Articles by John Twang

Gladys Knight and the Pips (Merald Knight, William Guest and Edward Patten) released "The End Of Our Road" (Roger Penzabene - Norman Whitfield - Barrett Strong) in 1968. This reached number fifteen pop and number five R&B on Billboard. As usual The Funk Brothers supplied the instrumentation. The single became a track on the Norman Whitfield produced album "Feelin' Bluesy". Producer Norman Whitfield was also responsible for this different version of "The End Of Our Road" for Marvin Gaye, agai…

Scotland's late Gerry Rafferty with the 1978 demo for "Baker Street". Gerry was a former member of Stealers Wheel. During the group's breakup Gerry often stayed with a friend on Baker Street in London. The first thing you may notice is the lack of the saxophone and an original guitar riff. The hit version of "Baker Street" from the Billboard number one LP "City To City" included the famous alto sax solo by Raphael Ravenscroft. The lead single from the album peaked at number two on Billboard…

Curtiss Maldoon (Dave Curtiss - Clive Maldoon) issued "Sepheryn" (Curtiss - Maldoon) on their 1971 self-titled LP. The cd was on Deep Purples label "Purple". This is the radio edit of Madonna's (Ciccone) top five "Ray Of Light" (Madonna - William Orbit - Clive Maldoon - Dave Curtiss - Christine Leach). This was the Top Hot Dance Single of the year! Obviously not quite a cover of the original the title track from her top ten 1998 Grammy winning platinum album.

This is from the 1976 concept album for "Evita" with Julie Covington singing the original recording of "Don't Cry For Me Argentina" (Andrew Lloyd Webber - Tim Rice). The track appeared several times in the musical. The album appeared well before the stage play and the single was a chart success in the U.K., Australia and Europe. When the show, based on the life of Argentina's first lady and wife of Juan Prone, Evita Peron, moved to London Julie bowed out of the project. Madonna sings "Don't…

Tanya Tucker's 1972 LP "Delta Dawn" introduced "Soul Song" (George Richey - Norro Wilson - Billy Sherrill). In 1972 this was available on vinyl and eight-track. Co-writer Billy Sherrill produced the entire album. Within months after the initial recording Joe Stampley covered "Soul Song" as the lead single from the album of the same name. The single reached number one on the Country chart and number thirty-seven on the Top One Hundred while reaching higher on other national charts. This was p…

Composer David Pack and his falsetto recorded the LP "The Secret Of Movin' On" in 2005 and included this version of his "Biggest Part Of Me". David is a Grammy winning producer having worked with such varied artists as Chet Atkins, Natalie Cole, Phil Collins, Aretha Franklin, Little Richard, Kenny Loggins, Pointer Sisters, Steve Vai and Trisha Yearwood. In 1980 the Ambrosia (lead vocalist David Pack, Burleigh Drummond, Royce Jones, David Lewis, Christopher North, Joe Puerta and Ernie Watts)…

Originally titled "Till The Real Thing Comes Along" (Alberta Nichols - Mann Holliner) for the Rhapsody In Black 1936 revue. This was sung on stage by Ethel Waters who never recorded the song. The Kansas City swing band Andy Kirk and His Twelve Clouds Of Joy with vocalist and dancer Pha (Elmer) Terrell topped the 1936 American chart with their version of "Until The Real Thing Comes Along" (Cahn - Chaplin - Freeman). Bill Kenny and The Ink Spots (Charlie Fuqua, Hoppy Jones and Deek Watson) cov…

Hank Williams was driving from Nashville, Tennessee to Shreveport, Louisiana in 1952 with his paramour Billie Jean Jones. While talking about his first wife Audrey, Hank called her "a cheatin' heart". Hank knew he liked the phrase and wrote the song in the car while dictating the lyric to his girlfriend. "Your Cheatin' Heart:" was recorded with The Drifting Cowboys (Chet Atkins, Floyd Chance, Don Helms, Tommy Jackson and Jack Shook) in Nashville that September. In January of the next year Hank w…

Gary U.S. Bonds (Anderson) original "Not Me (Gary Anderson - Frank Guida) didn't make the Top One Hundred and was not successful, even as a follow-up to the top ten "New Orleans". The single may be found on the album "Dance 'Til Quarter To Three". Philadelphia natives The Orlons (Lead vocalist Rosetta Hightower, Shirley Brickley, Stephen Caldwell and Marlena Davis) cover of "Not Me" was issued from the LP of the same name in 1963. The single peaked at number eight R&B and number twelve on th…

