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"Swinging On a Star" (Jimmy Van Heusen - Johnny Burke) was sung by Bing Crosby in the film "Going My Way". The tune top the charts and won the Oscar for Best Original Song in 1944. The single was on the album "Selections from Going My Way". The recording

Bing Crosby introduced "Sail Along Silv'ry Moon" (Harry Tobias - Percy Wenrish) in 1937. The single reached number four on Billboard. Wordsmith Harry Tobias composed "That Girls of Mine" and "Missing You" while Percy Wenrich wrote the music for classics

If you took piano lessons the chances are great that you are familiar with "Heart and Soul" (Hoagy Carmichael - Frank Loesser). This classic tune was performed first in 1938 by trumpeter Larry Clinton and his Orchestra with vocalist Bea Wain (Weinsier).

The Dale (Delmar) Hawkins single "Susie Q" (Hawkins - Lewis - Broadwater) highlights James Burton on guitar. Dale was cousin to Ronnie Hawkins and as a music producer Dale was responsible for "Western Union" by The Five Americans. Later he was executive

Buddy Holly and Bob Montgomery wrote "Love's Made a Fool Of You" in 1954 but didn't record it until four years later as a demo for the Everly Brothers. The recording by Buddy wasn't issued until the 1964 album "Showcase". The first commercially available

Jimmy Webb composed "All I Know" and recorded the song a few times. This version is from his gorgeous 1996 album "Ten Easy Pieces". Art Garfunkel had his first solo hit with "All I Know" recorded at Grace Cathedral in NYC. The single peaked at number

This has been listed as the Tom Jones (Woodward) demo of "It's Not Unusual" (Les Reed - Gordon Mills) but it seems like it's from a real session and perhaps a first take. This may be a voice track over a different instrumental bed. Apparently the song was

Briefly a member of the Coasters singing harmony on "Searchin'" and "Young Blood" and related to Blind Lemon Jefferson, Young (Obediah) Jessie and the Cadets (Lloyd McCraw, Willie Davis, Glendon Kingsby, Will Jones, Ted Taylor and Aaron Collins) recorded

The two noted composers produced percussionist, arranger, producer and composer Ralph MacDonald's "Where Is the Love" (R. MacDonald - W. Salter) featuring Jean "Toots" Thielemans harmonica. from the 1976 album "Sound of a Drum", Ralph's first solo LP.

Richard Leigh recorded his song "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue" on a 1991 television show called "The Texas Connection". According to legend Richard had a dog called Amanda, one day the dog looked up at him with her big brown eyes then a few years

Basically a child prodigy in pop music, P.F. Sloan (Philip Gary Schlein) wrote "Let Me Be". This cut is from a live and spontaneous television performance. This musician was good enough to have Jimmy Webb compose the song "P.F. Sloan". When reporters

Ginger Thompson recorded "Boy Watcher" (Buck Trail) and released it in January of 1968. The single didn't chart. Blue-eyed soul group The O'Kaysions (Wayne Pittman, Donnie Weaver, Eddie Dement, Gerald Toler, Jimmy Hinnant and Steve Watson) "Girl

The Canadian group Klaatu (John Wolochuk, Terry Draper and Dee Long) recorded "Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft" (Draper - Wolochuk) for their 1976 debut album "347 EST". The single charted on Billboards top seventy. Rumours at the time called

Freddie Allen (Fred Allen "Smokey" Roberds) recorded the first of many versions of "We've Only Just Begun" (Roger Nichols - Paul Williams). The song was first used in a television commercial for the Crocker National Bank in California. Richard Carpenter

Definitely a top selling duo, (John) Hall (Hohl) and (Daryl) Oates were the original team to record "Everytime You Go Away" (Daryl Hall) in 1980 although it was not issued as a single from their "Voices" album. The album was written, produced and arranged

"Break It To Me Gently" (D. Lampert - J. Seneca) was recorded initially by Brenda Lee (Tarpley) on the album "Let Me Sing" in 1961. The song was recorded at the same Owen Bradley Nashville session as "Fool #1". Both were top ten hits on Billboard with

"Made to Love" (Phil Everly) was an original Everly Brothers recording produced by the legendary Chet Atkins in 1960 for the album "A Date With the Everly Brothers" which contained "Cathy's Clown", "Lucille" and "Love Hurts". The single didn't chart.

