This Day in Music History: Zager and Evans In the Year 2525 (Exordium and Terminus)

In 1961 Denny Zager was looking for a guitarist for his group the Eccentrics. He spotted Rick Evans playing at a talent show at Wesleyan University and asked him to join. By 1964 Zager quit the group and formed the Devilles. Meanwhile, Evans wrote the song “In the Year 2525(Exordium and Terminus).” He tried to convince the Eccentrics to record it but had no luck.
By 1968 Zager and Evans both left their groups and formed a duo. They were looking for songs to record when they pulled out the 4 year old song. Zager wasn’t sure of the songs potential. In an interview he said “I didn’t go nutty over the song, because it really wasn’t the style I wanted to do.” They decided to put it in their live show to see what the response would be.
Zager wrote a new arrangement for the song so it would more fit a duo then a group to sing. Eventually they decided to record it because they were getting so many requests for it. They invested $500 in studio time and pressed it on their own label called Truth Records and distributed it to local radio stations and record stores.
Talent agent Jerry Weintraub heard the song and flew to Lincoln, Nebraska to meet with them. He signed on as their manager and got them a contract with RCA. It entered the Billboard charts at #72 on June 21, 1969. The prophetic song quickly went up the charts to reach the #1 spot on this day in music history July 12, 1969 and held the position for 6 weeks. If you listen to the lyrics you can hear them hint to how you can get a baby at the end of a long glass tube. So a song written in 1964 foretold of test tube babies even though the first one didn’t happen till 14 years later in 1978. He got the year wrong but in 1964 Rick Evans saw it coming down the Pike.
Not long after the record hit the charts Danny Zager left the group. He said it wasn’t the type of song he wanted to be known for. Sadly since it was his only hit it now is the type of music he is known for. Postings like this and in other areas of pop culture where it is mentioned, like being the subject of a question in the game Trivial Pursuit, will keep the song alive. Also, the closer we get to that year the more you will hear of it.
Zager and Evans remained friends and talk on the phone from time to time. Evans stayed active in the local music community in Lake Tahoe, California. There he wrote songs and preformed in local clubs. Zager returned to private life and now makes guitars for a living. You can buy one if you go to Zagerguitar.com..
Below is youtube.com video of the duo preforming the song on a television show.

This Day in Music History: The Beatles and the Long and Winding Road/For You Blue

Being at the top of the Billboard charts was nothing new to the Beatles. Still this one was bittersweet for them and their fans as it was the last time they would accomplish this as a group. Actually, there are only two of them on the Long and Winding Road. Paul McCartney is singing the solo vocal and playing the piano and John Lennon is playing the bass guitar. The final production of this song was a major point in the break up of the group. The songs were not produced by George Martin but by Phil Spector. Paul thought the song was fine with just him and John. Still Phil Spector added an orchestra and a choir to back him up. Spector sent copies of the finished music with a letter explaining what he did and that he could make changes if they wished. Paul heard his song and didn't like it. He tried to contact Spector but wasn't able to reach him. He told the Beatles new manager Allen Klein in a letter and demanded they restore the song but that was to no avail. George Harrison, who wrote and sang the B side, For You Blue, on the double sided hit must have been pleased as he had Phil Spector produce his All Things Must Pass solo album.
It was with the Harrison song that the four Beatles all made their final appearance together in the #1 spot. George sang and played acoustic guitar, John played steel guitar, Paul played piano and bass and Ringo played drums.
Since their break up there were rumors that they would get back together until the day that John Lennon died. Even then I heard they were close to a reunion since Lennon had finally come out of retirement. Talent wise they did when Paul, George and Ringo added their talents to the songs Free As a Bird and Real Love. Free as a Bird charted but didn't reach #1. In England it only got to #2 and in the USA it only went to #6. With The Long and Winding Road/For You Blue those songs are still the last #1 songs for the Beatles. They reached that spot on this day in music history June 13,1970 and held the spot for 2 weeks.

