembly with sound engineer Eric Radcliffe. That group had a #4 single on the UK charts before splitting up.

Vince ran an ad in Melody Maker, looking for a vocalist for a new project. Singer/songwriter Andy Bell idolized Vince. He answered the ad and eventually passed an audition. The duo named their new group Erasure and released their first album in 1986. Their three singles from the album did not fare well, but their next single (Sometimes) reached #2 or #3 in six countries, including the UK.

Several more top ten singles in the UK followed, although the duo did not reach the US charts until their third album.

Their single Chains of Love peaked at #12 on the US Hot 100 in 1988. The single also broke into the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart, where it peaked at #4.

Their next single, A Little Respect, reached #14 on the Hot 100 and #2 on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart.

By 1997, the pair had seven more top ten singles in the UK but only had one more top forty single in the US. Chart success then eluded the group for a half-dozen years.

In 2003, they recorded an album entitled Other People’s Song. The lead single from the album was a remake of Peter Gabriel’s first solo single, Solsbury Hill.

Erasure’s version of the song returned them to the UK top ten and also reached #2 on the US Dance/Electronic Singles Sales chart. The group had a few more minor hits in the UK but had a string of top ten hits in the US on the dance charts, including three number one records between 2003 and 2015.

The group continues to release new music, including the single Secrets in 2021.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erasure
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erasure_discography
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Little_Respect

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1988 Brenda K. Starr – I Still Believe

Brenda Joy Kaplan was born in New York City. Her father, Harvey Kaye, had played keyboards for The Spiral Staircase, which had a hit with More Today Than Yesterday in 1969.

In 1984, Brenda gained a role in the hip-hop film Beat Street because of a random meeting with Harry Belafonte. Her role had her playing a singer at an open-microphone audition. Her performance in the film led to a recording contract with Mirage Records. Her first album included the hit single Pickin’ Up Pieces, which reached #9 on the US Club/Dance chart.

Brenda moved to MCA Records for her second album in 1987. The album contained the single I Still Believe, which proved a breakout song for her. It peaked at #13 on the Hot 100 in 1988.

What You See Is What You Get was her second single from the album. It only reached #24 on the Hot 100, but it took her back to #6 on the US Club/Dance chart.

Mariah Carey’s early career got started when she sang backup vocals for Brenda in the late eighties. To help Mariah, Brenda took a demo tape of Mariah’s singing to a party and presented it to Tommy Mottola. Tommy was an executive at Columbia Records, and that gift eventually resulted in a recording contract for Mariah. In 1998, Mariah covered I Still Believe as a tribute to the help she got from Brenda; her tribute single peaked at #4 on the Hot 100. Mariah has praised Brenda for all the help she provided.

Brenda’s career quickly faded after her two hit records. A Spanish version of I Still Believe charted in 1988, and she began recording Spanish albums in 1997. Singles from her albums began appearing on the US Latin Airplay and US Tropical Airplay charts. Her most recent appearance on those charts came in 2020 when Tu Vida en la Mia peaked at #23.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brenda_K._Starr
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Still_Believe_(Brenda_K._Starr_song)

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1987 Kenny G with Lenny Williams- Don’t Make Me Wait For Love

Kenny Gorelick began playing the saxophone when he turned ten years old. Before he even finished high school, he was already playing professionally in Barry White’s Love Unlimited Orchestra.

In 1982, Kenny signed with Arista Records and began recording solo albums. His first album earned a gold record and his next nine albums earned at least a platinum record (one even earned a diamond record for selling twelve times platinum!)

He used guest singers on some of his songs, and two of his singles reached into the top twenty-five on the R&B chart in 1984 and 1985.

Lenny Williams sang lead vocals for Tower of Power in the early seventies, including the song So Very Hard To Go. He sang vocals on Kenny’s recording of Don’t Make Me Wait For Love. That song became a single in 1986. and peaked at #15 on the Hot 100 and #2 on the Adult Contemporary chart.

Kenny’s next single from that album failed to attract much attention, but his third single from Duotones (Songbird) was an instrumental that peaked at #4 on the Hot 100.

Kenny has continued to be one of the most popular musicians in the world and has played on recordings for a long list of artists. His most surprising appearance in a video is likely to be in the video for the Katy Perry single Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenny_G
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenny_G_discography
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don%27t_Make_Me_Wait_for_Love
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenny_Williams

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1986 Bangles – If She Knew What She Wants

Susanna Hoffs was a singer and guitar player hoping to form a new band. She placed an ad in the Los Angeles weekly newspaper The Recycler in 1981. As a result of the ad, she was soon joined by Vicki Peterson on guitar, her sister Debbi on the drums, and Amanda Hills on bass. When Amanda left, Annette Zilinskas took over as the group’s bass player. Everybody in the all-girl group could sing, and they began performing as The Colours. Bass player Carl Radle had been in a group that used that name in the sixties, so perhaps that caused the band to change their name to The Bangs.

