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Alex Harvey and Larry Collins composed "Delta Dawn" and the first recording came in 1971 by Alex himself. Under the guidance of Nashville's Billy Sherrill, 13 year old Tanya Tucker took her first hit to the top ten on the country charts in 1972. From

In the 1972 album "Hallway Symphony" you'll find (Dan) Hamilton, Joe Frank (Carollo) and (Tommy) Reynolds singing "Ain't No Woman (Like the One I've Got)" (Dennis Lambert - Brian Potter). The trio were all touring members of the T-Bones who hit the top

The Gladiolas featured the man who wrote "Little Darling", Maurice Williams. The tune hit the top twenty on the R&B charts in 1957. Within a couple of years the musicians became known as Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs (Maurice Williams, Henry

The Bee Gees composed "Islands in the Stream". Barry sang lead on the demo specifically for Kenny Rogers. As a duet Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers sang "Islands in the Stream" on Kenny's album "Eyes That See in the Dark". It became the number one song

Formed by group member Dave White as The Juvenairs, Danny and the Juniors (Danny Rapp, Dave White, Frank Maffei and Joe Terranova) hit it big with the chart topping "At the Hop" in 1957. Originally it was titled "Do the Bop" and released again later

Composers of The Weavers (Pete Seeger, Ronnie Gilbert, Lee Hays and Fred Hellerman) "Kisses Sweeter Than Wine" (Joel Newman - Paul Campbell) include Lee Hays, Pete Seeger, Howard Richmond (Newman - Campbell were his pseudonyms), Sam Kennedy, Fred

Carnaby Street is part of the Soho fashion district in London. Germany's Kaiser Bill (Wilhelm) was Queen Victoria's grandson and "a batman" is a servant. The Carnaby Street Set released "I Was Kaiser Bill's Batman" (Cook - Greenaway) in 1967. The

Composed in 1952 this tune topped the country charts in 1953. "The Singing Ranger" Hank (Clarence) Snow's "(Now and Then There's) A Fool Such As I" (Bill Trader) was just one of his 85 charted singles. Hank used Elvis Presley as his opening act and it

You may know her as "Cricket Blake" from "Hawaiian Eye" or an actress that dated Elvis! Connie Stevens (Concetta Ingoglia) took her father's stage name of (Teddy) "Stevens" and joined the group "The Fourmost" and shortly after when she left the quartet,

He is a member of the Apollo Theatre's Hall of Fame, "It's Not Unusual" was written with him in mind, he is a permanent member of New York City's Friar's Club. He is blues singer Chuck Jackson who hit the top fifty on the R&B charts in 1969 with a

After having written lyrics for standards like "Tico, Tico", I Believe", "Al, Di La", "Quando, Quando" and "Perdido", in 1961 Ervin Druckman composed "It Was a Very Good Year" (Ervin Drake) specifically for Bob Shane of the Kingston Trio and it appears

Vanderbilt graduate, singer, actress and avid golfer Frances Rose Shore changed her name to Dinah when she sang that song and the announcer couldn't remember her name, referring to her as "the Dinah girl". Dinah was first to record this old French

Fleetwood Mac's (over time: Peter Green, Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Christine McVie, Lindsey Buckingham, Stevie Nicks and others) single "Black Magic Woman" (Peter Green) was issued in 1968 appearing the next year on the album "English Rose". Gregg

Artie Glenn wrote this in 1953 for his son Darrell Glenn to sing. While still in high school Darrell recorded "Crying in the Chapel" with his father's band The Rhythm Riders". This version topped the Cash Box chart. The Jordanaires with someone named

"Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" (Benjamin - Caldwell - Marcus) was written just for musician and civil rights activist Nina Simone (Eunice Waymon) for her1964 album "Broadway, Blues, Ballads". The Animals (Eric Burdon, Mick Gallagher, Alan Price, Chas

"Hier Encore" (Only Yesterday) (Aznavour) was released by French performer, songwriter, singer, diplomat and actor Charles Aznavour (Shahnour Aznavourian) in 1964. It was released throughout the world in other languages and with other titles including

Don Schlitz wrote and recorded "The Gambler" in 1978 when it reached the country charts. The Grammy winner also composed "Forever and Ever, Amen", "On the Other Hand" and "When You Say Nothing At All". Kenny Rogers inducted him into the Songwriters Hall

Philadelphia group The Top Notes recorded the Phil Spector production "Twist and Shout" (Phil Medley - Bert Russell) originally titled "Shake It Up Baby" in 1961 but the issue went nowhere. There were two groups with the same moniker so membership is

Pete Seeger composed "Where Have All the Flowers Gone" (Seeger - Hickerson) to the tune of an old Russian folksong in 1955. It's part of a medley on the Folkways 1960 release "The Rainbow Quest". Director of the Archive of Folk Songs at the American