This Day in Music History: You're the One That I Want by Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta

We haven't done one of these in awhile so here is the latest installment of This Day in Music History. It seems hard to believe with the ease that Olivia Newton-John played the part of Sandy in the movie Grease that she was really very nervous. But it is understandable. It was, after all, her first big Hollywood film. However, it was not her first film. She had previously starred in a science fiction movie called Toomorrow that bombed. She talked with the scriptwriter and John Travolta and accepted the part. Still she was so nervous that she herself insisted on doing a screentest. Around that time Mr. Travolta also was recording some songs and had a top 40 hit with one titled Let Her In. In an interview Olivia said she thought it was odd that she was a singer who wanted to be an actress and now she was in a movie with an actor who wanted to be a singer. She also said she wasn't thrilled with her own preformance. She thought it was sickly. With how well the movie did it is safe to say that the audience didn't agree with her.
The movie also changed how music fans saw her. Up till then record buyers only thought of her as a country singer. She did have two number one songs before but they were still country songs. Now she was on the big screen singing pop broadway tunes. The movie and the soundtrack dominated the summer of 1978. It was even bigger in England. You're the One That I Want was #1 there for nine weeks and the follow up, Summer Nights, was #1 there for seven weeks. But in America on this day in music history the song You're the One That I Want stated its one week rule of the Billboard chart on June 10, 1978.
Also the above photo is from a picture sleeve of the 45 that was released in Japan.

This Day in Music History: The Elegants and Little Star

The Elegants were formed in 1956 when a group called The Crescents broke up. Two members, Vito Picone and Carmen Romano of Staten Island, New York, recruited Artie Venosa, Frankie Fardogno and Artie's friend Jimmy Moschella. Now they had a group but no name. They saw the word "elegance" on an advertising billboard. It inspired them to name themselves The Elegants.

For their first song Vito and Artie took Mozart's "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" and adapted it into a rock tune they called "Little Star." They signed with local label Hull Records but then it was leased to ABC-Paramount Records. ABC-Paramount was starting a new label. It was released on the APT Record Label and on this day in music history, August 25, 1958, it was the #1 record in the country on the Billboard Charts.

At the time The Elegants were toruing all over the country to promote the song. This ment that they didn't get any studio time to release a follow up record. As a result they never returned to the top 100 again.

They did release other records but not in time to capitalize on the momentum they had with "Little Star." While the group remained together they had obsticles to over come in the membership. Two of them were drafted into the Army. One got married and Vito was laid up for 6 months after an accident. By 1962 The Elegants broke up for good.

This Day In Music History: Sonny and Cher and I Got You Babe.

When Salvatore met Cherilyn at a coffee shop no one knew that music history was going to be made. You see this was really the first meeting of Salvatore "Sonny" Bono and Cherilyn "Cher" LaPiere. Later known only as Sonny and Cher.
Sonny had worked in the music business for a few years. He had some hits under his belt that he had written. Now he was the promotion man/background singer/writer for producer Phil Spector. Cher told him she was 18, she was really 16, and wanted to be a singer. Sonny took her to see Phil and got her a job as a background singer on his records. For awhile Sonny tried to get Phil to produce songs for Cher but mostly he refused. So Sonny used his own money to produce one for her. At the last minute Cher got nervous and asked Sonny to sing with her. So they recorded "Baby Don't Go" as a duet. Sonny said the best way he knew to tell if the song was a hit was to see if Phil liked it. If he wanted to buy the song Sonny knew it was a hit. Phil offered $500 for half the rights to the song. It only cost Sonny $135 to record it.
At the time Cher was under contract at Imperial as a solo artist under the name of Cherilyn. She had just released her first solo song titled "Dream Baby." Over at Atlantic Ahmet Ertegun was interested in signing them as a team. Reprise had some of their songs but no contract with the duo. They decided to sign as a duo with Atlantic and their songs would be released on their Atco label.
"I Got You Babe" was their second single for Atco. Sonny was excited and sent the tapes to Ahmet in New York. When he got a call from him Sonny was shocked to hear that "I Got You Babe" would be the B side and the A side would be "It's Gonna Rain." He could not convince him to release the song as the A side. So Sonny took the song to a local Los Angeles radio station. The program director, Ron Jacobs, only agreed to play the song once an hour if he got the song exclusively. The song became a huge local hit and forced Ahmet to release the song as the A side of their second single. It climbed the Billboard charts and became the #1 song in the country on this day in music history August 14, 1965. By the 1970's they got married, had a little girl and were contracted to host a TV show. The song became the theme to their show.
As we all know the marriage didn't last and the couple got divorced. But in November of 1987 the two reunited on the David Letterman show and sang "I Got You Babe" one last time. Fans finally saw that there was no animosity between the two.
A little over ten years later Sonny was killed in a skiing accident in South Lake Tahoe, CA. He was 62 years old.