Actress and singer Julie London (Gayle Peck) recorded the smoky, sensual, silky "Cry Me a River" (Arthur Hamilton) in 1955 with Barney Kessel on guitar. Composer Arthur Hamilton was Julie's high-school classmate. Apparently the song was composed for Ella

This is composer, environmentalist, producer, singer Kenny Young and an edited version of "Under the Boardwalk" (Kenny Young - Arthur Resnick), The Drifters "Under the Boardwalk" was produced by Bert Berns and charted at number four in 1964. According to

I cannot believe that I haven't posted this until now! Sir Mack (Bonny) Rice composed and recorded the original "Mustang Sally" in 1965. It had started out as "Mustang Mama". This peaked at number fifteen on the R&B chart. Wilson Pickett`s cover of

This is from the soundtrack of the 1942 John Payne and Sonja Henie film "Iceland" in which singer, actress Joan Merrill sings "There Will Never Be Another You" (Mark Gordon - Harry Warren) backed by the Sammy Kaye Orchestra. Far removed from his initial

The Todds (Buzz Cason, Bobby Russell and Bergen White) recorded "Popsicle (Buzz Cason - Bobby Russell) on the "Todd" label in 1962. Bergen White was a very successful arranger, a substitute member of the Jordanaires on occasion and a touring member of

High school friends, The Jarmels (Nathaniel Ruff, Paul Burnett, Ray Smith, Earl Christian and Tom Eldridge) were first to record "A Little Bit of Soap" (B. Russell) in 1961. This version is my personal favourite.The single peaked at number twelve for the

In 1975 "Fallin' in Love" (Dan and Ann Hamilton) was the second top ten hit for Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds when it topped the Billboard pop and Adult Contemporary charts. La Bouche (Melanie Thornton and Lane McCray) covered "Fallin' in Love" for

The Browns (Jim Edward, Maxine and Bonnie Brown) recorded the Chet Atkins produced "You Can't Grow peaches On a Cherry Tree" (E. Levitt - C. Monte) in 1964. This peaked at number twenty-one on the Country chart. In 1966. The duo Just Us (Chip Taylor

"Little Arrows" (Albert Hammond - Mike Hazlewood) was the first hit for Albert Hammond and it all started with an accidental meeting with the former bingo caller/singer. "Little Arrows" was also the debut release from his album of the same name for

Albert Hammond sings "One Moment In Time" (Albert Hammond - John Bettis) which was commissioned for the Olympics. Albert Hammond had his own hits and composed a bucketful for others while John Bettis co-wrote The Carpenters "Yesterday Once More", "Top of

"No, Not Much" (Robert Allen - Al Stillman) by Toronto group The Four Lads (Bernie Toorish, Connie Codarini, Jimmy Arnold and Frank Busseri) peaked at number two on Billboard in 1955. The quartet charted with a total of five Allen - Stillman compositions.

Billy Ocean (Leslie Charles) issued "European Queen" with no success in the U.S., little success in the U.K. but considerable notice in Germany, The Netherlands and Switzerland. From the album "Suddenly" comes "Caribbean Queen (No More Love On the Run)"

The Bee Gees performed "Grease" (Barry Gibb) for the live album "One Night Only" and it was written strictly for the movie based on the stage play. The motion picture was produced by Robert Stigwood who also managed the Bee Gees. Frankie Valli recorded

"C'mon Marianne" (Brown - Bloodworth) hit the top ten for the Four Seasons (details elsewhere in this blog) in 1967. This may bring back memories of The Doors "Touch Me" but to my knowledge no law suits were issued by Brown and Bloodworth. Donny Osmond's

Bobby Lewis recorded the classic rock tune "Tossin' and Turnin'" (Ritchie Adams - Malou Rene) in 1961. This single topped Billboard's pop and R&B charts and was named the top single of the entire year. The fabulous Eric Gale and co-composer Ritchie

Franco Zeffirelli's movie soundtrack of "Romeo and Juliet" contains the haunting "Love Theme From Romeo and Juliet" (Nino Rota) throughout the 1968 release. The Academy Award winning Nino Rota also scored "La Dolce Vita", "War and Peace" and the first two

Leiber and Stoller produced The Ad Libs (Hugh Harris, Dave Watt, Mary Ann Thomas, Danny Austin and Norman Donegan) first release and only hit single "The Boy From New York City" (John Taylor) in 1964. The tune peaked at number eight on Billboard in early

English singer, songwriter and actress Charlie (Charmian) Dore originally recorded "You Should Hear (How She Talks about You)" (Tom Snow - Dean Pitchford) for her 1981 album "Listen!". The Melissa Manchester cover of "You Should Hear How She About You"