Music That We Adore

Take a trip through the 60s, 70's and 80's Music, and relive all the songs and artists that marked an Era.

Best-Selling Artists

The Beatles - Elvis Presley - Michael Jackson - Frank Sinatra - Bing Crosby - ABBA - Julio Iglesias - Led Zepplin - Nana Mouskouri - Queen

Best-Selling Singles [Millions Sold]

White Christmas 50m- Candle in the Wind 33m- Silent Night 30m- Rock Around the Clock 25m- Diana 20m - We Are the World 20m- If I Didn't Care 19m- Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer 18m- Yes Sir, I Can Boogie 18m

Great Song Lists

You will enjoy more discographies of artists on this blog than most other blogs.

Great Artists - Great Albums

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Monday, May 31, 2021

John McDermott - Discography

John McDermott 

Celtic balladeer John McDermott was born in Scotland, but following his family's relocation to Canada in the mid-'60s, he went on to hone his crystalline tenor at Toronto's St. Michael's Choir School. After graduating he accepted the position of circulation manager with a Toronto newspaper; discovered while singing at a private party, McDermott was befriended by publishing magnate Conrad Black, who funded the sessions that led to the release of the singer's smash 1992 debut, Danny Boy, a record originally intended as a gift for his parents' golden wedding anniversary

Sunday, May 30, 2021

B.J. Thomas [RIP] - Discography

B.J. Thomas

Born: August 7, 1942 - Died: May 29, 2021
R.I.P.
B.J. Thomas (born Billy Joe Thomas) straddled the line between pop/rock and country, achieving success in both genres in the late '60s and '70s. At the beginning of his career, he leaned more heavily on rock & roll, but by the mid-'70s, he had turned to country music, becoming one of the most successful country-pop stars of the decade.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid [Original Score]Thomas began singing while he was a child, performing in church. In his teens, he joined the Houston-based band the Triumphs, who released a number of independent singles that failed to gain any attention. For the group's last single, Thomas and fellow Triumph member Mark Charron wrote "Billy and Sue," which was another flop. After "Billy and Sue," Thomas began a solo career, recording a version of Hank Williams' standard "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" with producer Huey P. Meaux. Released by Scepter Records in early 1966, the single became an immediate hit, catapulting to number eight on the pop charts. Although he had a series of moderate follow-up hits, including a re-release of "Billy and Sue," Thomas failed to reenter the Top Ten until 1968, when "Hooked on a Feeling" became a number five, gold single. The following year, he scored his biggest hit with Burt Bacharach and Hal David's "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head," taken from the hit film Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid. It was followed by a string of soft rock hits in the next two years, including "Everybody's Out of Town," "I Just Can't Help Believing," "No Love at All," and "Rock and Roll Lullaby," which featured guitarist Duane Eddy and the vocal group the Blossoms.

Tuesday, May 25, 2021

Tommy Edwards [RIP] - Discography

TOMMY EDWARDS 


Born: February 17, 1922 - Died: October 22, 1969
R.I.P.

Vocalist, pianist, and composer Tommy Edwards began performing in Richmond when he was nine. He made his first impact in R&B circles in 1946, writing "That Chick's Too Young to Fry." He began recording for Top in 1949 and had his first hit in 1951 with "All Over Again" for MGM, a song that made it to number ten on the R&B charts. Nearly seven years later, a song that Edwards originally recorded in 1951 became his biggest hit and an R&B and pop staple. "It's All in the Game" was issued on MGM in a slightly different version. The 1958 edition topped both R&B and pop charts. Edwards later had another hit with a reworked song he had released in 1952, as "Please Mr. Sun" reached number 18 R&B and number 11 pop as the follow-up single. His last chart tune was "My Melancholy Baby" in 1959.

Etta James [RIP] - Discography

ETTA JAMES 

Born: January 25, 1938 - Died: January 20, 2012
R.I.P.

