John Twang's most read articles

The Nu Shooz (lead vocalist Valerie Day, Danny Schauffler, John Smith and Rick Waritz) 1984 LP "Tha's Right" contained the original "I Can't Wait" (J. Smith). Issued as a single it was a big hit in the group's Portland, Oregon hometown but nowhere else. Originally this was a twelve member group that gradually became the husband and wife team of Valerie Day and John Smith with additional musicians. The 1986 album by Nu Shooz was to be called "The Point Of No Return" but that was changed to th…

Margie Singleton (Ebey) wrote "Lie To Me" and brought in to Brook Benton. When she was thirteen Margie married future producer and label owner Shelby Singleton. In 1965 she married songwriter Leon Ashley. Brook Benton (Benjamin Peay) had success with "Lie To Me" (Margie Singleton - Brook Benton) in 1962. The single from his album "Singing The Blues" peaked at number thirteen on Billboard and top ten on other national charts.

“In the Mood” seems to have evolved just like so many other melodies. We start with "Clarinet Get Away” (Jimmie O'Bryant) by O’Bryant's Washboard Wonders in 1925 for Paramount records, the first minute of this post. Next is the 1930 recording by BBQ Joe and the Hot Dogs “Tar Paper Stomp” (Wingy Malone). In 1938 Edgar Hayes recorded what we now know as "In The Mood". This is perhaps the greatest Big Band tune ever! Glenn Miller's version of "In The Mood" (Joe Garland) rode atop the cha…

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 Weavers (Pete Seeger, Ronnie Gilbert, Lee Hays and Fred Hellerman) who heard the title as "Wimoweh". In 1952 the group and the Gordon Jenkins Orchestra hit the top twenty. Hugo and Luigi produced the multi-talented Tokens (Jay Siegal, Hank Me…

Pianist Otis Blackwell either composed or co-authored: "Fever" his pen name was John Davenport), "Great Balls of Fire", "Breathless", Handy Man", "Just Keep It Up", "Return to Sender", "All Shook Up", "One Broken Heart for Sale", "Don't be Cruel" but he did not write "Teddy Bear". Kal Mann (wrote "Butterfly", "Remember You're Mine", "Let's Twist Again" and "Wild One") and Bernie Lowe (founder of Cameo Records) wrote "Teddy Bear" and requested that Otis sing the demo for Elvis Presley's num…

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 original title was "Too Much Birdseed". A few weeks later the fictional Whistling Jack Smith cover hit the Billboard top twenty. The name "Whistling Jack Smith" is no more than a "tribute" to "Whispering" Jack Smith. The song performance may have com…

Bernie Knee recorded the demo but the first professional recording came in 1960 when The Four Voices (Frank Posta, Allan Chase, Bill McBride and Sal Mayo) were the first to record "Sealed With a Kiss" (Peter Udell - Gary Geld). The group were winners on Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts. Brian Hyland covered the song in 1962 and reached the top five. It may be interesting to note that Brian's cousin was Larry Fine of the Three Stooges. Despite his start with the novelty song of the decade his c…

With the success of his song "I'm Your Puppet" for James and Bobby Purify in 1966, he and Spooner Oldham wrote, Dan Penn was convinced he could make a living out of songwriting. He was right. The next year they wrote "Do Right Woman, Do Right Man" for Aretha Franklin and he produced The Box Tops hit "The Letter". The year after that he and Spooner wrote the Box Tops hit "Cry Like A Baby". This is a track from his LP "The Fame Recordings" where he sings "It Tears Me Up" (Dan Penn - Spooner Oldham…

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 Sky" which sold two million singles in 1970. Norman is Jewish. Doctor (Clive Jackson) and the Medics (Steve McGuire, Steve Ritchie, Richard Searle, Weny West and Colette Appleby) covered "Spirit In the Sky" on their 1986 album "Laughing At the P…

Jerry Masters, who was a recording engineer at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio, told the story: "We cut a demo of "Old Time Rock and Roll" on the writer of the song, George Jackson (Jackson-Jones), there at the studio when we didn't have anything else to do. It was a great demo, along with some others we cut that day. Bob Seger liked the song so much he tried to cut it himself, but after numerous tries, with the Swampers and with his band, he finally gave up. He and Punch Andrews decided to buy th…