The 1937 motion picture "Feather Your Nest" contains talented British entertainer George Formby (Booth) signing "Leaning on a Lamp Post" (Noel Gay). The clean-cut Herman's Hermits cover hit the top ten in 1966. Lead singer Peter Noone was already well

Popular Italian singer/actress and also known for posing nude in the Italian edition of Playboy, Ornella Vanoni recorded "Senza Fine" (Gino Paoli) in 1961. Studio musician/sax and clarinet player Phil Boder worked with such jazz notables as Miles

Harlan Howard composed "I Fall to Pieces" with the other country "Hank" legend, Hank Cochran. After Brenda Lee and Roy Drusky turned the song down, Patsy Cline recorded the Owen Bradley produced album "Showcase" in 1961 and, from it, came her first

While living in Los Angeles Harland Howard was once signed to a song publishing company owned by Tex Ritter and Johnny Bond. It was he who wrote "Everglades". The Kingston Trio "Everglades" comes from the 1960 album "String Along", their fifth

The prolific Harland Howard wrote "Heartaches by the Number" in 1959 and the success of the song brought him to Nashville the next year. Guy Mitchell topped the charts with the pop hit the same year and this was his last top forty success. But it was

Paul McCartney wrote "On the Wings of a Nightingale" and this demo comes from "Judy W" at the Oldiesboard. The Everlys 1984 album "EB84" produced by Dave Edmunds contains this superior production. The single made it into the top fifty.

In 1961 Harland Howard had a total of 15 songs on the country chart. "Mr. In-Between" is just one of his many successful ventures. Accomplished stage/movie/television actor and balladeer Burl Ives hit the top twenty in 1962 with his cover featuring

Harland Howard once said "country music is three chords and the truth" but it's sometimes just good fun too. Harland and Buck Owens composed "Tiger by the Tail" when they were inspired by the Esso gas company slogan "put a tiger in your tank". Buck

Harland Howard was a mainstay in country music for forty years. One of the reasons was his song "Too Many Rivers". Brenda Lee's 1965 top twenty cover was again produced by the smooth magic of Owen Bradley.

Metropolitan Opera star Ezio Pinza and Mary Martin first sang "Some Enchanted Evening" on the Broadway stage in the original production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's "South Pacific" in 1949. But the first recording was probably by Frank Sinatra &

The original "Red Roses For a Blue Lady" includes an opening verse unknown to me. Actor, singer John Laurenz gave us the original in 1948 but it did not chart. The best selling version of "Red Roses For a Blue Lady" (Sid Tepper - Roy Bennett) was the

Musicologist Alan Lomax found the 1939 record with Zulu musician Solomon Linda's (Ntsele) Original Evening Birds (Gilbert Madondo, Boy Sibiya, Gideon Mkhize, Owen Sikhakhane and Samuel Mlangeni) "M'Bube". Mr. Lomax gave the vinyl to Pete Seeger of the

Born on the island of Corfu, Vicky Leandross (Vassiliki Papathanasiou) sang the beautiful "L'amour est Bleu" (Love is Blue) (Andre Popp) French lyrics by Pierre Cour, English lyrics by Brian Blackburn for the 1967 Eurovision Song Contest. Despite

Dallas Frazier was discovered by Ferlin Husky and became one of those few truly prolific composers. His hits include "Alley Oop", "There Goes My Everything", Mohair Sam", "Johnny One Time", Elvira", "Timber, I'm Falling" and "The Son of Hickory Holler's

The Sharps once featured vocalist Thurston Harris. When he left the group they became The Rivingtons of "Papa Oom Mow Mow" fame. Thurston went on to his own success but "Hey Little Girl" (Otis Blackwell - Bobby Stevenson) didn't mean anything for his

Prior to the sixties it was normal to have many artists having success with versions of hit songs. Such was the case with Burl Ives who sang "Lavender Blue" (Ives) in the 1948 Disney movie "So Dear To My Heart". Dinah Shore recorded "Lavender Blue"

Don (Harris) and Dewey (Terry) recorded "Big Boy Pete" first in 1959 for the album "Don and Dewey". The Olympics (Walter Ward, Charles Fizer, Eddie Lewis, Walter Hammond and Melvin King) issued "Big Boy Pete" (Harris - Terry) in 1960. The release made

Hedy West picked up her five string banjo and recorded her song "500 Miles" two years after the original first recording. It's based on the fiddle tune "Reuben's Train". The Journeymen (John Phillips, Scott McKenzie and Dick Weissman) recorded the

The tune "Love Letters" (Victor Young) comes from the movie of the same name and was nominated for an Academy Award in 1945. Edward Heyman added lyrics and it became a top twenty hit for Dick Haymes. From a family of 15, actor/singer Ketty Lester