John Twang's most read articles

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 for an Academy Award for co-authoring the screenplay "Lady Sings the Blues". Chris left her executive position at Motown in 1882 to marry Ernest Tidyman the writer of the "Shaft" novels and screenplays for "High Plains Drifter" and "The French Con…

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" method of play and recorded the tune the year it was composed. The Little Dippers (The Anita Kerr Singers) got "Forever" into the top ten also in 1960. Pete Drake played on hits as diversified as Bob Dylan's "Lay, Lady, Lady" to 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 Moore, Obadiah Carter and Johnny Tanner) were the first to record "Dedicated to the One I Love" (Pauling, Bass) in 1957. In December of 1957 The Shirelles (Shirley Owens, Doris Coley, Beverly Lee and Addie Harris) released "Dedicated to t…

Dick and Don, The Addrisi Brothers" wrote one of the most played songs in history but they didn't release "Never My Love" themselves until 1977. In the first year of release almost twenty artists had recorded versions. The tune hit for the Fifth Dimension (Marilyn McCoo, Billy Davis Jr, Florence LaRue, Ron Townson and Lamonte McLemore) featuring vocals by Marilyn McCoo from their "Live" album in 1971 when it reached number twelve. Scandinavia's Blue Swede (Bjorn Skifs and a back-up band)…

Laverne Baker reached the top sixty in 1960 with her cover of "Bumble Bee" . The Tads actually gave us the original the same year although it wasn't released until the nineties with the exception of the VIV label compilation "Phoenix Panorama". According to John Poole the song was written by group member Leroy Fullylove. They submitted the demo to Atlantic Records hoping they label would sign the group. Instead Atlantic issued the tune by Laverne and credited her as co-composer. The Search…

Brinsley Schwarz was a British pub band featuring Nick Lowe as lead vocalist. In 1970 they were set to open for Van Morrison at the Fillmore East in New York but had problems getting visas and when they did, at the last minute, everything went wrong for the group and the show was a bust. Following years of recovery they opened for Paul McCartney in 1973, but the band separated in 1975. Nick Lowe's first solo album was "Jesus of Cool", or "Pure Pop for Now People" as the U.S. release in 197…

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 chart on Billboard. Bobby Vinton was a big band act on Epic Records. "Mr. Lonely" was one of the few of his many hits that he composed. You'll find it on his 1962 "Roses Are Red" album. It became a number one hit for Bobby in 1964.

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 became a hit for The Cyrkle. Without Simon & Garfunkel knowing it, "The Sounds of Silence" was overdubbed and released as a single in 1965 as "The Sound of Silence" without the second "s" in "sounds", you may even see it titled without "the".…

In 1963 The New World Singers (Gil Turner, Happy Traum and Bob Cohen) were the first to record "Blowin' in the Wind". According to Wikipedia, Gil Turner was the first to perform the song on the very night Dylan completed writing it in 1962. Their 1963 album "New World Singers" also features Mr. Dylan's "Don't Think Twice, It's Alright". Bob wrote the liner notes too. Bob Dylan's version comes from "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan". 1963 was a good year for music. Peter, Paul and Mary's cover wa…

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 version comes from Charlie Ryan who had one of the most successful versions as "Hot Rod Lincoln" (number 33 in 1960), while country artist Johnny Bond hit number 26 and the third recording here is from Commander Cody and the Lost planet Airmen who…

The first recording of "Gone" (Smokey Rogers) was credited to Terry Preston aka Ferlin Husky in 1952. Actor, musician Smiley (Lester) Burnette suggested the name because the name Ferlin Husky wouldn't work. Composer Smokey (Eugene) Rogers was a member of the Spade Cooley band and appeared with Tex Williams in the forties. The 1957 member of the Country Music Hall of Fame Ferlin Husky and his Hush Puppies aka The Jordanaires version of "Gone" topped the Country charts and peaked at number fou…

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 top ten hit for former jazz pianist Nat "King" Cole as an album and a single in 1963.

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 and Apple Blossom White" ( "Cerisier Rose et Pommier Blanc") which peaked at number one and his own composition of "Patricia" which hit the top spot in 1958. Germany 's Lou Bega's "Mambo Number 5" from his album "A Little Bit of Mambo"…

They appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show and Las Vegas in the fifties but few are familiar with The Sonny Land Trio. They were first to release "My Special Angel" (Jimmy Duncan) in 1957. That same year country singer Bobby Helms and the Anita Kerr Singers hit the top ten with their version of "My Special Angel". Yes, this is the same singer who gave us "Jingle Bell Rock".

German-Austrian composer, pianist Peter Kreuder wrote the music for two hundred films, operas and musicals.. One of those works was titled "Musik! Musik! Musik! (Ich Brauche Keine Millionen)" (Peter Kreuder - Hans Frits Beckmann) aka "I Don't Need Millions". Peter once dated Marlene Dietrich, Eva Peron and Josephine Baker. This track is from his 1973 album "Spielt Peter Kreuder". The tune was used in the musical "Hallo Janine" in 1939.sung by Marika (Marie) Rokk. Marika was born in Egypt of…

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 which had been recorded earlier but not issued until after The Stylistics. Philadelphia 's Stylistics (Russell Thompkins Jr, Aiirion Love, James Smith, Herb Murrell and James Dunn) had one of the smoothest sounds ever heard. Their "You Are Everyth…

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 Train to Georgia" to the number one place in 1973 from the album "Imagination".

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 album until then. New Zealand 's Gale Garnett hit the top ten with her "We'll Sing in the Sunshine" in 1964. She had composed the tune.

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 and haunting. Prelude's (Irene Hume, Brian Hume and Ian Vardy) a cappella version of "After The Goldrush" comes from their first album "Home Long is Forever" issued in 1973. The single hit the top thirty in 1974.

In the twenties Jack Denny's first band was Montreal's Mount Royal Orchestra. In 1931 he became the orchestra at New York City's Waldorf-Astoria. One year later he and vocalist Jack Small recorded "I've Told Every Little Star". The Hammerstein-Kern tune came from the production "Music in the Air". In 1961 Linda Scott (Sampson) was part of the Arthur Godfrey Radio Show. "I've Told Every Little Star" hit the top five and was the first of a decent string of hits for her. She was a backi…