Rest In Peace Michael Jackson: A Special This Day in Music History Segment: The Jackson Five and The Love You Save

It has been quite awhile since I have posted a "This Day in Music History" segment. I have been wanting to do one and with the recent passing of Michael Jackson I wanted to do one with him in mind. Today marks a big day in music history for Michael and his brothers who together were known as the Jackson Five. On this day in music history, June 27, 1970, The Jackson Five had their third #1 hit on the Billboard Charts with the song "The Love You Save."
Why was this a big day in music history for the Jackson Five? Because it made them the first preformers in the rock and roll era to have their first three singles become number one.
It was written and produced by Freddie Perren, Fonce Mizell, Deke Richards and Berry Gordy Jr. Berry Gordy really wanted the third song to be a big hit. With the first two songs, "I Want You Back" and "ABC", having gone platinum the stakes were high for the third song. He wanted to prove the Jackson Five were no flash in the pan.
Finally they took a song they had written about watching out for traffic. Perhaps it was called "The Life You Save." I don't know for certain about that but I do know they changed the lyrics to be about a girl who was growing up too fast.
When it was finished three of the writer/producers took to the studio to record the demo. They went to the Sound Factory studio in Hollywood. While recording it Berry Gordy dropped in on them. After a few minutes of listening to them Gordy said he wasn't worried anymore because they had it. Then he left.
As you see in one of the photos the writing and producing credits went to "The Corporation." It seems that some time earlier the writing and producing team of Holland-Dozier-Holland had a nasty split with Motown Records. The pain from the split was still being felt and the generic name of The Corporation seemed to be safer.
Producing the first three singles for the Jackson Five wasn't the first time Freddie Perren was associated with the group. He played the piano at the Regal Theater in Chicago for Jerry Butler and the Jackson Five was the opening act. They had a regional hit with the song "I'm A Big Boy Now." Perren said Michael was so tiny that he thought the nightclub crowd would jsut murder him. He felt sorry for Michael. But when he sang he brought down the house. The Jackson Five were so well received that Perren thought Jerry Butler should have been their opeing act.
No matter how you feel about how he led is very public personal life, you have to admit that his talent was apparent from the very beginning. Rest in Peace Michael Jackson.
Below you can see him and his borthers Jackie,Tito,Jermaine and Marlon from their 1977 TV Show preforming the song.

This Day In Music History: Elvis and Jailhouse Rock/Treat Me Nice

On this day in music history, October 21, 1957 , Elvis hit the #1 spot on the billboard charts with his double sided hit "Jailhouse Rock/Treat Me Nice." It was written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller who wrote many hits before for Elvis.
Mr. Leiber said "The love songs were a great problem, because I really can't write love songs. But that was the least of it. I certainly would never have written a song line 'Jailhouse Rock,' for example, if somebody hadn't said, Look, there's going to be a big production number in a jail."

That production number became the highlight of his third film Jailhouse Rock. Elvis himself choreographed the scene. It is one of the best remembered scenes from any of Elvis' films. The movie also opened today and became one of his biggest films in his acting career.

This Day In Music History: The Everly Brothers and Wake Up Little Susie

I am proud to say that on this day in music history, October 14, 1957, two men from my home state of Kentucky, the Everly Brothers had the #1 hit in the country on the Billboard Charts with Wake Up Little Susie. Their beautiful harmonies inspired and influenced a generation of singers like the Beach Boys, Simon and Garfunkel and even the Beatles.
The boys, Don and Phil, actually come from a show business family. Their Dad, Ike Everly, was part of the first singing Everly Brothers act with his two brothers. When they lived in Iowa Don and Phil had their own early morning radio show on KMA before they went to school. Don even had his own Saturday morning show called "The Little Donnie Show." Later, when the family moved to Knoxville, Tennessee, live radio was on the way out. So the family act left show business. Dad got a job in construction and Mom became a beautician.
However, Don wrote a song called "Thou Shalt Not Steal" and sold it to Kitty Wells. Later he and Phil made a demo tape. At the end of the session they told the studio owner they were broke and couldn't pay for the tape. When they left the studio they saw that their car had been towed. They had to go back in and ask the studio owner if they could borrow money to get their car out of impound.
The took their tape to many record companies but most of them turned them down. Columbia Records did like it and signed them to record four songs. One of them was "The Sun Keeps Shining" and it was released as their first single. It didn't sell as well as Columbia hoped.
A friend of their Dad's, Chet Atkins, introduced them to publisher Wesley Rose. He signed them to a contract. When Columbia didn't renew them Mr. Rose got Archie Bleyer to hear their demo tape. Mr. Bleyer had heard it before and turned them down. This time he was looking for a new country group for his Cadence label. After hearing the tape again he knew the Everly Brothers was the group to sign.
He had a song that was written by Felice Bryant and Boudleaux Bryant but everyone turned it down. He offered Don and Phil $64 each to record it. So they recorded "Bye Bye Love." They went on tour in the South. When they came back the song had reached #2 on the national charts. The next song they recorded was "Wake Up Little Susie." Many stations banned the song from their airwaves. Why? The times were more tame in broadcasting back then. It was thought that the lyrics were "suggesting" that Susie and her date had slept together. The song went to the top of the charts anyway and became the first #1 single for the soon to be legends in music.

