Month: January 2022

1977 Ronnie Milsap – It Was Almost Like A Song 

The R&B chart is not a place most Country music singers start out, but that’s exactly where Ronnie Milsap’s first charting single can be found. Never Had It So Good reached #19 on the US R&B chart in 1965. The songwriting team of  Ashford & Simpson wrote the single, which didn’t reach any other charts. Ronnie’s career stalled after it fell off the charts.

Ronnie found work as a session musician and even played keyboards on two hit singles recorded by Elvis: Don’t Cry Daddy in 1969, and Kentucky Rain the next year. 

He also recorded countless singles himself, but he only reached the charts one time between 1965 and 1972: a single reached #87 on the Hot 100 in 1970.

Charley Pride caught one of Ronnie’s performances at the Whiskey A-Go-Gonighclub in LA and convinced Ronnie to move to Nashville and concentrate on Country music. He worked with Charley’s manager, Jack D. Johnson, and signed with RCA Music in 1973. His very first single for the company reached the Country top ten, and by the end of 1976, Ronnie had already recorded seven singles that reached #1 on the Country chart.

Ronnie’s first single in 1977 also became his first crossover success. It Was Almost Like A Song once again took him to the top of the Country chart and it also reached #16 on the Hot 100 and #7 on the Adult Contemporary chart. Hal David and Archie Jordan wrote the song and Ronnie and Tom Collins co-produced his recording.

Ronnie wouldn’t reach the top forty on the pop charts again until a string of his singles reached the chart beginning in 1980.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronnie_Milsap
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronnie_Milsap_discography#Singles
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It_Was_Almost_Like_a_Song

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1976 John Travolta – Let Her In 

John Travolta grew up in Englewood, New Jersey, and dropped out of high school in 1971 to move to New York City and pursue an acting career. Early on, he had a role in the touring cast of the play Grease. He also appeared in the Broadway play Over Here! and sang on the cast album in 1974.

He moved to LA, hoping to further his acting career.

John’s first big break came in 1975, when he began playing Vinnie Barbarino on the television show Welcome Back Carter. The next Spring he also had a featured role in the film Carrie. 

John also released his first solo album in 1976, which included the song Let Her In. John had released a dozen singles prior to that single, which became his first charting record. It reached #10 on the Hot 100 and #16 on the Adult Contemporary chart in 1976.

After that hit, John continued recording new albums and singles, but before the soundtrack for Grease came out in 1978, the closest he got to another hit record was a cover of the Nino Tempo and April Stevens 1966 hit All Strung Out. Nino co-wrote and co-produced the original version of the song. John’s version reached #34 in 1977, his second-highest charting record before 1978.

The releases of Saturday Night Fever and Grease helped catapult John into being one of the top stars in Hollywood, but he never charted with another single after 1978.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Travolta
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let_Her_In

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

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1975 Paul McCartney and Wings – Venus and Mars/Rock Show 

Unlike earlier singles from the group, the first single from the album, Listen To What The Man Said, was credited to Wings rather than Paul McCartney and Wings. The single reached #6 in the UK and topped the Hot 100 in the Summer of 1975. 

You can only describe the second single from the album as a disapointment: it stalled at #39 in the US and #41 in the UK.

The first two tracks on side one of the album were Venus and Mars and Rock Show. and they simply transitioned from one song to the other. They selected a combination of the two songs for the third single, but did not include the complete album versions of the songs.

The two tracks lasted a total of about six and a half minutes on the album, but the single version cut that down to less than four minutes.

The second side of the album contained a return to the songs, Venus and Mars/Rockshow Reprise. Paul was reading stories written by Isaac Asimov at the time, perhaps leading him to include lyrics about a starship in the reprise.

While the single did fairly well in the US (where it peaked at 12 on the Hot 100), it was the first single written by Paul to not chart at all in the UK. The band’s 1976 album, Wings at the Speed of Sound, returned the band to the charts with two top three singles in each country, Silly Love Songs and Let ‘Em In.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_McCartney_and_Wings
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wings_discography#Singles
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus_and_Mars/Rock_Show

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

Please visit my author page on Amazon where I sell my paperbacks, eBooks, and audiobooks. I priced a special eBook at only 99 cents!

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1974 Stevie Wonder – Don’t You Worry ‘Bout A Thing 

In 1972, Stevie Wonder signed a new contract with Motown Records that finally gave him the artistic control of his new records that he had always wanted. That control allowed him to experiment with newly available synthesizers and resulted in only minor success for his new singles. The album Music Of My Mind spawned only two singles, and they peaked at #33 and a dismal #90. Stevie added overdubs on many of the songs.

Fortunately, working on the album helped him transition to music that became much more popular in the next few years. His next two singles from the album Talking Book (Superstition and You Are the Sunshine of My Life) each topped the Hot 100, and his first two singles from his next album (Innervisions) each reached the top ten as well.