Bob Dylan (Zimmerman) wrote "My Back Pages" and included it on the 1964 issue of "Another Side Of Bob Dylan". The album opened with "All I Really Want To Do" and featured "It Ain't Me Babe" as the final track. The title doesn't show up in the song but may refer to Bob's archive of music. Again The Byrds (lead Roger McGuinn, David Crosby, Michael Clark, Chris Hillman and uncredited Van Dyke Parks on organ) hit success with a Bob Dylan cover. "My Back Pages" appeared on the 1967 top thirty LP…

The man who gave us "Sweet Georgia Brown" Maceo Pinkard, his wife Edna Alexander and Sidney D. Mitchell wrote "Sugar" aka "That Sugar Baby Of Mine" and had it recorded successfully by Ethel Waters in 1946. Ethel was the first African-American to have her own television show and the first to be nominated for a Prime Time Emmy. Vic Damone (Vito Rocco Farinola) revived "Sugar" in 1953 with David Carroll's Orchestra and the Jack Halloran Singers peaking at number thirteen on Billboard. IMDB: "Hi…

Scotland's James "Midge" Ure had musical success with Thin Lizzy and Ultravox but what may have been his most well known contribution to the ear happened when he was approached by Bob Geldoff to write the music for "Do They Know It's Christmas" to aid the fight against famine in Ethiopia. This is Midge's version recorded during an intimate concert at Epic Studios in Norwich, England. On the twenty-fifth of November, 1984 the collective of musicians including Phil Collins, George Michael, Bon…

"You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)" (James Wirrick - Sylvester) was originally recorded by producer Patrick Cowley for Sylvester (James Jr.) as a tune with an obvious gospel feel. After the session Patrick watched a rehearsal of the song at a disco and remixed the song into what would become the hit. In 1978 Sylvester's "You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)" peaked at number eight in the U.K. and number thirty-six pop, number twenty R&B on Billboard. This is a track from the LP "Step II". Wikipedia "…

"You Want To Play The American" is the translation of "To Vuo Fa L'Americano" (Nicola Salerno - Renato Carsone) as played and sung by Renato Carosone (Carusone) in 1956. The composers also hit the world market with "Mambo Italiano" and "Torero". Both Renato and Julius Larose had a Billboard hit with "Torero" in 1958. Australia's Yolanda Be Cool (Andrew Stanley and Matthew Handley) and their producer DCUP (Duncan MacLellan) issued "We No Speak Americano" (Renato Carosone - Johnson Peterson - D…

"Mattinata" (Ruggero Leoncavallo) was written in 1904 and sung by Enrico Caruso with the composer accompanying him on piano. The English translation of the title is simply "Morning". The composer was already well known for his 1892 opera "Pagliacci". Winner of the Arthur Godfrey Talent Scouts, Vic Damone (Vito Farinola) hit with the gold record "You're Breaking My Heart" (Pat Genaro - Sunny Skylar) in 1949 when the song topped the chart. Vic's mother's maiden name was Damone.

From the Lenny Kravitz 2012 double CD set "Mama Said: 21st Anniversary Deluxe Edition" this is the home demo recording of " It Ain't Over 'Til It's Over" (Lenny Kravitz). At this time Lenny and then wife Lisa Bonet were struggling with their marriage. The title is a quote from Yogi Berra. In 1991 Lenny Kravitz released the album "Mama Said" and the single "It Ain't Over 'Til It's Over". Lenny provides vocals, guitar, bass, piano, sitar and drums while the Phenix Horns provide the brass. The…

Grammy winner Chris DeStefano is a typical Nashville Singer, songwriter, producer and multi instrumentalist playing mandolin, bass, banjo, drums, violin, percussion, guitar, pedal steel and piano. The man has written many Country chart toppers that crossed over to the pop charts. This includes "Good Girl" (Chris DeStefano - Ashley Gorley - Carrie Underwood). This was recorded in concert with co-writer and almost legendary Ashley Gorley at the Harbour's Edge in Hope Town Abaco, Bahamas as part of…

German session musician, producer, arranger and composer Harold Faltermeyer (Faltermeier) and percussionist, record producer and Academy Award winner Keith Forsey were in charge of the music for the 1984 Eddie Murphy movie "Beverly Hills Cop". Glenn Frey was invited to an advance screening of the film and was sent a demo to find out if he had interest in participating. When it was released from the soundtrack album "The Heat Is On" took the former Eagles member and co-founder to number two o…