The group recorded an EP of five songs and discovered that somebody had already registered The Bangs as a band name, so they changed their name to Bangles. The EP failed to attract much attention. Annette left the group to work on a solo album, and Michael Steele of the Runaways became their bass player.

The group’s first album came out on Columbia Records in 1984. While their singles failed to chart, it received good reviews. They got hired to be the opening act for Cyndi Lauper’s tour that year. Cyndi had a hit with All Through The Night which singer/songwriter Jules Shear wrote. Jules recorded his second solo album in 1985. Jules wrote If She Knew What She Wants and included it on his album, but did not release it as a single.

The Bangles’ first album impressed Prince enough that he sent demos of a few songs to the group to consider for their second album. They covered Manic Monday, and it reached #2 on the Hot 100 in early 1986.

Another song on their second album was a cover of If She Knew What She Wants. The Bangles changed the lyrics slightly to make it third person rather than first person and released the song as their follow-up single after Manic Monday. It peaked at #29 on the Hot 100 in 1986.

Jules co-wrote Steady with Cyndi released it as a single off his second album a few months later, and the Bangles helped him promote his album and single. In particular, they appeared as his backup band on American Bandstand in 1986.

Steady topped out at number #57, and Jules never reached the Hot 100 again.

The Bangles finally topped the Hot 100 a few months later with Walk Like An Egyptian.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bangles
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bangles_discography
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/If_She_Knew_What_She_Wants

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1985 Chicago – Along Comes A Woman

By 1984, the band Chicago had released 17 studio albums and a few compilation and live albums. Peter Cetera had played bass and sung vocals for the group since 1967 and he sang lead vocals on all four of the singles from Chicago 17.

The fourth and final single from the album was Along Comes A Woman. The single reached #14 on the Hot 100.

The video for the single was a black and white mash-up of Casablanca and Indiana Jones that followed Peter as the lead actor.

Peter had paid Columbia to get a solo album released in 1981, but the resulting album had been a failure. He blamed Columbia for the poor showing, and by 1985 he was ready to try again. After the tour for Chicago 17, Peter wanted the band to take the summer off so members of the group could work on solo projects, but the management and some other members of the band insisted on immediately working on Chicago 18.

Unhappy with that choice, Peter simply left the group. His next two singles (Glory of Love and The Next Time I Fall) each reached the top of the Hot 100 and the Adult Contemporary (AC) chart in 1986. He continued releasing top forty singles on the Hot 100 and/or AC chart into 2005.

Terry Kath had died in 1978, and Peter was now gone, but the remaining five members of Chicago were all still present for the recording of Chicago 18. The band released a new version of 25 Or 6 To 4 with new bass player Jason Scheff singing lead vocals as the first single from the new album, but the record stalled at #48 on the Hot 100. Fortunately, Jason also shared lead vocals on their next single, Will You Still Love Me? That single reached #3 on the Hot 100 in 1986 and many more successful singles followed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Along_Comes_a_Woman
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_(band)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_discography

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1984 Night Ranger – When You Close Your Eyes

In 1979, Jack Blades formed the trio Stereo with ex-members of Rubicon, guitarist Brad Gillis and drummer Kelly Keagy. Alan Fitzgerald added keyboards to the mix, and Jeff Watson became their second lead guitar player. The band began using the name Ranger in 1980. A Country band that had already been using the name Ranger objected, so the name Night Ranger came into use in 1982.

The band recorded an album for Broadway Records. The album spawned the single Don’t Tell Me You Love Me. The single peaked at #40 on the Hot 100, but extensive airplay on MTV helped the song reach #4 on the Mainstream Rock chart.

Unfortunately, their record label collapsed. Their second album came out on MCA in 1983, and it generated two hit singles.

Kellly wrote and sang lead on Sister Christian, which became their best-known song because of the video for the record. He wrote the song for his sister Christine, and the single caught fire and peaked at #5 on the Hot 100 and reached #2 on the Mainstream Rock chart in 1984.

Jack, Alan, and Brad wrote their next single, When You Close Your Eyes. Later that year, it peaked at #14 on both the Hot 100 and the Mainstream Rock chart.

In 1985, Night Ranger placed three more singles from their next album into the Hot 100. They never reached the Hot 100 top forty again, but had two more top twenty hits on the Mainstream Rock chart in 1987 and 1988.

Jack left the group in 1989. He joined Damn Yankees, a supergroup that also included Ted Nugent and Tommy Shaw of Styx. Several other group members left to pursue solo careers, but the original five members reformed the group beginning in 1996.