Stevie wrote and produced Don’t You Worry ’bout a Thing, and the third single from that album peaked at “only ” #16 on the Hot 100 in 1974.

Three of his next four singles also reached the top of the Hot 100. With so many top singles in such a short time, it’s not too surprising that Don’t You Worry ‘Bout a Thing constantly gets overlooked on oldies stations.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stevie_Wonder
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stevie_Wonder_discography
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don%27t_You_Worry_%27bout_a_Thing

1973 Stylistics – You’ll Never Get To Heaven 

After she began recording demos for Burt Bacharach, Dionne Warwick finally had her own hit single with Don’t Make Me Over in 1962. In late 1963 and early 1964, she landed two top ten singles on the Hot 100 with a pair of songs that also reached #6 and #1 on the R&B chart.

Her next single must have been a disapointment. You’ll Never Get To Heaven was  again written by Burt and Hal David, but it stalled at only #34 on the Hot 100 in 1964.

Her career did bounce back within a few years, but the song failed to chart again for nearly a decade.

History almost exactly repeated itself with the Stylistics. In late 1973 and early 1974, the group had two top ten singles on the Hot 100 with I’m Stone in Love with You and Break Up to Make Up and then followed those hits with their version of You’ll Never Get To Heaven. 

Their single did better than Dionne’s, reaching #23 on the Hot 100 and #8 on the R&B chart. It even reached #4 on the Adult Contemporary chart.

Unfortunately, after two more hits in 1973 and 1974, the group stopped working with producer/songwriter Thom Bell. The group had one last hit their new producers that peaked at #18, but never again found their way back to the top forty on the US Hot 100. They found some renewed success in Europe and the UK with their new material, but that also faded within a few years.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Stylistics
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Stylistics_discography
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You%27ll_Never_Get_to_Heaven_(If_You_Break_My_Heart)

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

Please visit my author page on Amazon where I sell my paperbacks, eBooks, and audiobooks. I priced a special eBook at only 99 cents!

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1972 Leon Russell – Tight Rope 

Leon Russell grew up in Oklahoma. He went to high school and played in various bands in high school with David Gates, the future singer/songwriter in Bread.

Leon moved to Los Angeles in 1958 and rapidly grew a reputation as an excellent studio musician. He played on various projects for Phil Spector. In 1964, he appeared live playing piano in the T.A.M.I. Show with members of the Wrecking Crew.

He later wrote or co-wrote and produced hits for Gary Lewis and the Playboys. He also wrote and arranged Delta Lady, which became a hit for Joe Cocker.

Leon organized and sang and played songs on the Mad Dogs & Englishmen tour in 1970. He then began recording his own albums. While he did not have any hit singles on his first two albums, his third album (Carny) contained his first solo hit record, Tight Rope. The single reached #11 on the Hot 100 in 1972.

The b-side of the single, This Masquerade, eventually became an enormous hit as well, just not for Leon. 

Several other artists covered the song after he placed it on Carny, but it was George Benson who eventually turned it into a hit single. You can find details on that hit in one of my books, Lost or Forgotten Oldies Introduction.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leon_Russell
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leon_Russell#Singles
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tight_Rope_(song)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Masquerade

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

Please visit my author page on Amazon where I sell my paperbacks, eBooks, and audiobooks. I priced a special eBook at only 99 cents!

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1971 James Brown – Hot Pants (She Got to Use What She Got to Get What She Wants) 

By the late sixties, James Brown had begun producing music that was decidedly more funk than soul. His biggest hit in 1971 sounds more like a punchline than a song title. James co-wrote Hot Pants (She Got to Use What She Got to Get What She Wants) and produced it himself. The song ran nearly seven minutes altogether, and James broke it into three parts for a single release.

James usually had at least one chart-topping single on the R&B chart each year, and that was his first #1 record that year.

The single also reached #15 on the Hot 100. He wouldn’t reach the top twenty on the Hot 100 again until Living In America from the film Rocky IV reached #4 in 1986.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Brown
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Brown_discography#Singles_discography
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_Pants_(James_Brown_song)

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

Please visit my author page on Amazon where I sell my paperbacks, eBooks, and audiobooks. I priced a special eBook at only 99 cents!

You can even read the books for free if you have Kindle Unlimited.

1970 Jefferson – Baby Take Me In Your Arms

Guitarist Brian “Chuck” Botfield formed a beat group in England in the late fifties. The band had multiple lineups over the years. Christine Perfect briefly became one of their keyboard players before leaving the band (she later married and became Christine  McVie of Fleetwood Mac).

The group’s lineup settled down in 1963, and the band began recording singles.