Etta James was born Jamesetta Hawkins in Los Angeles, California on January 25, 1938; her mother was just 14 years old at the time, and she never knew her father, though she would later say she had reason to believe he was the well-known pool hustler Minnesota Fats. James was raised by friends and relatives instead of her mother through most of her childhood, and it was while she was living with her grandparents that she began regularly attending a Baptist church. James' voice made her a natural for the choir, and despite her young age she became a soloist with the group, and appeared with them on local radio broadcasts. At the age of 12, after the death of her foster mother, James found herself living with her mother in San Francisco, and with little adult supervision, she began to slide into juvenile delinquency. But James' love of music was also growing stronger, and with a pair of friends she formed a singing group called the Creolettes. The girls attracted the attention of famed bandleader Johnny Otis, and when he heard their song "Roll with Me Henry" -- a racy answer song to Hank Ballard's infamous "Work with Me Annie" -- he arranged for them to sign with Modern Records, and the Creolettes cut the tune under the name the Peaches (the new handle coming from Etta's longtime nickname). "Roll with Me Henry," renamed "The Wallflower," became a hit in 1955, though Georgia Gibbs would score a bigger success with her cover version, much to Etta's dismay. After charting with a second R&B hit, "Good Rockin' Daddy," the Peaches broke up and James stepped out on her own.

In 2010, James was hospitalized with MRSA-related infections, and it was revealed that she had received treatment for dependence on painkillers and was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, which her son claimed was the likely cause of her outbursts regarding Knowles. James released The Dreamer, for Verve Forecast in 2011. She claimed it was her final album of new material. Etta James was diagnosed with terminal leukemia later that year, and died on January 20, 2012 in Riverside, California at the age of 73.

Sunday, May 23, 2021

Geoffrey Goddard [RIP]

GEOFFREY GODDARD


Born: 1937 - Died: May 15, 2000
R.I.P.

After studying piano at London’s Royal Academy of Music, Goddard encountered record producer Joe Meek who promoted him as a pianist in the mould of exotic cabaret-style performers. This was in the early 60s and as a songwriter Goddard was often in collaboration with Meek, and he sometimes performed on the resulting recordings for Meek’s RGM Records. Goddard can be heard on pieces such as ‘Sky Men’ and the hugely successful ‘Telstar’. Among other Goddard/Meek collaborations were ‘Tribute To Buddy Holly’, recorded by Mike Berry, and ‘Johnny Remember Me’, a hit for John Leyton, who also recorded ‘Lone Ranger’, ‘Wild Wind’ and ‘Son, This Is She’. Claims were made that Goddard and Meek’s marketing decisions were dictated by the spirit of Buddy Holly, conjured up during séances at Meek’s Holloway Road flat where much of the recording was done (and where Meek would in 1967 murder his landlady before killing himself). The Goddard/Meek association was fraught with conflict over who wrote what and these matters remain forever clouded. Goddard also wrote a tribute to Eddie Cochran, ‘Just Like Eddie’, a 1963 hit for Meek’s protégé Heinz. Goddard and Meek parted company in a flurry of litigation over Meek’s song, ‘Have I The Right’, recorded by the Honeycombs, which Goddard believed was a direct lift from his own ‘Give Me The Chance’.

Although Goddard wrote ‘My Head Goes Round’ for Cliff Richard, he drifted into obscurity. According to Alan Clayson, a friend who wrote Goddard’s obituary in The Guardian, this was a matter of choice. In the mid-80s ‘Johnny Remember Me’ appeared on an album by Bronski Beat and Marc Almond, bringing Goddard welcome income to supplement his wages as an assistant in the kitchen at Reading University. He died from a heart attack in 2000.

This is a collection that I have had for many years and sharing after a request.
Please enjoy this wonderful artist!!

GEOFF GODDARD

Saturday, May 22, 2021

Don Charles [RIP]

