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Although some radio listeners thought them to be African-American, the white group The Homeland Harmony Quartette formed in 1935. In 1947 group member Lee Roy Abernathy composed "Everybody's Gonna Have A Wonderful Time Up There" known later as "The

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance was a John Ford western from 1962 starring John Wayne and James Stewart. Burt Bacharach and Hal David wrote a song based upon the movie and called "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance', a Top 10 Gene Pitney hit that

Composer George Weiss attended the famous Julliard School of Music and co-composed such hits as "Can't Help Falling in Love", "That Sunday, That Summer", "Lullaby of Birdland" and "What a Wonderful World". He often collaborated with Benny Benjamin and

It's been said that Jimmy Cliff (James Chambers) was reggaes' first world wide star. His initial recordings came in 1962. In 1970 Cat Stevens (born Stephen Demetre Georgiou and having converted to Islam now Yusuf Islam) produced "Wild World" for Jimmy

Soprano Kasey Cisyk was a background singer for the likes of Carole King, Roberta Flack and Carly Simon. She recorded "You Light Up My Life" for the movie of the same name. Her version of the tune hit the lower portion of the charts. The film's writer

Linda Laurie hit the top fifty in 1959 with "Ambrose, Part 5". That's her voice as Ambrose altered to be so deep. After a move to California she composed the Meow Mix tune and wrote "Leave Me Alone (Ruby Red Dress)". Helen Reddy recorded the song for

Mac Davis (composer of In the Ghetto, Watching Scotty Grow and his own hits) and guitarist Billy Strange (composer of Limbo Rock) wrote "A Little Less Conversation" specifically for Elvis and the 1968 film "Live A Little, Love a Little". It hit the

Brooklyn's Neil Diamond is a man of legend and still going strong as of this date. His records for Columbia, Bang and MCA have sold millions world wide. His successful compositions include: "Sunday and I" for Jay & the Americans, the Monkees "I'm a

Sharon Sheeley was Don Everly's girlfriend, Eddie Cochrane's fiancé and the composer of Rick Nelson's "Poor Little Fool" and co-composer of the Brenda Lee hit "Dum, Dum". Sharon suggested James Marcus Smith change his stage name to P.J. Proby. In the

Ray Price had his first hit in the fifties with "Crazy Arms", Don't Let the Stars Get In Your Eyes" and "Release Me". In the sixties it was "Make the World Go Away" and "City Lights". In the seventies": "For the Good Times" and in 1973 the number one

Rodney Crowell played guitar in the Emmylou Harris Hot Band in 1975. He left the band to start his own group and produce for others including future wife Roseanne Cash. Among the hits he composed are "Shame on the Moon" for Bob Seger, "Leaving Louisiana

In 1963 "Little" Stevie Wonder (Stevland Hardaway Judkins) topped the charts with "Fingertips, Part Two". This was a jazz instrumental set for release on his debut album "The Jazz Soul of Little Stevie Wonder". A concert version was recorded in 1962

M.T.A. is the Metropolitan Transit Authority in Boston. "Charlie on the M.T.A." was composed by the team of Steiner and Hawes in 1949 as a campaign song for Walter O'Brien who was running for mayor. Walter opposed a fare increase on the M.T.A. subway.

Singer, television and film star Willie Hagara worked for the Austrian Postal Service. It was Willie who first recorded "Du Spielst 'Ne Tolle Rolle" (Hans Bradtke) in 1962. That tune became "Those Lazy Hazy Crazy Days of Summer" (Carste-Tobias) a

Jesse Stone was an in-house writer at Atlantic Records who composed "Shake, Rattle and Roll" in 1954. The blues and band singer Big Joe Turner became a rock and roll hero when he was the first to record the standard at the age of 43. Bill Haley was

As a teenager Buddy Greco (Armando Greco) was a pianist for the Benny Goodman Orchestra. When he entered his twenties he went solo and began singing. In 1962 he recorded "Mr. Lonely" for Epic Records. It became the first single release of the tune to

The Bell Sisters (Cynthia and Kay Strother) recorded "Boom, Boom (My Honey) (Milton Kellem) in 1956. The original recording was made by Roy Hogsed in late 1951 as "Gonna Get Along Without You Now" but was not released for quite some time. Patience and

