Articles by John Twang

Chicago doo-wop group The El Dorados (lead Pirkle Lee Moses Jr., Louis Bradley, Jewel Jones, James Maddox and Richard Nickens) released "At My Front Door" (J. Moore - A. Abner) in 1955 hitting the top of the R&B chart and seventeen pop. Pat Boone had the whitewashed cover of "At My Front Door (Crazy Little Mama)" with slightly different lyrics. This time the tune peaked at number seven on Billboard and is on his self-titled 1955 debut album. Pat had close to twenty-five other singles that hi…

Big Joe Turner recorded "Chains Of Love" (A. Nugetre) in 1951 as written by Doc Pomus. Doc (Jerome Felder) sold the copyright to Ahmet Ertegun for $50.00. The single peaked at number two on the R&B chart. Apparently this was the first successful single for Atlantic Records. Pat Boone issued the 1956 whitebread cover of "Chains Of Love" reaching the top ten on Billboard. Pat is has claimed to be related to Daniel Boone and Richard Boone of the Have Gun, Will Travel television series along wit…

Buddy Johnson's Orchestra introduced "A Woman, A Lover, A Friend" (Syd Wyche) in 1959 as a B side. Lee Thomas is the vocalist. "Mr. Excitement" Jackie Wilson covered "A Woman, A Lover, A Friend" in 1960 topping the R&B chart and reaching number fifteen on the Top One Hundred. The former member of Billy Ward and the Dominoes was appearing solo in New Jersey when singing his hit "Lonely Teardrops" he suffered a heart attack and remained in hospital for the reminder of his life.

Bob (Relf) and Earl (Nelson) recorded "Harlem Shuffle" (Relf - Nelson) and reached number forty-four on Billboard in 1963. Barry White is on the keyboard. The Rolling Stones 1986 cover of "Harlem Shuffle" is from the album "Dirty Work". Bobby Womack is on back up vocals. The single peaked at number five on the Billboard Top One Hundred.

The 1969 album "Rock Salt And Nails" contains the first version of Steve Young's "Seven Bridges Road". The road also known as Woodley Road has existed for over one hundred years and is near Montgomery, Alabama. Guitarist James Burton played on the session with Steve Young and pushed for the song to be included on the album. Based on an Ian Matthews arrangement, The Eagles (Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Don Felder, Timothy B. Schmit and Joe Walsh) had the hit cover of "Seven Bridges Road". Wikipedi…

The community of Kowlagia is on Lake Martin in Alabama. It was named after the legendary aboriginal. A wooden statue was placed near the lake. The song "Kaw-Liga" was written by Hank Williams in a cabin that he owned by the lakeside. Possibly a distant cousin to Roy Acuff, Champ Butler and the Buddy Cole Trio were the first to release the song. Champ worked with the Les Brown and Paul Weston orchestras. Hank Williams recorded "Kaw-Liga" (Hank Williams - Fred Rose) at his last recording sessi…

In 1963 Carolyn (Caroline) Crawford had just become a teenager when she won a talent contest. The prize was a contract with Motown Records. One of three singles she recorded was "My Smile Is Just A Frown (Turned Upside Down)" (Robinson - Bradford - Stevenson). This peaked at number thirty-nine on the R&B chart. Stevie Wonder was 16 years old when he attended the annual Motown Christmas party in 1966. Stevie had written an instrumental with Hank Cosby but they couldn't find lyrics that fit. H…

Ray Henderson, Joe Young and Sam M. Lewis wrote "I'm Sitting On Top Of The World" in 1925. The first recording of the song came in October of that year when Art Gillham aka The Whispering Pianist aka Barrel House Pete entered the studio. Less than two months later Al Jolson (Asa Yoelson) recorded his version and included "I'm Sitting On Top Of The World" in the 1928 film "The Singing Fool" along with the 1946 biopic "The Jolson Story". Many consider this the original recording. This audio is…

Bob Crewe co-authored "Big Girls Don't Cry" (Crewe - Gaudio) and this is his "Generation" with the big band take on the hit. Other than most of the Four Seasons hits he was almost responsible for "Tallahassee Lassie", "Silhouettes", "Lucky Ladybug", "Daddy Cool", "Navy Blue", "California Nights" and "Lady Marmalade". The Four Seasons (Frankie Valli, Tommy DeVito, Bob Gaudio and Nick Massi) "Big Girls Don't Cry" is the lead track from the 1962 album "Sherry". The single topped Billboard. The…

Country songwriter, singer and piano player Little David Wilkins wrote "Coming On Strong". It's included on the album "Hero". Brenda Lee reached number eleven on the Billboard Top One Hundred with "Coming On Strong" in 1966. This track is from the album of the same name. If you listen to Dutch group Golden Earring's "Radar Love" you'll hear a mention of the song.