Don Charles 

Born: December 10, 1933 - Died: December 4, 2004 
R.I.P.
The famed British record producer Joe Meek considered his collaboration with singer Don Charles his greatest creative achievement: "You are my only legit artist," the eccentric Meek told him. "All the others are yugga-dugs." Born Walter Schuffham in Hull, England, on December 10, 1933, he acquired the nickname Don as a toddler, later adopting the surname Bennett from his stepfather. He joined the Navy at 15 and remained in the armed forces for a decade, moonlighting as a singer with local big bands. After settling in London in 1960 and releasing the George Martin-produced single "Paintbox Lover" on Parlophone a year later, he joined Meek's stable of acts at Decca. Fearing confusion with the American crooner Tony Bennett, the producer renamed him Don Charles in time for the release of "Walk with Me, My Angel." Boasting all the otherworldly hallmarks of Meek's finest creations, the single squeaked into the U.K. Top 40 and earned Charles guest appearances on a number of teen television showcases, where his burly six-foot-four frame proved a stark contrast with the rival pop icons of the day. A cover of Ben E. King's hit "The Hermit of Misty Mountain" followed in 1962, and that same year Charles released the country-influenced novelty "It's My Way of Loving You." The BBC banned 1963's "Angel of Love" as a result of the lyric "Everyone has an angel of love/Way up in the heavens above." Combined with the outbreak of Beatlemania, the move crippled Charles' remaining momentum. After the rush-released "Heart's Ice Cold" fell flat, Meek severed ties with Decca, taking Charles with him. In addition to a series of little-heard HMV releases including "Tower Tall" and "Dream on Little Dreamer," the singer also produced several sides himself, including the Tornados' "Space Walk." In 1967 Charles returned to Parlophone for one final effort, the Northern soul favorite "Bring Your Love to Me," before retiring from performing, later entering the used-car business. He even wrote a successful book, How to Buy a Used Car (And Save Money). Charles died in East Sussex on December 4, 2005, less than a week shy of his 72nd birthday.

This is a collection that I have had for many years and sharing after a request. Please enjoy!!

Friday, May 21, 2021

Chuck Berry [RIP] - Discography

Chuck Berry 

Born: October 18, 1926  -  Died: March 18, 2017 
R.I.P.
Of all the early breakthrough rock & roll artists, none was more important to the development of the music than Chuck Berry. He was its greatest songwriter, the main shaper of its instrumental voice, one of its greatest guitarists, and one of its greatest performers. Quite simply, without him there would be no Beatles, Rolling Stones, Beach Boys, Bob Dylan, nor myriad others. There would be no standard "Chuck Berry guitar intro," the instrument's clarion call to get the joint rockin' in any setting. The clippety-clop rhythms of rockabilly would not have been mainstreamed into the now standard 4/4 rock & roll beat. There would be no obsessive wordplay by modern-day tunesmiths; in fact, the whole history (and artistic level) of rock & roll songwriting would have been much poorer without him. Like Brian Wilson said, he wrote "all of the great songs and came up with all the rock & roll beats." Those who do not claim him as a seminal influence or profess a liking for his music and showmanship show their ignorance of rock's development as well as his place as the music's first great creator. Elvis may have fueled rock & roll's imagery, but Chuck Berry was its heartbeat and original mindset.

Tuesday, May 18, 2021

Ral Donner [RIP] - Discography

RAL DONNER [RIP] 

Born: February 10, 1943 - Died: April 6, 1984
R.I.P.

Ral Donner is the classic example of a musician who was doomed to a marginal career by the very attribute that got him public notice in the first place. In a period during which Elvis Presley was the quintessential rock & roll star, Donner was the most successful of all the Elvis sound-alikes, getting a career, a year's worth of charting singles, and years of steady work out of the fact that his singing bore an uncanny resemblance to the King of Rock & Roll's ballad style. He was never able to transcend those beginnings, however. Donner was part of American rock & roll's third wave, young enough to have been a fan of Elvis Presley when the latter first emerged nationally. Born in Chicago in 1943, he started singing in church choirs as a boy, and by his early teens was a regular competitor in local talent contests. He organized his two groups -- the Rockin' Five and then the Gents -- while still in his teens. His work with the Rockin' Five in his high school days was good enough to get them on television in Chicago, even earning a spot alongside Sammy Davis Jr. on one show. At 17, he broke through to Alan Freed's Big Beat show and, in 1959, appeared at the Apollo Theatre in New York. That same year, he cut a demo with his new group, the Gents, got a pair of sides out on a small label, and got to tour with the legendary South Carolina rockabilly band the Sparkletones. Donner was doing little better than treading water professionally, however, until a pair of Chicago producers heard his demo of "The Girl of My Best Friend," a song that Elvis Presley sang on his LP Elvis Is Back. The Presley side had been issued successfully as a single by RCA in England, but in America it was only available on the album. With a new band called the Starfires backing him up, "The Girl of My Best Friend" was re-recorded and licensed to Gone Records, the New York-based label founded by George Goldner. Suddenly, Ral Donner had a national Top 20 hit, and he sounded so much like Presley that some members of the public, utterly unfamiliar with Donner, wanted to know if he actually was Elvis Presley. This coverage in the fan magazines, though hardly serious by today's standards, was enough to keep Donner in the public spotlight while Goldner and Gone Records searched for a follow-up single, which they got in the summer of 1961 with "You Don't Know What You've Got (Until You Lose It)," which peaked at number four. Donner enjoyed another pair of hits, "Please Don't Go" and "She's Everything," over the next year, but by the spring of 1962, hit days in the Top 40 were behind him. He later left Gone Records to sign with Frank Sinatra's Reprise Records (a surprising opportunity, given that Sinatra had founded the label specifically to release his kind of music, which didn't include rock & roll). By 1965, he was at Red Bird Records, Goldner's latest music business venture, but Donner's days as a rock & roll contender were over. Red Bird folded soon after he rejoined Goldner's stable and Donner was never able to return to the charts. By the '70s, he was working in music only part-time and recording very sporadically for small labels. It took Presley's death in 1977 to revive interest in Donner's work; although he was always more dignified, and never as grotesque as the burgeoning group of overt visual Elvis imitators who began manifesting themselves soon after the singer's death, his stylistic link with Presley in his prime brought him new attention and more work than he had seen in years. Perhaps the final irony -- one hesitates to say indignity, since Donner truly admired Presley -- came when he was chosen to do the vocal impersonation of Presley for the narration in the 1981 documentary This Is Elvis. Still, in a way, little could have been sadder -- after 20 years in music, he'd not only failed to escape Presley's shadow but had become part of its manifestation in popular culture. He died of cancer in 1984, an anomaly in music history and a footnote in popular culture.

