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Mars Bonfire (Dennis Edmonton) is the composer of the rock anthem "Born to be Wild", originally intended as a ballad. The Steppenwolf (John Kay, Mike Monarch, Rushton Moreve, Goldy McJohn and brother of Mars Bonfire drummer Jerry Edmonton) tune was

The very talented blues balladeer Percy Mayfield wrote "Hit the Road Jack". An auto accident in 1952 left him severely injured and limited his concerts but not his songwriting. Listen to the demo. In 1961 Ray Charles recorded the classic with the

Bassist, music publisher and mogul Buddy Killen composed "Forever" in 1960. His version recorded years later comes first. Floyd Cramer was one of the studio musicians who invented the Nashville sound especially with what was called his "slip note"

Chase Webster (Gary Bruce) wrote and recorded "Moody River" in March of 1961 on Frank Slay's "Southern Sounds" label. Pat Boone's April 1961 hit reached the top spot on Billboard and was the title on one of his many albums.

Ernie Maresca of "Shout! Shout! Knock Yourself Out" fame is often associated with Dion ("The Wanderer", "Runaround Sue" and "Lovers Who Wander") and was part of "The 1929 Depression". He co-authored "Child of Clay" with Jimmy Curtiss. Not the blues

Betty Everett was the first to record "Can I Get To Know You (Better)". The P.F. Sloan (Phillip Schlein), Steve Barri composition was released in 1964. The Turtles (Howard Kaylan, Mark Volman) rendition of "Can I Get to Know Better" hit the Billboard

Clyde McPhatter was lead for Billy Ward and the Dominoes. He left to assemble The Drifters. When he went solo he hit with "Lover Please", "A Lover's Question" and in 1957 "Without Love (There is Nothing) composed by Danny Small. Tom Jones took the

Teddy Daryll (Ted Meister) wrote and recorded "She Cried" in 1961. Although he worked and wrote with others it is generally agreed that he composed the tune himself. Jay (John "Jay" Traynor) and the Americans (Howard Kane, Kenny Vance and Sandy Deane)

Tony Orlando produced Featherbed's "Could It Be Magic" (Tony Orlando, Barry Manilow), a Chopin-adaptation recorded in 1971. This studio group was really Barry Manilow and Tony Orlando. Another version (Anderson, Manilow) by Barry Manilow (Barry

Danny (Horace Eldred Dill) Dill once ran for mayor in Nashville and it was he who co-composed "I Wanna Go Home" recorded by Billy Grammer in 1963 and re-titled as "Detroit City" with Mel Tillis. In the forties and fifties he and his first wife Annie

"Baby, the Rain Must Fall" is a 1965 Steve McQueen, Lee Remick movie. Elmer Bernstein and Ernie Sheldon wrote the title tune. The We Three Trio (Wally Keske, Myrna Janssen and Danny Janssen) sing the song but it doesn't appear in the motion picture.

We start off with the Sonny (Joe) West demo of this tune, then the Atlantic Records first version of "Oh Boy" by one of it's composers (West, Tilghman, Petty), Sonny West from 1957 recorded at the Norm Petty Studio. Buddy Holly, the Picks and the

The Casanovas recorded their lead singer's song "I Don't Want You To Go" (Chester Mayfield) in 1955. This is the genesis of "Dedicated to the One I Love". Originally The Royal Sons Quintet, The 5 Royals (Eugene Tanner on lead, Lowman Pauling, Jimmy

Jim Weatherly (details elsewhere in this blog) composed "Midnight Plane to Houston" in 1971. Cissy Houston changed the lyric a year later. Gladys Knight and the Pips (Bubba Knight, Eddie Patten and William Guest) hit with the Grammy winning "Midnight

In 1968 Dan Daniels was the first to record the Lieber-Stoller classic "Is That All There Is". The promotional release was pulled after the composers objected to the recording. Dandy Dan was a disc jockey in NYC and that can be heard in this

Dave Burgess played guitar with The Champs. He wrote and recorded "Everlovin'" with The Chimes including the backing of Seals & Crofts in 1959. Dave became a member of studio groups "The Fleas" and "The Trophies" along with Rick Nelson, Glen

Grammy award winners the Kingston Trio (Dave Guard, Bob Shane and Nick Reynolds) first recorded "Let's Get Together" (Dino Valenti) as a track on the 1964 album "Back in Town". The Youngbloods (Jesse Colin Young, Jerry Corbitt, Lowell Levinger and

Paul Revere and the Raiders (keyboardist Paul Revere, vocalist Mark Lindsay, bassist Keith Allison, Freddy Weller and others through constant line up changes) were regulars on Dick Clark's "Where the Action Is". Their version of "(I'm Not Your)