This is the Jackie DeShannon demo of "Heart In Hand" (Jackie DeShannon - Sharon Sheeley). Jackie couldn't have sounded more like Brenda Lee if she tried harder. The composers collaborated on over eighty songs including "The Great Imposter" for the Fleetwoods and "Dum Dum", another hit for Brenda Lee. Sharon and husband Jimmy O'Neil created the ABC television hit "Shindig" while Jackie went on to a legendary music career. Brenda Lee (Tarpley) recorded "Heart In Hand" as a single in 1962 reach…

The 1961 album "Human" by Tommy (Clarence) Hunt introduced "Don't Make Me Over" (Hal David- Burt Bacharach). Tommy sang lead on The Flamingos 1959 hit "I Only Have Eyes For You". Former session singer Dionne Warwick's (Warrick) first LP "Presenting" in 1962 included "Don't Make Me Over" which was released originally as a B side. The artist's name was misspelled as "Warwick" on the label and it stayed that way when the song reached number twenty-one pop and number five R&B on Billboard.

Ester (Esther) Dean recorded the demo of "What's My Name" and was in the background of the hit. Ester voiced characters in "Ice Age: Continental Drift" and was part of the cast on the "Pitch Perfect" movies . Rihanna (Fenty) issued "What's My Name" (Ester Dean - Mikkel Eriksen - Aubrey Graham -Traci Hale - Tor Erik Hermansen) from the 2010 album "Loud" including the production talents of Ester Dean. The tune features Drake (Graham) and topped the Top One Hundred.

English supergroup Traffic (Steve Winwood, Jim Capaldi, Dave Mason and Chris Wood) issued "Feelin' Alright" (Dave Mason) from their 1968 self-titled top twenty LP. Joe Cocker's cover of "Feeling Alright" was first issued in 1969 on his debut album "With A Little Help From My Friends" reaching number sixty-nine on the Top One Hundred. It was then re-released in 1972 and peaked at number thirty-three on Billboard featuring legend Carole Kaye on bass.

This was for a potential Broadway musical that didn't materialize for him so composer Hoagy Carmichael asked Johnny Mercer, years later a co-founder of Capitol Records, to write a lyric. It took Johnny months of struggling to find the right words. When he did, it was "Skylark". Hoagy sings the hit with The Pacific Jazzmen, Art Pepper on alto. The Gene Krupa Orchestra featuring Roy Eldridge on lead trumpet was first to record "Skylark" in 1941 with jazz vocalist Anita O'Day (Colton). This was…

Michael Sembello with the demo of "Mirror, Mirror" (Dennis Matkosky - Michael Sembello). This is the same singer who scored with the chart topping "Maniac" from the "Flashdance" soundtrack. Michael worked with Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson. The second single from the Diana Ross top twenty 1981 RCA LP "Why Do Falls Fall In Love" was the number two R&B, number eight Billboard pop success. "Mirror, Mirror" was produced by the entertainer herself. Diana also recorded the backing vocal tracks…

Dennis Morgan performs "I Wouldn't Have Missed It For The World" (Charles Quillen - Kye Fleming - Dennis Morgan) at a songwriters showcase. Dennis has had hits with Eric Clapton, Garth Brooks, Aretha Franklin and Barbara Mandrell. Multi-Grammy winning Ronnie Milsap included "I Wouldn't Have Missed It For The World" on the 1981 album "There's No Gettin' Over Me". The LP hit number one on the Country chart while reaching the pop top forty. The single topped the Country chart, peaked at number th…

Originally written by the group Steam (lead vocalist Gary DeCarlo, Paul Leka, and Dale Frashuer), they hastily recorded "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye" as a B side. In 1969 this topped the Billboard chart and peaked at number twenty-two on the Soul chart for the one hit wonders. Vocals and percussion equals The Nylons (Marc Connors, Paul Cooper, Claude Morrison and Denis Simpson) version of "Kiss Him Goodbye" track from the 1978 LP "Happy Together". The single peaked at number twelve on the…