Monday, May 17, 2021

Johnny Tillotson - Discography

JOHNNY TILLOTSON 

Pop/rock singer and songwriter Johnny Tillotson enjoyed his greatest success in the early '60s when he scored a series of Top Ten hits including "Poetry in Motion" and the self-penned "It Keeps Right on a-Hurtin'." In total, he placed 30 singles and LPs in the Billboard charts between 1958 and 1984, most of them in the pop charts, though he also reached the country, R&B, and easy listening charts. His string of hits allowed him to establish a performing career both in the U.S. and around the world that kept him steadily working well into the 21st century.

Tillotson was born April 20, 1938, in Jacksonville, FL, the son of Jack Tillotson, a country music disc jockey, and Doris Tillotson. When Tillotson was nine, he moved 40 miles to the smaller Florida town of Palatka. He got his first exposure as a singer on his father's radio station while he was still a child. His primary interest was country music, although he was inspired when he saw Elvis Presley perform in Jacksonville on May 13, 1955, just after he had turned 14. Meanwhile, his radio work led to a stint on a local TV show and even his own program. But he maintained his studies, and he was attending the University of Florida as a journalism and composition major in 1957 when he entered a national talent contest sponsored by Pet Milk. He was chosen as one of six finalists, resulting in a trip to Nashville, TN, for the final judging. He did not win the contest, but while in Nashville he came to the attention of a song publisher who was impressed by songs he had written and got a tape of them to Archie Bleyer, owner of the independent Cadence Records label, home to the Everly Brothers and Andy Williams. Bleyer signed Tillotson to a three-year contract and, in September 1958, issued his first single, combining two of the singer's own compositions, the ballad "Dreamy Eyes" and the up-tempo "Well I'm Your Man," both of which bore similarities to the sound of Buddy Holly. "Well I'm Your Man" charted first, peaking at number 87 in the Hot 100 in October, but "Dreamy Eyes" followed, topping out at number 63 in January 1959. (The simultaneously released "I'm Never Gonna Kiss You," a duet with Genevieve, a singer on the Jack Parr TV show, did not chart.)

Friday, May 14, 2021

The Turtles - Discography

The Turtles

Though many remember only their 1967 hit, "Happy Together," the Turtles were one of the more enjoyable American pop groups of the '60s, moving from folk-rock inspired by the Byrds to a sparkling fusion of Zombies-inspired chamber pop and straight-ahead, good-time pop reminiscent of the Lovin' Spoonful, the whole infused with beautiful vocal harmonies courtesy of dual frontmen Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman. Though they hit number one in 1967 with the infectious "Happy Together," the Turtles scored only three more Top Ten hits and broke up by the end of the '60s. Kaylan and Volman later joined Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention during the early '70s and also recorded themselves as Flo & Eddie, but were on the oldies circuit with a revamped Turtles by the mid-'80s.