The late Robert Hazard (Robert Rimato) wrote "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" and what you hear here is from a 1979 demo. In 1983 New York's Cyndi Lauper's version peaked at number two on Billboard. The Grammy and Emmy winner married actor David Thornton

Ray Eberle sang vocals for the incredible Glen Miller on the top ten hit "At Last" in 1942. If you are not familiar with Glen Miller please do a little research on line. There is too much fascinating information to post here. Other notables in his band

Van (Ivan) Morrison was part of the Irish group "Them" ("Here Comes the Night", "Baby, Don't Go") and composer of "Gloria" which became a hit for the American band "Shadows of Knight". As a solo act Van hit with the top ten "Brown Eyed Girl". Call his

The Dovells (Len Borisoff aka Len Barry was lead) sang "Wildwood Days" (Kal Mann-Dave Appell) about Wildwood, a town in New Jersey. It was on the flip side of the top ten "You Can't Sit Down" in 1963. Bobby Rydell (Robert Ridarelli) recorded that

Sam the Sham (Domingo Samudio) and the Pharaohs (Dave Martin, Butch Gibson, Ray Stinnet and Jerry Patterson, the name inspired by the movie "The Ten Commandments") hit with "Wooly Bully" and "Little Red Riding Hood". Maurice Irby composed "Ready or

The group that gave us the original version of "Walk Right In" (Rooftop Singers) Gus Cannon's Jug Stompers (Gus Cannon, Ashley Thompson, Noah Lewis) recorded "Prison Wall Blues" for Victor in 1930. John Sebastian's "Younger Girl" is remarkably similar.

P.F. Sloan and Steve Barri composed "You Baby". This the the P.F. Sloan demo take. It was first issued by The Vogues (high school friends Hugh Geyer, who is still with the touring group, Bill Burkette, Don Miller and Chuck Blasko) in 1965. The

John Lee Hooker's "Boogie Chillen" was released in 1948 and is rightly considered to be one the most influential sounds R&B to rock and roll recorded. Just listen to Led Zeppelin, ZZ Top's "La Grange" and of course Norman Greenbaum's "Spirit in the

Jan Berry and Dean Torrence attended University High School in West L.A. After football practise they would get together and sing do-wop. This eventually led to a lucrative recording career which included "Surf City", "Deadman's Curve", "Little Old Lady

Nella Dodds first released "Come See About Me" (Holland-Dozier-Holland) as a single on the Wand label in 1964 and it reached #74 on Billboard's Top 100. This triggered the release of the Supremes (Diana Ross, Florence Ballard and Mary Wilson) single

Petula Clark entertained the troops as a child during World War Two and even appeared in "experimental" television in the forties. Her British and European recording career shone in the fifties. She is still classified as a French chanteuse in many

Rumour has it that John Lennon wrote "Bad To Me" specifically for Billy J. Kramer (William Ashton) and the Dakotas, also managed by Brian Epstein, while John was vacationing in Spain. According to Wikipedia the John Lennon demo was recorded May 31 of

Buddy Clark (Samuel Goldberg) died at 37 when his plane crashed on Beverly Boulevard in Los Angeles. Five other passengers survived the 1947 accident. Buddy hit the top ten with songs like "I'll Dance at Your Wedding", "How Are Things in Glocca Mora",

Bucks Fizz is a cocktail like mimosa made of champagne and orange Juice. In 1981 the group Bucks Fizz, (Bobby G who is still with the group, Sheryl Baker, Jay Aston and Mike Nolan), top selling UK group of the eighties, won the Eurovision song contest

Years ago it was common to refer to someone from Arkansas as "Arkie". Guess where Arkie Shibley (Jesse Lee Shibley) was born? "Hot Rod Race" (George Wilson) could well be the first "car-racing song". It climbed to number five in 1951. Our second

Robert Gordon (often referred to as sounding like Elvis at Sun Records) and Link Wray (Rumble) together were the first to record Bruce Springsteen's "Fire". In 1978 they recorded the album "Fresh Fish Special" featuring background vocals by the