If you click on the title above it will take you to the Everly Brothers Fan Club-The Beehive.

This Day In Music History: Jimmie Rodgers and Honeycomb

Jimmie Rodgers credits his Mother, a piano teacher, for giving him a love for music. However, his career in show business started when he was a solider station in Seoul, Korea. He bought a used guitar and learned to play it. He starting winning talent contest while he was in the Air Force. When he came back to the states he was hired to play at Nashville's Unique Club. At that club Jimmie heard another musician preform "Honeycomb." Jimmie re-arranged the song to fit his style on the song that would become the #1 hit on the charts on this day in music history on September 30,1957.
Sometime later, while he was preforming at the Fort Cafe in Vancouver, Washington, the singer Chuck Miller saw Jimmie preform. He told Jimmie he should fly to New York and audition for the TV show Aathur Godfrey's Talent Scouts and for Roulette Records. Miller was so impressed he even paid Jimmie's air fare. Jimmie won on the TV show and played "Honeycomb" as his audition for Roulette Records.
Not long after he got him Jimmie got a telegram asking him to come back to New York to sign a contract with Roulette Records. After he signed with them Jimmie had a string of hits for the label. He was given his own TV variety show in 1959. Later he starred in the movie "The LIttle Shepherd of Kingdom Come."
In 1967 he left Roulette for A&M. He was also cast in a new movie. Jimmie only released one album for his new label and never got to be in the movie.
IN December of 1967 Jimmie was pulled over by an off duty police officer. Two uniform police officers came to assist. A few hours later Jimmie's musical conductor, Ed Samuels, found him unconscious in his car. He had to have three operations on his brain and a steel plate was put in his skull. He sued the city for $11 million dollars.
It took a long time for him to recover but Jimmie returned to show business in 1969 when he preformed at a concert at L.A.'s Cocoanut Grove.

This Day In Music History: Buddy Holly and the Crickets and That'll Be The Day

On this day in music history, Sept. 23, 1957, one of the most influential artist in the history of Rock and Roll had the #1 hit in the country on the Billboard charts. It was Buddy Holly and the Crickets with "That'll Be the Day." Buddy Holly's music left an impression on every musician from the Beatles to John Denver to Elvis Costello.
The song was recorded on July 22, 1956. Decca executives didn't have much faith in the song. As a result the song wasn't released on Decca. A few months later Buddy's contract with Decca expired. IN Feb. of 1957 Buddy went to Norman Petty who produced the song "Party Doll" by Buddy Knox. They recorded a demo of "That'll Be the Day" and sent it to other record companies. Almost all of them passed on it. However, Brunswick Records, which was a subsidiary of Decca, signed Buddy Holly to a contract.
The song was still owed by Decca as "That'll Be the Day" by Buddy Holly. So Brunswick kept Buddy's name off the label and release it as by The Crickets.
In the fall of 1958 Buddy and Norman Petty parted ways and the Crickets stayed with Petty. Holly recruited other musicians to become the new Crickets. Among them was future country music star Waylon Jennings. A few months later in February of 1959 Buddy Holly, along with the Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens died in a plane crash while trying to get to their next date on a winter tour.

This Day In Music History: Paul Anka and Diana

For years I had heard that Paul Anka wrote this song about his love for his babysitter. That is incorrect. He wrote it about the crush he had on his little brother and sister's babysitter. She was 3 years older then him and turned him down. He poured his feelings out in a poem and then set it to music.
This however was not the Canadian natives first song. In school he read a book called Prestor John by John Buchan. In the book was a town named Blau Wildebeeste Fontaine. He wrote a song about the town and named the song after it. Paul was a fan of the group the Cadets and noticed that their label was in nearby Culver City. He took his song to them and played it for them. They liked it and signed Paul to a record it and release it with the Cadets singing in the background. At the age of 14 Paul Anka released his first song. The song didn't sell well and he returned home to Ottawa.
The next summer he entered and won a contest sponsored by Campbell's Soup. The contest required you to send in the soup wrappers from their cans. Paul scoured every garbage can he found for soup wrappers. He even took a job at a supermarket to be close to soup cans that were thrown away. The prize that he won was a train trip to Manhattan.
WIth $100 from his Father Paul went to Manhattan. The first person he went to see was Don Costa at ABC-Paramount Records. He showed Mr. Costa his songs. He was so impressed with the song Diana that he told Paul to have his parents come to New York to sign contracts.
ABC-Paramount released the song and on this day in music history, September 9th 1957, Diana was #1 on the Billboard charts for 1 week. England liked the song even more then America. In England the song was #1 for 9 weeks in a row.
If you like picture sleeves like the one above you can see more at the The Picture Sleeve and Album Art Museum.

