Articles by John Twang

In the late 1960s Dick Wagner was rejected from joining Blood, Sweat and Tears so he became the front man for a Michigan group called The Frost. During that time he wrote a tune that he said had "horrible lyrics". When he worked with Alice Cooper he presented the tune and together they reworked the words. The result was "Only Women Bleed". Dick performed the song with the Saginaw Bay Orchestra in 1997 at the Horizon Conference Center in Saginaw at a fund raising event titled "Pop To Rock". A…

Judy Collins was first to record "Hello Hooray" (Rolf Kempf) when she issued the 1968 top thirty LP "Who Knows Where The Time Goes". Playing guitar on the release: James Burton, Stephen Stills and Buddy Emmons. Judy was a piano prodigy when she made her debut at age thirteen playing a Mozart piece. On the album "Billion Dollar Babies" Alice Cooper (Alice Cooper, Michael Bruce, Glen Buxton, Dennis Dunaway and Neal Smith) covered "Hello Hooray" most differently in 1973 and released the song pe…

Born in Birmingham, Alabama, Sam Dees sings his composition "One In A Million" from a John Peel hosted BBC radio broadcast aired in late 1991. Following contracts with the SSS International, Chess and Atlantic labels Sam started concentrating on producing and writing for others. Once a bass player with Sly & The Family Stone and founder of Graham Central Station, Larry Graham hit number nine on Billboard with "One In A Million You" in 1980. The single topped the R&B chart. Successful Canadia…

Dennis Lambert sings "Country Boy (You Got Your Feet In L.A.)" (Dennis Lambert - Brian Potter) from an evening at Joe's Pub in New York City in 2008. The songwriter is backed by The Losers Lounge. Dennis' writing and production talents have almost legendary proportions. Consummate entertainer, the late Glen Campbell hit number eleven on Billboard's pop chart, number three Country and number one on the Adult Contemporary listening and in Canada with "Country Boy (You Got Your Feet In L.A.)".…

Producer, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and Harvard University graduate summa cum laude in visual arts Dan Wilson at the Canadian Music Week 2012 Songwriters Circle performs "Someone Like You" (Adele Adkins - Dan Wilson). In a music publication Dan said "The recording on the album was intended as a demo. I was thinking, "Oh, they're going to make a big version of this, strings and angelic choirs, like a big Chrissie Hynde power-ballad." But by the end of the first day, the demo was sounding…

Hal Kemp and his Orchestra with vocalist Deane Janis were first to record "Boulevard Of Broken Dreams" in 1933 before the movie "Moulin Rouge" was released in 1934. This track is edited to include the vocals. The 1934 Franchot Tone motion picture "Moulin Rouge" had star Constance Bennett singing "Boulevard Of Broken Dreams" (Al Dubin - Harry Warren). Although not credited Lucille Ball appeared in the film as a show girl. Russ Columbo and The Boswell Sisters also appeared in the movie. "B…

This is singer, songwriter and bassist Roger Waters and his home demo of "Money" (Roger Waters). Apparently it was recorded in his garden shed. Roger was a co-founder of Pink Floyd. The groundbreaking 1973 LP "The Dark Side Of The Moon" by Pink Floyd (David Gilmour, Roger Waters, Nick Mason and Richard Wright). David Gilmour added a lot to the hit that opened side two of the album. The single reached number thirteen on Billboard while the album topped the chart and remained on that chart unt…

11:45 a.m. June 5, 1973 CFRB, Toronto radio personality 73 year old Gordon Sinclair delivered an impassioned editorial he later titled "The Americans". This was rebroadcast on a small number of American radio stations and then spread rapidly before being released on record with "Battle Hymn Of The Republic" under the reading.. Byron MacGregor (Gary Mack) was the News Director at CKLW in Windsor/Detroit and he recorded it as the version most are familiar with. The Detroit Symphony plays "Amer…

The 1971 LP "Tupelo Honey" includes the opening track titled "Wild Night" from one of "Them", Van Morrison. The single was actually first recorded in 1968 and rerecorded for the album, it peaked at number twenty-eight on Billboard. John Mellencamp and Me'Shell Ndegeocello (Michelle Lynn Johnson) covered "Wild Night" in 1994 topping the Adult Contemporary chart and reaching number three on the Top One Hundred. The song is a track on John Mellencamp's 1994 album "Dance Naked". The stage name N…