Night Ranger slowly released a half-dozen more albums by 2017 and Jack, Brad, and Kelly currently lead a touring band.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_Ranger
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_Ranger_discography

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1983 Peter Gabriel – Shock The Monkey

From 1967 to 1975, Peter Gabriel sang as a member of the group Genesis. During that time, he often appeared in costumes and displayed theatrics that bordered on performance art in shows.

Peter left Genesis to begin a solo career; he wrote the single Solsbury Hill about letting go of being a member of the group to pursue something more. Phil Collins filled the hole he left in the group.

The record was a top twenty hit in the UK but stalled at #68 on the US Hot 100. Games Without Frontiers reached #4 in the UK in 1980 but did not reach the top forty in the US. His first successful US single was Shock The Monkey.

The single succeeded in the US due in part to the endless airplay the video for the song got on MTV. While the video comes off as some sort of animal protection video, Peter has said that the song is about how somebody’s basic instincts can be ignited by jealousy.

The single peaked at only #29 on the Hot 100 but topped the US Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. It did not reach the UK top forty.

An interesting remix contest took place in 2006. Realworld made the original unmixed tracks for the song available to people who wanted to make their own remix of the music. New Zealand composer David Downes won the contest with his entry, the Simian Surprise Remix.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Gabriel
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Gabriel_discography
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solsbury_Hill_(song)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shock_the_Monkey

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1982 Kenny Loggins Featuring Steve Perry – Don’t Fight It

Kenny Loggins worked as part of a duo with Jim Messina from 1971 to 1977 before branching out into a solo career. While he recorded quite a few solo hits, he also worked with other artists from time to time. In 1978, his second album included the top five hit Whenever I Call You ‘Friend’ that he recorded with Stevie Nicks.

Kenny used backup vocals from Steve Perry (the lead singer from Journey) in his 1982 single Don’t Fight It in an effort to put out a song that embraced rock more than his normal soft rock songs.

That proved to be an excellent plan when the single peaked at #17 on the Hot 100 and reached #4 on the US Mainstream Rock chart.

The song included the sound of a whip; they produced that sound using one of the whips from the Indiana Jones films!

While that version of the song may have vanished from the airwaves, the song did get more exposure from an unexpected source. The Kids Incorporated show used the song in 1984 with Renee singing lead.

If you pay close attention, the singers on the right-side of the stage included Martika. The young blond singer on the far right was Stacy Ferguson; you may know her better as Fergie.

The show must have really liked the song; they used it again in 1986, this time with Martika singing lead vocals.

Martika left the show after that season, and then had her own chart-topping single with Toy Soldiers (Renee and Stacy, er, Fergie, both sang backup vocals on the single).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenny_Loggins
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenny_Loggins_discography
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don%27t_Fight_It_(Kenny_Loggins_%26_Steve_Perry_song)

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1981 April Wine – Just Between You And Me

Hot Chocolate became one of the earliest groups to record on Apple Records in the late sixties. When the label began to fall apart, the group began working with producer Mickey Most. The band wrote and recorded Could Have Been A Lady in 1971. The single reached #22 in the UK but did not chart in the US.

The band continued working with Mickey and eventually had three top ten singles in the US.

Meanwhile, in Canada, David and Ritchie Henman were forced to move to Nova Scotia when their dad got a job there. The brothers jammed with David on guitar and Ritchie on drums, and they were soon joined by their cousin Jim Henman on bass. Their band was completed when Myles Goodwyn joined in on guitar and lead vocals.

They recorded demos and sent copies to Aquarius Records in Montreal. The label sent the band a rejection letter, but they misconstrued the letter to be an invitation to come join the label. The band pooled their savings and traveled to Montreal; fortunately, the label signed the group after they arrived.

The band’s first album did not sell well. They were allowed to record a second album on which they covered Could Have Been A Lady. The single went to #2 in Canada and even reached the top forty in the US, peaking at #32 in 1972.

During the next nine years, the band scored fourteen more top forty singles in Canada, three of which reached the top ten. Only one of the records reached the US top forty.

In 1981, the band recorded a song written by Myles, Just Between You And Me. The single got to #22 in Canada and did slightly better in the US: it peaked at #21 on the Hot 100.

The timing for the record turned out to be fortunate: it was the fourteenth song played on MTV when it launched in 1981. It was also the first song on the channel by a Canadian band.

The band did not have many more hits, and even disbanded from 1986 to 1992. They reformed and continued recording new albums through 2006 and also released one last live album in 2009.

Myles continues to lead an April Wine touring band.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_Wine
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_Wine_discography
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just_Between_You_and_Me_(April_Wine_song)

I have collected older articles about Lost or Forgotten Oldies in my books.

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