Singer, songwriter and producer Dan Hartman wrote "Free Ride". For a while Dan backed Johnny Winter , then played bass and sang with the Edgar Winter Group before going solo. His version of "Free Ride" was used in the 1995 release "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie". The Edgar Winter Group (lead vocalist Dan Hartman, Edgar Winter, Ron Montrose and Chuck Riff) recorded the single of "Free Ride" in 1973 and peaked at number fourteen on Billboard, higher on other American charts and numbe…

Although he was known as an off-beat songwriter, Willard Robison wrote the music for "A Cottage For Sale" (Willard Robison - Larry Conley) in 1929. He sings his hit here. One of his other popular songs was "Don't Smoke In Bed". Jack Teagarden released two albums of Willard Robison songs. " A Cottage For Sale" was first recorded in 1930 by the quartet The Revelers (Lewis Black, Wilfred Glenn, James Melton and Elliott Shaw) with Frank Black on the keyboard. Billy Eckstine and His Orchestra…

Bobby Braddock produced Blake Shelton's first album and wanted "I Wanna Talk About Me" (Bobby Braddock) as a track. The record executives did not agree. Bobby performed this on April 2, 2010 at the Bluebird Cafe in Nashville. Through the years Bobby has been a respected songwriter, producer, a pianist in Marty Robbins band and an author. When Toby Keith (Covel) was pitched "I Wanna Talk About Me" his comment was "They're going to call it a rap, there ain't nobody doing rap who would call it…

More than four decades have passed since Rand Bishop began his career in music. He has been nominated for a Grammy, won a BMI Award, worked with the Indigo Girls, Beach Boys, Heart and wrote "My List" (Rand Bishop - Tim James) for Toby Keith. Rand is an author, producer, guest speaker and award winning screen writer. The third single from the 2001 Toby Keith (Covel) multi-platinum album "Pull My Chain" was "My List". The song topped the Country chart and peaked at number twenty-six on the po…

In 1929 Fats (Thomas) Waller wrote "Ain't Misbehavin'" (Andy Razaf - Thomas Waller - Harry Brooks) for the Harlem musical comedy "Connie's Hot Chocolate". This original 78 r.p.m. recording had the artist listed as Thomas Waller. The Nickname "Fats" came years later. Within the year the musical was on Broadway where it was named "Connie's Chocolates" with Louis Armstrong as the new music director. Wikipedia "The script also required Armstrong to play "Ain't Misbehavin'" in a trumpet solo, and alt…

Deserved member of The Songwriters Hall Of Fame, Albert Hammond sings "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" (Albert Hammond - Diane Warren) from the LP "The Best Of Me". Albert has written too many hits to list as has Diane Warren. Starship (Grace Slick, Mickey Thomas, Donny Baldwin, Craig Chaquico and Pete Sears) topped the charts in 1987 with "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" which was a duet with vocalists Grace Slick and Mickey Thomas. The song was featured on the soundtrack to the movie "Mannequin"…

Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart's 1936 Broadway musical "On Your Toes" introduced the ballet section titled "Slaughter On Tenth Avenue". This was translated into the 1939 motion picture "On Your Toes" in which Eddie Albert and Vera Zorina were the dancers. Vera was the real dancer while Eddie had a double for most of the dance routines. This track is a sequence from the motion picture. The Ventures (Bob Bogle, Nokie Edwards, Mel Taylor and Don Wilson) version of "Slaughter On Tenth Avenue" (…

An affair between Christine McVie and Fleetwood Mac's lighting director Curry Grant was the start of "You Make Lovin' Fun". She told husband and fellow group member John McVie that the musical selection was about her dog. The truth came out later. Here is an interesting outtake from the album. The fourth single release from the most successful and the Billboard number one LP "Rumours" by Fleetwood Mac (lead vocalist Christine and John McVie, Lindsey Buckingham, Mick Fleetwood and Stevie Nick…

Successful songwriter, keyboardist and Grammy winner Rod Temperton wrote "Always And Forever", a hit for Britain's Heatwave (lead vocalist Johnnie Wilder Jr., Ernest Berger, Eric Johns, Mario Mantese, Rod Temperton and Keith Wilder) in 1977. The track is on the 1976 top twenty LP "Too Hot To Handle". The single peaked at eighteen on the Top One Hundred, number two R&B. Whistle (only 'street' names readily available) covered "Always And Forever" on their self-titled 1990 album. This time the…