Articles by John Twang

It was Fabian (Forte) who first to recorded "String Along" (Jimmy Duncan - Robert Doyle) in 1960 and peaked at number thirty-nine on Billboard. This would be Fabian's final appearance in the top forty. Rick Nelson covered "String Along" in 1963 for his first Decca LP "For Your Sweet Love" and did moderately better on the charts when the song reached number twenty-five on Billboard and the top twenty on Cash Box. Rick appeared in many television shows and films through his career. Wikipedia:…

Published and recorded in 1934 by English composer, arranger, actor and bandleader Ray Noble, "The Very Thought Of You" with vocals by Al Bowlly is listed here edited to include the vocal. Al Bowlly was born in South Africa, sang in India, Indonesia and Germany before working in London. His voice was familiar throughout the world. Ricky Nelson's version of "The Very Thought Of You" reached number twenty-six on the Top One Hundred and number eleven on the Easy Listening chart in 1964. This is…

Wikipedia: "Composer Irving Berlin was a huge admirer of the song. Berlin reportedly said that of all the songs by other composers he had heard, he would have been most proud to have written "I Don't Want to Walk Without You". Writing of Berlin's praise for the song, Loesser wrote in his diary, "Irving Berlin came in today and spent a solid hour telling me that 'Walk' is the best song he ever heard. He played and sang it over, bar by bar, explaining why it's the best song he ever heard. I was fl…

Dewayne Blackwell sings "Mr. Blue" (Dwayne Blackwell) with Stephanie Davis backing him so well on the album "In The Beginning". Dewayne also wrote the Garth Brooks hit "Friends In Low Places". In 1959 The Fleetwoods (Gary Troxel, Gretchen Christopher and Barbara Ellis) topped Billboard with their version of "Mr. Blue". Wikipedia: " In 2008 and 2009, Christopher testified before the Washington State Senate in support of the Truth in Music Advertising Bill. In 2009, it passed both the House an…

Primo Scala and His Banjo And Accordion Band along with The Keynotes introduced "I've Got A Lovely Bunch Of Cocoanuts" (Fred Heatherton) in 1949. The songwriting credit was a pseudonym for Harold Box, Desmond Cox and Lewis Ilda. The title refers to the coconut toss a fairs. The next year Freddy Martin and his Orchestra with vocals by Merv Griffin and The Ensemble's "I've Got A Lovely Bunch Of Coconuts" single peaked at number eight on Billboard. Freddy Martin was musical director for Elvis P…

From the album "Rockin' At The Sock Hop" is co-composer Margaret Lewis with "Reconsider Me" (Margaret Lewis - Mira Smith). Margaret joined the cast of the Louisiana Hayride in 1958.The other composer, Mira Smith was a multi- instrumentalist, songwriter, producer, recording studio and label owner. James Burton, Dale Hawkins, Jerry Kennedy and Joe Osborn honed their talents in her studio. The songwriting team produced more than one hundred songs together. In 1969 Johnny Adams had the biggest h…

Frank J. Myers and Crystal Gayle (Webb) teamed for "You And I" (Frank J. Myers), a song written for Frank's wife on Frank's 2006 album "Scrapbook". Once the bandleader and road manager for Eddy Raven, Frank was co-writer on the massive crossover hit "I Swear". Eddie Rabbitt and Crystal Gayle combined to sing "You And I" on the first single from the 1982 LP "Radio Romance". The single topped the Country chart, peaked at number seven on the Top One Hundred and reached number two Adult Contempo…

From the 1976 top five album "A Day At The Races" here's Queen (lead vocalist Farrokh Bulsara aka Freddie Mercury, John Deacon, Brian May and Roger Taylor) with the initial single from the LP. "Somebody To Love" (Freddie Mercury) peaked at number thirteen on the Top One Hundred. George Michael (Panayiotou) sang "Somebody To Love" with surviving Queen members at The Freddie Mercury Wembley Stadium Tribute Concert in 1992. This is a track from the 1998 LP "Ladies & Gentlemen The Best Of George…

"(Themes From) The Man With The Golden Arm" (Leonard Bernstein) was featured in the Frank Sinatra 1955 vehicle of that name. Academy Award, Golden Globe and Emmy winner Elmer Bernstein composed the music for too many films and television shows to list. Conductor, bandleader arranger and musician Richard Maltby and His Orchestra placed "(Themes From) The Man With The Golden Arm" in the number fourteen Billboard pop spot in 1956. This was the most successful of the many covers issued at the ti…