This Day In Music History: Debbie Reynolds and Tammy

I can't believe I almost forgot this #1 song. I had been looking forward to posting it but kept putting it off. Only today did I remember it. Thankfully the song was #1 for 3 weeks. It was from August 26, 1957 to September 8, 1957 and returned for another week on September 16, 1957.
The song of course I am talking about is "Tammy" by Debbie Reynolds. It was the #1 song in the country on this day in music history.
The song broke a long run of male domination for the #1 spot on the Billboard charts. Gogi Grant was the last woman to have a #1 song on that chart. That was in July of 1956.
The song was helped to the top of the pops with it being the title track to the movie "Tammy and the Bachelor." It starred Debbie and Leslie Nielsen. Debbie sang the song in the movie and it was nominated for an Oscar. She sang it on the Academy Awards on March 26, 1958.
Debbie sang the song only accompanied by a piano. Not satisfied with that they added more before putting it into the film and added a Henry Mancini arrangement. Coral Records didn't have much faith in the song but released it anyway. When the song hit #1 it helped to boost the movie and a film franchise was born.
Debbie has had a professional and personal life that has been fodder for the tabloids ever since. In 1966 she became the first and so far only #1 artist to play the life of another #1 artist. She had the title role in the movie "The Singing Nun." It was about the life of Sister Luc-Gabrielle who had the #1 hit "Dominique" on December 7, 1963.

This Day In Music History: Elvis and (Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear

Somehow word got out to his fans that Elvis collected Teddy Bears. He didn't but fans from all over the world sent him Teddy Bears for his collection. He didn't have one before the rumor started but he did now.
Songwriters Kal Mann and Bernie Lowe got wind of the rumor. They had to write a new song for the new movie that starred Elvis and Lizabeth Scott called "Loving You" and wrote (Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear. Elvis recorded the song in March of 1957. It was released only a few short weeks later in 1957 before the movie. The movie had Elvis playing a rock and roll star and there were many scenes with Elvis in concert singing. Two of the concert goers in one scene were his parents Vernon and Gladys Presley. After his Mother died in August of 1958 Elvis would never watch that scene again.
The song became a #1 hit on the Billboard charts on this day in music history July 8, 1957. The next day, July 9th, the film was released. The song was a great advertisement for the film.
What happened to Elvis' Teddy Bear collection? The day after Christmas in 1957 Elvis donated it to the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis.

This Day In Music History: Pat Boone and Love Letter in the Sand

On this day in music history, June 3,1957 Pat Boone had the #1 song in the country on the Billboard Charts. Having grown up in a Baptist church in Tennessee Pat thought that his faith and conscience would prevent him from having a successful singing career. For a time he thought of becoming a preacher or a school teacher. He said it wasn't until he had sold millions of records and had a couple of million dollar recording contracts that he thought he could make a career out of singing.

For a time Pat made recordings of songs that were first written and recorded by R&B artist, like Otis Williams, Fats Domino and Little Richard, who were having a hard time getting played on mainstream stations. He took some heat for that as some thought he was keeping those same artist from breaking into the mainstream. Actually it helped them get into the mainstream. Pat, along with others who covered the songs, got their message out and eventually teenagers sought out the original artist recordings. When you combine these cover hits from Pat and his own hits he is the second most successful recording artist during rock and rolls first decade. He is second only to Elvis Presley.

Hollywood soon called on Pat and he was cast as the lead in the movie "Bernadine." There weren't any songs in the script but the producers knew if you had an actor who was better known as a singer you need to have songs in the movie. A title song was written for the film by Johnny Mercer and a song Pat had already recorded, Love Letters In The Sand, was added to the score.

Randy Wood was the owner of Dot Records, where Pat was signed to, and he also owned a record store. He kept getting request for Love Letter In The Sand which had been recorded earlier by Rudy Vallee and Bing Crosby. So he knew in advance that the song was hot!

The movie producers asked Randy if he had a song Pat already recorded that they could use in the film. He gave them Love Letters In The Sand.

