Articles by John Twang

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".

Betty Everett's "You're No Good" and "The Shoop Shoop Song (it's in his kiss)" remain her biggest hits. "1900 Yesterday" comes from the 1969 album "There'll Come a Time" produced by the Chi-Lites lead singer Eugene Record. Hawaiian band Liz Damon's Orient Express (Liz and sister Edda Damon with Sydette Sakauye) reached the top forty in 1971. It's from the album "At the Garden Bar, Hilton Hawaiian Village" they were the house band at the Hilton.

Chad (Stuart) and Jeremy (Clyde) had a few major hits during the British Invasion. In 1965 they released the album "Distant Shores" and that's where you'll find the original recording of the then unknown Paul Simon's "Homeward Bound". Late in 1965 Simon and Garfunkel's "Homeward Bound" peaked at number five. It comes from their album "Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme".

In 1972 Billy Lawrence released "Playground In My Mind" (Pockriss-Vance) aka "My Name is Michael" and it went nowhere quickly. Clint Holmes "Playground In My Mind" came out the following year after Paul Vance watched the entertainer impersonate Johnny Mathis on stage and suggested the tune. My wife and I had the pleasure of watching his stage show in Florida many moons ago and he is a gifted entertainer. Composer Paul Vance's son is singing the refrain "my name is Michael". Clint Holmes was t…

Barry McGuire once played with the New Christy Minstrels, composing and singing lead on their biggest song, "Green, Green". His "Eve of Destruction" was done in one take and went to number one. During this time he met the Mamas and the Papas and introduced them to produced Lou Adler and they ended up singing backup on Barry's album "Child of Our Times". Barry's version of "California Dreamin'" was supposed to be the second single from the album "This Precious Time" but, at John Phillips request,…

Emmy nominee Steve Eaton's album "Out of the Blues" contains "All You Get From Love Is a Love Song". Steve once played lead guitar for Paul Revere and the Raiders. Listening to his version of this tune you quickly realize the diverse musicianship he exhibits. The Carpenters (vocalist Karen and keyboardist/producer Richard) 1976 album "A Kind of Hush" contains "All You Get From Love Is a Love Song". The single was issued the next year hitting the top forty and you can also find it on that year…

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)…

The Teen Queens recorded (sisters Betty and Rosie Collins) "Eddie My Love" (composed by brother Aaron Collins) in late 1955. It broke into the top fifteen in 1956 and was one of the first records specifically aimed at the teenage market. The same year Cadence quartette The Chordettes (Janet Ertel, Carol Buschmann, Kynn Evans and Margie Needham) recorded "Eddie My Love" and reached the same chart position. The Chordettes history is worth researching on line.

Leiber and Stoller produced The Coasters "(Ain't That) Just Like Me" (Carroll, Guy) featuring Carl Gardner on lead with Billy Guy, Will Jones and Earl Carroll as backup in 1961. Former skiffle group The Searchers (possibly: John McNally, Mike Pender, Tony Jackson and Chris Curtis) released the tune in February of 1964 as the flipside of "Needles and Pins". In March "(Ain't That) Just Like Me" was released as an "A" side and hit Canada's top twenty.

Gerry Goffin wrote the lyrics for Carole King's "Oh, No! Not My Baby". Maxine Brown did a great job when she recorded the tune in 1964 and took it to the top thirty after Scepter label-mates The Shirelles had trouble recording the song. You'll find "Oh, No! Not My Baby" on her album "Spotlight on Maxine Brown".

"So Fine" (Johnny Otis) was recorded by The Sheiks (Jesse Belvin, Eugene Church, Mel Williams and Harold Lewis) in 1955. The Fiestas (Tony Bullock, Eddie Morris, Sam Ingalls and Preston Lane) recorded "So Fine" in 1958 and intended it to be the B side of "Last Night I Dreamed". In those days radio disc jockeys often played what they liked and some in NYC liked the flip. "So Fine" got well into the top twenty.

Johnnie Ray lost much of his hearing during a Boy Scout Jamboree in Oregon but that didn't stop him from having a spectacular career in music. In 1958 Johnnie Ray was the first to record "Endlessly" (Clyde Otis-Brook Benton). Composer and silky smooth vocalist "babbling" Brook Benton (Benjamin Peay) hit with "Endlessly" a year later when it hit the top twenty. In a period of a year and a half Brook either sang or composed a dozen charted hits. Brook wrote many of his hits with his producer Cl…

The Orioles (Sonny Til, Alexander Sharp, George Nelson, Tommy Gaither and Johnny Reid) recorded "It's Too Soon to Know" composed by their manager Deborah Chessler in 1948 and got well into the top fifteen. Pat Boone's version, originally the flip of "A Wonderful Time Up There", got into the top twenty in 1958.

Italian born French chanteuse Rina Ketty (Rina Pichetto) recorded "Padre Don José" (Larue, Romans) in 1952. Frank Sinatra referred to her as "the singer's singer", big band vocalist Toni Arden (Antoinette Ardizzone) hit the top twenty with the English version "Padre" (Larue, Romans, Webster) in 1958 selling a million copies.

Gilbert Becaud released "Le jour où la pluie viendra" (Becaud, Delanoe) in 1957. Despite the fact that it was issued as a B side it achieved chart status in France. It became the first foreign success for what would be many Gilbert Becaud songs. Lady Jane Morgan's version titled "The Day the Rains Came" (Becaud, Delanoe, Sigman) hit the American top thirty with the French version on the other side and topped many European charts in 1958. "The Day the Rains Came" was also the tile of an album…

NBC made the decision to make a Saturday morning television show similar to The Monkees but more educational. That's how the Goggles started. Their one-hour special did not make it as a regular program, but they were featured artists on "Take a Giant Step" another NBC show. The Goggles (actress/musician Jessica Harper, Rod McBrien, Mark Lockhart and Davis Spinoza) released "Don't Say You Don't Remember" (Levitt-Miller) on their self-titled album in 1969. Broadway singer/actress Beverly Bremer…

In 1967 Michael Whalen released the first recording of Jimmy "Layne" Webb's composition "Where's the Playground Susie". Jim even produced the session. Glen Campbell's 1967 version hit the top thirty continuing Glen's string of Jim Webb compositions like: "Galveston", "Wichita Lineman", "Honey, Come Back" and "By the Time I Get To Phoenix".

The Platters (Tony Williams, David Lynch, Herb Reed, Paul Robi and Zola Taylor) had their career guided by producer/songwriter/manager Buck Ram. One of Buck's songs was "Only You" which was recorded for Federal Records but that company decided not to release it. The song was recorded again at their first session for Mercury Records in 1955 and it went to the top ten.