Elsewhere in this blog are details on singer, songwriter, actor Hoyt Axton who recorded "Sing in the Sunshine" on his 1965 album "Mr. Greenback Dollar Man". Recorded earlier as a single in 1963 with The Sherwood Singers, it had not been released on an

One of the first country acts to perform regularly with a drummer, self-taught guitarist Carl Smith recorded "There She Goes" (Miller, Haddock, Stevenson) in 1955. Carl married June Carter and that begot daughter Carlene Carter. Jerry Wallace got into

The Chellows were a group that recorded covers for "HIT Records" the Nashville based discount label. Like Ray Stevens and others, composer Bobby Russell (The Night the Lights Went Out In Georgia, Little Green Apples, Honey and The Joker Went Wild) was a

Canadian maritime native Ken Tobias wrote "Stay Awhile" in 1970 as a country tune, something that becomes evident here. The Bells (details elsewhere in this blog) hit the American top ten with "Stay Awhile" in 1971 featuring the vocal talents of

Barry Mann composed "Bless You" with his future wife and first time collaborator Cynthia Weil in 1961. This songwriting team gave us more hits than can be mentioned on this blog. The first vocalist to sign with Epic Records, Tony Orlando (Cassavitis)

The following answers a request: She opened for the Beatles, she dated Elvis Presley and Jimmy Page, once married to composer Randy Edelman, she is the voice of the Bacharach,-Davis smash "What the World Needs Now Is Love", she is Jackie DeShannon

Kenny Nolan and The Eleventh Hour were the first to record "Lady Marmalade" (Bob Crewe, Kenny Nolan) in 1974. Patti LaBelle (Patricia Holt-Edwards) and the Bluebells changed their name to LaBelle in the early seventies. New Orleans star

Composer/actor/television personality and recording star Mac Davis ("In the Ghetto", "Something's Burnin'", "Don't Cry Daddy", "Watching Scotty Grow", "Memories", "A Little Less Conversation" plus his own hits) released "I Believe in Music" in 1971 and

Barbara Acklin co-composed the Chi-Lites hit "Have You Seen Her". "Am I the Same Girl" (Eugene Record, Sonny Sanders) charted on Billboard in the lower portion but did better hitting the top forty on the R&B chart in 1969. You can find the track on

Alabama State Senator Bobby Denton was the first to record "Sweet and Innocent" in 1958 but the record went nowhere. Roy Orbison recorded seven tunes at RCA: "Sweet and Innocent", "Jolie", Almost Eighteen", "Seems to Me", "I'll Never Tell", "The Bug"

David Gates composed this and also conducted the orchestra for Jody Miller's 1965 offering "Never Let Him Go". Film star Dale Robertson discovered Jody and within months she was signed by Capitol Records. David Gates second solo album after leaving

In 1970 Neil Young released the album "After The Goldrush" featuring this surreal composition. The album cover itself is rather surreal with the older woman behind Neil Young in Greenwich Village. Interpret the song as you will, it's still interesting

Shirley (Goodman) and (Leonard) Lee, the Sweethearts of the Blues, were born ten days apart in 1936. They recorded "Feels So Good" (Lee) in 1955. Johnny Preston (Courville) was discovered by J.P. Richardson aka The Big Bopper. It was Johnny and his

The 1948 composition "Down by the Station" (Lee Ricks, Slim Gaillard) by jazz vocalist and one time vaudeville act Slim (Bulee) Gaillard and his Trio is originally a children's song .... of that there is no doubt. His daughter Janis was once married to

Texan Keith McCormack played guitar with the String-a-Longs (Keith, Aubrey deCordova, Jimmy Torres, Don Allen and Richard Stephens) of "Wheels" fame. Keith and his Aunt Voss composed and recorded "Sugar Shack". Jimmy Gilmer and the Fireballs (George

The team of Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman composed the top twenty "Sweets For My Sweet" was recorded originally in 1961 by the Drifters and was the first lead role for Charlie Thomas. In 1963 a group named after the John Wayne movie, The Searchers (Mike

In 1967 "The Killer", Jerry Lee Lewis, cousin of television evangelist Jimmy Swaggart was the first to record "Just Dropped In (to see what condition my condition was in) . The rock legend made a more than credible effort on this anti-drug tune but it

In 1963 actor (Moondoggie in Gidget, The Guns of Navarone, The Gene Krupa Story, Vic Fontaine in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)/singer (Goodbye Cruel World, Because They're Young, Didn't We, All, Her Royal Majesty) James Darren (James Ercolani) released

Independent producer Joe Meek worked with Mike Berry on the excellent "Tribute to Buddy Holly" and the Honeycomb's big hit "Have I The Right". Here he gives us the demo for his composition of "Telstar". Very interesting take! The Tornados (Alan Caddy,