Thursday, May 13, 2021

The Searchers - Discography

The Searchers


Hailing from Liverpool, England, the Searchers were one of the many bands on the Merseybeat scene that enjoyed international fame in the wake of the Beatles' breakthrough in the early '60s. The group's trademark sound was bright, tuneful pop with ringing 12-string guitars and strong harmony vocals which gave even their covers of American R&B hits a touch of sweetness that made them hard to resist. The Searchers were also one of the most enduring Merseybeat acts, forming in the late '50s and continuing on into the 2010s, with guitarist John McNally a constant presence throughout their history, and bassist Frank Allen by his side from 1964 onward. Early hits such as "Sugar and Spice," "Needles and Pins," "Love Potion Number Nine," "When You Walk In The Room," and "What Have They Done To The Rain" defined the group's approach, and they rarely strayed from it, still sounding fresh on 1972's Second Take and falling in with the power pop bands they influenced on 1979's The Searchers and 1981's Love's Melodies. And while the group's bread and butter from the late '60s onward was live work, the band's professionalism and commitment to their music helped them remain a viable attraction decades after their success on the sales charts had faded.

Wednesday, May 12, 2021

Terry Dene - Discography

TERRY DENE 

Terry Dene (born Terence Williams) was one of the most promising rock & rollers of pre-Beatles England. With a recording contract with Decca UK and a regular spot on BBC-TV's first pop television show, Six 5 Special, Dene seemed to be on the verge of stardom. His first three singles reached the British Top 20. Dene's potential for success was severely damaged, however, by a series of self-imposed mishaps. Arrested for public drunkenness and vandalism in 1958, Dene was cited by the British media as an example of the "evil" of rock & roll. His mental health was considered to have plummeted after being drafted into the British national service. Discharged on psychological grounds after two months, he found his career in ruins. Although he appeared in a film, The Golden Disc, and joined Larry Parnes' stable of stars, he was unable to recapture the momentum and faded from the pop scene.

Monday, May 10, 2021

Randy Newman - Discography

RANDY NEWMAN 

An anomaly among early-'70s singer/songwriters, Randy Newman may have been slightly influenced by Bob Dylan, but his music owed more to New Orleans R&B and traditional pop than folk. Newman developed an idiosyncratic style that alternated between sweeping, cinematic pop and rolling R&B, which were tied together by his intelligently biting sense of humor. Where his peers concentrated on confessional songwriting, Newman drew characters, creating a world filled with misfits, outcasts, charlatans, and con men. Though he occasionally showed sympathy for his characters, he became well known for his acidic sense of satire, highlighted by his fluke 1978 hit "Short People" and his parody of '80s yuppies, "I Love L.A." Newman's records consistently received strongly positive reviews, especially 1972's Sail Away and 1974's Good Old Boys, and he enjoyed a commercial breakthrough with 1977's Little Criminals, but he became a wealthy man by composing scores for films like Ragtime and The Natural. After scoring a number of animated blockbusters for Pixar and Disney (including the Toy Story and Monsters Inc. franchises), Newman's solo efforts became infrequent, but 2008's Harps and Angels and 2017's Dark Matter showed his unique melodic sense of lyrical poison pen were still in fighting shape.

Sunday, May 9, 2021

Bob Lind - Discography

BOB LIND 

Bob Lind has enjoyed a sizable cult following based on a rather small body of work; he released just four albums between 1966 and 1971 (one a collection of demos never intended for commercial release), and landed just one single in the Top 40, but he's acknowledged as one of the key artists in the '60s folk-rock boom, and over 200 different artists have recorded his songs. Robert Neale Lind was born in Baltimore, Maryland on November 25, 1944. His family moved a great deal when he was young, but as a teenager he settled in Denver, Colorado and began singing rock & roll and rhythm & blues when he was in eighth grade. In high school, Lind formed a band called the Moonlighters, and while attending Western State University in Gunnison, Colorado, he led a rock group, Bob Lind & the Misfits, specializing in early rock covers. As a new breed of songwriters emerged on the folk music scene in the early '60s, Lind took up songwriting and started playing occasional shows at local coffee houses. He relocated to San Francisco, where he continued writing songs and playing small venues, and in 1965, he headed south to Los Angeles, where he scored an audition with World Pacific Records, a subsidiary of Liberty Records. World Pacific signed Lind to a record contract, and after he landed a publishing deal with Metric Music, he was introduced to producer and arranger Jack Nitzsche, who liked Lind's songs and agreed to work with him. With Nitzsche providing artful backdrops for Lind's emotionally literate songs, the two proved to be an inspired pairing in the studio, and World Pacific had high hopes for Lind's first single, "Cheryl's Goin' Home." However, several disc jockeys began playing the flipside, "Elusive Butterfly," and the song rose to number five on the Billboard Singles charts in 1966.

