Articles by John Twang

The Scarlets (lead vocalist Fred Parris, Albert Denby, Sylvester Hopkins, Nathaniel Mosely and William Powers) were later known as The Five Satins. They released "Cry Baby" (F. Parris - S. Hopkins) as a B side in 1955. Three unrelated nurses called themselves The Bonnie Sisters (Jean Borgia, Pat Ryan and Sylvia Trotter) and covered "Cry Baby" in 1956 peaking at number sixteen on Billboard. Mickey Baker of Mickey and Sylvia note is on guitar.

Born in Beijing, China, on Dec. 5, 1922, while his father was overseas teaching medicine at Peking Union College, Don Robertson began learning piano, from his mother, when he was just four years old, and he started composing music only a few years later. After returning to the United States, Robertson was taking paid pianist gigs around Chicago when he was 14 years old. Eventually he became accompanist and arranger for the Dinning Sisters. Don sings his composition "Born To Be With You". The…

From the LP "Heart On My Sleeve" this is Don Robertson singing his composition "Hummingbird". It was Don who created the piano slip note that Floyd Cramer made famous. Les Paul (Polsfuss) and Mary Ford (Iris Summers) were among many acts recording "Hummingbird" in 1955 but this version ended up being most successful when it peaked at number seven on Billboard in the summer of 1955. Frankie Laine and The Chordettes also charted with the song.

Please excuse another indulgence. In the late fifties and into the sixties The Beau Marks (Joey Frechette, Ray Hutchinson, Mike Robitaille and Gilles Tailleur) were a unique Canadian group as they wrote, financed and produced their music in their native country. The first track is the rare original recording of "Clap Your Hands" Beau-Marks). The next track is the hit that reached Billboard in the mid-forties position and top forty in Cashbox in 1960 while topping the Canadian and Australian…

The Superiors (Dwight Burgess, Travis Fountain, Delin Green, Jay Greer and Sean Miranda) recorded "Step By Step" (Maurice Starr) in the summer of 1987 as their one and only Motown single. Producer, writer Maurice Starr (Lawrence Johnson) also discovered the group New Edition along with creating NKOTB. New Kids On The Block (lead vocalist Jordan Knight, Jonathan Knight, Joey McIntyre, Danny Wahlberg and Danny Wood) sat at the top of Billboard in 1990 with their version of "Step By Step" produ…

The 1977 album "The Idiot" was Iggy Pop's (James Osterberg) debut solo effort and includes David Bowie on toy piano, saxophone and keyboards during the "China Girl" (David Bowie - Iggy Pop) session. Wikipedia: "Once I hit junior high in Ann Arbor, I began going to school with the son of the president of Ford Motor Company, with kids of wealth and distinction. But I had a wealth that beat them all. I had the tremendous investment my parents made in me. I got a lot of care. They helped me explore…

Ruby And The Romantics (Ruby Nash, Leroy Fann, George Lee, Ronald Mosley and Ed Roberts) recorded the original "When You're Young And In Love" (Van McCoy) in 1964. The single peaked at number forty-eight on Billboard. The Marvelettes (Wanda Young, Gladys Horton and Katherine Anderson) version of "When You're Young And In Love" was issued in 1967 and this time reached twenty-three on the Top One Hundred while peaking at number nine on the R&B chart. Back up includes the talents of the Motown…

Bo Diddley (Ellas Bates) recorded his first single and what became the classic "I'm A Man" (E. McDaniels) in 1955 and hit number one on the R&B chart. Ellas Bates changed his name to Ellas McDaniel when he was adopted by his cousin Gussie McDaniel. The moniker Bo Diddley is covered in too many unsubstantiated stories. The Yardbirds (lead vocalist Keith Relf, Jeff Beck, Chris Dreja, Jim McCarty and Jimmy Page) cover of "I'm A Man" was recorded at Chess Studios in Chicago and peaked at number…

"Crazy Arms" was written by Ralph Mooney and Charles Seals in 1949. Ralph Mooney played steel guitar as a member of bands for Waylon Jennings, Wynn Stewart and appeared on the Merle Haggard hit "Swinging Doors" and Buck Owens' "Under Your Spell Again". This is Ralph on the steel guitar. Grammy winner "The Cherokee Cowboy" Ray Price topped the Country charts and hit the pop top thirty at number twenty-seven with "Crazy Arms" in 1956. In the early fifties Ray roomed with Hank Williams.