Cuban bandleader Perez Prado was "The King of the Mambo". At one time Mongo Santamaria (hit with Herbie Hancock's composition Watermelon Man) played percussion in his orchestra. The composer of "Mambo Number 5" in 1949 hit the charts with "Cherry Pink

Originally this song can be found on Little Eva's debut 1962 album. The Drifters' (there must be close to one hundred people who were group members through the years) "Up on the Roof" is a Carole King (she plays piano here), Gerry Goffin classic the

Motown's Marvelettes (Gladys Horton, Wanda Young, Katherine Anderson and Georgeanna Tillman) had the label's first number one hot with "Please Mr. Postman" featuring Marvin Gaye on drums in 1961. The tune has been credited to a bevy of various

"Fool on the Hill" originally recorded by Paul McCartney as a solo demo is followed by the studio version from the Magical Mystery Tour released in 1967. Brazil's Sergio Mendes hit the top ten with "Fool On The Hill" in 1968.

In 1964 Paul Simon composed "The Sounds of Silence" for the album "Wednesday Morning: 3 a.m.". After it was determined that the mainly acoustic album was a bust, Paul went to England and co-authored "Red Rubber Ball" with the Seeker's Bruce Woodley. It

Paul Anka gave us many solid hits ("Diana", "Lonely Boy", "Puppy Love", "(You're)Having My Baby", "Put Your Head On My Shoulder", etc) and wrote many too ("The Tonight Show Theme", "My Way"). One of those became a hit for Tom Jones. In 1971 Sir Tom

Left-leaning Earl Hawley Robinson wrote the music to "Black and White" in 1954 with actor Allan Arkin's father David providing the lyrics. Earl is the first voice you'll hear on this post. Three Dog Night (group details elsewhere on this blog) hit the

"There Was a Crooked Little Man" was an English nursery rhyme (www.rhymes.org.uk/there_was_a-crooked_m an.htm) first physically recorded by James Halliwell in the 1840s. It was also part of the Mother Goose Collection. Not The Singing Brakeman or the

Jackie Ralph and Cliff Edwards were the lead vocalists for The Bells, formerly The Five Bells. Frank Mills (Music Box Dancer) was with the group. "Fly Little White Dove, Fly" was a hit in their native Canada where they also recorded a French version for

Louise (Louise Dilworth Beatty) Homer made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in 1900 and later had concurrent positions at both the NYC icon and the Boston Opera Company. Louise played "Delilah" in the production "Samson and Delilah" and the piece

Former barbershop quartet member from Orillia, Ontario Gordon Lightfoot recorded the album "Lightfoot" in 1964 and it took two years before it was released as his debut effort. "For Lovin' Me" graced that vinyl. Peter, Paul and Mary (Peter Yarrow, Paul

Johnny Cymbal (John Henry Blair) hit with "Mr. Bass Man" with Ronnie Bright who sang bass. Johnny co-authored "Mary in the Morning". He once used his brother Derek's name when he recorded "Cinnamon" and took it to the top twenty-five and composed that

Louisianan Kris Kenner hit with "I Like It Like That", he wrote and recorded "Land of a Thousand Dances" in 1961 and hit the top 100 in 1963. Fats Domino got a writing credit although he didn't actually write it but, said he would record the tune. Allen

It was 1949 when R&B musician Ivory Joe Hunter composed and recorded "I Almost Lost My Mind". As a songwriter many are familiar with his tunes "Since I Met You Baby", "My Wish Came True" and "Ain't That Lovin' You Baby". His career was eclectic

Check her website and you'll see that Sandie Shaw (Sandra Ann Goodrich) was the first to perform behind the Iron Curtain and the last to appear in Iran. This barefoot Buddhist sang "Puppet on a String" (Bill Martin-Phil Coulter) and won the Eurovision

Very well-known in Britain, Kenny Lynch has been a television personality there for more than 50 years. During the Beatles first tour his name was on the bill. Kenny recorded "Misery", the first Beatles cover tune to be released and he appears on the