Saturday, May 8, 2021

Joe South [RIP] - Discography

Joe South

Born: February 28, 1940 - Died: September 5, 2012
R.I.P.

Singer/songwriter Joe South (born Joe Souter) began his career as a country musician, performing on an Atlanta radio station and joining Pete Drake's band in 1957. The following year, he recorded a novelty single, "The Purple People Eater Meets the Witch Doctor," and became a session musician in Nashville and at Muscle Shoals. South appeared on records by Marty Robbins, Eddy Arnold, Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, Bob Dylan (Blonde on Blonde), and Simon & Garfunkel ("The Sounds of Silence"). During the '60s, South began working on his songwriting, crafting hits for Deep Purple ("Hush") and several for Billy Joe Royal, including "Down in the Boondocks." South began recording his own material in 1968, scoring a hit with the Grammy-winning "Games People Play" (Song of the Year) the following year. While South produced hits like "Don't It Make You Want to Go Home" and "Walk a Mile in My Shoes," Lynn Anderson had a smash country and pop hit in 1971 with South's "(I Never Promised You A) Rose Garden."

Friday, May 7, 2021

Freddy Cannon - Discography

FREDDY CANNON 

In looking back over the history of rock & roll, the sad fact remains that very few of its original practitioners stayed true to its original big beat vision. Some made a handful of brilliant sides before broader horizons -- television or the movies -- beckoned. Others were rockers in name only, pop singers who couldn't wait to shimmy into a tuxedo, trading in stomp'n'shout hysteria for the more "respectable" future of dispensing supper club schmaltz. But Freddy Cannon was a true believer, a rocker to the bone. Freddy Cannon made rock & roll records; great noisy rock & roll records and all of them were infused with a gigantic drum beat that was an automatic invitation to shake it on down anyplace there was a spot to dance. Freddy Cannon remained true to the beat and made some really great fun rock & roll records in the bargain. Because of the time frame he enjoyed his biggest successes in -- the late '50s to the mid-'60s -- Cannon is wrongly lumped in with the "Bobbies and Frankies" that proliferated during that era. But a quick listen to any of his finest records -- all to be found on Rhino's The Best of Freddy "Boom-Boom" Cannon collection -- quickly dispels any preconceived notions of him being a pretty-boy teen idol no-talent.

Thursday, May 6, 2021

Dion DiMucci - Discography

Dion DiMucci


Bridging the era between late-'50s rock and the British Invasion, Dion DiMucci (born July 18, 1939) was one of the top white rock singers of his time, blending the best elements of doo wop, teen idol, and R&B styles. Some revisionists have tried to cast him as a sort of early blue-eyed soul figure, although he was probably more aligned with pop/rock, at first as the lead singer of the Belmonts, and then as a solo star. Drug problems slowed him down in the mid-'60s, yet he made some surprisingly interesting progressions into blues-rock and folk-rock as the decade wore on, culminating in a successful comeback in the late '60s, although he was unable to sustain its commercial and artistic momentum for long.

When Dion began recording in the late '50s, it was as the lead singer of a group of friends who sang on Bronx street corners. Billing themselves Dion & the Belmonts (Dion had released a previous single with the Timberlanes), their first few records were prime Italian-American doo wop; "I Wonder Why" was their biggest hit in this style. Dion's biggest single with the Belmonts was "A Teenager in Love," which pointed the way for the slightly self-pitying, pained odes to adolescence and early adulthood that would characterize much of his solo work.


Wednesday, May 5, 2021

The Moody Blues - Discography

The Moody Blues


Although they're best known today for their lush, lyrically and musically profound (some would say bombastic) psychedelic-era albums, the Moody Blues started out as one of the better R&B-based combos of the British Invasion. The group's history began in Birmingham, England with Ray Thomas (harmonica, vocals) and Mike Pinder (keyboards, vocals), who had played together in El Riot & the Rebels and the Krew Cats. They began recruiting members of some of the best rival groups working in Birmingham, including Denny Laine (vocals, guitar), Graeme Edge (drums), and Clint Warwick (bass, vocals).