Pat has said that the appeal of the song has always been a mystery to him. There is nothing exciting about the arrangement or the way he sang the song. However, it is his most successful single that he has ever recorded. It was #1 on Billboard for 5 weeks and was on the charts for 23 weeks.

This Day In Music History: Elvis and All Shook Up

All Shook Up was the first #1 hit for Elvis. You thought Heartbreak Hotel was #1? Well it was. I am talking about England. Heartbreak Hotel and Hound Dog peaked at #2 in England. All Shook Up took him to the top in England and on this day in music history, April 13, 1957, it went to #1 on the Billboard charts in the USA where it stayed for 8 weeks.
Even though he was a huge hit in Britain Elvis never toured there. In fact he never toured out of the USA.
The reason why was because of his manager Col. Tom Parker. In the biography Elvis by Albert Goldman he tells us that Col. Parker wasn't from West Virginia as he always claimed. He was an illegal immigrant from Holland and his real name was Andres Cornelis van Kuijk and was born in 1909. He came to America for awhile when he was 18. He went back to Holland but soon returned. He wrote to his family and sent money but then stopped signing his letters with his real name and started signing them as Tom Parker. His family didn't know who this person was and not till 1961 when they saw his picture did they know it was their family member. He looked too much like them to deny it.
So since Col. Parker was not a US citizen he couldn't get a passport. If he left the country he was afraid he wouldn't be let back in the country. Since he traveled with Elvis he made sure that Elvis never toured outside of America.
All Shook Up as well as its flip side That's Where Your Heartaches Begin were recorded during a two day recording session at the Radio Recorders in Hollywood. It was from January 12, 1957 to January 13, 1957. All Shook Up was the top record of the year. It was the second year in a row that Elvis held that position.

This Day In Music History: Perry Como and Round and Round

Perry Como was signed to one record label for quite a long time. In fact he was with RCA longer then most singers have been alive. He was signed to the label in June of 1943 and in 1983 RCA held a dinner in his honor to celebrate his 40th year with the label and his 50th year in show business.

Round and Round wasn't his first #1 hit but on this day in music history, April 6, 1957, it was his first in the Rock and Roll era. He had 8 #1 hits between 1945 and 1954. The first time he sang Round and Round was on his television show and the audience loved it so much RCA released it as a single.

Perry was the 7th son of the 7th son. He was the first of Pietro and Lucia Como's 13 children to be born in the United States. He was born May 18, 1912 in Canonsburg, Pa. It was a mining town but Perry avoided work in the mines by becoming an apprentice Barber. Soon he had his own barbershop where folks could get a shave, haircut and a song. He earned $125 a week as a barber. While on vacation he auditioned for Freddy Carlone's band. He was offered the job that paid $28 a week. He took the job.

Later Perry married Roselle Belline on July 31, 1933. Four days later he went on tour with with the band. Three years later Perry was singing in Warren, Ohio. Bandleader Ted Weems heard him and offered him a job on the spot as his lead vocalist for $50 a week. Perry accepted the job.
In 1942 Weems broke up the band because of the war and Perry returned home to Canonsburg. He intended to return to being a Barber. He was about to sign for a new shop when General Artists Corp. told him they wanted to give him his own radio show. He talked it over with his wife and they decided that if it didn't work out he could still return to barbering. So he signed on to host the Chesterfield Supper Club. He was also given some nightclub bookings and signed to RCA Victor as a solo artist.

Soon his first single Goodbye Sue was released and on NBC the Chesterfield Supper Club was a hit. He received rave reviews for his appearance at the nightclubs in New York. 20th Century Fox signed him to a movie deal. He made his first appearance in Something For The Boys with Phil Silver and Carmen Miranda and Vivian Blaine. He began to have a string of hits. The ones he had before Round and Round include Till The End Of Time, Prisoner Of Love, Don't Let The Stars Get In Your Eyes and a huge hit with Hot Diggity (Dog Ziggity Boom).

Soon the radio show moved to TV. Between NBC and a move to CBS his show was on TV from December 24, 1948 to June 12, 1963. Perry was so popular that the title soon changed to The Perry Como Show. When it went off the air Perry was still popular on TV as the host of the Kraft Music Hall Specials till 1967 and had his own Christmas specials for years. Always known as being laidback and relaxed, it was rumored that he took a nap till he had to go on the air. SCTV even did segment with Eugene Levy as a barely awake Perry singing during a TV show.

On May 12, 2001 after a long illness, Perry passed away in his sleep at his home in Florida. He was 88 years old.

Below is a video of Perry singing the song on his show. They show a new way they have to preform the song and it seems that everyone enjoys the new way.

