Articles by John Twang

(Daryl) Hall and (John) Oates "She's Gone" (Hall - Oates) is on the 1973 album "Abandoned Luncheonette". When it was issued as a single edit the song stalled at number sixty on Billboard. Two years later the original was re-released and peaked at number seven. The 1974 Tavares LP "Hard Core Poetry" includes "She's Gone" that topped the R&B singles chart and reached the Billboard top fifty.

The 1966 LP "Gettin' Ready" contains The Temptations (Eddie Kendricks lead vocals, Melvin Franklin, David Ruffin, Otis Williams and Paul Williams) original "Too Busy Thinking About My Baby" (Norman Whitfield - Janie Bradford - Barrett Strong). Marvin Gaye covered "Too Busy Thinking About My Baby" (Whitfield - Bradford) in 1969. The million selling single reached number four Billboard pop and number one on the Black Singles chart. Co-composer Norman Whitfield produced both Motown issues.

In 1975 The Choice Four (Charles Blagmon, Bobby Hamilton, Ted Maduro and Pete Marshall) recorded the Van McCoy produced "I'm Gonna Walk Away From Love" (Charles Kipps). Later that year former Temptations lead, member of The Dixie Nightingales and The Soul Stirrers and Jimmy's brother, David (Davis) Ruffin's single cover of "Walk Away From Love" shows off his considerable love. This topped the R&B chart and peaked at number nine on Billboard's Top One Hundred. The track was also produced by V…

In 1964 The Miracles (Smokey and Claudette Robinson, Pete Moore, Bobby Rogers, Marv Tarpin and Ronnie White) recorded "Beauty Is Only Skin Deep" (Norman Whitfield - Edward Holland Jr.). The original was not issued until the 1966 LP "Away We A Go-Go". Smokey and the Miracles had close to thirty releases hit the Billboard top forty. "Beauty Is Only Skin Deep" was released by The Emperors Of Soul, The Temptations (lead David Ruffin, Melvin Franklin, Eddie Kendricks, Otis Williams and Paul Willi…

"Remember What I Told You To Forget" (Brian Potter - Dennis Lambert) was recorded by The Four Tops (lead Levi Stubbs, Renaldo Benson, Abdul Fakir and Lawrence Payton) in 1972. Early in their career The Four Tops sang backup for The Supremes and Martha and The Vandellas. Tavares (Arthur, Antone, Feliciano, Perry and Ralph Tavares) covered "Remember What I told You To Forget" in 1975 and peaked at number twenty-five on the Top One Hundred and the fourth spot on the R&B chart.

The Temptations' (lead vocal Paul Williams, Melvin Franklin, Eddie Kendricks and Otis Williams) "How Can I Forget" (Whitfield - Strong) was released as a B side in 1968. The single is on the album "The Temptations Wish It Would Rain". Marvin Gayes' funky cover of "How Can I Forget" from the album "That's The Way It Is" peaked in the top forty pop and number eighteen on the Soul charts in 1970. Like the Temptations original this timed around just two minutes. Marvin was shot and killed by his…

Smokey Robinson produced The Temptations (lead David Ruffin, Eddie Kendricks, Melvin Franklin, Paul and Otis Williams) "(I Know) I'm Losing You" (Norman Whitfield - Edward Holland Jr. - Cornelius Grant). The single with guitar work by co-composer Cornelius Grant topped the R&B chart and reached number eight pop in 1966. The tune later appeared on the LP "The Temptations With A Lot O' Soul". Fellow Motown act Rare Earth (Gil Bridges, Eddie Guzman, Peter Hoorelbeke, Kenny James, John Persh and…

The Bobby Troup Trio with Virginia Maxey sings "Daddy" (Troupe) from 1951. Bobby also wrote "(Get Your Kicks On) Route 66" and starred with wife Julie London in television's "Emergency" in the seventies. Virginia Maxey was a big band singer with Tony Pastor and once a member of the Modernaires. Sammy Kaye (Zarnocay) his Orchestra and The Kaye Choir had success with "Daddy" when they topped the Billboard chart in 1941 for eight weeks. This was the first recording of the song.

