Articles by John Twang

Very well-known in Britain, Kenny Lynch has been a television personality there for more than 50 years. During the Beatles first tour his name was on the bill. Kenny recorded "Misery", the first Beatles cover tune to be released and he appears on the album cover of Wings album "Band on the Run". In 1963 it was Kenny who recorded "You Can Never Stop Me Loving You" (Samwell-Slater). "You Can Never Stop me Loving You" became a top twenty hit and an album title for Floridian Johnny Tillotson that…

Check her website and you'll see that Sandie Shaw (Sandra Ann Goodrich) was the first to perform behind the Iron Curtain and the last to appear in Iran. This barefoot Buddhist sang "Puppet on a String" (Bill Martin-Phil Coulter) and won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1967 when she became the first U.K. performer to win the contest. Sandie records in English, French, German, Italian and Spanish. Here is the Italian version of "Puppet on a String" followed by the English world-wide hit.

It was 1949 when R&B musician Ivory Joe Hunter composed and recorded "I Almost Lost My Mind". As a songwriter many are familiar with his tunes "Since I Met You Baby", "My Wish Came True" and "Ain't That Lovin' You Baby". His career was eclectic going from country and appearances at the Grand Ole Opry to appearances at the Monterey Jazz Festival. Pat Boone had the hit in 1956 reaching number one, yet it wasn't on an album until 1957 release "Pat's Great Hits".

Louisianan Kris Kenner hit with "I Like It Like That", he wrote and recorded "Land of a Thousand Dances" in 1961 and hit the top 100 in 1963. Fats Domino got a writing credit although he didn't actually write it but, said he would record the tune. Allen Toussaint is playing piano on this recording. Cannibal and the Headhunters version added the "na-na-na-na" in 1965. Wilson Pickett had the biggest selling version in1966 when he first recorded at Muscle Shoals for "The Exciting Wilson Picke…

Johnny Cymbal (John Henry Blair) hit with "Mr. Bass Man" with Ronnie Bright who sang bass. Johnny co-authored "Mary in the Morning". He once used his brother Derek's name when he recorded "Cinnamon" and took it to the top twenty-five and composed that great country hit "Drinking Canada Dry" for "The Flying Burrito Brothers" . He even wrote and produced for Mae West. Al Martino (Alfred Cini) crooned the hit "Mary in the Morning". A singer since 1948 he won Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts co…

Former barbershop quartet member from Orillia, Ontario Gordon Lightfoot recorded the album "Lightfoot" in 1964 and it took two years before it was released as his debut effort. "For Lovin' Me" graced that vinyl. Peter, Paul and Mary (Peter Yarrow, Paul Stookey and Mary Travers) featured "For Lovin' Me" on the album "A Song Will Rise" in 1965 when it hit the top five on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart. You'll now find it on their album "Best of/Ten Years Together".

Louise (Louise Dilworth Beatty) Homer made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in 1900 and later had concurrent positions at both the NYC icon and the Boston Opera Company. Louise played "Delilah" in the production "Samson and Delilah" and the piece "Mon S'coeur a Ta Voix" (Camille Sainte-Saens) was recorded. In 1960 Jackie (Mr. Excitement) Wilson's "Night" (Lehman-Miller) hit the top five and became his biggest record even though he hit with rock classics like "Lonely Teardrops" and "Ree…

Jackie Ralph and Cliff Edwards were the lead vocalists for The Bells, formerly The Five Bells. Frank Mills (Music Box Dancer) was with the group. "Fly Little White Dove, Fly" was a hit in their native Canada where they also recorded a French version for the Quebec market, after all they were formed in Montreal. This is posted to simply show the beauty (my opinion) of the French version before playing the hit which did get onto the Billboard charts.

"There Was a Crooked Little Man" was an English nursery rhyme ( www.rhymes.org.uk/there_was_a-crooked_man.htm ) first physically recorded by James Halliwell in the 1840s. It was also part of the Mother Goose Collection. Not The Singing Brakeman or the blues musician but the pop singer Jimmie Rodgers (Honeycomb) recorded it as "Crooked Little House" in 1960. The album "At Home with Jimmie Rodgers - an Evening of Folk Songs contained the rendition composed by Ersel Hickey (Bluebirds Ove…

Left-leaning Earl Hawley Robinson wrote the music to "Black and White" in 1954 with actor Allan Arkin's father David providing the lyrics. Earl is the first voice you'll hear on this post. Three Dog Night (group details elsewhere on this blog) hit the number one spot with their release from the album "Seven Separate Fools" featuring Danny Hutton on lead.

Paul Anka gave us many solid hits ("Diana", "Lonely Boy", "Puppy Love", "(You're)Having My Baby", "Put Your Head On My Shoulder", etc) and wrote many too ("The Tonight Show Theme", "My Way"). One of those became a hit for Tom Jones. In 1971 Sir Tom Jones version of "She's a Lady" became Tom's highest charted song to date.

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".…

"Fool on the Hill" originally recorded by Paul McCartney as a solo demo is followed by the studio version from the Magical Mystery Tour released in 1967. Brazil 's Sergio Mendes hit the top ten with "Fool On The Hill" in 1968.

Motown's Marvelettes (Gladys Horton, Wanda Young, Katherine Anderson and Georgeanna Tillman) had the label's first number one hot with "Please Mr. Postman" featuring Marvin Gaye on drums in 1961. The tune has been credited to a bevy of various composers: Georgia Dobbins, William Garrett, Freddie Gorman, Brian Holland, Robert Bateman, Holland-Dozier-Holland. The Beatles featuring John Lennon's take on the song shows up on "With the Beatles" (UK) or "Beatlemania/With the Beatles" (Canada)…

Originally this song can be found on Little Eva's debut 1962 album. The Drifters' (there must be close to one hundred people who were group members through the years) "Up on the Roof" is a Carole King (she plays piano here), Gerry Goffin classic the group took to the top five in 1963. Listen as lead Rudy Lewis clears his throat for the demo, then we hear the hit. The Drifter's hit release is next.

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"…

Robert Gordon (often referred to as sounding like Elvis at Sun Records) and Link Wray (Rumble) together were the first to record Bruce Springsteen's "Fire". In 1978 they recorded the album "Fresh Fish Special" featuring background vocals by the Jordanaires and Bruce Springsteen on keyboards. Bruce originally wrote "Fire" for Elvis Prseley. Bruce Springsteen's studio take came from "The Promise", the concert recording from "Live: 1975 - 85" In 1979 the Pointer Sisters took their vers…

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…