This Day In Music History: Buddy Knox and Party Doll

buddy_knox

[via FoxyTunes / Buddy Knox]

On this day in music history,March 30, 1957, Buddy Knox had the #1 hit in the country on Billboard with Party Doll. Buddy attended West Texas State University on a sports scholarship. There he met Jimmy Bowen and Don Lanier and they formed a group called the Serenaders. Buddy Holly and Roy Orbison performed on campus and Knox became friendly with them. He showed them his songs he wrote. They liked them and said he should go to Norm Petty's studio and record them. ONe of those songs was Party Doll. Buddy said he wrote the song in 1948 out on a farm behind a haystack. Buddy said other then Fats Domino he didn't know too many songs when he entered college. It was then that he started listening to Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis and Chuck Berry.
Buddy and his friends went to the studio and recorded their songs. It was with a makeshift band. They needed a bass player and hired a guy in town to play for them. Dave Alldred played drums but there wasn't a full set in the studio so they made one out of a cardboard box and stuffed it with cotton and a microphone. Buddy's sister and her friends sang background. It took 3 days to record them and Petty gave Buddy, Jimmy and Dan each an acetate of the recordings.

Buddy said that they didn't know anything about the business and didn't know what to do with the tapes. A farmer named Chester Oliver asked if he could press 1,500 copies and sell them locally. They let him and Party Doll was played on the local station KDDD and the song become a local hit.

Dan's sister called Roulette Records in New York City and they flew the 3 members to New York to sign the group to a contract. They called them the Rhythm Orchards. As soon as Roulette released Party Doll 3 other artist covered it. Two of them only charted in the bottom part of the hot 100 but Steve Lawrence's version went to #5.


With only a few months to go to get his Masters degree Buddy quit college to become a full time entertainer. He toured 11 months out of the year and lived on a farm in Canada with his wife. Buddy Knox passed away in February of 1999.

Below you can see a video of Buddy preforming the song and another hit Hula Love on the Alan Freed Show on WNEW in New York.

Buddy Knox - Party Doll/Hula Love (1957)

[via FoxyTunes / Buddy Knox]

This Day In Music History: Tab Hunter and Young Love

When the rock era started out it was not uncommon for the same song to be recorded by more then one artist. On this day in music history the song Young Love was #1 on the Billboard charts by Tab Hunter and #4 by Sonny James. It became a signature song for both artist. By having as many artist cover a song as possible it provided more income for the publishers and the songwriters.

The first person to record Young Love was its co-writer Ric Cartey for RCA Records. His version didn't make the charts. Later he played it for Sonny James and he liked it enough to record it.

The president of Dot Records thought Sonny's version would only be a hit on the country charts and wanted it to hit the pop charts at the same time. So he contacted actor Tab Hunter who at that time had not recorded a song. He told him he had a record he wanted him to hear and if Tab could carry a tune at all, he would like him to record it.

As it turned out Tab had a pretty good voice and had sang in his school choir. He liked the song and agreed to record it. Ten days later it was in record stores. Sonny's version also hit the pop charts and it was climbing. However, Tab's was right behind him. On March 2, 1957 Tab's version peaked at #1 and later Sonny's hit #2.

Tab's recording career was short lived at Dot. Warner Brothers had him under contract to make movies and wanted him to concentrate on that. When they sent him on a promotional tour for the movie The Spirit of St. Louis no one asked him about the movie. He mostly got questions about his record. Warner Brothers was furious. Eventually Warner Brothers started their own record label and Tab Hunter was one of the artist they signed first. Tab feels that he was the reason they started their own label. Warner Brothers would rather have their artist earn money for them and not other record labels.

Tab Hunter had a long but sporadic career in films which range from Island of Desire to Grease 2. He was the star of his own sit-com in 1960 called "The Tab Hunter Show." I only lasted one season as it was against the last 30 minutes of "The Ed Sullivan Show." In 1977 he played George Shumway the father of Mary Hartman when he joined the cast of "Forever Fernwood." It was the spin-off show of "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman." He later formed his own production company to produce his own independent films.

This Day In Music History: Elvis Presley and Too Much

For nine weeks Guy Mitchell had the #1 hit on the Billboard Charts with "Singing the Blues." On this day in music history, February 9, 1957 Elvis Presley thought that nine weeks was too much and he reclaimed his position at the top of the charts with..."Too Much." :) It was the first #1 hit for 1957.