"Ooo Baby, Bay" (William Robinson - Warren Moore) was a 1965 number sixteen pop and number four R&B hit for The Miracles (Smokey and Claudette Robinson, Pete Moore, Bobby Rogers, Ronnie White). The single is from the album "Going To A Go-Go" which included the classic "The Tracks Of My Tears" and features the Motown/Tamla stalwarts The Funk Brothers. The 1978 hit cover of "Ooo Baby, Baby" by Linda Ronstadt and David Sanborn on alto-sax peaked at number seven on Billboard's Top One Hundred an…

James Ingram admitted that "Just Once" (Barry Mann - Cynthia Weil) started as a fifty dollar demo for ATV Music. I feel confident that James had no idea he would win Grammy nominations for the final product. ATV was founded as Associated Television in the U.K. is now owned by Sony and is valued at 1.5 billion dollars. In 1981 musician, producer Quincy Jones released the Grammy winning LP "The Dude" and the number seventeen Billboard single "Just Once" as sung by James Ingram. The tune was th…

Delaney & Bonnie (Bramlett) And Friends (Duane Allmam plays lead guitar, Leon Russell on piano) issued "Groupie (Superstar)" (Bramlett - Russell) in 1969. Delaney Bramlett was a members of the house band on television's "Shindig" while Bonnie was the first white "Ikette". The Carpenters recorded "Superstar" in one take and it's is on their self-titled 1971 LP. The single reached number two on Billboard while topping the Easy Listening chart. The Richard Carpenter arrangement with the Wreckin…

Austria's Falco (Johann Holzel) introduced "Der Kommissar" (Falco - Robert Pronger) in 1981 topping the charts in other parts of the planet, top twenty in Canada but it didn't do well in the U.S. nationally. The single is from the album "Einzelhaft". Later Falco enjoyed world-wide success with "Vienna Calling" and "Rock Me Amadeus". After The Fire (Peter Banks and Andy Piercy on vocals, Pete King and John Russell) covered "Der Kommissar (The Commissioner)" (Robert Ponger - Falco- Andy Piercy…

Fittingly released on the Paramount Records label, The Paramount Singers with the traditional gospel song "When All The Saints Go Marching In" from it's first known recording in 1923. The melody is traditionally used as a dirge during a New Orleans funeral march to a cemetery. After the internment, the bands play the more upbeat style. There's nothing positive you can say about Louis Armstrong that hasn't already been uttered. Louis topped the charts in 1938 with "When The Saints Go Marching…

Personal favourite Roger Miller wrote and performed "Whistle Stop" for the 1973 Disney film "Robin Hood". This is from the soundtrack. Roger played fiddle in Minnie Pearl's band. played drums with Faron Young's group and was once a member of Ray Price's Cherokee Cowboys. Wikipedia: "Canadian art student Deidre LaCarte (of Nanaimo, British Columbia) was in a competition with her best friend and sister to generate the most Web traffic when she created the Hampster Dance page in August 1998. Sh…

"Jesus Christ Superstar" spawned a few hits and one of them was Yvonne Elliman in the role of Mary Magdalene singing "I Don't Know How To Love Him" (A. L. Webber - T. Rice) in one take from the 1970 soundtrack double LP. The single reached number twenty-eight on the Top One Hundred. Originally issued as the B side of "I Believe In Music" Helen Reddy's recording of "I Don't Know How To Love Him" peaked at number thirteen on Billboard. This became Helen's first hit. In reality Helen's tune was…

"Children Of The World" was a 1976 LP by The Bee Gees (lead Robin Gibb, Barry Gibb and Maurice Gibb) containing the track "Love Me" (Barry Gibb - Robin Gibb). Later that year Yvonne Elliman released "Love Me" from the album of the same name. The single peaked at number fourteen on the Top One Hundred and even higher in the U.K., Canada and several other countries. Yvonne was discovered by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice who asked her to sing on the album "Jesus Christ Superstar". After the…

Co-writer Roger Gook with "Talking In Your Sleep" (Roger Cook - Bobby Wood). Co-composer Bobby Wood was the pianist on "Suspicious Minds" and "In The Ghetto" by Elvis Presley along with Danny O'Keefe's "Goodtime Charlie's Got The Blues". Roger Cook collaborated on "Long Cool Woman In A Black Dress", "Doctor's Orders", "I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing" and "You've Got Your Troubles". In January of 1978 Marmalade (lead vocalist Sandy Newman, Graham Knight, Alan Whitehead, Stu Williamson an…

The late Italian singer, composer Lucio Battisti released "Balla Linda" (Battisti - Mogol) in 1968 where it reached the top twenty on the Italian chart as a B side. Created by Dunhill label owner Lou Adler with songwriters/producers P.F. Sloan and Steve Barri essentially as a group of session musicians and eventually a reality, The Grassroots (Dennis Provisor, Warren Entner, Rick Coonce and Rob Grill) hit the top thirty with the English cover of "Bella Linda" (Mogol - Battisti - Barri - Gros…