"Silhouettes" was composed by the legendary producer/songwriter Bob Crewe and Frank Slay. We start off with Bob Crewe's version. It was Bob who produced The Rays (Harold Miller, Wally Ford, Harry James and David Jones) release in 1957 and it went to

Anni-Frid "Freda" Lyngstad like other Abba members had a solo recording contract before the group did. The original of "Fernando" had lyrics by manager Stig Andersson and was produced by then boyfriend Benny Anderson. It can be found on her Swedish

Baritone/music teacher and actor Todd Duncan played the original Porgy in "Porgy and Bess" in 1935 and was the first to sing the untitled song in the motion picture "Unchained" in which he had a small part and that's how it got the title "Unchained

J. D. (John David) Souther of the Souther Hillman Furay Band co-wrote many Eagles hits including "Heartache Tonight", "Best of My Love", "How Long" and "New Kid in Town". His You can see him on the Roy Orbison Black and White Night dvd and PBS special.

One of few white performers who recorded for Motown in the sixties, the gorgeous Chris Clark was the first to record "Yester-Me, Yester-You, Yesterday" (Miller-Wells) in 1966. It was unreleased until "the Motown Collection" in 2005. Chris was nominated

Metropolitan Opera singer Christine Johnson sang the original "You'll Never Walk Alone" in the 1945 Broadway production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel. She also sang it on the original cast recording. In 1963 Gerry (Marsden) and the Pacemakers

Johnny Burnette, brother Dorsey and Paul Burlison (The Sun Rhythm Section) formed the Rock and Roll Trio and won the Ted Mack Amateur Hour. The first demo for "You're Sixteen" was recorded by Dorsey Burnette in mid 1960. The second demo was made by

The "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In" medley (Rado-Ragni-MacDermott) comes from the 1967 "tribal rock" musical and movie "Hair". Other hits from the production include: "Hair" by the Cowsills, Three Dog Night's "Easy to be Hard" and Oliver's "Good Morning

In 1928 The Georgians (leader Frank Guarente and members of the Paul Specht Orchestra) recorded "Way Down Yonder in New Orleans" (Creamer-Layton) from "Strut Miss Lizzle". Freddy "Boom, Boom:" Cannon (Frederick Picariello) hit the top three with the

Joe South (Joseph Alfred Souter) hit with Grammy winning "Games People Play" but was more of a composer with such successes as "Down in the Boondocks" and "I Knew You When" for Billy Joe Royal, "One Bad Apple" by The Osmonds, "Hush" for Deep Purple and

Listed as a traditional American folksong, "The John B. Sails" was included in a collection by Carl Sandburg in the twenties. Alan Lomax included it in his collection "Deep River of Song" as "Histe Up the John B. Sails" by the Cleveland Simmon's Group

Shortly before his death in 1935 George Gershwin himself supervised Helen Jepson's recording of Porgy and Bess including the classic "Summertime". Helen sang with the Paul Whiteman Orchestra and sang along side Rudy Vallee, not only that but later she

The Rouse Brothers (Jack, Ervin and Gordon) recorded the bluegrass/fiddle classic "The Orange Blossom Special" in 1939. Ervin composed the tune and it's been said that he refused to join the Grand Ole Opry. Johnny Cash titled a 1965 album "Orange

David and Jonathan are characters from the bible. Roger Cook (Blue Mink, the Pipkins) and Roger Greenaway were David and Jonathan, the singers. Their biggest hit was a cover of the Beatles "Michelle". They were together, with others and individually

Regazzi del Sole (Children of the Sun) recorded the Italian version of "Don't You Just Know It" and it's posted here just for the fun of it! It was New Orleans Huey Smith who composed and originally recorded "Sea Cruise". His record company erased

In 1934 Kelly Pace and inmates of Cummins Prison Farm in Gould, Arkansas were the first to record "Rock Island Line". It was part of the Lomax collection of American folk music. Leadbelly (Huddie Ledbetter) recorded the tune a couple of years later and

Paul Evans hit with "Seven Little Girls" and "Happy Go Lucky Me". Paul is also a gifted composer with hits like "Roses Are Red" for Bobby Vinton, "I Gotta Know" by Elvis Presley, "Happiness Is" for the Ray Coniff Singers", "Johnny Will" by Pat Boone,