In 1976 "Love Ballad" (Skip Yarborough) hit for L.T.D. (lead vocalist Jeffrey Osborne, Celeste Cole, Henry Davis, Johnny McGee, Billy Osborne and Robert Santiel) from their album "Love To The World". This topped the R&B chart and reached number twenty on the Top One Hundred. They say "L.T.D." means Love, Togetherness and Devotion. Grammy winner George Benson covered "Love Ballad" in 1979 and this time with a more up-tempo twist peaked at number three R&B and number eighteen pop on Billboard.…

Randy Goodrum sings "Broken Hearted Me", one of the many hits he wrote. That list includes "You Needed Me" and "Bluer Than Blue". In high school Randy was part of a jazz trio that included Bill Clinton on saxophone. High school classmates England Dan (Seals) and John Ford Coley were the first to record "Broken Hearted Me" in 1978 for the album "Dr. Heckle And Mr. Jive". Late in 1979 Grammy winner Anne Murray issued "Broken Hearted Me" as the initial single from the album "I'll Always Lov…

From the LP "Words And Music" this is Randy Goodrum and "Foolish Heart (Steve Perry - Randy Goodrum) on which Randy sang, composed, played keyboards and produced. Randy was pianist for Roy Orbison, Chet Atkins and Jerry Reed. Steve Perry's 1984 debut solo album "Street Talk" includes the hit version of "Foolish Heart" which reached number two on the Adult Contemporary chart and number eighteen on the Top One Hundred. Steve was the lead vocalist for Journey.

Former keyboard player for Sam Cooke, Leon Haywood recorded this version of his own song "Bad Mama Jamma" on the LP "Freaky Man" in 1994. Carl Carlton released "She's A Bad Mama Jamma (She's Built, She's Stacked)" in 1981 and peaked at number twenty-two pop, number two R&B on Billboard. Carl's voice was very close to that of Stevie Wonder, both artists used "Little" on their record labels.

Ted Daffan wrote as Frankie Brown and recorded "Born To Lose" in 1942. In 1944 this release by Ted Daffan's Texans with vocal by Leon Seago peaked at number three. Just some of the entertainers who recorded this song: Ella Fitzgerald, Jerry Lee Lewis, Gene Pitney, Johnny Cash, Leonard Cohen and Elton John, Willie Nelson, The Everly Brothers, Dean Martin, Hank Snow, Tom Jones, Eric Clapton and Billy Vaughn. One of my favourite albums is "Modern Sounds In Country And Western Music" by Ray Char…

The Tony winning 1955 Broadway musical "Damn Yankees" introduced (You've Gotta Have) Heart (Dick Adler - Jerry Ross) ran for over one thousand performances. The production was successfully revived in 1994 while the movie version was released in 1958 and it's this version that's posted. Russ Brown sang this in both the original musical and the film. Eddie Fisher and Hugo Winterhalter's Orchestra took "Heart" to number twelve on Billboard the year the musical opened. Eddie wrote two autobiogra…

Frankie Valli (Castelluccio) was first to record "Native New Yorker" (Sandy Linzer - Denny Randell) for the 1977 album "Lady Put The Light Out". The songwriters were also known for their Four Seasons hits "Let's Hang On" and "Working My Way Back To You". Soul and dance band Odyssey (Lillian and Louise Lopez with Tony Reynolds) made "Native New Yorker" a hit when they recorded it later that year and peaked at number six on the Soul chart, and number twenty-one pop on Billboard. This is from t…

The Larry Butler album "Larry Butler and Friends" includes his version of (Hey Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song" (Larry Butler - Chips Moman) along with noted musicians The Jordanaires, Pete Drake, Bob Moore, Tommy Allsup and Pig Robbins. The composer, pianist and producer Larry Butler won the 1976 Grammy for Country Song of the Year. At the time this was the longest title of any song to top the Billboard Top One Hundred. Larry played piano on Conway Twitty's "Hello Darl…

Based on the traditional "Young Man's Lamentation", a Knoxville, Tennessee busker known as "The Blind Musician Of The Smoky Mountains" George Reneau recorded "On Top Of Old Smoky" in 1925 at a NYC studio. This isn't the melody associated with the song now. Featuring a melody from the traditional "Little Mohee" and a Pete Seeger arrangement, The Weavers and Terry Gilkyson peaked at number two on the Billboard chart in 1951 with "On Top Of Old Smoky". The single sold over a million copies.…