The Magnificent MoodiesThe Moody Blues, as they came to be known, made their debut in Birmingham in May of 1964, and quickly earned the notice and later the services of manager Tony Secunda. A major tour was quickly booked, and the band landed an engagement at the Marquee Club, which resulted in a contract with England's Decca Records less than six months after their formation. The group's first single, "Steal Your Heart Away," released in September of 1964, didn't touch the British charts. But their second single, "Go Now," released in November of 1964 -- a cover of a nearly identical American single by R&B singer Bessie Banks, heavily featuring Laine's mournful lead vocal -- fulfilled every expectation and more, reaching number one in England and earning them a berth in some of the nation's top performing venues (including the New Musical Express Poll Winners Concert, appearing with some of the top acts of the period); its number ten chart placement in America also earned them a place as a support act for the Beatles on one tour, and the release of a follow-up LP (Magnificent Moodies in England, Go Now in America) on both sides of the Atlantic.

Tuesday, May 4, 2021

Johnny Mathis - Discography

JOHNNY MATHIS 

One of the last and most popular in a long line of traditional male vocalists who emerged before the rock-dominated 1960s, Johnny Mathis concentrated on romantic readings of jazz and pop standards for the ever-shrinking adult contemporary audience of the '60s and '70s. Though he debuted with a flurry of singles chart activity, Mathis later made it big in the album market, where a dozen of his LPs hit gold or platinum and over 60 made the charts. While he originally concentrated on theme-oriented albums of show tunes and traditional favorites, from the '70s onward Mathis began incorporating more varied styles of music into his recordings, including soft rock, R&B, and country. This stylistic eclecticism, combined with ubiquitous vocal chops, helped Mathis remain a popular concert attraction well into the 21st century.

Sunday, May 2, 2021

Bobby Helms [RIP] - Discography

BOBBY HELMS 

Born: August 15, 1933 - Died: June 19, 1997
R.I.P.

Though his name is unfamiliar to most, Bobby Helms rules the airwaves every year around December 25th. His single "Jingle Bell Rock" first became a hit in 1957, and it reappeared on the charts four of the following five years to become an all-time Christmas classic. Before he was pigeonholed, though, Helms had a successful country career with two number one hits to his credit.

Born on August 15, 1933, in Bloomington, IN, Helms first performed on his father Fred's Monroe County Jamboree, singing while brother Freddie played guitar. The Helms Brothers, as they were billed, became a regional attraction. Bobby later cut a single called "Tennessee Rock and Roll," but then returned to Bloomington to appear on the Hayloft Frolic television show. While on the program, he was encouraged to go to Nashville to sing background vocals on an Ernest Tubb session. Tubb recommended him to Decca Records, and the label signed him in 1956. His debut single, "Fraulein," initially flopped in January 1957 but then hit number one on the country chart in April. (The song also hit the pop Top 40 in July of 1957.) In October, Helms released another number one, "My Special Angel," which stayed four weeks at the top and crossed over to number seven pop.

Berlin - Discography

Berlin - Discography

Known for their edgy, coolly emotive take on synth pop, Berlin gained fame in the 1980s with hits like "No More Words" and the Giorgio Moroder-penned "Take My Breath Away." Showcasing the cherubically stylish lead singer Terri Nunn and led by bassist and main songwriter John Crawford, the group emerged from the Orange County new wave scene of the late '70s, combining hooky dance-rock with Kraftwerk-influenced synthesizer production. They broke through with their 1982 album Pleasure Victim featuring the provocative, tongue-in-cheek single "Sex (I'm A...)" and scored a Top 40 single with "No More Words" off 1984's Love Life. However, it was their 1986 hit "Take My Breath Away" (from the Top Gun soundtrack) that earned them both mainstream success and pop culture fame. In the wake of that success, the group broke up and Nunn eventually took control of the band name, issuing a series of Berlin albums without Crawford including 2002's Voyeur and 2013's Animal. In 2019, the core classic lineup of Nunn, Crawford, and keyboardist Dave Diamond officially reunited for Berlin's eighth studio album, Transcendance.

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