"Hound Dog" started with composers Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller who produced it themselves with Big Mama Thornton in 1952. The Japanese version is included for variety because the tune was sung in just about every genre and language since it's

In 1962 Gerry Goffin and Carole King wrote "The Loco-Motion" and their babysitter, Little Eva (Eva Narcissus Boyd) had the biggest hit of her life when it reached the top chart spot. France's Sylvie Vartan had the hit in her native country the same

Tom Waits composed "Downtown Train" for his 1985 album "Rain Dogs". Patty Smyth recorded the tune for her 1987 solo effort "Never Enough" with help from members of her former group "The Hooters". Rod Stewart hit the top five with "Downtown Train" in

John Phillips, father of MacKenzie and leader of The Mamas and The Papas (John, wife Michelle, Denny Doherty and Cass Elliott) composed "San Francisco (be sure to wear some flowers in your hair)" for Scott McKenzie. They were both in the group The

Dick Glasser wrote and released "I Will" on Liberty Records in 1964 under the pseudonym Dick Lory. From Liberty, he went to Warner Brothers Records where he produced The Everly Brothers as well as Freddy Cannon. After Warner's he moved to Reprise

British composer Barry Mason's credits include "Love Grows (where my rosemary goes)" by Edison Lighthouse, "Delilah" for Tom Jones plus "A Man Without Love", "Winter World of Love", "The Last Waltz" and "Les Bicyclettes de Belsize" (instrumental theme

"Where or When" comes from the 1931 Rodgers and Hart musical "Babes in Arms" where it was sung as a duet. The Hal Kemp Orchestra recorded the song the same year and took it to the number one spot. Members of his group at one time included Skinnay Ennis,

The Sultans "Don't be Angry" slow take was recorded in 1952. The composer is Clyde Wright, Nappy Brown's nephew and former fellow band member in the Selah Jubilee Singers who were actually the secular "Sultans". The Nappy Brown (Napoleon Brown Culp)

The Magnificent Seven motion picture was based on The Seven Samurai and starred Yul Brynner, Charles Bronson, Steve McQueen, James Coburn and Robert Vaughn. Academy Award, Emmy and Golden Globe winner and Elmer Bernstein. Among the movie themes he

Once a guitarist on the road for Tina Charles, Bruce Woolley co-wrote "Video Killed the Radio Star" (Trevor Horne, Geoffrey Downes, Woolley) and recorded it as "Woolley and the Camera Club" on the 1979 album "English Garden" featuring Thomas Dolby on

Award winning composer Bob Morrison co-authored "Lookin' For Love" the Johnny Lee hit from the movie Urban Cowboy. He and Debbie Hupp wrote "You Decorated My Life". Kenny Rogers took the tune to the top of the country chart and into the top ten of

The Mugwumps were Cass Elliott, Denny Doherty (soon to be with the Mamas and the Papas), John Sebastian, Zal Yanovsky (soon to be The Lovin' Spoonful) and Jim Hendricks (not that one!) who wrote the Johnny Rivers hit "Summer Rain". Although not on their

Playwright, poet, actor, producer, musician and children's author Chris Gantry (Christopher Cedzich) wrote and recorded "Dreams of the Everyday Housewife" for his 1968 album "Introspection". Glen Campbell recorded it on his "Wichita Lineman" album in

Grammy winning Joe Simon like so many other R&B singers started with a gospel group, the Golden West Gospel Singers, and turned secular. In 1971 he released "You Are Everything" (Linda Creed, Thom Bell) from the "Drowning In a Sea of Love" album

Johnnie and Jonie (Mosby) were husband and wife and the first to record "Tijuana Jail" (Denny Thompson) in 1959. In 1992 Joanie became the oldest U.S. woman to have a child through in vitro fertilization at age 52. The Kingston Trio (Dave Guard, Bob

It's said that although the song was composed in 1975 for Brenda Lee she never did record it. In 1977 B.J. (Billy Joe) Thomas was the first to record "Here You Come Again" (Barry Mann, Cynthia Weil) on his "B. J. Thomas" studio album. "Here You Come

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