The Tymes (lead vocalist George Williams, Donald Banks, Albert Berry, Norman Burnett and George Hilliard) topped the charts with "So Much In Love (Jackson - Joseph - Williams) in 1963. The single is from the top twenty LP of the same name. All-4-One (Tony Borowiak, Jamie Jones, Delious Kennedy and Alfred Nevarez) covered "So Much In Love" (W. Jackson - G. Williams - R. Straigis) as the group's first single in 1993 and it is included on their self-titled album. The song reached number five on…

Kentucky country singer John Michael Montgomery introduced "I Can Love You Like That" (Maribeth Derry - Steve Diamond - Jennifer Kimball) as the first single from his 1995 platinum self-titled album. The single topped the Country chart. John's elder brother, Eddie was part of the well respected duo of Montgomery Gentry. All-4-One (Tony Borowiak, Jamie Jones, Delious Kennedy and Alfred Neverez) released a version later in 1995 from the LP "And The Music Speaks". "I Can Love You Like That" was…

The Hollies (Graham Nash, Tony Hicks, Allan Clarke, Bobby Elliott and Bernie Calvert) "Come On Back" (L. Ransford) was recorded as a B side in 1964. The writer's name was a pseudonym for group members. "Stop, Stop, Stop" (Allan Clarke - Tony Hicks - Graham Nash) was a 1966 re-write of "Come On Back". The single topped the Canadian charts, number two in the U.K. and number seven on Billboard. The track was on the U.K. album "For Certain Because" and the North American issue "Stop! Stop! Stop!…

Actor, model, singer and songwriter Ophelie Winter released "Ce Que Je Suis" (Ophelie Winter - Guy Roche - Shelly Peiken) in 1998 as a track from her LP "Privacy". The next year saw the issue of the Billboard number one hit "What A Girl Wants" (Shelly Peiken - Guy Roche) by Christina Aguilera from her multi-platinum self-titled debut album. Christina won Best New Artist at the 2000 Grammy Awards.

The 1954 Broadway Tony Award winning smash "The Pajama Game" included "Steam Heat" (Richard Adler - Jerry Ross) as sung by Carol Haney with Peter Gennaro and Jim Hutchison. The musical became a successful film in 1957 and has been revived several times on Broadway and elsewhere in the world featuring the other hits "Hey There" and "Hernando's Hideaway". A month after opening Carol suffered an ankle injury and her understudy took over the role. Shirley MacLaine was introduced to the planet, again…

Glenn Tubb and his in concert version of "Skip A Rope" (Jack Moran - Glenn D. Tubb) at the Texas Troubadour Theatre in Nashville in 2010. This is the venue built by Glenn's uncle Ernest Tubb. Henson Cargill took "Skip A Rope", with the help of The Jordanaires, to the top of the Country chart in 1967 while peaking at number twenty-five on the Billboard pop chart. This track was from the 1968 Monument label album of the same name.

First issued on the Del-Rio label, here's H.B. Barnum's original adaptation of the march from Tchaikovsky's "Nutcracker Suite". Played on a grand piano in 1962 "Nut Rocker" (Kim Fowley) is credited to Jack B. Nimble and the Quicks. Hidle Brown Barnum worked with greats Frank Sinatra, Count Basie and Etta James. The cover version by B. Bumble and the Stingers used an upright piano and hit number twenty-three on the charts and number one in the U.K., leaving the Jack B. Nimble recording stalle…

It was 1976 when the Isley Brothers (lead vocalist Ronald, Ernie, Marvin, O'Kelly and Rudolph Isley with Chris Jasper) released "(At Your Best) You Are Love" on the album "Harvest For The World" and dedicated it to their mother. The album got to the top of the Soul chart and the top ten pop while "(At Your Best) You Are Love" was not a intended as a single. Aaliyah (Haughton) covered "(At Your Best) You Are Love" for her initial LP "Age Ain't Nothing But A Number" at the age of fifteen. Issu…

Jerry Fuller sings his song "Young Girl" from the album "From The Vault". Jerry once toured with The Champs as their vocalist. As a songwriter Jerry was responsible for "Young World", "A Wonder Like You" and other Union Gap hits "Lady Willpower" and "Over You". It was Jerry Fuller who produced this follow-up to "Woman, Woman" for Gary Puckett And The Union Gap (Kerry Chater, Dwight Bemont, Paul Wheatbread and Gary Withem). The single from the Jerry Fuller produced LP of the same name charted…