Gerry Goffin and Carole King wrote the biggest hit the band had: He’s In Town. The original version of the song by the Tokens reached #43 on the US Hot 100 in 1964, and a month later the cover version by the Rockin’ Berries peaked at #3 on the UK chart.

The group had three more charting singles in the UK over the next few years, but their last hit came in 1965. Geoffrey Turton, their lead singer/rhythm guitarist, left the band for a solo career in 1968.

Geoffrey recorded a single for Piccadilly Records that failed to chart. John Schroeder, the head of the label, convinced Geoffrey to change his stage name to Jefferson. He subsequently reached #22 with a single in the UK, but it was the follow-up single Baby Take Me In Your Arms that finally brought him success in the US. That record reached #23 on the Hot 100 in 1970.

He toured the US with his hit, but no additional hits were forthcoming.

The Rockin’ Berries reunited in the late seventies. Geoffrey returned to using his original name, joined the reformed group, and continued to tour with the band into the nineties.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rockin%27_Berries
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoff_Turton
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_Take_Me_in_Your_Arms

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

Please visit my author page on Amazon where I sell my paperbacks, eBooks, and audiobooks. I priced a special eBook at only 99 cents!

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1969 Billy Joe Royal – Cherry Hill Park 

After scoring three top forty singles in 1965 and 1966, Billy Joe Royal had difficulty returning to the Hot 100. Ironically, he selected and recorded several singles that became hits, just not for him: they became hits for other artists who recorded cover versions of his songs.

In 1967, Billy recorded Yo-Yo, a single that didn’t even reach the Hot 100. 

The Osmond Brothers covered the song and it became their first hit, reaching #3 on the Hot 100 in 1971.

These Are Not My People was a song written by Billy’s friend Joe South (who had written several of Billy’s earlier hits). Billy’s single sounded a lot like an intentional “tribute” to Bob Dylan, but stalled at #113 in 1967. 

The song later became a minor hit for Johnny Rivers, reaching #55 on the Hot 100 in 1969.

Billy’s last single in 1967 was another song written by Joe, Hush.

While Billy’s version stalled at #52, Deep Purple took the song to #4 on the Hot 100 in 1968.

Billy finally returned to the Hot 100 with a hit of his own when he recorded Cherry Hill Park in 1969. The single peaked at #15 on the Hot 100.

Billy kept releasing pop singles through 1978, but never got close to the Hot 100 top forty again. He began appearing in minor roles in movies and television shows and eventually tried something different: Country music.

In 1980, Billy began recording songs aimed at the Country music marketplace. It took awhile to break through, but in 1985, Burned Like a Rocket reached the top ten on the Country chart.

Over the next six years, he scored five more top ten records and six more top forty singles on the Country chart.

His highest charting single on that chart was a cover of Aaron Neville’s Tell It Like It Is. Billy’s single peaked at #2 in 1989.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Joe_Royal
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Joe_Royal_discographyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherry_Hill_Park

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

Please visit my author page on Amazon where I sell my paperbacks, eBooks, and audiobooks. I priced a special eBook at only 99 cents!

You can even read the books for free if you have Kindle Unlimited.

1968 Status Quo – Pictures Of Matchstick Men 

While still in school, Francis Rossi and Alan Lancaster founded a group called the Scorpions in 1962. After a few lineup changes and a name change to the Spectres, the band began playing at a London sports club and picked up a manager. They released a cover of Ben E. King’s I (Who Have Nothing) in 1966.

Neither that song nor their next two releases found their way onto the charts.

In 1967, the group began playing psychedelic music and changed their name yet again, this time becoming Traffic. When Steve Winwood claimed to have registered that name first, they became Traffic Jam. Only one record came out using that name before they changed their name one last time and became The Status Quo.

The group released Pictures Of Matchstick Men in January 1968. The instantly recognizable single not only reached the UK top ten, but it got as high as #12 on the US Hot 100.

The group released Ice In The Sun later that year and again reached the UK top ten, but the single peaked at only #70 in the US.

After some drooping sales for their first few albums, the group signed with Vertigo Records. The group changed direction and began playing hard rock instead of psychedelic music. Beginning in 1972, they charted with at twenty top ten records in the UK and countless top forty singles.

Meanwhile, in the US: crickets. No notice of the group at all other than their one hit from 1968.

In 1996, the group covered Fun, Fun, Fun by the Beach Boys. Not only did the original Beach Boys provide some vocals on the song, they even showed up for the video (of course Mike showed up to sing, but even Brian was there!) Sadly, not even that could put them back on the charts in the US.

The band is still active, and they released their 33rd album in 2019.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Status_Quo_(band)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Status_Quo_discography

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

Please visit my author page on Amazon where I sell my paperbacks, eBooks, and audiobooks. I priced a special eBook at only 99 cents!

You can even read the books for free if you have Kindle Unlimited!