In 1931 Al Bowlly and the Roy Fox Orchestra released "Guilty" (Richard Whiting - Harry Akst - Gus Kahn) and peaked at number twelve on Billboard. This track was edited to include the vocal. Al was killed in the bombing of London in 1941 when a Luftwaffe parachute mine exploded outside his home. He was buried in a mass grave with other bombing victims. "Guilty" hit number four on Billboard when it was recorded by composer Richard Whiting's daughter Margaret Whiting with Jerry Gray's Orchestra…

The 1946 Broadway musical "St. Louis Woman" introduced "Come Rain Or Come Shine" (Harold Arlen - Johnny Mercer) when it was sung by Ruby Hill. The show was not as successful as hoped but this song became a standard. Composer Johnny Mercer's good friend Margaret Whiting's version of "Come Rain Or Come Shine" with Paul Weston's Orchestra reached number seventeen on Billboard that same year. Margaret and her sister Barbara starred in the Desilu produced television situation comedy "Those Whitin…

Singer, songwriter and actor Harvey Shield (Schildkraut) lead the group Shields on "The Way I Feel Tonight" (Harvey Shield) in 1976 but the song didn't chart. Harvey was once with Episode Six, the group that spawned Deep Purple. The Bay City Rollers (lead vocals Les McKeown, Eric Faulkner, Derek Longmuir and Stuart Wood)1977 issue of "The Way I Feel Tonight" reached number twenty-four on Billboard, number sixteen Adult Contemporary. The track is on the LP "It's A Game" and the single was the…

Once a back-up group for LaVerne Baker, Nat King Cole and Roy Hamilton, The Cues (lead vocalist Ollie Jones, Eddie Barnes, Jimmy Breedlove, Abel DeCosta and Robie Kirk) were first to record "Burn That Candle" (Winfield Scott) in 1955 and charted on Billboard at number eighty-six. The composer was an alias for group member Robie Kirk. Bill Haley and His Comets' (Franny Beecher, Johnny Grande, Ralph Jones, Rudy Pompilli, Al Rex and Billy Williamson) cover of "Burn That Candle" was issued about…

Little Willie John hit with "Talk To Me, Talk To Me" (Joe Seneca) in 1958 when the single placed at number twenty on the pop chart and number five R&B. Little Willie John was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame eighteen years after his death. Bring in the strings with Sunny And The Sunglows (Sunny Ozuna, Gilbert Fernandez, Manuel Guerra, Alfred Luna, Vincent Montez, Tony Tostado and brothers Oscar, Ray and Jesse Villanueva) and "Talk To Me" peaked at number eleven pop, number four A…

This is Alex Call and "867-5309/Jenny" (Alex Call - Jim Keller) in concert from the 2004 LP "Incredibly Thick". Alex is quoted on Wikipedia: "Despite all the mythology to the contrary, I actually just came up with the 'Jenny' and the telephone number and the music and all that just sitting in my backyard. There was no Jenny. I don't know where the number came from, I was just trying to write a 4-chord Rock song and it just kind of came out. This was back in 1981 when I wrote it, and I had at the…

The voice of Jiminy Cricket in Walt Disney's "Pinocchio", Cliff "Ukulele Ike" Edwards issued "Side By Side" (Harry Woods) in 1927. The single, edited here to include the vocal, reached number twelve on Billboard. He is backed by stalwarts Eddie Lang, Joe Venuti and Adrian Rollini. Composer Harry Woods composed on the piano despite the fact that he was born without fingers on his left hand. Kay Starr (Starks) album "The Kay Starr Style" included the most successful recording of "Side By Side"…

British singer and multi-instrumentalist Chaz Jankel recorded "Ai No Corrida" (Chaz Jankel - Kenny Young) on his self titled 1980 debut album. The title is Japanese for "Rope Of Love", literally. Chaz is on both lead and background vocal, guitar, percussion, synthesizer and keyboards. Quincy Jones covered "Ai No Corrida" and issued it as the lead single from the 1981 top ten release "The Dude" with vocals by Dune (Charles May) and Patti Austin. The single reached number twenty-eight pop, num…

The late Stevie Woods sang "Through The Years" (Marty Panzer - Stephen Dorff) on his 1981 album "Take Me To Heaven". This was not released as a single. Stevie was a cousin to actor Philip Michael Thomas of Miami Vice fame. The 1982 Kenny Rogers album "Share Your Love" contains "Through The Years". The Lionel Richie produced single peaked at number thirteen on the pop chart, number five on the Country chart and topped the AC chart. Kenny has charted well over one hundred times.