Now Elvis had appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show three times and Elvis went from being a regional to national celebrity. The first time Elvis was on the show Ed Sullivan was sick and not on his own live broadcast. Actor Charles Laughton filled in for him on that broadcast. Ed was on the others and on his third and last appearance on January 6, 1957 Elvis was only shot from the waist up and he sang seven songs. One of those songs was the premiere of "Too Much."

The song was part of a three day recording session that began on September 1, 1956. Musicians Scotty Moore, Bill Black and D. J. Fontana were flown to Hollywood to back up Elvis on the songs that would be his second album for RCA Records. The album, simply titled Elvis, was released in October of 1956 but they held "Too Much" for release in January of 1957.

One moth before Elvis released "Too Much" he took part in a recording session at Sun records that became legendary. In December Sam Phillips of Sun was producing a record for Carl Perkins. Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis were there to record and Johnny Cash stopped by. A picture of the four famous musicians was taken and released to the newspapers.

For years this was known as the Million Dollar Quartet but no recordings were known to have survived. Then in 1981 the recordings surfaced and an album was released in England. It then became known that Cash was there visiting when the picture was taken but left later to do some shopping.

After "Too Much" was released Elvis bought a home in Tennessee from Mrs. Ruth Brown Moore for $100,000. It was built by her husband Dr. Thomas Moore and named after her Aunt Grace. Elvis liked the name and kept it. The name of course was Graceland.

Here is a video of Elvis singing it live on television.

This Day In Music History: The Chipmunks and David Seville

I have been trying to do the #1 songs on Billboard in order but for this Christmas I was looking for Christmas song that was #1 on the charts. While Christmas songs have charted well in the past this time of year nothing by Sinatra, Crosby or anyone ever had a #1 song on Billboard. However the #1 song on the charts for this day in music history, December 22, 1958, made me want to skip for the 2nd time in a month. The #1 song that day was "The Chipmunk Song" by the Chipmunks and David Seville.
David Seville was really Ross Bagdasarian the brains behind the Chipmunks who wrote and produced the song. It started its run at #1 today for 4 straight weeks. Ross had a #1 song earlier in 1958 with the Witch Doctor. The speeded up voices on Witch Doctor had no name or identity on the song. It was after it was a hit that Ross had the idea for the Chipmunks.
The names of the chipmunks came from the names of executives at Liberty Records where he was under contract. Alvin was for Al Bennett who was president of the company. Simon was named after Al's partner Si Waronker and Theodore was named after Ted Keep the recording engineer.
The personality for Alvin was based on Ross' son Adam. Adam was always asking if it was Christmas yet starting in September. He figured if he was then other children probably were too.
The song went through three versions before the family approved. At one time it was titled "In A Village Park." The third version was the charm. In three weeks the song sold over 2,500,000 copies. It was the fastest selling song of 1958 and won three Grammy awards. They were Best Recording for Children, Best Comedy Performance and Best Engineered Record.

Ross and the Chipmunks were on a roll. In 1959 their song "Alvin's Harmonica" peaked at #3. In the fall of 1961 their own TV show called "The Alvin Show" premiered on CBS.
It only ran for 1 season but the repeats ran for 3 years on Saturday morning when the started it in June of 1962. In 1964 they release an album called The Chipmunks Sing the Beatles after Ross saw them on the Ed Sullivan show. In 1967 Ross retired the Chipmunks. He wanted to be known as serious songwriter again and not known for his novelty material.
Saddly Ross died of a heart attack in 1972. This major set back didn't stop the return of the Chipmunks. In 1980 a radio DJ accidentally played the Blondie song "Call Me" in a faster speed. When the song ended he realized his mistake and joked that it was the Chipmunks version. People took him seriously and began requesting the Chipmunks version. Soon Ross Bagdasarian Jr. and his wife Janice recorded a new Chipmunk album and called it Chipmunk Punk. Ross was the voice of Alvin, Simon and David Seville and Janice was Theodore. A follow up album was called Urban Chipmunk during the Urban Cowboy era of movies and music. The Chipmunks were on a role again with a series of live shows and a new Saturday morning show on NBC television in 1983.

Now they are trying for another comeback with a new movie that just came out with Jason Lee. Will a sequel a new album or cartoon series follow? Don't be surprised if all of them are released and meet with a lot of success.
Would Ross Sr. be happy with his creations continuing into the 21st century after he retired them in 1967? I think he would. I also think he would be just as happy to know that movie fans can see him play a serious musician in the Hitchcock film Rear Window. If you ever see the film you will notice one of Jimmy Stewart's neighbors is a musician and always playing the piano near his apartment window. That actor is Ross Bagdasarian Sr. As Paul Harvey would say, now you know the rest of the story.